Capitals Assistant Equipment Manager Woody Leydig Brings Stanley Cup To Capital Gazette's Temporary Office

(The Baltimore Sun)–Craig “Woody” Leydig conducted an interview with The Capital around 2 p.m. last Thursday afternoon.

Leydig, the assistant equipment manager for the Washington Capitals, did the phone interview from the team’s headquarters – Kettler Iceplex, located in Arlington, Virginia.

Shortly after hanging up the phone, Leydig walked into the laundry room and saw breaking news on television announcing the shooting incident at the Capital Gazette offices in Annapolis.

“I turned to my co-workers and told them I just got done doing an interview with a reporter who might be in that building,” Leydig told The Capital. “I was absolutely stunned and extremely upset.”

Leydig immediately called back that reporter to make sure he was OK and was greatly relieved. However, the Annapolis resident was devastated upon learning that five other employees of Capital Gazette had been killed in the horrific incident at 888 Bestgate Road.

Every coach, player, trainer and equipment manager with the Washington Capitals is allowed to spend one day with the Stanley Cup. Leydig took possession of the silver chalice on Tuesday and Capital Gazette was foremost in his thoughts.

Leydig’s third stop with the Stanley Cup – after first taking a motorboat ride on the Chesapeake Bay then visiting by the Naval Academy – was the makeshift office of Capital Gazette.

Every June and July in the afterglow of the Cup’s annual handoff from Gary Bettman, we always hear, and love, the stories of the boys ringing up re-donk bar tabs, overflowing Cocoa Pebbles in the Cup’s bowl, and partying until the team’s enforcer calls and tells you to cut the shit and go home. And social media has made the experience more fun and collaborative as ever (see: Ovechkin, Alex).

But in his day with the Cup, Craig Leydig, the equipment manager for the reigning champion Washington Capitals, made sure to stop by the temporary office of the Captial Gazette, the Annapolis newspaper that became the latest on an endless list of American cities victimized by a mass shooting. He wanted to give the survivors a temporary respite from their trauma, lift their spirits, and do something “good”. A surprise Cup visit to help people heal, if even temporarily, is always a good thing.

As you can see above, it was an incredibly emotional moment for Leydig and Bill Wagner, the reporter who interviewed him just before the shooting (as well as any viewer with a pulse). Full props to Leydig for this incredibly kind and unselfish gesture, particularly at a time when journalists, thanks to morons, have become literal targets for merely doing their jobs. We always hear about the generosity and kindness of the athletes so it’s nice to acknowledge a working guy who is the grease that makes his team run and recognize his character as well. Well done, Woody.