Original story (1/05/19):
It's special to see a community come together so quickly for a cause and that's exactly what the Caps community has done for Alex Morse.
On New Year's Day, Alex was out walking to lunch with his girlfriend Rebecca in Northwest DC when he became the victim of violence. Alex was shot in the head as an innocent bystander and rushed to the hospital where he is currently in stable, but critical condition.
If you asked Alex's friends and family to describe him, one of the first things you would hear is how big of a Caps fan he is. He was born into the fandom, thanks to his father Jerry.
Growing up in New England, Jerry Morse was a hockey fan by nature. He grew up playing and loving the sport but was never able to get his hands on coveted Boston Bruins season tickets. Naturally, when he moved to the DMV and heard the region was getting a professional hockey team in the 1970s, it was a no-brainer for him to get season tickets.
He was one of the inaugural season ticket holders and held them for years, until children started to come into the picture and made it difficult to keep them.
Now don't think that just because they didn't have season tickets anymore that they weren't still Capitals fans-- quite the contrary. Jerry instilled his love for the Caps in all of his children.
One of Alex's parents' favorite story to tell is about the 1998 Stanley Cup run. Bea, Alex's mom, was teaching Alex how to drive in an empty parking lot and they had the radio on. When they heard the Caps won to make it to their first Stanley Cup Final series, Alex got a little distracted from the task at hand.
"My son got so excited that he almost rammed the car into a parked school bus," recalls Jerry.
Fast forward to the Alex Ovechkin era, (who Alex Morse takes pride in sharing a name with), Jerry decided to become a season ticket holder again and has never looked back.
As lifelong Caps fans, the Morse family has seen it all: the ups, the downs and all of the in betweens of the organization. No matter what, they kept attending games. As a result, when the team got over the second round playoff hump last season, the Morses were there to see it.
Alex was at Capital One Arena for the two Caps' home games during the Stanley Cup Final and the team has a staggering 9-0 record when Alex attends a game with his girlfriend Rebecca. (Talk about a good luck charm!)
Since the incident earlier this week, the Morse family has seen an outpouring of support from the hockey community, most of which they didn't expect.
"I am overwhelmed and I'm sure he Alex] would be too," said Jerry. "He follows everything that has to do the Caps. I just don't think he would believe it."
If you would like to contribute to the GoFundMe helping Alex's family pay for his medical bills, please
[click here.
