Colin Foster has been a Caps fans his entire 22 years of existence and has been through the numerous playoffs failures and he says the Caps are one defender away from playoff glory.

“We need a good D-man, and no, Mike Green doesn’t count,” said Foster.  “All the great teams have a good shut-down defenseman.”

Other fans, like Adam Sebring say a goalie is all that’s needed.

“Theo and Varly,” said Sebring.  “Those arn’t two names I want in my net when I’m trying to win a Cup.  They need a good goalie and they’d be fine.”

Whatever the Caps need they have all summer to think about it and go out and get it.  Next year everyone starts fresh,  but as Caps fans know, you should always expect to be let down.

“Yes please, I would love to pay more for a product that can’t win when it counts,” said season ticket holder Lenny Johnson.  “They want more money, but they can’t keep justifying it with good regular seasons, it’s time to start winning when it counts.”

Winning when it counts is a common theme among Caps fans and even fans who attend just a few games a year are upset.  Tim White attends roughly five games  a year and said he will stick to the television next year.

“Watching them on TV will do just fine for me,” said White.  “I’m not going to shell out a ton of money to see a game when I can turn on my TV and see the same thing, it’s just getting ridiculous with the prices they want, especially since they only want to win in the regular season.”

Senior Chad Rock says he has been a Caps fan for two years and will continue to be even after the disappointing end to the season.

“Yea, I’ll keep liking them,” said Rock.  “They’re going to have a good team for a few years, they just need to figure out how to win in the playoffs.  Once I started watching hockey I was hooked, it’s a lot of fun.”

Sophomore Anise Richards sported her Mike Green jersey during the playoffs this year and says she’ll continue to support the team as well.

“I just started liking the team this year,” said Richards.  “I bought a Mike Green jersey and wore it, but I might need to switch jerseys because he played terrible in the playoffs.  Anything to help out.”

However, freshman Phillip Hose said he had fun watching the Caps while it lasted, but won’t be back.

“I’m a football guy,” said Hose.  “All my friends were watching the Caps, so I decided to watch too,  but I can’t see myself sitting through another season.  I wanted to pay attention this season to see if I was interested, but I think I like football more still.”

Representing your country in tournament play is a big deal to the Russians and to understand why I asked Russian Sveltlana Bournikov what hockey means to her country.  Sveltlana and I used to work together and she would always tell me the differences between America and Russia.

“America like football, Russia like hockey,” said Bournikov in her Russian accent.  “It always cold in Russia, we play hockey all the time like you play baseball here.  The players have a real sense of pride in their country, it no surprised they play after the season.”

Not only are the Pens done, but their exit marks the final end for their longtime arena, affectionately known as “the Igloo.”

Longtime Pens fan and Pittsburgh resident Todd Donahue,37, was at the deciding game 7 last night.

“It was the end to a lot last night,” said Donahue.  “The Pens lost, but so did the Mellon Arena.  The Igloo is no more after tonight and I’ve had a lot of memories in that building.  From hockey games to concerts, that building was pretty special to me.”

The Penguins will start the season in a new building across the street next year.

After the Caps blew another season, I emailed my old friend, Jean DeBouis, and asked him for some thoughts.

“ My thoughts?  What a hell of a series.  Halak played like a man possessed,” said DeBouis.  “My family and I had a party at our house to watch the game and we just couldn’t believe it.  No one gave us a chance and then we come out and do this.  This is the Super Bowl to us.  No one in the states understands what hockey means to people in Canada.  It’s religion.”

While Caps fans sit and wonder what went wrong, Montreal will take on the Penguins in Round 2.

“The Penguins are going to be tough,” said DeBouis.  “I mean, after knocking off the Caps though, who knows what this team can do.”

Jamie Swinford is a new Caps fan, deciding to start following the team on their history season.  She says the team she watched wasn’t the same team that took the ice in the playoffs.

“I never would have got into them if this was the team they were in the playoffs,” said Swinford.  “They couldn’t score, couldn’t pass, they were just real bad.”

Amazing what two years can do when two years ago Caps fans were happy the Caps even made the playoffs at all and when the team lost in seven games to Philadelphia everyonewas okay with it.

“It was different then,” said Ed Pipken, who started following the team that year.  “This year, anything but a trip to the finals would have been a disappointment.  I’ve followed this team for two years now and it keeps getting worse every year.”

No longer can Caps fans hold out optimism until next season, hoping to build on past failures.

“What else is there,” said Pipken.  “This was the best shot we’re going to have for a long time.”

A terrible offensive zone penalty resulted in a power play goal for Montreal and as Green was spinning around like a fool late in the third the second Montreal goal was scored.

Words cannot describe how horrible Mike Green has been in his playoff career.  He seems to just turn it off and coast through, hoping to get to start his summer as soon as possible.

I’ve never like the guy as a player, but even Mike Green enthusiast and longtime Caps fan Matt Morris is beginning to agree.

“I’m a big Green fan,” said Morris.  “Having said that, he has really not played very well when it counts.  Whether it’s the pressure or what, I don’t know.  He has been single-handedly responsible for a lot of goals and he’s on a short leash now.  Just play smart, it’s not that hard.”

“Speechless,” said Don Saum, game 7 attendee.  “Every year is a new heartbreak with this team.  The building was silent most of the game and we all just sat there looking into space after the game.  I just can’t even believe it.”

Not even the countless blown series leads against the hated Penguins can compare to this.  The Caps won their first ever Presidents Trophy for most points in the regular season and it was all for nothing.

“I would like to have hope for next year,” said Saum.  “I just can’t must any enthusiasm.  This was the best team in the history of the franchise and look what happened.”

Confused, I stopped the nearest associate I could find and asked them why.

“Um, I just don’t think it sold that well the last time we had it in,” said Emily Cardone, a sales associate.

In fact, the Caps gear generated the fewest sales out of all the local sports teams they had in stock, according to manager Rod Bumbaugh.

“We had a few shirts and Ovechkin jerseys last season,” said Bumbaugh.

“We ended up having to reduce them to clearance and even then we had a hard time getting rid of them. If they do well this year then we’ll see, but unfortunately we just can’t stock them if they arn’t going to sell.”

Even a trip to the Sports Authority in Frederick, Md was in short supply on a recent trip and their associate said the same thing.

“It just doesn’t sell well, so we don’t stock it.”