A Heartfelt Thank You: Over the last nine months, RMNB has taken away valuable time I could have spent with my closest friends or family. Honestly, I haven’t always enjoyed the late nights of writing, the five Diet Pepsi’s to get through the day or trekking across the tri-state area just to meet one person or get one photo.

But everything changed Saturday night when I met RMNB’s readers. You all are so fun, so passionate, and so dedicated. You showed us what it means to be a true Caps fan, and I feel so blessed that we have carved-out a place where you can all respectfully obsess with us.

At final count, over 150 fans of the blog gathered at Front Page Arlington to simply meet each other and have a good time. We gave you a great excuse to spend your money for a good cause; Samantha Casey’s charity Love146. At the end of the night, you were all gracious enough to donate almost $900 towards it. And yeah, some awesome prizes didn’t hurt either!

Simply put, you are all such inspiring people. You constantly encourage some of my closest friends: Peter, Neil, Fedor, and Kyle – to write insightful, creative, funny pieces about your favorite hockey team. We do this because you are so receptive, so responsive, and just so danged nice. Saturday night was really just a giant thank you to all of you for participating in a blog that has evolved from being more than just a hobby (that I do in my sweatpants). We eagerly look forward to this October and maybe – if we’re lucky – our 2nd Anniversary party can be in June.

Well, with that said, let’s relive the mayhem that was last Saturday Night.

Out of all of us, Neil probably had the best night:

Samantha Casey poses with Miss Virginia USA Neil Greenberg

Then Caps PA Announcer Wes Johnson announced us to the crowd:

Really. Our lives can only go downhill from here. (Photo by Jesse Vaughan)

The introductions were so epic, Neil made sure he could relive the moment for the rest of his life.

Say hello to the Best. Voicemail. Ever.

Then the raffle happened… And Neil embarrassed us again.

Not only did Murf win a RMNB t-shirt, he also won Neil for the night.

Amazingly, there was more to our party than Neil. Like…

Our amazingly beautiful crowd. (Photo by Jesse Vaughan)

We weren't kidding.

Hi!

Two of my favorite people!

Did any of you try the Ovie Burger?

Apparently, it was served on a hot dog bun with Swiss Cheese hand-made by Nicklas Backstrom.

The Bartender was busy all night.

He kept making us a shot that Wes came up with that night.

It was called “The Dale Hunter,” a shot to celebrate the HOFer’s 50th Birthday!

It was a mix of vodka, peach schnapps, and cranberry juice. MMM MMM Delicious.

We also made a big announcement!

Andrew Gordon is going to blog again with us during August!

And don’t worry, we didn’t forget about you Fedor!

We read Fedor’s unedited Thank-you note to the crowd.

Everyone loved it. Though I still don't get that parrot joke. (Photo by Jesse Vaughan)

We gave a lot of free stuff away

RMNB Koozies, keychains, stickers and magnets.

And we auctioned off some great items

Chris wins the ladies medium RMNB T-Shirt

The signed Mike Knuble stick.

And the highly sought-after Michael Jenkins Package

Everyone had a great time!

Even Crazy Knit Hat Lady and her posse consisting of Tim, Stacey and David.

We loved Victoria’s Shoes

The best keds EVER.

And Andrew’s Terrible Dancing

Morgan got a gift she’ll sure cherish forever

Really, I do.

So yeah, we totally had a great time

Kyle, Peter, Neil and Ian

How about next year, Stephanie Carosa actually makes the drive down from Buffalo?

Email us, Steph. We'll mail you some of the free stuff we gave away.

Finally, my terrible sketch found a great home

To the right of a Bears sign and an Edgar Allan Poe figurine!

Additional Coverage: Live in Red, On Frozen Blog

Front Page Arlington

What makes a good party? Drink specials, good food, and great friends.  If you throw in a sashed pageant-winner, signed Caps gear, and the lovely facilities of Front Page Arlington, you’re entering Great Party territory.  That’s RMNB’s First Year Party for you.

Here are the deets. At 6PM, the doors of our party will open to the huddled masses.  Hopefully, we’ll keep everyone properly entertained until 12:30am – or whenever Michael Jenkins shows up and saves us after SportsNite. This party is an all-ages affair, but attendees under the age of 21 will have their hands X’ed in classic D.C. tradition.

There will be no underage drinking at the party. Front Page is doing us a solid by letting us hang out, so we’re going to follow their rules.  Besides, we can’t have people thinking our readers are a bunch of loudmouthed buffons.  That’s our reputation, and we’ve worked too hard to let you usurp it.

Front Page is gracious enough to let us occupy the Back Bar and the Atrium as well. Let’s show them the proper respect for allowing us to run our victory lap in their fine establishment.  Would have been a lot more fun if we had a Stanley Cup with us…

How about the food? The Front Page has created a special burger just for the party. For $9.99, you will be able to eat the Ovie Burger, which I can only assume will include Russian Dressing, 8 pickles & a spicy dipping sauce made from the tears of Max Talbot. If you’re saving your hard-earned money for the raffle, the Front Page will also be offering Happy Hour specials until 8pm. Check it out:

Happy Hour Specials

Rail Drinks – $2.75, All Draft Specials – $3
House Wine – $3.25

Appetizers

Fried Ravioli – $3.49
Chicken Tenders – $3.49
Mozzarella Sticks – $3.49
Hummus Platter – $3.49
Quesadilla – $3.99 With Chicken: $5.49
Nachos – $3.49 With chicken or chili: $5
Hamburger Sliders With Fries $4.50
Chicken Sliders With Fries $4.50
Crab & Artichoke Dip – $4.49
Fried Calamari – $4.49
Front Page Buffalo Wings – $4.49
Mini Pesto Pizza – $4.99
Front Page Sampler – $5.49

Yeah. Go ahead and sign me up for like 10 orders of the Chicken Tenders.

Charity Raffle

The other big part of the night is going to be our raffle benefiting Sam’s charity Love146. Love146 is an organization that helps prevent child sex trafficking and exploitation around the world.  RMNB too has taken up the brave stance against human slavery, so we’re honored that Samantha gave us this opportunity to contribute. Our goal is to raise $1,000 Saturday night. Some of the items being raffled off include:

• Mike Knuble-signed hockey stick
• Alex Ovechkin-signed puck
• Mike Green-signed puck
• Nicklas Backstrom-signed puck
• Mathieu Perreault-signed puck
• John Carlson-signed bobblehead
• John Carlson not-really-signed-at-all bobblehead
• Signed cards from Boyd Gordon
• John Carlson-signed jersey t-shirt
• Two John Carlson-signed pucks
• Group-signed puck from the Russian prospects: Stanislav Galiev, Evgeny Kuznetsov & Dmitri Orlov
• Stanislav Galiev-signed puck
• Evgeny Kuznetsov-signed puck
• Dmitri Orlov-signed puck
• GMGM-signed puck
• Cody Eakin-signed puck
• Anton Gustafsson-signed puck
• Bruce Boudreau-signed puck
• Marcus Johansson-signed puck
• Braden Holtby-signed puck
• Zach Miskovic-signed puck
• 15+ RMNB shirts
• Framed Colored-Pencil masterpiece from Michael Jenkins
• 5 Hershey Bears Game 6 Calder Cup Finals DVD’s w/bonus footage from the ice. (Same as what the players got from the team.)
• Framed Photography from Neil Greenberg

How did we get all this stuff?  Mostly blackmail, but also the generosity of our friends and readers.

What To Wear?

The dress code is pretty simple: Either wear a RMNB t-shirt or whatever you think is appropriate hanging-out-with-a-model attire. Keep in mind that if you wear an RMNB t-shirt, Ian and Neil will definitely hug you (Peter will eyeball you suspiciously), and you’ll get a discount on your raffle ticket.  Personally, I’ll be wearing my recently acquired Dmitri Orlov KHL jersey.

Also, there will be a paid photographer at this event. So look pretty and  mug at the camera.

What To Bring

Your mobile device so you can tweet (hashtag: #rmnbparty), a camera, and money.

Finally…

You can get to Front Page Arlington by car or on the Metro (Orange Line, one block walk from the Ballston Station). Since it’s not a weekday, we have spared you the terrible, capitol Beltway traffic. You’re welcome.

We will also be trying to set up a “Like” station where people can follow us on Facebook and talk to Fedor Live From Moscow. That’s all subject to technical issues in the bar, but we’re going to try like the dickens to make it work.

Caps superfan supreme, The Horn Guy, will be in attendance.  If we’re lucky, he’ll bring the horn.

Remember: our party is in no way affiliated with the Washington Capitals, the greatest team to ever play the sport of hockey.

Well, that’s pretty much it. We think it’s gonna be a fun night. But if you’ve got “other plans“, we’ll totally understand.

See you Saturday night. If any of you have questions, please leave us a comment below and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.  IS PARTY NOW!

And oh yeah, someone please convince Peter to bring his guitar. [not gonna happen - pmh]

A good idea gone terribly, terribly wrong. (Sketch by Ian Oland)