Don’t think pro athletes have travel problems sometimes? The Caps left Montreal around 11:30 p.m. yesterday following a 6-3 win in Game 4 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series. But about halfway through a flight that usually takes under two hours they got some bad news: Heavy fog blanketed the Washington, D.C. area. Dulles Airport — where all the Caps’ cars were parked — wasn’t an option. Reagan National was out, too. So the team charter landed at BWI instead.
Okay, kind of a long ride home. But it was only 1 a.m. Then a bigger problem: No customs agents. Those offices had already closed and weren’t scheduled to re-open until 6 a.m. It took almost two hours to sort that out so players, coaches and staff could clear customs. Most left the airport in cabs around 4 a.m. Caps forward Eric Fehr went straight to his Arlington home — he says he’ll get his car from Dulles later today — and still wasn’t through his front door until 5:15 a.m. Needless to say — practice was canceled for Thursday. The Caps return to the ice for their morning skate on Friday at 10. Then they have a 7 p.m. date with the Canadiens in what could be a decisive Game 5 at Verizon Center.
