Baseball and hockey come together in Washington Capitals locker room

Now is a pretty good time to be a sports fan in Washington. Sure, the preseason World Series favorite Nationals are scuffling along at 10-13. But their two winter sports teams are both cruising along in the playoffs. The Wizards swept the Toronto Raptors and will face either the Atlanta Hawks or Brooklyn Nets in the second round.

The NHL’s Washington Capitals are in the second round of the playoffs, too, and there’s a baseball connection to their success. After every postseason win the Capitals blare John Fogerty’s baseball classic ‘Centerfield’ in the locker room. Watch as after Thursday night’s win over the New York Rangers Alex Ovechkin goes to the iPod and plays ‘Centerfield.’

Just about every team in sports has a go-to song for after victories, but what’s the connection between the Capitals and the Fogerty tune? The Washington Post tried to find out – and came up empty.

“I really don’t know the answer to that,” Brooks Laich said.

“I don’t want to really give away that information,” Tom Wilson said.

“I don’t know if I’m allowed to say, to be honest with you,” Brooks Orpik said.

…

The key point in this item is that I obtained exactly zero inside information, making this a total failure of reporting. Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. One player said he’d be able to explain after the season. Multiple players said Alex Ovechkin was responsible.”

So we’re not closer to finding out the connection. But maybe the answer actually does lie with Brooks Orpik, who played dumb above. Orpik was born in San Francisco and is a self-professed Giants fan. This 2014 story even goes as far as to say that Orpik chose a career in hockey over baseball.

No matter the reason, it’s fun to see the two sports coming together, and an excuse to get the tune stuck in our heads as the weather warms up and the second month of the season begins.

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Ian Denomme is an editor and writer for Yahoo Sports. Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.