My older brother has run every day for five years so it’s only appropriate that I started 2015 with my own streak: today I hugged a stranger.

Granted, I have no real intention of stretching this streak past one day, but for this one glorious day, the Washington Capitals made it a necessity.

The Caps hosted this year’s edition of the Winter Classic, the outdoor game that the NHL stages on New Year’s Day.  The venue was Nationals Park, where I’ve been dozens of times for baseball games (ok, fine, exactly 85 times according to my spreadsheet), but obviously never for hockey.

Across the street from the stadium, the NHL and various sponsors set up a fun fan zone area with food, live music and games:

I worked the night before and planned on napping for a few hours in my car before the game, but then I wasn’t tired at all and ended up getting to the park far earlier than my brother.  I killed the extra time doing things like shooting pucks at a pair of stacked dryers:

None of my pucks went in, but I can’t describe how satisfying it is to send a chunk of rubber slamming into a dryer.  Please try this in your home.  I give you full permission.

You may wonder how they make an ice rink inside a baseball stadium.  Well, there’s a series of pipes underneath the ice surface connected to this giant chiller truck parked outside:

No, I don’t know why Jonathan Toews has a hole in his forehead.  Anywho, the result is this:

We were out in right-center field with a slightly different view:

Note my sweet Winter Classic hat I picked up a few weeks ago.  Thanks to the Caps, or Bridgestone, or the NHL or leprechauns, we arrived at our seats to find these beauties, which were essential in the cold:

I also picked up official Winter Classic handwarmers and a bandana while playing one of the pre-game games, and shelled out hard-earned cash for the puck in the middle:

Oh, and they did actually play a hockey game.  The players came out of the replica Capitol building and lined up near us for the national anthem:

Then the ref dropped the puck, and many of the 42,000 of us in attendance started cheering on our beloved Caps:

Late in the game, with the score tied 2-2, the video board began playing the customary Unleash The Fury rally montage, and Nats Park let that fury fly:

WOOOOO!  What happened?  Well, the Caps eventually ended up on a power play with less than two minutes left in the game.  I told my brother a game-winning goal here would be THE GREATEST.  Naturally, Alex Ovechkin — aka The Great 8 — brought the puck into the zone in the waning seconds, it then ended up on the stick of Troy Brouwer, who buried it in the net with 12.9 seconds left:

Absolute bedlam.  We celebrated.  The Caps celebrated.

And I hugged a stranger.