Letter From The Editor: A Huge Thank You To The Capitals, Hockey Community & A Pupdate

Thank you so much to the Capitals community for helping bring my dog, Kuzy, home.

If I learned anything this past week, it’s just how amazing life is — and how wonderful the people on this planet are.

Truly.

It’s been quite the past couple of weeks, and everything kind of boiled over into chaos on Monday night.

Before leaving for my hockey game, I gave my dog, Kuzy, her treatment for allergies, which meant I had to leave her collar off so it could dry. I picked up my hockey bag and stick, secured the baby lock on the door (I’ll explain in a second) and shut it behind me before heading out.

First, some background on Kuzy. She’s a German Shepherd Terrier (the size of a Terrier, looks like a Shepherd). Only 29 pounds, the runt of her litter and the only girl. I rescued her from an abusive situation in Kentucky about five years ago, and she’s truly the sweetest girl. But very, very clingy, and sometimes… a lot to handle. But every day is worth it. She’s such a special girl.

Anyway, Kuzy needs a baby lock on the door because she’s able to open doors by pulling down on the handle and pulling back. It’s a very cool party trick and icebreaker… but not really fun to deal with. She’s quite the escape artist, and she’s very, very clingy.

Little did I know that she’d figured out the lock on the door, and ended up sinking her claws into it and pulling the lever down herself before opening the door and showing herself down the stairs. From there, someone opened the door, and she was on the run.

I got home about 10 minutes after she busted out, with the front desk of the building frantically explaining what’d happened. My Ghost Pirates teammate, Jason White, and I went out to look around.

My heart shattered. I walked around downtown Bethesda for 30 minutes, and then had my mom come down to do some more searching for Kuzy. We were screaming her name over and over, going in circles, hoping she’d turn up. She didn’t.

I was at a loss when I had to call the search for the night and go home. It was the worst feeling in the world. I didn’t know where else to turn and filled out the routine forms, but also decided to get help from the place I love most: my hockey community.

And thank goodness I have it. Everyone was searching for Kuzy, from my teammates to my work colleagues, to personalities throughout the area. It was such a moving moment for me to see the Caps players join in, too, with Jakob Chychrun helping spread the word to bring Kuzy home.

I barely slept over the course of the night as I slept by the window, opening my eyes every 20 minutes to see if she’d made her way back to the front of the apartment building. But no dice. So I woke up early and got moving again.

My other teammate, Carrie Collins, headed out with me to continue the search in a couple of different parks. After checking the woods in one of the bigger areas to no avail, we headed back to downtown to continue the search.

As we were driving, I got a call from a lovely British woman, who said she heard about Kuzy and thinks it’s the dog she found the previous night. I raced over to the apartment building nearby and, after a few minutes of waiting in the lobby, I heard the familiar pitter-patter of paws on the floor. I knew it was Kuzy, and we were finally reunited.

What happened was that she had gone outside and, with her newfound freedom, wanted to go party with friends. So she ran to her favorite place: Dogtopia, her doggy daycare, and camped out in front of the entrance while trying to get inside. Good plan, though it’s a daycare, and not a nightclub, so it was closed by the time she got there around midnight.

That’s when someone saw her, and Kuzy, who’s great at making friends, tagged along and got free room and board for the night. What a champ.

But this happy ending wasn’t just a feel-good story; it was an epiphany for me. As a sports journalist, I deal with “imposter syndrome” sometimes, wondering if I’m good at the job, if I connect with the fanbase, if I’m doing right by the team, if the players enjoy talking to me, etc. etc.

And just seeing how many people were eager to come to our aid for my family… I can’t put it into words. Knowing that even though I’m not on the ice, I’m still part of the team, it’s the ultimate feeling.

Just thank you. Thank you so much to every single one of you and the Capitals and hockey community for helping bring my dog home, but also for being wonderful and for all the support. It truly means everything.

Here’s to more hockey.