So Close: Ch. 12 – Eastern Conference Finals v. Buffalo Sabres

Advancing to the Conference Finals for the first time since 1990, the Washington Capitals face off with the Buffalo Sabres for the right to play for the Stanley Cup.

Tale of the Tape

#4 Washington Capitals v. #6 Buffalo Sabres

• Regular Season Series: Tied 2-2-0
• Capitals Playoffs: Defeated Boston (4-2) and Ottawa (4-1)
• Sabres Playoffs: Defeated Philadelphia (4-1) and Montreal (4-0)

Closer to a Dream

For Washington Capitals coach Ron Wilson, being eight wins away from having his name etched on the Stanley Cup along with his father and uncle, was unthinkable, but after guiding the Capitals to their first Conference Finals in 8 years, even Wilson acknowledged they were exceeding expectations.

“You dream about this, but even I didn’t expect this sort of thing this year,” Wilson said. “I look at this like we have a realistic shot. And there is a feeling of vindication because of what happened last year [in Anaheim]? Yes, it’s huge.”

In the 1997 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Wilson guided the Mighty Ducks, who were in their fourth season in the NHL, to their first playoff berth, and lost in the second round to the eventual champion Detroit Red Wings. Despite the success he was having with the Ducks, management disagreed, and they asked Wilson to leave.

“Obviously with the way things transpired in Anaheim, no matter what kind of job you did, there’s a sense of doubt, there’s concern of why did this happen?” Capitals assistant coach Tim Army, who also worked with Wilson in Anaheim, said. “That’s when you really have to look inside yourself and come up with some answers.”

“Before Japan, we were playing well, he was head coach of the Olympic team. So he thinks, ‘Yeah, I am a good coach,’ and I mean that in response to things happening in Anaheim,” Army said. “Then he went over, and it certainly didn’t turn out the way he had anticipated. I think that was a frustrating time, not having the success, having the negative media attention and then the Caps coming back and struggling, you begin to get frustrated and look inside yourself again. The thing is, he knows it’s supposed to be hard, you’re not going to win all the time, you’re actually supposed to lose sometimes and learn from it. I think he needed to sort through some of that a little bit and some of the emotions of being disappointed. I think there is an embarrassment. I don’t mean that negatively, but you feel like you let people down a little bit. He truly cared about USA hockey, and representing the country. It hurt him, but as we began to play better, we made this great push, we were the best team in the conference over the last 20 games. We got home ice, won the first round, and again feels good about the job he’s done.”

“From being made to feel at the end of last year that we won a round because I had two star players to coach [Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne] to now, I can sit here and think well, maybe I do know what I’m doing a little bit,” Wilson said after the Capitals Game 5 win over Ottawa. “You make your own luck in this business, and if you work hard, good things are going to happen.”

“I daydream like everyone else,” Wilson said. “I’d be jumping up and down, and I wouldn’t be embarrassed to do it. I wouldn’t be embarrassed to cry if I won the Stanley Cup either, because it means that much. When you have people in your family with their name on the Stanley Cup, you understand its eternity. It’d be better than anything you’d put on a tombstone, I think. Maybe you just put, ‘Check the Stanley cup, his name’s there.’ That’s what I’d want to be able to put.”

“It’s one of the few trophies that a player’s name actually appears on for years,” Wilson’s uncle Johnny, who won four Stanley Cups with Detroit, said. “You can go up to that and expand your chest a little bit and say, ‘Hey, that’s my name.’ The players in Washington are starting to understand that. Ron’s always understood.”

Much Needed Rest Between Series

For both the Washington Capitals and Buffalo Sabres, they received a much needed break before their Eastern Conference Final series began. Due to both teams finishing their respective second round matchups early, and with the West still playing their second round matchups, this allowed the Capitals to give themselves a chance to rest up and heal. One thing the Capitals didn’t do during their mini break, practice.

“If we had practiced, we’d start to get stir crazy as the week goes on,” said Capitals coach Ron Wilson. “The break is really going to do some guys a lot of good, especially the guys who are still healing the bumps and bruises. Getting the series stretched out like this will probably benefit our team as much as any team in the playoffs, because of our age and because of injuries to a lot of guys.”

For players like forward Peter Bondra, the rest was welcomed. After missing time in the first round due to an ankle injury, and time in the second round due to a slight concussion, Bondra was a player Wilson wanted back to as close to 100 percent too.

“Some guys have been hurt, so this was a time for us to get better,” Bondra said. “Sometimes it can be too much rest, because it feels like summer already and you almost forget about hockey. But if we are really focused in our first few practices, it shouldn’t be a problem. I think we are a pretty good veteran team, where guys know what they have to do to get ready for games.”

During the break Wilson played golf, while defenseman Brendan Witt and forward Jeff Toms went to HFStival, an alternative rock festival hosted by 99.1 WHFS, where Witt got on stage and introduced the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. One of the nice moments of Witt being on stage was how it turned into a mini pep rally for the Capitals. Witt came out in his Capitals jersey, and received a very warm ovation from the crowd.

As the Capitals returned from their mini break, Wilson made sure to get some solid conditioning in for the team. “You can over prepare for a team, so you don’t want to do that,” Wilson said. “I just want to make sure we’re physically ready, so we’ll do a few hard days of conditioning when we get back and get into some of the other stuff later in the week.”

May 23rd, 1998 – Game 1

Going into Game 1, Capitals owner Abe Pollin had a sense of excitement as the Capitals started the Eastern Conference Final against the Sabres. “It’s been a long time coming,” Pollin said. “Everybody loves a winner, particularly in this town. This would mean something very great to me personally, because I have an NBA ring from 1978, and that was 20 years ago. I think every 20 years I should get another ring, so I’m hoping it will be a Stanley Cup ring this year.”

In Game 1, the Capitals were unable to make a statement as the Sabres defeated them 2-0. Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek stopped all 19 shots faced to earn his first shutout of the playoffs, and defensive errors doomed the Capitals. In the opening two minutes of the second period the Sabres recorded the lone two goals of the game when Michal Grosek and Miroslav Satan scored off of broken plays.

“I thought we were flat,” Capitals goaltender Olaf Kolzig said after making 18 saves on 20 shots. “They have the home-ice advantage now, but I don’t think that’s a big deal as it used to be. We just have to find a way to get a split here, but we have our work cut out for us, there’s no doubt about it.”

“I didn’t expect a game like that,” Hasek said. “I expected them to come hard in the third period, but my teammates played good defense and we didn’t give them any chances. It was a very easy job for me in the third period.”

“We made a couple of mistakes early in the second period and got behind the eight ball,” Capitals coach Ron Wilson said. “Then we had guys trying to do too much individually one-on-one instead of playing a team game, and that plays right into their hands. What I’m disappointed in was that we were staying out for 80 or 90 seconds all night long, and by the second period, we didn’t have any legs. We have to keep our shifts shorter. It’s the first team to four wins, so this won’t change anything, but we obviously have to try to win the next game, otherwise we’re going to dig ourselves a pretty big hole. We’ve played well on the road, so we’re confident we can go into Buffalo and win, but we have to make sure we play better here on Monday night.”

May 25th, 1998 – Game 2

A Presidential Visit

For Game 2, the Washington Capitals had a special guest in attendance.President Bill Clinton became the first U.S. president to attend an NHL game. In an interview with ESPN’s Brian Hayward during the second intermission, Clinton described his outlook on the game. “It’s much more exciting in person, even, than on television — no offense to ESPN,” Clinton said. “I’m having the time of my life. I love this. It’s fascinating.”

“The Capitals are playing very well,” Clinton told ESPN. “They’re playing very aggressive. And Buffalo’s got that goalie. Unbelievable. So I think it’s going to be a very close series.”

Clinton sat in Capitals owner Abe Pollin’s suite along with Vice President Al Gore, Gore’s son Albert, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), HUD Secretary Andrew M. Cuomo, and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Clinton also autographed hats, NHL sweaters, and ticket stubs for youngsters inside the suite, and under the watchful eye of the Secret Service, shook hands with fans outside of the suite.

“For any new hockey fan, watching on TV is one thing, but getting to a game live and seeing how fast and creative it is — it’s the best way to sell the sport,” Capitals coach Ron Wilson said. “If we can have the President of the United States supporting the NHL and hopefully the Washington Capitals, I think that’s great for our game. It’s great for our city. If our fans, who haven’t come out in droves exactly, think that the President thinks it’s cool, maybe everybody will think it’s going to be the hot thing to do — to go to a hockey game. He should come to the next game. You know, there’s more to sports than Arkansas basketball.”

“I’m delighted that the country’s number one and number two fans have chosen to spend time with the coolest game on Earth,” Bettman said.

The Game

In Game 2, the Sabres looked to grow their lead over the Capitals, and late in the first period Vaclav Varada scored to give Buffalo the 1-0 lead over the Capitals. In the second period the Capitals finally got a goal past Dominik Hasek as Peter Bondra scored on the power play by tipping a Phil Housley shot with 4.9 seconds left in the period. Then in the third period Joe Juneau’s goal gave the Capitals their first lead of the series, but an unfortunate tip in by Esa Tikkanen past Olaf Kolzig tied the game at two for the Sabres. With Matthew Barnaby being credited with the goal, he taunted both the Capitals home faithful and the Capitals bench.

“He had all the good intentions in the world,” Kolzig said. “I told him he was going to score the overtime [winning] goal because he had the hot stick. [That’s a hockey joke]. Tik got wrapped up in the moment. He wanted to deflect the puck wide of me. That’s hockey. That stuff happens. It’s a tough way to go into overtime, having a shot that I was going to stop deflected by your own guy into the net. But the veterans said this makes it more exciting, to win in overtime.”

“We showed our team Matthew Barnaby’s reaction to the goal, him taunting our bench, and we went out there with the intention of burying them right away,” Capitals coach Ron Wilson said. “If that’s the way Matt wants to play, fine, but after that we wanted to make sure that if we lost the game, we were going to go down aggressive and taking a chance to win. He was taunting the fans and going by our bench and taunting our players. If you want to taunt our bench, if that’s how he wants to celebrate in the NHL . . . if it was Dennis Rodman or Esa Tikkanen, they know there’s a way to get under somebody’s skin. We wanted to go out and put this game away and if we were going to go down, we were going to go down aggressively.”

Aggressive they were, as forward Todd Krygier scored 3:01 in overtime to give the Capitals the 3-2 victory over the Sabres to tie the series at one. “Tik came off the ice and I came on and was in the right place at the right time,” Krygier said. “[Andrei Nikolishin] made a backhand pass. It was the biggest goal of my career.”

“He’s got a great shot, he’s a little bit of a role player at this point of his career and it’s nice to see a lesser light get rewarded,” Wilson said. “When [Krygier] was with Anaheim, we had a falling out in Chicago, and we traded him to the Capitals about two weeks later. After that goal, I said, ‘You’re off the hook for that Chicago incident.’”

“The guys weren’t that concerned [about Barnaby’s celebration],” Kolzig said after making 31 saves. “We just wanted to go to Buffalo with a split. We played for 60 minutes, or 61, 62, or 63, where the other night we played hard for 20 minutes and that’s not enough to beat a team like Buffalo. We got a great effort from a lot of individuals. I liken it to the difference between a .250 hitter and .300 hitter. If you hit a few line drives early in the game, you shouldn’t get discouraged — just try to keep hitting line drives and looking for singles.”

“We had to win tonight,” Capitals defenseman Sergei Gonchar said. “It was a great win for our team. It was probably the biggest win in the history of the Washington Capitals.”

One moment in the third period which showed a crack in Dominik Hasek’s armor, was when he left the net to corral a puck in the corner, and was checked by Peter Bondra. The officials deemed Bondra “did not act in a forceful manner,” and Hasek retaliated by throwing his blocker at Bondra and getting an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. “Bondra did not behave in any forceful manner to cause an injury,” series supervisor of officials John D’Amico said. “He didn’t do it in any type of fashion viciously.”

“Tonight we created a lot more traffic, bumped [Hasek] here and there and threw him off his game a little bit,” Kolzig said. “He seemed to get frustrated as the game went on.”

After Sabres coach Lindy Ruff suggested they could get retribution, Kolzig was unfazed by the idea. “I’ve played hockey a long time, and you’re going to get bumped, and you’re going to get hit because it’s part of the game,” Kolzig said. “I’m 6’3″, 225 pounds, so if they want to run at me, that’s fine. I’m not going to fall over, and I see them coming, they are going to have to come through a piece of stick. So if they want to take those liberties, I’m not going to change my game at all.”

May 28th, 1998 – Game 3

Heading into Game 3, forward Peter Bondra gave rookie forward, and fellow Slovak, Richard Zednik and pep talk claiming the game was going to be televised back home. “He didn’t believe me at first, but then he started to get pumped up for the game,” Bondra said. “Maybe it was [on television]. I’m not sure, but for sure it helped us have a good game, and Richard was unbelievable tonight.”

The pep talk worked as both Bondra and Zednik scored a pair of goals to lead the Capitals to a 4-3 overtime victory over the Sabres to take the 2-1 series lead. In the first period, Bondra opened the scoring less than 5 minutes into the game, and moments later while on the power play, Zednik scored to grow the Capitals lead to two. However, Donald Audette’s power play tally later in the period would get the Sabres back within one.

“We had a two-goal lead, but it’s only 10 minutes into the game or so and sometimes that’s kind of difficult,” Capitals coach Ron Wilson said. “We took some bad penalties and gave them a chance to get back into the game.”

In the second period the Sabres offense came alive as Matthew Barnaby and Brian Holzinger scored to give Buffalo the 3-2 lead, but late in the period while on the power play, Zednik scored his second of the game to tie the game at three.

“The Sabres played great in the second period, but our second line there, the [Andrei] Nikolishin line, won that game for us,” Wilson said. “Zed was the most dominant player on the ice. Niko was making some smart plays, but Zed was just flying.”

Then after a scoreless third period, Bondra scored 9:37 into overtime to give the Capitals the victory. “Everyone was yelling, ‘Shoot it’,” Bondra said. “I kind of closed my eyes. I was a little bit lucky. I caught his bottom glove. The puck was in. It was a big goal for us. It gives us a lot of confidence for sure. I’ve never been this far in the playoffs. You realize where you are, and you go out there and try to win a game, play hard, try to do whatever you can to be on top of your game. You try to trust your instinct and have confidence. Don’t try to change your stuff — shoot high or low. Just go out there believe in yourself and just shoot it. Right now it’s working.”

In the victory, goaltender Olaf Kolzig made 27 saves on 30 shots, and Nikolishin assisted on all four of the Capitals goals. “This [win] is important for two reasons,” said Capitals forward Brian Bellows. “Obviously, we got a one-game lead in the series, but we also showed the Sabres — who’ve won all these games at home — that we can come into their rink and win. And I think that’s very important.”

May 30th, 1998 – Game 4

In Buffalo for Game 4, the Washington Capitals continued their road dominance with a shocking 2-0 victory over the Sabres. Goaltender Olaf Kolzig stopped all 30 shots to earn his fourth shutout of the playoffs for the Capitals, but Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek found himself giving up goals he would normally stop. “Our penalty-killing was superb tonight,” Kolzig said. “The few chances they did get, I was able to make the save and that’s what you need — timely saves and timely goals.”

After a scoreless 40 minutes of hockey, forward Craig Berube scored his first career playoff goal with a 40-foot slap shot to give the Capitals the 1-0 lead. “I’ve scored some big game-winners throughout the season, but nothing like this,” Berube said. “My game is to go out and play physical. I’m sort of a momentum player. But it’s nice to get a goal. You want to contribute in that way, and it just happened to be a big goal tonight.”

“To see a guy like Craig Berube score his first playoff goal and have it be a game-winner is just outstanding,” coach Ron Wilson said. “It couldn’t be a bigger goal, either.”

Then later in the third period, forward Joe Juneau got a 70-foot shot past Hasek for a shorthanded goal, and to seal the deal for the Capitals to take the 3-1 series lead. Shortly after Juneau’s goal, Hasek’s frustrations came to a boil as he got a 2 minute minor for interference when he took a run at Capitals forward Richard Zednik.

“Dom said we didn’t get to him,” Wilson said after the game. “Well, I think we got to him.”

“We are in the driver’s seat,” Wilson said. “The Sabres would have to win three games in a row. We have a veteran team, we can relax and rely on our crowd. I think it’ll be the biggest crowd in Capitals history, and we’ll be ready to play.”

June 2nd, 1998 – Game 5

Before the series started, the NHL needed to make a change to the schedule for the Eastern Conference Final due to conflicts at the MCI Center. Game 5 of the series was originally scheduled for June 1st, but due to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) having “Monday Nitro” scheduled, the league was forced to move Game 5, along with Games 6 and 7, to accommodate the scheduling conflict. Not everyone was amused by this. Washington Post writer Tony Kornheiser voiced his displeasure.

“Can you believe pro wrestling has aced the Stanley Cup out of MCI? What an embarrassment,” Kornheiser wrote. “I thought one purpose in building a downtown arena was to attract a more sophisticated clientele. What, the Three Tenors were busy, so they booked ‘Monday Nitro’? What is the point of having home ice if you have to share it with Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger ‘The Total Package’ and ‘Giant,’ whoever that is. (Perhaps [Washington Wizards basketball player] Gheorghe [Muresan] in a ski mask?).”

Heading into Game 5 the Washington Capitals looked to continue to prove the critics wrong, aiming to eliminate the Buffalo Sabres at home. “I think we’ve proved to all the critics that we’re a good hockey team, after they said we were going to choke against Boston and then they said we were going to choke against Ottawa, and we didn’t,” defenseman Brendan Witt said. “Plus, no team has come back from a 3-1 deficit in the conference finals, so I think the way people are seeing us has changed. But I know in the team’s mind, we’re all real aware that we’re not there yet, that we have to win one more. We know Buffalo’s going to come out really hard. I would hope at this point, it wouldn’t swing back the other way. We won twice in Buffalo. We don’t want to go back [for Game 6], but if we have to, we’ll have confidence in ourselves.”

In the first period the Sabres struck first with Darryl Shannon scoring 6:33 into the game to give Buffalo the 1-0 lead. Then 10 minutes later while on the power play, Capitals forward Andrei Nikolishin scored his first of the playoffs to tie the game at 1-1. Then after a scoreless second period, Sabres defenseman Jason Woolley scored with 4:26 remaining in regulation to give the Sabres the 2-1 victory and force a Game 6.

Between the pipes, Capitals goaltender Olaf Kolzig stopped 14 of the 16 shots he faced, but Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek stood on his head and single handedly won the game for Buffalo, with 34 saves. “I thought we pretty much dominated the game, almost from start to finish, and we couldn’t find ways to score,” coach Ron Wilson said. “[Hasek] definitely made the difference in the game. He won the game. We had [Kolzig] win the game for us the other night, and this time he basically won the game for them.”

“We had a lot of quality chances; I thought it was our best game by far,” Capitals forward Adam Oates said. “Hasek made the big save every time. But it proves why they are in the semifinals [Conference Finals] as well. It’s obviously frustrating, but it happened in the first series, so we have to go back there and win again.”

June 4th, 1998 – Game 6

Back at Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo for Game 6, the Washington Capitals tried again to clinch the fourth, decisive victory over the Sabres to move on to the Stanley Cup Final. After a scoreless first period Sabres captain Michael Peca opened the scoring to give Buffalo the 1-0 lead, but 22 seconds later, forward Esa Tikkanen scored to tie the game at one for the Capitals. Then in the third period, Paul Kruse scored to retake the lead for the Sabres. With 5:59 remaining in regulation, Peter Bondra scored on the power play to tie the game 2-2, and force overtime for the Capitals.

Joe Juneau only needed 6:24 in the extra frame to give the Capitals the 3-2 victory and advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history.

“Adam Oates got the puck on a turnover, and he dished it to me, and all I remember him saying is ‘B.B., it’s all yours, just take it to the net.’,” forward Brian Bellows said about the leadup to Juneau’s goal. “So I shot it at him [Hasek], got the rebound, threw it at him again. Then I got tackled. I didn’t see the goal go in, and I still haven’t. It was just silence in the crowd. All I could hear was yelling from the bench, so I knew something good happened. It was either a goal or a brawl, and I knew it wasn’t a brawl.”

“Once Brian shot I was just looking for something to pop out my way,” Juneau said. “It did, and I was able to put it in. I really believed our line was going to be the one to score. We had so many opportunities. I knew we were going to be the ones.”

“I didn’t even realize we had scored because I had gone down,” Bellows said. “I didn’t know we won it until all of the guys were suddenly piling off the bench. It was an omen, I think. The last time I help set up Joey for a game-winning goal against Boston I was on the ground and I didn’t see that one either.”

Head coach Ron Wilson compared the win to the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. “I guess everybody wants to be a hero in a game like this,” Juneau, who has an aeronautical engineering degree, said. “I looked at them just before we went into overtime and told assistant coach Tim Army he was looking at Neil Armstrong. It’s good to put a little pressure on yourself and try to do it. This is the goal that brings you into the finals. It is the biggest deal.”

For captain Dale Hunter, accepting the Prince of Wales trophy was not only a highlight for the Capitals, but one for him as well. “It’s been a long time coming, to get the chance to win the Stanley Cup championship. I’ve been pumping for 18 years and I’ve never got a crack at it,” Hunter said. “It’s just an unbelievable feeling. We’ve had some hard times. I’ve been there for the hard times. And you’ve gotta appreciate the good times. This is a good time — right here, right now.”

When the Capitals returned home, fans packed the Piney Orchard parking lot to greet the team as they came off of the team bus. “It was amazing to see how much people actually cared,” defenseman Calle Johansson said. “You know they are going to cheer when you are at the arena and you win a game, but to come out of the way like that just to welcome us home and congratulate us, it was really special.”

The team went onto the ice at Piney Orchard to do a mini rally with the fans where players were throwing their Eastern Conference champions hats into the crowd, and even coaxing Esa Tikkanen into taking off his Eastern Conference champions shirt and throwing it into the crowd.

Western Conference Final

On June 5th, the Detroit Red Wings (#3) eliminated the Dallas Stars (#1) 4-2.

After winning the Eastern Conference Final, stay tuned for Chapter 13 – Stanley Cup Final v. Detroit Red Wings

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• Frey, Jennifer. “A Dream That’s One Step Away,” May 31, 1998. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1998/05/31/a-dream-thats-one-step-away/16e2f6aa-617f-49d2-890b-3cea1c775b6a/.
• Alexander, Rachel. “For the Capitals, It’s Closing Time: With 3-1 Lead, Team Can Finish Off Sabres Tonight,” June 2, 1998. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1998/06/02/for-the-capitals-its-closing-time/66a366dc-9a80-4701-bc12-9c42a4390fca/.
• Alexander, Rachel. “Capitals Are Handcuffed by Hasek: Sabres Goalie Has 34 Saves, Forces Game 6.” June 3, 1998. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1998/06/03/capitals-are-handcuffed-by-hasek/3db74a8e-2d93-46ef-97e9-5771f661d186/.
• Alexander, Rachel. “Deliverance: Caps Surge to Finals: Juneau’s OT Goal Ousts Sabres In Six Games,” June 5, 1998. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1998/06/05/deliverance-caps-surge-to-finals/af97ec16-d5b9-451c-9a6e-bae84c003912/.
• Clarke, Liz. “Capitals Revel in First Trip to Stanley Cup Finals: After 24 Seasons, ‘It’s Been along Time Coming,’” June 5, 1998. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1998/06/05/capitals-revel-in-first-trip-to-stanley-cup-finals/6543d2d1-85df-472d-a11f-42baddeacf42/.
• Parks, Brad. “Capitals Keeping the Faith: Juneau, Oates, Bellows ‘Take Team to the Moon’ in Game 6,” June 5, 1998. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1998/06/05/capitals-keeping-the-faith/bb040a2d-9349-443d-8750-74344d6a2a92/.
• Frey, Jennifer. “Once Hockey’s Also-Rans, They’ve Had the Run of the Playoffs,” June 5, 1998. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1998/06/05/once-hockeys-also-rans-theyve-had-the-run-of-the-playoffs/75439801-46ac-45bc-a424-c389549ca6f8/.
• Alexander, Rachel. “A Capital Celebration: But East Champs Still Have Work to Do,” June 6, 1998. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1998/06/06/a-capital-celebration/1fa9afe2-ac04-4a90-bdad-55af3db1cd49/.