Andrew Mollenbeck, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – If Caps fans can make it here, they’ll make it anywhere.
The decisive Game 7 between the Capitals and Rangers is Saturday in New York. Halfway across town, a “Caps Bar” in the East Village will be full of fans Rockin’ the Red.
“We had a couple regular customers coming in frequently who had moved up here from the D.C. area,” Gary Gillis, the owner of Standings Bar, says of the origin. “They would come in for Caps games, and they started bringing in some of their friends, and then their friends brought in friends.”
From there, word hit the Internet that the Caps had a hangout in the Village.
The sports bar focuses on American handcrafted ales and microbrews. It has no kitchen, and customers are encouraged to order from a binder of take-out menus from nearby restaurants.
“I’d say it’s about 80 percent Caps, 20 percent Rangers [fans],” Gillis says.
It really hasn’t gotten rowdy during the series, says Gillis, but each time the Rangers score a goal, their fans start crank calling the bar.
“When the Rangers score a goal or make some sort of key play,” says Gillis, “We don’t answer our phones because we know that it’s probably a crank caller.”
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