NHL teams
Joe McDonald, ESPN Staff Writer 8y

Video and spiffy hats being used as extra motivation for the Washington Capitals

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Motivation can be summoned in many different ways.

As the Washington Capitals embark on their quest for a Stanley Cup title, the players were inspired even before they hit the ice for practice as they prepare for their first-round series against the Philadelphia Flyers. On Tuesday, the Capitals watched an emotional video and were also given hats with XVI across the front, which represents the number of wins (16) it will take to hoist the Stanley Cup.

Coach Barry Trotz wouldn't reveal many details on the footage, but he said it showed a lot of personal aspects of the team and was put together by video coach Brett Leonhardt.

"It was done for them," Trotz said. "It was done to motivate them and when you came out of there, a lot of guys would say that the hair on your arms would be tingling."

After Tuesday’s practice at Kettler Capitals Iceplex, all the players were sporting the navy blue hats with the red and white roman numeral lettering.

"It’s good to have a little motto to kind of hold on to and be able to fall back on,” said defenseman Karl Alzner. “We’ve had the ‘Stick to the script’ hats the whole year and those are the words we’ve always come back to. It was ‘Feed the right wolf’ last year and it’s just a cool motto something to really, when things are going really good or not going good, just to kind of look back and say, ‘OK, this is why we’re here. Remember it.’ Remember how we had our meeting when we got this stuff and the feeling then, so it’s good stuff."

The other motto for the postseason is “Entitled to Nothing,” which is also fitting given the fact that the Capitals won the Presidents’ Trophy as the best regular-season team in the league with 120 points. The Chicago Blackhawks were the last team to win both the Presidents' Trophy and the Stanley Cup when they won the Cup in 2013 after a 48-game, lockout-shortened season.

Trotz was extremely motivated after practice and said he can’t wait for Game 1 on Thursday at Verizon Center. The coach also said the intensity of the Stanley Cup playoffs is unmatched, especially in the first round.

“I woke up this morning, looked at the standings and everybody is equal today and that’s the great thing about the playoffs,” he said. “What you did in the past doesn’t matter -- you’re equal. You’re looking at opponents right in the eye and you’re going to go at it, and that’s a good feeling.”

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