The Kevin Hatcher Fan Club

PHed

2008-06-26T17:22:00.000-05:00

The Kevin Hatcher Fan Club is on permanent hiatus.

The Shootout Returns to Washington

2007-11-28T23:17:00.000-05:00

Florida 2 - Washington 1 F-SO

One of the things most people made note of upon Viktor Kozlov's signing with the Caps was his proficiency in the shootout. Tonight, he was exactly as good as advertised. Sadly, so were the rest of his teammates. Once again, the Caps didn't do anything particularly badly (aside from a couple of bad penalties at the start of the game), but they also didn't do anything well enough to come away with two points. This is getting sort of repetitive, no?

I hate to trot out the tried-and-true "hot goalie" cliche, but Thomas Vokoun was on fire tonight. His save on Alex Ovechkin's power-play one-timer at the end of OT had me shaking my head in disbelief.
At the other end, Olie Kolzig was equally brilliant. He is in a zone right now. If only someone could find a way to close up his five-hole during shootouts...
Dave Steckel had a very good, if very frustrating, night. Chris Clark's goal came immediately after Steckel hustled to the corner to beat out an icing call despite being at the end of his shift. (I could note that, had he failed to beat out the icing, he would have been forced to go back for a defensive zone draw, since there are no line changes for the team that ices the puck, so that maybe it wasn't so much heroism as self-preservation. But I won't.) He also managed to create some quality scoring chances. If he could find a way to get the puck more than an inch off of the ice, the Capitals probably skate away with a regulation win tonight.
Both Clark and Alexander Semin were both absent from the bench during OT and the shootout. Which is foreboding, to say the least. Anybody think the Caps' chances would've improved if they could've trotted Semin out during the shootout?
The AP report lists the announced attendance as 10, 526, the second lowest of the season. If the actual number of butts in seats was even two thirds that, I'll eat my hat.
Speaking of hats, classy move by Brent Johnson, wearing the Burgundy and Gold on the bench in place of his usual RWB.
If I told you that both goaltenders in tonight's game had 2.85 GAAs, would you believe me? Not to mention the fact that their respective save percentages are seperated by just .009. Methinks the Caps might considering scoring a little more often.
Ovechkin's point streak ends at nine games. Here's hoping he starts another such streak Friday night.

Next up is Friday night in Raleigh against the Hurricanes.

So That's Why They Call It a 'Power' Play

2007-11-25T11:40:00.000-05:00

Washington 5 - Carolina 2

If you think back to the long long ago, the before time, you may remember a Washington Capitals team that, under Glen Hanlon, would regularly come out of the locker room and dominate the first few minutes of the game, only to give up a goal on their opponent's first shot. They would then proceed to fall behind over the course of the next two periods, leading up to a frantic third period in which their valiant comeback attempt would fall just short.Last night, they completely flipped that script.

Olie Kolzig was absolutely brilliant in the first half of the second period, standing on his head several times to keep the Caps in it early until they could finally start generating some offense.
The Caps' power play failed to score on all but three of their four chances. It makes Hanlon's insistence on keeping Alex Ovechkin on the point in lieu of Mike Green all the more baffling.
Speaking of Alex Ovechkin, he appears to have shaved. It is a testament to his consistent excellence that I consider this more notable than his two-goal night. Don't look now, but Ovechkin is now in a five-way tie for second in the league in goal scoring.
Speaking of Mike Green, stop taking stupid penalties Mike Green!
Erik Cole certainly made Milan Jurcina and John Erskine look rather silly, didn't he?
If I'm going to complain about poor officiating after Caps' losses, it's only fair I point out that tonight's referees made some questionable calls in the Caps' favor, with the phantom tripping call on Matt Cullen behind the net being the most notable. It's always interesting to see the referee with a better vantage point decide not to call a penalty, only to have the trail official throw his arm in the air.

I think the general mood is pretty well summed up by this excerpt from the AP recap of the game: "'I can't tell you,' Michael Nylander said with a smile. 'Seriously, I can't say anything.'" Yes, you read that right, Michael Nylander does, in fact, have the appropriate facial muscles to achieve a smile, and last night, he had every reason to use them.

On a completely unrelated note, if you were looking for a reason to become irratinally angry at someone today, read this. Countdown to enraged reaction throughout the Caps' blogosphere in 3...2...1...

All He Does Is Score Goals: Part IV

2007-11-23T17:13:00.000-05:00

Washington 4 - Philadelphia 3 F/OT

I didn't see the game today, so I'll keep things simple, as I'm basing my whole recap on the box score.

Good - Opening up a three goal lead. I don't have the stats in front of me, but I would guess that today was only the second or third time the Caps have had a lead that big at any point in a game.
Bad - Blowing a three goal lead.
Good - Not giving up after blowing a three goal lead. This is especially encouraging, as this is a team that packed it in after blowing a one goal lead in the 2nd period on Wednesday.
Especially good - Donald Brashear. All he does is score goals.

This is only the second time all season that the Capitals have managed a win when allowing their opponent to score more than one goal. They had previously been 1-14-1 in such games.

Hanlon 'Relieved' and So Am I

2007-11-23T10:46:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, as you probably know by now, Capitals' GM George McPhee gave every Capitals fan something to be thankful during America's Thanksgiving, as Glen Hanlon was relieved of his duties as head coach. I recieved the news via a brief text message from my brother, and I will admit that m excitement was tempered slightly when I called him up only to find out that the team had replaced Hanlon with the team's third consecutive head coach with no previous NHL experience.

A day later, and I am decidedly less sour about the decision to install Hershey bench boss Bruce Boudreau, whose name I will have to learn to spell correctly. By all accounts, he is a more offense-oriented coach than Hanlon, which is exactly what this team needs right now. My biggest complaint about Hanlon was his insistence on playing too much of a defense-centric style despite a roster stacked mostly with explosive offensive stars. Hopefully, we can expect to see a team that, through the first quarter of the season has been, and I'm being generous here, altogether inept on offense turn things around and start scoring some goals. If not, I'm willing to give George McPhee the benefit of the doubt and assume that Boudreau's interim tag actually means "interim" instead of "if he has anything resembling success we will remove this tag so we don't have to go out and find a real head coach".

Should the team continue to underperform, the focus shifts now exclusively to George McPhee. While there are some who have been calling for his head for years, I genuinely belive that he has done a pretty good job with what he has had to work with. He spent a large part of his tenure with this team handcuffed by an owner who, at the time, was looking to become a slightly more portly version of Daniel Snyder, and we are only just now starting to see what he can do when left mostly to his own devices. His drafting has been very good of late, albeit this is due in part to the bevy of high first rounders like Ovechkin, Backstrom and Alzner. His moves during this past off season were, in theory at least, exactly what the team needed. The only way I see McPhee departing at the end of the season is if the team continues to perform as miserably as they have through the first twenty-one games and finishes in the basement yet again. Even then, though, I think he deserves at least one more season after this to finally give some of his draft picks to really gel (I'm looking at you, Karl Alzner) and free agents to finally acclimate themselves. That said, I'm still naming him the interim KHFC Whipping Boy for the time being, if only because I have no one else to pick on with Hanlon gone.

Game one of the B^2 era starts this afternoon in Philly. I won't be able to watch the game, as I have work today, but I will be checking the score obsessively when I should be doing my job. Here's hoping that the team can finally start to turn the corner.

My Feelings About Last Night's Game

2007-11-16T23:03:00.000-05:00

Tampa Bay 5 - Washington 2

FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON!
FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON!
FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON!
FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON!
FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON!
FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON!
FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON!
FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON!
FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON!
FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON! FIRE HANLON!

Caps' Offense Remains Mystifying

2007-11-15T22:36:00.000-05:00

Can we officially declare that the Caps simply aren't a very good team right now? After an ugly, sloppy, painful to watch 2-1 loss to a Florida Panthers team that is pretty awful in it's own right, that is about the only conclusion I can come to. Let's move on to the quick hits:

7:30 PM start times really suck. Not as bad as 8:00 start times, but still pretty awful. More awful than that? The Caps' power play, which still features approximately no Mike Green whatsoever.
Remember a week and a half ago, when the Caps beat the best team in the conference and had their best overall performance by employing an effective cycle in the offensive zone? Per Joe B. and Locker, Glen Hanlon tonight specifically wanted the Caps NOT to cycle the puck but to "funnel" the puck. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.
Actually, I am saying. For the love of god, fire Hanlon.
Please?
In Hanlon's defense, Viktor Kozlov was, once again, mostly silent. Is it too early to declare his signing a bust and start praying for stem-cell research to cure Eric Fehr's wonky back?
It would also be nice if someone could find a cure for Tom Poti's inexplicable desire to never be in position along the blue line to keep the puck in, while we're talking about mostly useless free agents. Seriously, coach... Mike. Green.
You know who didn't play particularly well tonight? Thomas Vokoun. You know who made him look like he was? Every single player on the Capitals' team. What is so difficult about finishing off a scoring chance? Isn't this why the team traded away Dainius Zubrus?
Chris Clark looked good, I guess. I mean, it's nice to have him back and all, but the team still only managed one goal.

Between the Caps' woes and the Redskins' recent inability to score on six different attempts from inside the five yard line, I am becoming increasingly despondent over the state of my favorite teams. Which is good, I guess, if you're a purveyor of beer, wine and/or spirits in the Mt. Vernon Square neighborhood of D.C. But for the rest of us? This sucks.

Capitals 2 - Tampa Bay 5

2007-11-10T21:48:00.001-05:00

As the saying goes: "If it ain't broke, juggle your line combinations and completely alter your overall gameplan."

Or so it would seem based on Glen Hanlon's handling of the team in tonight's 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay. After having success against the best team in the NHL by employing an aggressive forecheck, Hanlon elected to have the team play a more passive, trapping-style of game against a Lightening team that, much like the Senators, has most of it's firepower centered on one line. As a result, the Caps came out pretty flat in the first period, and were very lucky that the Lightning mailed the first period in as well. I don't think I've ever seen a more boring period of hockey played.

Hanlon also juggled the line combonations pretty drastically, at one point going so far as to send Nicklas Backstrom onto the ice in between similarly talented offensive dynamos Donald Brashear and Matt Bradley. Why? Why would he do that? There's no possible explanation for such a thing that could possibly make any sense. Although, to be fair, "The Killer B's" would be a great nickname for that line.

Okay. Rant over. Let's move on to my quick hit thoughts for the game:

Olie Kolzig looked kind of shaky at times. This team can't afford to have him do that. Ever.
Hello again, offensive-minded Mike Green. We missed you.
Donald Brashear, for the second time in three games, took a stupid penalty late in the game that really handcuffed any chance the Caps had of mounting a comeback.
Chris Bourque had 7:27 time on ice. How is it that Brashear and Bradley can get playing time with an offensive minded guy like Backstrom, but Bourque is left to languish on the fourth line and asked to fill a role he isn't really suited for?
After outshooting Ottawa 35-28, the Caps flipped the script and were outshot 34-25.

The Caps are now 2-5 at home, so perhaps it's a good thing that, after a four day layoff, their next two games are on the road against dvision rivals. Of course, one of those rivals are the Florida Panthers who have had the Caps' number for the last few seasons, and the other is this same Tampa Bay team. The Lightning are 6-0-1 at home, for those of you keeping score.

That's "Nicklas." With a "C."

2007-11-09T00:34:00.000-05:00

Hi there, friends and neighbors! Let me very briefly apologize for my exceptionally long absence from the ol' blog here. I was really busy there for a while. I even missed the first three games of the season. After that, as you probably know, the Caps haven't done a whole lot worth writing about.

Tonight's win over Ottawa, however, is worth writing about. It is one thing to record a win against the team with the best record in the NHL. It is quite another to go into their home building and do it. IT's even better still when your team comes into the game mired in a soul-crushing slump that has catapulted you to the bottom of the league standings. Yet that is exactly, as you may have figured out by now, what the Washington Capitals did tonight, beating the Ottawa Senators by a final tally of 4-1.What follows here are various thoughts I had about tonight's game, organized by the player about whom I was thinking, in an easy to digest, bullet point format (including one needlessly ignorant statement), because I can no longer be bothered to string together a series of coherent paragraphs, sentences, or, on occasion, letters. Sooojruofm.

Alex Ovechkin - Had a good game. 1-1-2. Meh. Call me when he has a ten-goal night, because at this point, there's nothing more he can do to impress me more than he already has.
Victor Kozlov - He's playing much better after moving to his natural right wing position. This is a phrase I will probably write quite often. (Note to idiot coaches: Yes! I know it seems weird! But most players do, in fact, thrive when assigned to the roles for which they are best suited!)
~~NIKLAS BACKSTROM~~ NICKLAS BACKSTROM!!!! He's playing much better after moving to his natural center position. It took him sixteen often-frustrating games, but Nick With a C finally kicks off the first six game goal scoring streak of his career. I'm assuming. (Ed. Note: How is it that I knew, almost immediately, that Backstrom had scored the goal while Smokin Al and Locker had to spend twenty minutes analyzing the replay? Because I saw Michael Nylander immediately reach into the net, pick up the puck, and skate off with a souvenir that will probably have some sentimental value for his young teammate. Because that's the kind of classy veteran Michael Nylander is. I guess what I'm trying to say is: I can't stand Al Koken.)
Brooks Laich - Played much of the game on the first line alongside Ovechkin and Michael Nylander, which I think is a brilliant move on the part of Glen Hanlon. If you can't put Chris Clark on Ovie's right wing, why not put his eerily similar looking doppelganger out there?
Speaking of Chris Clark, what's that guy's deal? He was practically invisible out on the ice tonight, almost as if he wasn't even there. Not the kind of play you expect from your captain.
Olie Kolzig - Had his best game of the season, I thought. His shutout against Carolina might have been better, but screw you, I missed that game because I was doing a play. I am a very busy and important person.
Kerry Fraser - Should not be required to wear a helmet. Period. The excess hair-product fumes that are trapped underneath that helmet seem to have done to Fraser's brain what they would otherwise be doing to our planet's ozone layer.
Chris Borque - Should consider plastic surgery. He could probably get more ice time on Ovechkin's line if his face starts looking more like a particular Lithuanian Devil. Of course, he'd also need to start skating on stilts. Even so, it's got to be better than the two-or-three-shifts-then-ride-the-bench strategy he and Donald Brashear employed tonight.

Did you find the needlessly ignorant statement? If you said to yourself "Biff, you moron, Chris Clark is on injured reserve", then you were right. If, however, you said it out loud, you probably should see a mental health professional.

Next game is at home Saturday night against the 0-6 on the road Tampa Bay Lightning.

An Open Letter to the City of Philadelphia

2007-09-17T22:54:00.000-05:00

Eat it.

What The Hell Just Happened?

2007-09-17T19:05:00.001-05:00

I'm watching the four letter network's "Countdown to Monday" or whatever the hell they call their MNF pregame show, and just now, at 8:04 PM EST on September 17, 2007, Tony Kornheiser, out of the blue, just compared 'Skins QB Jason Campbell to none other than Alex Ovechkin. Even scarier? After they threw it back to Stu Scott, Scott threw out a reference to both Ovechkin AND Crosby. Please, somebody, tell me you saw it too, because I'm still not sure I believe my ears.

Needless to say, both Scott and Kornheiser will probably be fired by tomorrow morning.

Training Camp - Day I

2007-09-14T15:29:00.000-05:00

So it begins. Today was day number one of the Capitals' 2007-08 season as training camp kicked off in earnest, and I, as has become my custom for the past week, made the trek down to K-Plex née KCI. Unfortunately, do to some ill advised consumption of some very tasty Jameson the previous evening, I wasn't able to get there in time for all the "pregame" festivities. I arrived just as the actual practice was starting and was immediately overwhelmed by it all. The Caps had somewhere in the neighborhood of sixty hockey players spanning two full size ice sheets, not to mention all the other attractions like the Vezina, Selke, Norris and Calder Trophies upstairs, or the new jerseys (finally) for sale in the team shop. So I'll go ahead and leave any sort of in depth analysis of the first day of camp to the experts (check out OFB's liveblogging, plus updates from Tarik and Corey). I will, however, quickly note that Victor Kozlov appeared to take a puck to the face towards the beginning of the scrimmage and was not seen or heard from again for the remainder of practice. Hopefully that will prove to be nothing significant. (UPDATE: Corey Masisak strikes again.)

The most interesting part of the day, for me at least, was the "Town Hall" style meeting with Ted Leonsis and Chris Clark (Olie Kolzig was also advertised, but he didn't show). Now I'm not a fan of town hall meetings (link is to The Onion and is hilarious), but I had nothing better to do. I'm glad I went because, as it turns out, Chris Clark is a glorious fountain of great quotes. One of the people in attendance asked Clark how much he, as captain, has input into personnel decisions. Clark responded by saying that the only thing management ever asks him about is what a particular player might be like off of the ice, explaining that there are some guys who are really talented who are complete knuckleheads away from the rink. Immediately, a lady in the back asked Clark to spill the dirt on which guys he's played with were the knuckleheads and Chris, after diplomatically responding that he has been very lucky in his career, finally gave in and said "I think you guys had one here right before the lockout." He stopped just shy of adding "*cough*jagr*cough*". The comment drew immediate laughter and applause from everyone in the room.

Some other highlights from the meeting:
-Chris Clark comparing Milan Jurcina to the cast of the film 300, in response to a question about which player showed up to camp in the best shape. He went so far as to say it might be a good idea to have Milan walk shirtless past the opposing team's dressing room as a scare tactic.
-Clark talking about why his offensive numbers wouldn't necessarily go down moving to the third line, explaining that, when on a line with Ovechkin "you're always up against Chara" versus the checking line playing against some of the more defensively suspect players opposing teams have to offer.
-Clark admitted that the team had probably not taken the shootout seriously enough in practice last year and said it was something he thought they would spend more time working on this year.
-In response to a question about low attendance at home games, Clark said "we need to steal some of those Redskins fans", which garnered enthusiastic applause.
-The only thing of note that came out of Ted's mouth was some additional information about the "Rivals Package" they've set up to try to keep games against the Penguins and Flyers et. al. from turning into de facto road games. Apparently, the plan is to market these rivals plans for awhile and then jack up the price of single game tickets to the games the package applies to, thus further discouraging opposing fans from making the trip (or profiting handsomely off of them should they still decide to come). So if you aren't a season ticket holder, or at least a partial plan holder, you may want to seriously consider going in for one of those packages, if only to avoid getting gouged.

I've got a ton of pictures from today's festivities, but I'm also pressed for time and I won't be able to post them today, but I promise that I will, barring any technical difficulties, have them up for you by tomorrow morning. I'm still not sure if I'll be able to make it out to the Plex tomorrow, so I can't say whether I'll have any more updates for you over the weekend.

Caps' Media Day - Completely Fabricated Edition

2007-09-13T12:16:00.000-05:00

Today is Media Day down at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. I was not issued an invitation, which is not surprising after I let it slip to a Caps official that my only real motivation for attending would have been to get close enough to Dave Steckel to enact my sweet revenge. But I'm dedicated to bringing you the in depth coverage you can't get anywhere else, so I wasn't about to let a little thing like a direct order from team management not to show up get in the way of bringing you a hard hitting story. So I did some investigating, and eventually, I was able to get Dave Steckel on the phone for a hard-hitting, in-depth interview, the transcript of which follows:

KHFC: So, Dave, please explain to my readers, in as much detail as possible, why you are trying to kill me?

DS: Who is this?

KHFC: Very funny. Seriously though, what's the deal with that?

DS: How did you get this number?

KHFC: Given your precarious position on the Caps' depth chart, shouldn't you really be more focused on trying to kill, say, Brooks Laich?

DS: Why would I try to kill Brooksie?

KHFC: Why would you try to kill me, you psycho?!

DS: ... (hangs up)

So, there you have it folks. Dave Steckel: a man who clearly wants to off his own teammates to ensure himself a spot on the opening night roster.

Rookie Camp - Day 5: Live From Voorhees!

2007-09-12T11:39:00.000-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I am excited to report to you that hockey season has, more or less, arrived. Per Tarik, the gang's all here. Media day is tomorrow, followed by the kickoff of training camp down at Kettler on Friday. There's a chill in the air. And to top it all off, today, players wearing Capitals sweaters took the ice to play a full sixty minutes against a group of opponents wearing Flyers black. Granted, what we're talking about here is a rookie game. Nevertheless, it was a real game, with an announcer giving us names and numbers for the players scoring goals (or, in the Caps' case, taking penalties). There were actual people (well, Flyers fans anyway) in the stands. And the best part? Dave Steckel was no where to be seen.

As for the game itself, it could have gone better. The Caps' rookies dominated the course of play for the first two periods but did themselves in with a bevy of first period penalties. Six in the first period alone, to be exact, resulting in two Philly power play goals. In fact, through the first two periods, the power play was pretty much the only way Philly's rookies were able to generate any sort of offense. The Flyers' rookies were clearly not as talented at the Caps', but what they lacked in raw ability, they more than made up for in old school Broad Street Bully-ism. They played a very physical game, finishing pretty much all of their checks, whereas there were only one or two Caps players who seemed especially interested in throwing their bodies around. The physical play seemed to wear down the Caps' rookies eventually, and the Flyers managed to pull even with the Caps in the third period scoring two goals to put the game away.

How much can we read into the results of this game? Not much. The roster that took the ice up in Voorhees today is not a roster that will ever play in an NHL game that counts. It was a little discouraging to see the guys physically handled by the Flyers' rookies, but I think it's safe to say that it won't take too much time playing alongside the likes of Chris Clark, Donald Brashear and Alex Ovechkin will correct the problem in any of the rookies that should eventually make the team.

The most enlightening part of the day, for me at least, was the play of Karl Alzner. There's not much I can say about him that hasn't already been said. He is the real deal. I was focused on him pretty much every time he was on the ice and I don't think he ever made a mistake. There was one instance in which he and a Flyers player got in a footrace for a loose puck, and despite the fact that the Flyers player beat him to the puck clean, he still managed to somehow catch up and strip the puck, eliminating any sort of scoring opportunity. I think it is entirely possible that Alzner is already the most talented player on the team in terms of pure defensive ability. Obviously, there are alot of things he has to do besides just stopping opposing players one on one, but I wouldn't be shocked at all to see him realistically challenge for a roster spot.

With all that said, let's move on to the photos:

There was a pretty sizeable crowd.

The Caps take the ice.

Look at what theose Flyers bastards did to Sammy Lepisto's face.

Not to mention poor Sean Collins' leg.

At KCI, the Caps have banners with players whose numbers they've
retired at one end of the ice. The Flyers? Have rainbows.

Though to their credit, they've got a real Zamboni.

Tomorrow, as I said, is media day at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. There are sure to be a ton of good stories coming out of that, so stay tuned.

Rookie Camp - Day 4: Scrimmage Edition

2007-09-11T15:46:00.000-05:00

Today's rookie camp practice consisted entirely of a scrimmage. Because I know you're dying to know, here's your (probably innacurate and definitely incomplete) boxscore (question marks denote instances where I missed what happened because I was focused on something other than the play):

White Team
Francois Bouchard - Nicklas Backstrom - Dan Kronick
Maxime Lacroix - Travis Morin - Steve Pinizzotto
Steve Werner - Jay Beagle - Marty Guerin
Karl Alzner - Josh Godfrey
Sami Lepisto - Sean Collins
Daren Machesney

Blue Team
Mathieu Perreault - Justin Taylor - Brett Leffler
Andrew Gordon - Kyle Wilson - Luke Lynes
Tommy Maxwell - Andrew Joudrey - Donald Brashear
Sasha Pokulok - Jamie Hunt
Tyler Sloan - Patrick McNeill

Goals
1st Period:
WHITE - Pinizzotto (Morin, Lacroix)

2nd Period:
BLUE - Brashear (Pokulok) (PPG)
BLUE - McNeill (?)
BLUE - Lynes (Gordon)

3rd Period:
WHITE - Bouchard (Unassisted)
BLUE - Taylor (Hunt, Pokulok)
WHITE - Morin (Pinizzotto, Kronick)
BLUE - Maxwell (Hunt, Pokulok) (PPG)

Penalties
1st Period:
BLUE - Pokulok - 2 minutes for ?

2nd Period:
WHITE - Guerin - 2 minutes for hooking
BLUE - Maxwell - 2 minutes for holding
WHITE - Collins - 2 minutes for hooking
BLUE - Maxwell - 2 minutes for holding
BLUE - Maxwell - 2 minutes for holding

3rd Period:
WHITE - Beagle - 2 minutes for elbowing
WHITE - Collins - 2 minutes for ?

FINAL SCORE - BLUE 5, WHITE 3

The third period was, by far, the most entertaining. Bouchard's goal was especially pretty, picking up a loose puck along the left boards then curling and dragging towards the net. Also of note were successive tic-tac-toe passing plays on both Taylor's and Morin's goals. All in all, it was fun to finally see something resembling an actual competitive hockey game for the first time in five months. Not as exciting as it will be tomorrow, when I have a team to actually root against, but still, it was one more indication that the long, slow march towards October 5 is nearing it's conclusion.

After the rookies were finished, the veterans once again had an informal skate. My suspicions that Dave Steckel has designs on my life were confirmed when he made absolutely no attempt whatsoever to kill me.

My mortal enemy

Apparently, Steckel thinks he can trick me by lulling me into a false sense of security. But I'm onto you, Dave. Your ruse failed. Even after you tried switching uniforms to disguise yourself.

Dave Steckel in disguise

Tomorrow's game between the Caps' rookies and those of the Flyers is way out in Vorhees, NJ, seemingly far from Steckel's clutches. But I am not so foolish. Take heed, Dave. I'll be watching you, and if you try anything funny, I will make you regret it.

Rookie Camp - Day 3: Pretty Colors Edition

2007-09-10T15:19:00.000-05:00

In case you were wondering whether I have anything better to do during my vacation than travel out to Ballston to attend Day 3 of the Caps' rookie camp, the answer, obviously, is no. I made the trek out there once again today and once again I was treated to, well, a bunch of young hockey players skating around (I swear it's not as exciting as it sounds). This time around, it was even more difficult to get a read on whether any particular players were really sticking around as, unlike Saturday, nobody had their names on their backs. They were nice enough, however, to color code themselves, which didn't actually help, but was at least a little more interesting visually. Which gave me something to do, as I tried to obtain photographic evidence of all seven colors. Ultimately, I missed only the burgundy duds:

Orange

Black

Green

Grey

Red and White

If I had to pick one player who particularly impressed me, I'd go with Andrew Joudrey, who had an impressive moment towards the end of practice when, during an offensive zone drill, he took the puck from the bottom of the left circle, curled around three other players to the top of the slot and then sent a backhand shot over Daren Machesney's outstretched leg and into the net.

The more interesting part of the day, though, was watching the guys from the big club skate after the rookies were done. Specifically, it was fun to watch Olie Kolzig. Having never really attended a Caps practice before, I've only ever heard the well-spoken, made-for-TV Olie, so it was a little bit odd to hear him in practice sounding, well, more like a sailor than a hockey player. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Towards the end of the team skate, as the guys were having a somewhat loose scrimmage that had less defense than a typical NHL All Star Game, Olie, after getting scored on for maybe the third or fourth time, started into a profanity-laced tirade. His complaint (and I'm paraphrasing here, attempting to translate it into a more family-friendly version) was that the scrimmage was basically a waste of time as a result of guys not taking it seriously. He urged his teammates to "pick up the... pace".

The amazing thing was the seemingly instant change in the atmosphere. What had been a light-hearted game of shinny suddenly turned into a hard-fought battle. As hard-fought as an informal pre-training camp skate can be, anyway. It is one thing to hear the players talk about how much of a team leader Olie Kolzig is, and another to see them play at a higher level when he is on the ice as opposed to Brent Johnson of Frederic Cassivi. But it is another thing altogether to witness it in person. It was a moment that made me appreciate Olie's presence on the team that much more.

On a more light-hearted note, I am convinced that David Steckel is trying to kill me. It wasn't enough that he "accidentally" fired a puck directly towards my head (thank goodness for plexiglass), he then had the audacity to flip a puck up over the netting that hit me in the shin. Not only that, but he managed to do it at a moment when I was looking away from the ice, leaving me with absolutely no proof whatsoever that he was the one who shot it. He who laughs last, laughs loudest though, and my revenge is, as always, swift and severe. Dave Steckel, congratulations, you are the newest KHFC Whipping Boy©.

The grisly results of Dave Steckel's viscious attempt on my life.

Rookie Camp - Day 1

2007-09-08T14:58:00.000-05:00

As promised, I made the trip out to Kettler today to attend the first day of Caps' rookie camp, or, as I like to call it, "Prelude to a Training Camp". It was the first time I've stepped foot in a building with an ice rink since April and, despite the fact that it was excessively early for a Saturday, I was instantly transformed from a groggy, slightly hungover mess into a giddy fan. It was the first time I've been to KCI (which is a beautiful facility), as well as the first time I've ever actually attended any sort of Caps practice.

What I quickly discovered is that watching hockey players practice is not nearly as entertaining as watching hockey players play hockey. To be fair, there were some particularly fun moments, but for the most part, what we saw out on the ice today was still a pretty lame imitation of the game that has me longing for this month to be over. As such, it's pretty difficult to report any sort of "news" from today's skate. Nicklas Backstrom, obviously, was one of the real standouts. This was the first time I'd seen him in action and he is definitely deserving of all the hype. During one drill that involved a scrum in front of the net the puck popped up into the air, and his ability to stick with it, find the puck and manage to get a shot off while spinning around to face the goaltender was quite impressive.

That said, my impression of Backstrom may have been colored by the fact that the KCI staff apparently failed to properly disinfect the Caps' dressing rooms, as many of the players on the ice appeared to be suffering from Zubritis*. During one breakaway drill, it seemed like Backstrom was the only player who managed to even get a shot on net, with most of the guys shanking pucks over the crossbar and off the glass, or else well wide. In J.P.'s (paraphrased) words "These really are Capitals prospects."

On the defensive side of things, I was impressed enough with Sasha Pokulok that I made an effort to learn to correctly pronounce his name (it's pronounced sort of like "potluck" only with an "uh" in the middle). First of all, the guy is huge, but he also seemed to be pretty sound positionally, and I saw him use some excellent stickwork to disarm several forwards of the puck during drills. As with any young, large defenseman, I'd like to see him throw his body around a little more, but I think he, along with Jeff Schultz and Milan Jurcina, could one day be part of a physically intimidating Caps' backline.

The best part of the day though, for me at least, was playing the role of pseudo-journalist, as I snuck back to the locker room area with CapsChick and J.P. and Ken. Even though I had nothing to do but stand and stare, just being that close to a guy like Nicklas Backstrom was definitely an experience. I still have no desire to sit in the press box during games, but I think I could really get into this whole "interviewing players at practice" thing.

Unfortunately, I managed to forget my camera when leaving my apartment, but I'm sure there will be pictures at Japers' Rink, A View From the Cheap Seats or DCSportsChick, all of whom had cameras.

(*Webster's Dictionary defines "Zubritis" as "a sudden inflammation of the tendency to play like Dainius Zubrus")

PROGRAMMING NOTES - Due to the fact that I have a matinee performance tomorrow, I won't be able to attend Day 2 of rookie camp. I'll be back at it for the rest of camp, though, including (possibly) a trip to New Jersey on Wednesday to see the kids take on the Flyers' rookies.

Another important note is that my next entry will be #100 for me here at the KHFC. With my 100th post will come some slight changes to the blog, in the form of rookie KHFC contributor DefDude, who is going to start helping me out around here when my acting duties prevent me from being as involved as I'd like. Or when I get too lazy to write anything. Or whenever he feels like it, really. So just be prepared for a sudden onslaught of awkwardly censored vulgarity and strange paragraph structures.

Some Programming Notes

2007-09-03T22:24:00.000-05:00

For those of you who are keeping track of such things, we are less than a week away from actual professional hockey players skating around on the ice surface of the Kettler Capitals Iceplex. The ending of the summer doldrums is also going to provide me with an opportunity to finally get back on track with this here blog.

I've planned my vacation time at work to coincide, more or less, with the opening of rookie camp (as well as the opening of my latest play) and last through the first weekend of training camp. Which means you can expect the KHFC to be transformed from a sparingly updated blog lacking in any real substance, to a frequently updated blog lacking in any real substance. But at least I can promise you daily updates (And pictures, too! Probably!) from KCI. In fact, there are even plans in the works for a journey up to New Jersey to see the kids take on Philadelphia's own obviously inferior group of rookies.

So stay tuned, because everything is about to get a whole lot more interesting around these parts.

Let's Play a Game

2007-08-24T22:20:00.000-05:00

For those of you who haven't noticed, it is still, in fact, August. It feels like it has been August for several months now. Even though training camp is less than three weeks away, the wait still feels interminably long. So, to help pass the time, I've decided to play a little game, and I encourage you to join in in the comments section. Here are the rules:

Pick one, and only one, retired former Capital whom you would most like to have on the current Caps' roster if he were still in the prime of his career. The catch? You cannot pick any player who has had his number retired, nor can you pick any player who has been, or is likely to be, inducted into the Hall of Fame. Also, once people actually start giving their picks in the comments, you can't pick a player someone else has already picked.

The first pick, of course, goes to me.

Alex Presents...

2007-08-24T10:06:00.000-05:00

Did you know that Alex Ovechkin has his own corner of the CCM website? I didn't.

I don't know how, exactly, it is that I had never seen this before. I blame my fellow bloggers (except Garrett at Puckhead's Thoughts, who showed us this months ago), whom I expect to keep an eye out for these types of things so I don't have to.

Anyway, I suggest you check it out if you haven't seen it already. There's some funny stuff.

Scoreboard!

2007-08-22T18:46:00.000-05:00

If you were to mosey on over to the Express' 'Free Ride', you might notice that they are reporting that work has begun on dismantling the Phone Booth's existing scoreboard. The new scoreboard will be a huge improvement, apparently:

Over a 1,000 feet of linear [light-emitting diode] fascia will bring to life the entire upper level of the arena bowl, while 400 feet of full motion signage will continue to animate the lower level of the arena bowl. Four additional LED displays will also light the top corners of the arena bowl with statistics, 3D graphics and advertisements, thus completing the entire digital display system.

Woo-hoo! Finally, the upper bowl will finally be brought to life! As opposed to... I don't know, I guess the only seats that most fans can afford must be the ones that attract the lifeless corporate drones. As opposed to the lower bowl, which was apparently already "animated". Thank goodness Abe was able to push through an entirely pointless tax increase on Verizon Center tickets to pay for all this. It's nice to know that the increased price I'll be paying for Caps tickets means that we'll be getting "a new state-of-the-art high-definition one hanging high above center court, just in time for the start of the Wizards' season this fall".

Wait... the Wizards?! You mean the team whose season doesn't start until October 31st? Three and a half weeks after the Capitals' home opener? Fascinating.

Blogs v. MSM: Round LXXVIII

2007-08-17T12:06:00.000-05:00

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This entry was posted during my lunch break at work, which runs from 1:00-1:30 PM. As such, it was posted before this. Dan Steinberg stole my entry title. Sort of. He shall experience my wrath.)

Nothing like a good old media war to get us through the hockey doldrums of August, huh?

As anyone who regularly checks this site has probably figured out, I don't feel particularly motivated to spend too much time writing about the Caps during the offseason. But the current war of words between Ted Leonsis and WTEM's Steve Czaban has really piqued my interest. At issue is Leonsis's annoyance with the negative light in which Czaban and his cohorts consistently paint the NHL (or, in this case, ~~football~~ soccer), versus Czaban's insistence that devoting coverage to hockey and other such "niche" sports is inherently unprofitable. The reason I find the whole thing so fascinating is that, for all the hemming and hawing, both Ted and Czaban are right.

Granted, Ted is more right. He is absolutely right to call out 980 (and any other media outlet) for continuing to dump on hockey the way it has. The original incident that drew his ire, Czaban's disdain for soccer fans in spite of what can only be called a hugely succesful night for the MLS, is especially galling. However, his argument that WTEM should be nicer to the Caps simply because the Caps pay WTEM for the opportunity to broadcast their games is puzzling. Ted is not stupid, and surely he must realize that, while sports radio is first and foremost a business, it is also, to a certain extent, a news outlet, and giving any subject favorable treatment based on their monetary contributions would compromise the station's integrity far more than the consistent ignorance of their on-air talent. Just look at ESPN for an example of what happens when a media outlet is more concerned with hyping its own product than objectively reporting the news.

On the other hand, we have Czaban arguing the point that hockey's scant airtime is purely based on economics, and he's absolutely right. If there were enough hockey fans to support it, the station would cover more hockey. Likewise, if enough people were to stop listening because of a lack of hockey, the powers that be would fix the situation right quick. But neither of these scenarios is ever likely to come to pass in Washington DC. Czaban correctly asserts that DC is not New York, Boston or a slew of other cities that, by sheer size, are guaranteed to have a large enough base of fans to sustain coverage of just about any sport, no matter how niche. The problem with Czaban's retort is that it fails to address Leonsis's main point, that the media is unjustifiably unfair towards hockey or soccer. In fact, Czaban takes several opportunities to perpetuate the injustice right there in his rebuttal, taking numerous swipes at Ted and the Capitals.

Ted is not asking that Sports Talk 980 devote more airtime to the Capitals or hockey. He plainly states that he thinks there are more people reading blogs than listening to the radio anyway. He is arguing not for increased exposure, but a decrease in negative exposure. His point that the derision towards sports like hockey and soccer alienates fans and equals less listeners. It is telling that, in response to a genuinely well-thought out criticque, Czaban felt compelled to respond with little more than name calling while side stepping the heart of the issue altogether.

For more, and probably better, coverage, head here or here or here. Or, more importantly, here.

As If Reading What I Have To Say Wasn't Bad Enough

2007-07-22T12:09:00.000-05:00

Earlier today, Rebecca from A View From the Cheap Seats and I were guests on Allen Popels' CapitalFantic.com Show. Among the topics we discussed: Chris Clark's extension, qualifying offers for Steve Eminger and Brina Sutherby, the second wave of UFA signings, Michael Wilbon's unprovoked attack on hockey, and of course, Harry Potter. Head on over to Popels' site to listen. I think you'll find that Rebecca and I managed to mostly avoid making fools of ourselves.

But What About the Children?

2007-07-18T21:04:00.000-05:00

I first read about Derek Boogard's offseason hockey fighting camp was over at A View From the Cheap Seats. At the time, I didn't think very much of it, because it kind of makes sense when you think about it, as CapsChick pointed out. But then Eric from Off Wing Opinion wrote this entry over at the FanHouse, in which he says he felt "a sense of revulsion at a very basic level" after seeing this picture. To which my response is, of course, "Why?"

Eric admits, at the top of the entry, that "[i]t's not often that I find myself in the same corner as critics of fighting in the NHL." As a proponent of keeping the fighting in hockey, he asserts that it is a part of the sport. The question, then, is what is so bad about the image of two young kids going at it with boxing gloves if it is okay to expose them to images of two grown men pummeling each other in a bare-knuckle fight? I am generally not someone to ascribe violence in young people to the violence that they see on TV, but that is because I generally have enough respect for most children to assume that they can tell the difference between the fictional violence they see on the screen and what is acceptable in real life. The fighting in hockey is undeniably real (just ask Todd Fedoruk) and, if you ask most hockey fans, it is not only acceptable, but encouraged. So why not let the kids join in? Especially, in this case, if it's going to be a dumbed down version of a real hockey fight where the players are wearing boxing gloves and have a NHL player twice their size close at hand to intervene if anything gets out of hand.

I agree with Eric, in that I, too, was rather disturbed by the picture. Unfortunately, as long as the NHL continues to embrace the sideshow fights as a "part of the sport", situations like Boogard's camp are the sorts of things that are a completely logical offshoot.

DC Deadspin Pants Party

2007-07-16T21:13:00.000-05:00

I don't know how many KHFC reader(s) also read that little site called Deadspin, but I nevertheless feel compelled to make you aware of the impending Washington DC Deadspin Pants Party, if only because my good friend and one-time collaborator, is organizing it. Also, because there will be drinking. Lots and lots of drinking. And I, for one, don't want to be the only hockey fan amongst this particular crowd of ~~dipsomaniacs~~ inveterate drunks.

So, you know, check your schedules and such, and do try to make it out to RFK on August 4. I mean, you were already planning on going anyway, seeing as how it's Thomas Jefferson Bobblehead Night.

Aaaaaaaaaand... We're Back

2007-07-12T21:33:00.001-05:00

It is amazingly frustrating coming home every night to find that your computer and the internet are still fighting. Over the past two weeks or so, I've missed out on a chance to regale you with my opinions on so many things, that it would be rather fruitless for me to try to catch up all in one post. So here goes...

The Draft - I thought McPhee did a good job. Especially with Karl Alzner, whom I am rather excited about.

Free Agency - I thought McPhee did a good job. As someone who had relentlessly (and only somewhat tongue-in-cheek-edly) insisted to anyone who would listen that the Caps absolutely needed to sign Sheldon Souray regardless of the cost, I was really impressed with the way McPhee handled everything. Frankly, I didn't see a single contract handed to any of the "big" names that looked like it was actually worth the money/cap space. (That said, Souray has supposedly signed with the Oilers, so for all I know, he may already actually be a Washington Capital.) Especially now that the Penguins and SC have set the bar at close to $9mil/year for Ovechkin's salary negotiations.

Rookie Camp - Ummm... a bunch of guys who are all, frighteningly, younger than I am skated around at KCI. I, meanwhile, had to work my awful retail job. Good times.

The KHFC Whipping Boy - Daniel Briere's face has been staring at me almost even longer than the dramatic chipmunk's, so I figured it was time for a change. The new KHFC Whipping Boy is none other than Edmonton Oilers' GM Kevin Lowe, for making the whole Nylander situation needlessly complicated. Congratulations, Mr. Lowe!

The Schedule - The NHL, as you know, released the 2007-08 schedule. The season will open with the Anaheim Ducks hosting the LA Kings. In London. England. I can't possibly imagine why the NHL would do something like this aside from "because that's what those foozeball guys are doing".

But more importantly, and more to the point, the Caps schedule is out which means I can safely announce the 2007-08 season's first...

Caps Bloggers Happy Hour!
October 5th, 2007
Location TBD.

Seriously though, I don't suppose I need to tell you to mark your calendars for the Caps' season opener. Just make sure you put a little note next to the mark that reminds you to check back here so you know where to go to meet all your fellow Caps fans. Unlike all the previous incarnations of the CBHH, I'm thinking about possibly making this one a simple party at somebody's house, rather than an excursion to an alcohol-serving establishment. Because I feel that the first night of hockey season should be enjoyed away from the prying eyes of all the jackasses at the bar who would rather we turn on a football game. If anyone of my loyal reader(s) would like to volunteer their home (or somebody else's), or has any better ideas, the e-mail address is koreilly (at) gmail (dot) com. (I may also try to organize a pre- and/or post-game CBHH the following night for the home opener, assuming nobody does anything crazy like book a private room at Clyde's.)

That's all for now. Thanks to a still-occasionally-shaky internet connection and a general apathy towards offseason news, you can expect this blog to go back to it's stunning, post-a-minute pace you've come to expect over the summer.

Sartorial Musings

2007-06-22T12:25:00.000-05:00

So... I don't know if you've heard, but the Washington Capitals are switching over to new uniforms this season.

I know, I know... Please, try to contain your shock and surprise.

Anyways, I promised myself that I would wait to pass judgement on the new duds until we got confirmation that the ones that got leaked earlier this week were the real deal. As per Tarik, and now the Caps' site, we have, in fact, seen the real deal, which means it is time now for me to pass judgement...

BIFF'S OPINION!!!:
They're alright.

I'm not especially enamored of the sweaters themselves, but I am ecstatic that they went with the stylized update of the old logo. The monstrosity of a shoulder patch is something which I'm willing to ignore. The problem is the sweater itself. Hopefully, much like with the heinous yellow pit stains on the Buffaslug sweaters last year, I'll eventually get used to the needless white panelling under the arms as well as all the garish blue piping, but if they wanted to have a mix of different colors, why not go with horizontal stripes? With any luck, once the blue pants are added into the mix it'll look a little better, as it right now is a little too much red for my taste, but with the Post article mentioning blue socks with red and white stripes, I'm not especially optimistic on that front.

All that said, these could've been alot worse. The Firebird logo with an oil can up its butt that's sitting on the shoulders could have ended up on the chest. And that, friends, would have been a sad day for us all.

UPDATE: Ack! Those socks! Also, Ack! $169.99! (In the interest of full disclosure, I haven't the slightest idea if this is actually expensive or not. I've never, technically, purchased a Capitals sweater, as I'm very good at convincing people to buy them for me for Christmas. That said, it's probably way more than I can reasonaby afford to spend. I am, after all, an actor.)

Islanders Bloggers Sent to the Box

2007-06-13T16:16:00.000-05:00

There are two reasons I never applied for a press pass to a Capitals game like many of my fellow bloggers. The first, and most important, reason was that my blog isn't all that good or regularly updated or anything like that.

But the MAIN reason was that I would never, ever, be able to comply with the "No Cheering" policy. My brain is hard wired to make me jump in the air and start yelling any time a puck crosses a red line between two red pipes, whether I be yelling in jubilation or yelling a string of profanities. So I think this is a brilliant idea, and I'm kind of disappointed in Ted for not thinking of it first.

EDIT: Be sure to check out the Venerable Off Wing Opinion's take on the whole thing. Obviously.

It's Like Waiting For Godot, If Didi and Gogo Were Caps Fans

2007-06-04T22:56:00.001-05:00

In a rare display of poor judgement, CapsChick elected to instant message me during the first intermission of tonight's game of the Stanley Cup Finals. The following is the transcript (edited to protect the innocent, all times Eastern):

Biff (9:18:11 PM): oh look, there's a hockey game on
Biff (9:18:47 PM): only a few more of these left.. gotta take advantage
CapsChick (9:20:36 PM): ouch...5-1 bulldogs
[Start of 2nd Period]
Biff (9:21:47 PM): i love how olczyk keeps going on about emery's "dive" yet there is no mention whatsoever of the blatant missed call when Anaheim shot the puck over the boards
CapsChick (9:22:06 PM): right? they're ridiculous tonight
CapsChick (9:22:10 PM): ...for a change
CapsChick (9:22:23 PM): did you see that save? or something?
Biff (9:22:28 PM): i absolutely can't stand either of them
Biff (9:22:38 PM): i like pierre though
CapsChick (9:22:47 PM): he's good but I miss Joe B.
CapsChick (9:22:55 PM): the other two suck
Biff (9:23:26 PM): all i'm saying is that Al "Do You Believe In Miracles?" Michaels works for NBC now
CapsChick (9:23:45 PM): and they roll out these two losers? great...
CapsChick (9:23:58 PM): I'm feeling particularly well-spoken tonight, by the way...I'm sure you can tell
Biff (9:24:21 PM): of course
Biff (9:24:36 PM): dive by Moen!!!
Biff (9:25:02 PM): in the interest of fairness, i'm going to yell that at my television screen every time ottawa takes a penalty
CapsChick (9:25:09 PM): awesome
Biff (9:25:24 PM): only instead of "Moen" i'll probably yell someone else's name
Biff (9:25:33 PM): unless it is moen
CapsChick (9:25:33 PM): uh...dive by giguere!!
CapsChick (9:25:52 PM): good plan
CapsChick (9:25:58 PM): I yell nonsense at the screen nonstop anyways
Biff (9:26:16 PM): i'd also like to work in a joke about daniel briere, just because i don't like him very much
CapsChick (9:26:35 PM): stupid french mime
CapsChick (9:27:42 PM): nice penalty kill
CapsChick (9:27:52 PM): I forgot what that looked like
Biff (9:29:41 PM): you just can't go in offsides right there
CapsChick (9:29:53 PM): that looked like the caps, didn't it?
Biff (9:29:59 PM): a little
Biff (9:30:16 PM): so you're saying the Caps look like an Easter Conference Champion?
CapsChick (9:31:05 PM): more like the Eastern Conference champion looked like the caps, which isn't good for anyone
Biff (9:31:13 PM): everything is funnier with pirates
Biff (9:31:20 PM): it's good for the ducks
CapsChick (9:31:47 PM): true, true...poor pierre trying to yell over the ottawa crowd
Biff (9:32:03 PM): May is a diver!!!
Biff (9:32:17 PM): look at him stick his arm in the air!
[Anaheim's First Goal]
CapsChick (9:36:14 PM): crap
Biff (9:37:34 PM): who was that standing in the goalmouth for the Sens?
Biff (9:37:49 PM): what's the point of standing there if you're just going to flail your arm at the puck?
CapsChick (9:39:10 PM): seriously, they've got caps-itis
CapsChick (9:39:12 PM): whoa
CapsChick (9:39:15 PM): scott stevens
Biff (9:39:51 PM): never heard of him
[Anaheim's Second Goal]
Biff (9:39:52 PM): jesus
CapsChick (9:40:00 PM): that was pretty...damn it
Biff (9:40:25 PM): oh, anton volchenkov
Biff (9:40:29 PM): that was embarassing
CapsChick (9:40:33 PM): aka gonchar
CapsChick (9:40:45 PM): I'm in a caps-centric mood right now for some reason
Biff (9:40:54 PM): yeah, what is that all about?
CapsChick (9:41:10 PM): well...I see a team sucking, it brings it out in me
Biff (9:41:29 PM): so, ummm... are they gonna send someone to the home dressing room to ask the senators why they haven't come out yet?
CapsChick (9:41:50 PM): they'd better hurry, this is getting ridiculous
Biff (9:42:17 PM): i don't get it though... they were really solid in the first
CapsChick (9:42:32 PM): they were incredible in the first
CapsChick (9:42:40 PM): calm down eddie
CapsChick (9:42:41 PM): yeesh
Biff (9:43:52 PM): "You know what I like about Getzlaf? He competes, Ed."
Biff (9:43:56 PM): what does that even mean?
CapsChick (9:44:20 PM): um...that the rest of them don't compete
CapsChick (9:44:30 PM): don't try and make sense of the commentators, it'll make your eyes cross
Biff (9:45:28 PM): say what you will about the ducks, and lord knows i have, but j.s. giguere is a damn good goaltender
Biff (9:45:48 PM): he and selanne are the only reasons i won't throw a large, hard object at my tv if the ducks win the series
CapsChick (9:46:26 PM): true, giggy's the man, and selanne's a classy guy...if chris pronger wins, though...
CapsChick (9:46:28 PM): ugh
Biff (9:46:44 PM): i have a hard time getting too worked up about pronger
CapsChick (9:47:04 PM): see, for me I just don't particularly like him, although I have no idea why
CapsChick (9:47:09 PM): the hits are beside the point to me
Biff (9:47:33 PM): that's very mature of you
CapsChick (9:47:46 PM): please - have we met?
Biff (9:47:53 PM): hee
CapsChick (9:48:24 PM): what...is...going...ON
Biff (9:48:33 PM): is that post #4 for the ducks?
CapsChick (9:48:38 PM): at least
CapsChick (9:48:47 PM): spezzzzzza...you suck. get off the ice
Biff (9:49:05 PM): if the nets were a little wider (no, gary, NO!) this game would be 6-1 right now
CapsChick (9:49:26 PM): god - that would be horrible...emery looks horrible tonight
Biff (9:50:13 PM): this is what happens when you don't face a single shot for the first 13 minutes yet your team fails to score
CapsChick (9:50:45 PM): exactly - I think the sens got a little cocky after that first period
CapsChick (9:50:48 PM): they need to stop that
[Emery makes a spectacular glove save]
CapsChick (9:51:19 PM): WOW
Biff (9:51:20 PM): i don't think emery's playing that badly
Biff (9:51:23 PM): case in point
CapsChick (9:51:25 PM): yeah, I take that back
CapsChick (9:51:32 PM): he had a crazy save in the first, too
Biff (9:51:32 PM): he's just getting hung out to dry
CapsChick (9:51:47 PM): and the comparisons to the caps could continue...but I'll refrain
Biff (9:52:27 PM): well, they have disappeared in the second period
Biff (9:52:39 PM): presumably they'll come out for the third firing on all cylinders
CapsChick (9:53:10 PM): they've been doing that all postseason, having one bad period then coming back
CapsChick (9:53:13 PM): they'll be fine
Biff (9:53:28 PM): and then daniel briere will spear one of their star players in the crotch
Biff (9:53:37 PM): there it is! i knew i could slide one in there
CapsChick (9:53:51 PM): nicely done
CapsChick (9:54:05 PM): why are they telling us the weight of that line every freaking night?
Biff (9:54:21 PM): that's for DirecTV subscribers
Biff (9:54:42 PM): there's a little known clause in the DirecTV contract wherein you pay by the pound
[Ottawa's Second Goal]
Biff (9:54:44 PM): !!!!!!!!!
CapsChick (9:54:48 PM): HELL YEAH
Biff (9:55:00 PM): heatley and alfredsson so far... it's about time
CapsChick (9:55:01 PM): hey, look - Heatley is playing in this series! who knew?
Biff (9:55:33 PM): heatley shanked that one, too
CapsChick (9:55:44 PM): yeah - wow, pierre, picking on getzlaf a bit
Biff (9:55:52 PM): deservedly so
CapsChick (9:56:16 PM): oh, I agree - just funny...it sounds like he's yelling at him because he has to scream over the crowd
Biff (9:56:37 PM): poor pierre... can he and ed olczyck switch places?
CapsChick (9:56:48 PM): yes! GRAPES
Biff (9:57:02 PM): and by "switch places" i mean "ed olczyck goes away and is never heard from again"
CapsChick (9:57:10 PM): if only wishing made it so
Biff (9:57:12 PM): crazy ol' don cherry
CapsChick (9:57:17 PM): he's a nut
CapsChick (9:57:17 PM): ooh
CapsChick (9:57:18 PM): fisher
CapsChick (9:57:20 PM): yay
Biff (9:57:20 PM): that should be fun
CapsChick (9:57:43 PM): sorry, the puckbunny in me jumped out for a minute when mike fisher was on the screen...I'm back now
Biff (9:58:24 PM): i'm gonna go look at pictures of JP's ice girl of the year now
CapsChick (9:58:30 PM): ew
CapsChick (9:58:36 PM): I'm pissed it wasn't danielle briere
[Daniel Alfredssonshoots a puck at Scott Neidermayer]
[End of 2nd Period]
CapsChick (9:58:41 PM): what is eddie yelling at?
CapsChick (9:58:45 PM): wow
Biff (9:59:34 PM): you know what? neidermayer was directly between alfredsson and the far corner, which is generally where one would dump the puck
Biff (9:59:54 PM): plus, neidermayer is a DIVER!!! a DIVER i say!!!
CapsChick (10:00:30 PM): YES! true - they didn't need to freak out about that, alfie isn't that type of player
Biff (10:01:36 PM): but you're talking about a guy who accuses chris neil of being a diver after what appeared to be a stick to the "groin" in the first period
Biff (10:02:06 PM): i would like NBC to flash a little light in the corner of the screen every time olczyck is about to talk so i can mute my television
CapsChick (10:02:13 PM): thank you! I was saying the same thing
CapsChick (10:02:32 PM): oh yeah, absolutely...I predicted on the blog today that he would freak out about at least 2 penalties
CapsChick (10:02:37 PM): so far I way underestimated
Biff (10:03:20 PM): GRAPES!!!
CapsChick (10:03:52 PM): excellent
CapsChick (10:04:02 PM): not a completely crazy suit, I'm a little disappointed
Biff (10:04:24 PM): in retrospect, alfredsson did stop a first shot and doble pumped to aim it at neidermayer
CapsChick (10:05:06 PM): whatever - a team with brad may and george parros shouldn't bitch about "gutless" plays and "cheap" shots
Biff (10:05:09 PM): aaaaaaand... we're talking about fighting
CapsChick (10:05:12 PM): of course
CapsChick (10:05:17 PM): oh, grapes is losing his voice
CapsChick (10:05:18 PM): darn
Biff (10:05:59 PM): this is painful to watch
Biff (10:06:15 PM): brett hull may in fact be functionally retarded
Biff (10:06:54 PM): and i don't mean to insult the mentally handicapped there, because it's unfair to imply that they are as dumb as brett hull
CapsChick (10:07:21 PM): that would be hard to do, to be honest...
CapsChick (10:07:33 PM): jesus christ
Biff (10:07:56 PM): okay, we get it, harcore hockey fans like fights
CapsChick (10:08:08 PM): oh, the smile on emery's face...creepy.
Biff (10:08:13 PM): everyone else thinks hockey is a joke because of the fights
CapsChick (10:08:44 PM): exactly - some fans might like it (I don't hate it) but when everyone knows that joke about going to a boxing match and a hockey game broke out, you know its bad
CapsChick (10:09:02 PM): I have a blogger friend who works at NBC sports and she's told me some crazy stories about hull, by the way
Biff (10:09:11 PM): oooh... do tell
CapsChick (10:09:26 PM): let's see - [redacted]
CapsChick (10:09:47 PM): [redacted]
Biff (10:09:59 PM): "all swedes are great soccer players"... jesus, brett
Biff (10:10:04 PM): that's actually kind of neat
CapsChick (10:10:18 PM): oh goody - football season...woo.
Biff (10:10:21 PM): i love crazy stanley cup stories
Biff (10:11:05 PM): my favorite is the time it was left sitting on a frozen rideau canal overnight
CapsChick (10:11:30 PM): you just wonder if these guys should be kissing it when they win...you know, knowing where it's been
CapsChick (10:11:42 PM): I don't care how much you clean it, some things can't be removed with silver polish and soap
Biff (10:11:55 PM): holy water is the trick, i've found
CapsChick (10:12:21 PM): oh, okay - so you've got experience with this kind of thing...you should be the keeper of the cup
CapsChick (10:12:27 PM): that would be an awesome job
Biff (10:13:21 PM): yeah it would... one of the only jobs better than "zamboni driver" i bet
Biff (10:13:28 PM): did i mention i used to drive a zamboni?
CapsChick (10:13:37 PM): um...maybe once or twice
CapsChick (10:13:40 PM): oh here we go with the diving
CapsChick (10:13:51 PM): neil's wasn't a dive - emery's was, but can you blame him?
Biff (10:14:06 PM): i love that... "you certainly don't expect that from a guy like chris neal"... so why are you assuming it was a dive?
Biff (10:14:18 PM): gah!
CapsChick (10:14:19 PM): exactly my point - he didn't dive...losers
CapsChick (10:18:04 PM): ew - I hate these commercials
Biff (10:18:25 PM): which ones now?
CapsChick (10:18:34 PM): cialis
Biff (10:18:54 PM): oh
Biff (10:19:00 PM): yeah, they're good fun
CapsChick (10:19:51 PM): I much prefer creepy smilin' bob
Biff (10:20:21 PM): that guy frightens me
Biff (10:20:45 PM): i don't care what kind of help that pill could give me, if it meant walking around like i'd been brainwashed, i'd run screaming
CapsChick (10:21:11 PM): I don't think most guys share that opinion, I'll be honest with you
[Start of 3rd Period]
CapsChick (10:22:03 PM): oh my god! it's not like alfredsson tried to decapitate anyone, let it go!!
Biff (10:22:27 PM): you must understand, the ducks, clearly, are helpless victims in all of this
CapsChick (10:22:51 PM): oh, of course - it's not like he was on, say, SKATES and could move out of the way
CapsChick (10:23:04 PM): oh, gee, a penalty they actually agree is a penalty
Biff (10:23:11 PM): c'mon PP goal...
CapsChick (10:23:29 PM): come on come on come on
CapsChick (10:23:45 PM): breathe pierre
Biff (10:24:02 PM): sounds like doc emerick
Biff (10:24:21 PM): how did heatley not score there?
CapsChick (10:24:32 PM): duck voodoo magic
CapsChick (10:26:24 PM): um...ew. "if it's wood it's good"
CapsChick (10:26:28 PM): are you freaking kidding me?
Biff (10:26:47 PM): i believe they were talking about hockey sticks?
CapsChick (10:26:54 PM): god I hope so
Biff (10:26:55 PM): i hope
Biff (10:27:17 PM): either that, or some subtle product placement for cialis
CapsChick (10:27:26 PM): hockey's a dirty game...my roommate and I are apparently 12 year old boys, too, because we giggle when they say "he couldn't get it up"
[Anaheim's 3rd Goal]
Biff (10:27:44 PM): curses
Biff (10:28:17 PM): i sat behind a novice hockey fan once at a caps game where they couldn't sustain any sort of offensive zone pressure and he yelled "girls won't like you if you can't keep it in!"
CapsChick (10:28:34 PM): ooh, dirty...that's funny
[J.S. Giguere pushes an already dislosdged net further off its moorings]
Biff (10:30:32 PM): Delay of game, ref!!!
CapsChick (10:30:54 PM): Giguere's a DIVER!!
Biff (10:32:11 PM): this is quickly becoming depressing
CapsChick (10:32:28 PM): I can't handle a Ducks win, I really can't
CapsChick (10:33:49 PM): why is zach braff doing voiceover work for Wendy's?
Biff (10:34:11 PM): i can't know
Biff (10:34:19 PM): it's kind of disappointing really
Biff (10:34:33 PM): and i don't knwo why, because i love zach braff and i love wendy's
CapsChick (10:34:53 PM): but the two together, not so much? it's just weird
Biff (10:35:19 PM): he just doesn't really have a voice-over voice
CapsChick (10:35:43 PM): no, he really doesn't - although it is instantly recognizable, maybe that's why they used him
Biff (10:36:20 PM): i think that's actually the problem
Biff (10:36:29 PM): i like it better when i don't immediately realize
Biff (10:36:38 PM): like james spader's work for acura
CapsChick (10:36:57 PM): he does voiceovers for acura??
Biff (10:37:02 PM): yup
CapsChick (10:37:16 PM): huh - I see your point, I had no idea
Biff (10:37:26 PM): listen closely next time you see an acura commercial
CapsChick (10:37:48 PM): I totally will
CapsChick (10:37:52 PM): COME ON
Biff (10:37:57 PM): get a shot off!
Biff (10:38:04 PM): for crying out loud
Biff (10:38:30 PM): who do you think you are, dainius zubrus?
Biff (10:38:39 PM): but seriously, i do love picking on the Sabres
CapsChick (10:38:48 PM): aw, zubie - it's so fun to do, really
CapsChick (10:38:52 PM): I try and do it daily
CapsChick (10:39:21 PM): wait, that sounded wrong
Biff (10:39:51 PM): who doesn't, though?
CapsChick (10:40:37 PM): true - it makes the world go 'round
CapsChick (10:40:45 PM): even giggy's getting his freak on at the bench apparently
Biff (10:41:17 PM): his freak on? are we still talking about the same thing?
CapsChick (10:41:27 PM): no idea - probably not
Biff (10:41:28 PM): cause that's icky if we are
CapsChick (10:41:50 PM): he was getting a massage at the bench, I thought it was funny
Biff (10:42:30 PM): paging jason spezza. jason spezza please report to the ice surface.
CapsChick (10:42:40 PM): WHAT WAS THAT
Biff (10:42:46 PM): turnovers are probably a bad idea
CapsChick (10:42:52 PM): you think?
Biff (10:43:02 PM): unless they are of the apple variety, yeah
CapsChick (10:43:18 PM): ha....ha...
CapsChick (10:43:22 PM): hi brian murray
CapsChick (10:44:52 PM): shit - hershey lost 5-2
Biff (10:46:10 PM): they're down 2-1 now right?
CapsChick (10:46:30 PM): yup - wow...they had 11 power plays, scored once, hamilton was 3 for 5
CapsChick (10:46:33 PM): wow emery
Biff (10:46:35 PM): if the sens lose, it is not ray emery's fault
Biff (10:46:49 PM): people are quick to question him, but he has been rock solid
CapsChick (10:47:15 PM): I think he has too, all postseason - he just looked a bit shaky earlier, but I take back my "emery looks horrible" comment
CapsChick (10:47:28 PM): game 2 he was the only reason they lost by just 1
Biff (10:47:50 PM): problem is, he's got probably-soon-to-be-two-time-conn-smythe-winner j.s. giguere at the other end
Biff (10:48:17 PM): breach was a damn good film
CapsChick (10:48:22 PM): breach?
Biff (10:48:40 PM): if i had any say, chris cooper would win an automatic oscar for that movie
CapsChick (10:49:02 PM): didn't see it...it's good though? I'll have to check it out
CapsChick (10:49:07 PM): I'm really behind on my movies
Biff (10:49:27 PM): will the puck please go in one time?
CapsChick (10:50:08 PM): um, please clarify that - into the ANAHEIM net...I tend to say that stuff and it goes the other way
Biff (10:50:20 PM): well, yeah... obviously
CapsChick (10:50:30 PM): hey, they need it to be spelled out, trust me
CapsChick (10:50:48 PM): we have powers you know, you have to be careful
CapsChick (10:50:55 PM): COME ON SENS
Biff (10:50:58 PM): i know i don't
CapsChick (10:51:20 PM): I'm pretty sure I do, but not good powers
CapsChick (10:51:32 PM): teams should pay me not to root for them
Biff (10:52:08 PM): although, one time, i didn't go to a single caps game all year, so they just kept winning playoff series until i finally showed up
CapsChick (10:52:29 PM): what is this 'winning playoff series' you speak of?
CapsChick (10:52:33 PM): it is foreign to me
Biff (10:52:42 PM): i know... 1998 was nearly a decade ago
CapsChick (10:53:04 PM): I thought about that a few months ago - they're going to make the playoffs to commemorate the anniversary
Biff (10:53:14 PM): one can only hope
CapsChick (10:53:47 PM): the year right after the lockout, my roommate and I went on a losing streak when watching games together
Biff (10:53:54 PM): i think once they trade for patrick marleau they should be in good shape
CapsChick (10:54:11 PM): oh, man - I would love to have marleau
CapsChick (10:54:19 PM): I'm just scared of who they'd need to give up
Biff (10:54:48 PM): i trust GMGM
Biff (10:54:59 PM): if there's one thing he's particularly good at, it's trading
Biff (10:55:13 PM): not so much with the drafting and the free agents
CapsChick (10:55:43 PM): he's gotten better at that lately, but yeah, trades are his strong point
Biff (10:56:00 PM): remember that time he traded for milan jurcina?
CapsChick (10:56:14 PM): that's going to go down as the best trade in history - milan's the man
CapsChick (10:56:29 PM): I remember reading about jurcina playing with chara at the worlds...now that's a scary blue line
[Ottawa calls a time-out]
Biff (10:56:57 PM): oh right, the stanley cup finals
Biff (10:57:04 PM): i'm gonna watch this right quick
CapsChick (10:57:13 PM): yup, good plan
Biff (10:58:07 PM): damn you, jean sebastien
CapsChick (10:58:19 PM): stupid straw in the stupid water bottle
[Ed Olczyck says something stupid]
CapsChick (10:58:24 PM): ...human velcro?
Biff (10:58:59 PM): you never played "velcro puck"?
[End of 3rd Period]
CapsChick (10:59:47 PM): damn
Biff (10:59:49 PM): game, set, match, methinks
CapsChick (10:59:58 PM): this is not good
CapsChick (11:00:32 PM): the only good thing about this...the ONLY good thing...is that if this series went 7 I would miss game 7
Biff (11:00:48 PM): i would miss game six
Biff (11:06:38 PM): also, i'm going to miss the draft day party
Biff (11:06:43 PM): which is depressing
Biff (11:08:03 PM): i need to find someone with a camera phone to send me pictures of the new sweater
CapsChick (11:08:23 PM): you're not going to the draft day party?
Biff (11:09:02 PM): i have a performance that night
CapsChick (11:11:06 PM): aw - well, I can take a picture for you and e-mail it, but I don't have a camera phone
CapsChick (11:11:08 PM): maybe [DCSportsChick] does
Biff (11:11:22 PM): acting and sports fandom don't mix too well
Biff (11:11:33 PM): i shall have to post a request on the KHFC
CapsChick (11:13:44 PM): good plan - I'm sure one of the OFB boys has a camera phone
Biff (11:13:58 PM): i don't know if i trust them with my phone number
CapsChick (11:13:58 PM): or you could just wait for me to e-mail you a regular picture like a normal person
Biff (11:14:03 PM): those crazy people
CapsChick (11:14:06 PM): good point
Biff (11:14:10 PM): i'm kind of impatient
Biff (11:14:40 PM): i've been waiting over a decade for these things
Biff (11:14:47 PM): and they had better kick ass
CapsChick (11:15:23 PM): I'm not too optimistic
Biff (11:15:33 PM): yeah, me either
Biff (11:15:50 PM): i've seena few mockups that were just stylized versions of the old RWBs
Biff (11:15:59 PM): which i think would be awesome
CapsChick (11:16:29 PM): that would be - the old ones are very 70s, a nice update would be good...I'm keeping my expectations low, though
CapsChick (11:16:35 PM): that's the only way to be a caps fan
Biff (11:19:57 PM): the one i saw was really nice... it was almost exactly the same, only a little more modernized... i think they need to take note of the popularity of the sabres third jersey this year
Biff (11:20:38 PM): granted, part of that was because their regular ones sucked so bad
CapsChick (11:21:06 PM): yeah, compared to the slug the islanders' old third jersey with the fisherman was a work of art
Biff (11:21:41 PM): as is the spaghetti stain on my carpet
CapsChick (11:22:06 PM): hey, is it red white and blue? maybe they could use that...take a picture, send it to them
Biff (11:22:28 PM): what spaghetti do you eat that there's blue in it?
CapsChick (11:22:59 PM): I'm not a very good cook, what can I say
CapsChick (11:27:13 PM): hey, question - I'm not going to do nicknames next season (stop jumping for joy) and I'm not sure what to do for gameday stuff...any suggestions?
CapsChick (11:27:25 PM): or are you going to keep them to yourself for use on your own blog?
Biff (11:27:29 PM): have you seen my blog?
Biff (11:27:44 PM): i don't think i've ever done a gameday preview
Biff (11:27:49 PM): i'm not that hardworking
CapsChick (11:27:51 PM): yeah, but despite your blog you're funny, you should have some ideas
CapsChick (11:27:54 PM):
Biff (11:28:22 PM): i figure you should probably just break down each game based on which team has more attractive players
Biff (11:28:27 PM): that seems appropriate
Biff (11:28:45 PM): you should wear a pink version of the new sweaters while you write it, though
Biff (11:28:52 PM): to get an authentic experience
CapsChick (11:29:26 PM): I would sooner wear a danielle briere slug jersey than a pink jersey
CapsChick (11:29:34 PM): I would sooner cheer for the penguins
Biff (11:29:51 PM): jeez... that bad?
CapsChick (11:30:32 PM): ugh...yes. and as for the attractive players thing, I do that already...just not on the blog
CapsChick (11:30:39 PM): I'm REALLY not a puckbunny, I swear
Biff (11:31:31 PM): that's fine

Checking In

2007-05-21T15:43:00.001-05:00

Hello, everybody. Nice to see you again. Did you miss me? No? Okay then.

With a weekend that saw the Ottawa Senators succeeding where the Capitals once failed (eliminating the Sabres in Game 5 of an Eastern Conference finals) and the Red Wings falling to within one game of being sent to the golf course, I thought I'd quickly check in to let you know that I am, in fact, not dead. Also, I just wanted to reinforce the fact that I am genuinely gleeful that the Sabres are out of the playoffs. Gleeful, I say!

Also, I'm way behind on this one, but I'd like to issue a belated welcome to Capital Addiction.

Hockey talk aside, I'd like to return to my regularly scheduled shameless self-promotion. Because, no matter how much hockey blogging I do, I'm still an actor. So feel free to check out these reviews of a play that I may or may not be featured in. And be sure to note the use of the word "scintillating" in the WaPo's headline.

Reviews From People That Matter:
-DC Theatre Review
-DCist
-The Examiner
-Potomac Stages
-The Washington Post

Time For Some Shameless Non-Hockey Related Self-Promotion

2007-04-16T18:13:00.000-05:00

I've some bad news, my dear reader(s). If you thought my updating of this here blog has been sporadic since the Caps' season ended, that was just the beginning. As much as I'd like to, I doubt you'll hear very much of me during the playoffs.

"Why?" you ask? Well, I'll be spending most of my evenings from here through June 24th working on this play. Which you should absolutely go see, by the way. Because perfomances are May 18th-June 24th, Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:00 PM and Sundays at 3:00 PM.

So, if you were one of those people who was really hoping to hear my thoughts on the second round series between the Senators and Rangers , I'm very sorry to have disappointed you. What you should probably do is go here.

Here Come the Playoffs!!!

2007-04-11T12:46:00.000-05:00

J.P. has a rather excellent method for you to use to help predict the outcome of the various playoff series you'll be seeing over the coming weeks. But I wanted to give you a little extra "insider information". So take a look at Eastern Conference Standings as they would have looked under the NHL's old points system (i.e. 2 points for a win, 1 for a tie, no shootouts or points for losing, because there are no points for losing in the playoffs, or shootouts, but you knew that already).

If anyone was wondering, yes, I'm rooting for Ottawa.

2006-07 Season In Review

2007-04-10T07:54:00.000-05:00

I know, the season ended a good three days ago and I still haven't posted the obligatory Year-End Wrap Up. I do apologize for thinking it was more important to worry about the fact that my apartment is currently taking on water faster than the... ummm... I dunno, fill in your own damn metaphor. The point is, I've decided to take my time and do this right, so it's taken me a little longer to write this entry, but I hope you'll find it worth the wait. I give you the Caps Year in Review, in convenient bullet-point format:

October 5 - Caps start off the season the only appropriate way they could think of with a 5-2 loss to the Rangers.
October 6 - Caps Nut's first use of the words "Ultimate Fighting".
October 7 - The Caps' Russian named Alex only scores his first goal of the year, while the Caps' Russian named Alex scores his second, third and fourth for his first NHL hat-trick en route to a 5-2 win over the Hurricanes.
October 12 - The Caps lose 3-2 to the Minnesota Wild. The game is notable as the Caps' first shootout loss of the season.
October 18 - The Caps score five goals in the first period to beat the Panthers. That's right, I said "beat the Panthers". Looking back, it doesn't make any sense to me either.
October 25 - The Caps kick off their only trip west of the Mississippi with a win over the Colorado Avalanche.
October 30 - The Caps finish the road trip with an "above .500" record of 2-1-1 with a win over the Calgary Flames. (They finished the month of October at 4-3-4.)
October 31 - The Caps waive the legendary Rico "Suavé" Fata.
November 4 - The Caps travel to Philly and win for the first time in nearly nine years.
November 13 - The Caps beat the Panthers again?! Really? The Caps beat the Panthers twice? How? Ironically, it would be the Caps last win for over two weeks until...
November 22 - The Caps and Thrashers are involved in some sort of physical altercation.
November 24 - The Caps' Blogosphere (or Clogosphere, as I like to call it) becomes 17% stupider.
November 28 - Olie Kolzig beats the Tampa Bay Lightning, ending the Caps' six game winless streak.
November 30 - The Caps beat Jeff Halpern's Dallas Stars to finish the month of November with a 6-6-2 record and a 10-9-6 record overall.
December 2 - Probably one of the highest highlights of an otherwise abysmal season when the Caps manhandle the eventual President's Cup winning/Eastern Conference quarterfinals losing Buffalo Sabres by a 7-4 final score. Sabres fans and players alike all take a cue from The Whiny Little Bitch and, well, whine and bitch like the whiny little bitches they all are. Except Chris Drury. Chris, if you're reading this, I love you and I want you to come live in my city.
December 11 never happened.
December 15 - The first Caps Bloggers Happy Hour sees Alex Ovechkin beat the Atlanta Thrashers 3-2.
December 16 - The Caps season hits it's highest point with a 4-1 win over the hapless Flyers. The win gave the Caps a 15-10-7 record for 37 out of a possible 64 points (a .578 percentage), a mark they wouldn't approach again.
December 26 - Gutless Punk Daniel Briere spears Alex Ovechkin in the, erm, "groin".
December 30 - A 4-1 loss to the NY Rangers gives the Capitals a 6-7-1 for the month of December and a 16-16-7 record for the 2006 portion of the season.
January 9 - The Capitals complete their first ever season sweep of the Flyers on Hershey Bears night at Verizon Center. Their third straight win gives fans hope that the second half of December was merely a fluke. Four days later, on...
January 13 - They prove it was not.
January 16 - Caps Bloggers Happy Hour Version 2.0 sees the Caps fall to the Ottawa Senators to the delight of no one. Except Chanuck.
January 24 - Sidney Crosby fails to record a single point and the MVP award goes to a Gutless Punk in the 55th NHL All-Star Game.
January 30 - Another loss to the Senators sees the Caps finish with a January record of 5-7-0 and gives them a 21-23-7 record heading into the year's shortest month.
February 1 - Boston police recieve an urgent 911 call from Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli claiming he has just been robbed.
February 8 - The LA Kings earn the distinction of being the only team in the NHL to lose a shootout to the Capitals.
February 12 - The Caps already faint playoff hopes officially die.
February 18 - Caps Bloggers Happy Hour Version 3.0 sees the Caps lose to the Penguins. Have I mentioned that I hate the Penguins?
February 27 - The Caps trade two defensemen and ~~two third-line wingers~~ a third line winger and a first line center on Deadline Day. Caps fans everywhere (or maybe just here) prepare for the official End of the World.
February 27 - The Caps respond to the various deadline deals by losing, fittingly, in a shootout to the Florida Panthers. They end the month of February with a 3-6-4 record and head into March with a 24-29-11 record overall.
March 1-15 - The Caps start the month off right by going 0-5-2 and scoring thirteen goals over their first seven games.
March 12 - Caps Bloggers Happy Hour Version 4.0 sees the Caps lose to the Atlanta Thrashers.
March 16-18 - The Caps get back on track by winning back to back games over the Lightning and the Maple Leafs, scoring twelve goals in two games.
March 21-31 - The Caps finish the month off right by going 0-5-1 and scoring thirteen goals over their final six games. They finish the month of March with a 2-10-3 record and head into the final month with a 26-39-14 record overall.
April 3 - Olie Kolzig gets his first shutout in three years.
April 7 - The season finally, mercifully ends with a 2-0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. Gutless Punk Daniel Briere spears Milan Jurcina.
April 7 - J.P. gets in on the bringing people together act and hosts a most excellent funeral for the Caps at Clyde's. At the party, I do not get carried away at all with the open bar and do not have probably too much to drink. Because I am classy.

Of course, these are just the moments that jumped out at me. I'm sure you have your own special moments from this season that you'd like to have fondly remembered in the form of a blog post that few people will read. That's why I encourage you to add your own additions to this list in the comments section.

The Random Can

2007-04-04T08:04:00.000-05:00

I went to the vending machine at work yesterday to buy a can of Coca-Cola, and this is what popped out...

Day Late and a Dollar Short

2007-04-04T07:57:00.000-05:00

Look! An internet connection! Right here in my very own apartment! Yay! I can finally do my recap of Monday's Nationals game. Or, rather, my recap of my day at RFK Stadium which also, unfortunately included a Nats game. Anyway... lots of people have posted videos of the President's Race that are a lot like this one:

But how many people have posted a random, three-second video of Teddy Roosevelt walking through the concourse? None. But fear not, because Biff is here to save the day.

There are pictures, too, if you simply click here.

Now That Everyone Has Caught Up, This Blog Is Probably Not Relevant Anymore, Unless You Like Absurdly Long Entry Titles

2007-03-31T12:09:00.000-05:00

There are few things I like better than feeling smug and superior. So it brings me great pleasure to direct you over to this post by Caps Nut (who, incidentally, is doing the Lord's work when it comes to arguing against fighting in the NHL). In it, he discusses the various ramifications of the NHL's current system of awarding standings points. He discusses point inflation, record inflation, and the diminishing significance of the above-.500 record. For some reason, it all sounds vaguely familiar. Almost as though someone else I know was talking about the same thing all the way back in January... Oh wait, here it is. Also, here. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Smug superiority intended solely for comedic effect.)

Given that the topic is suddenly relevant again, I decided to revisit the revised standings I put together back in January. Like I did then, I've taken a look at each Eastern Conference team's record, and adjusted it by taking away shootout wins (converted to ties) and overtime losses (converted to regulation losses). The results this time around are even more dramatic, no doubt owing to the larger sample size. Check it out (in newfangled Google Spreadsheet form!).

The real standings have seven teams within six points of each other fighting for the final two playoff spots, whereas the adjusted standings have six teams within seven points duking it out. Seems like that race is tighter than it would have been. However, as Caps Nut so wisely pointed out, the difference in points is a much bigger gap when the teams you're chasing can earn points without ever winning a game.

So, thanks to Gary Bettman, instead of the defending Stanley Cup champs trying to hold off the upstart Thrashers in the Southeast division, you've got the Hurricanes languishing in 11th place and in danger of missing the playoffs altogether. Instead of a down-to-the-wire race for the Northeast Division crown (as well as the top spot overall) between Buffalo and Ottawa, you've got the Sabres running away with it. Instead of the stupid f'ing Panthers, one of the hottest teams in the league, making a valiant run at the final playoff spot, you've got them virtually eliminated and coasting through meaningless games like last night.

But at least the New York Rangers get to sneak into the playoffs. Hockey fans everywhere are rejoicing over that one. Yup, this whole shootout thing makes everything waaaay more exciting.

And I Really Mean It

2007-03-27T23:07:00.000-05:00

I'm not going to lie. I, like the obviously-fake Caps fan I am, missed most of tonight's game. I only caught the last fifteen minutes of the third period, and even then, I had to endure the rather distracting taunts of a Pittsburgh native (one who had never watched a Penguins game in his life, no less).

Nevertheless, I feel compelled to sum up the game in two simple words.

F*ck. Pittsburgh.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Off Wing Opinion
-The Peerless Prognosticator

$0.02

2007-03-24T09:17:00.000-05:00

(Special disclaimer: This is a post about fighting in the NHL. For excellent coverage of the issue, and perhaps some perspective, go here, here, here and/or here. Also, this post is shamefully long, so you should probably go get some coffee and find a comfortable seat.)

AP writer Ira Podell has a column up on Yahoo! Sports taking a look at the "current" issue of fighting in hockey, and I think it's a pretty interesting read. Not because it covers any new ground, really. For the most part it is a rehash of all the various arguments for and against fighting in the NHL. The thing that caught my eye, though, was a quote from NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell regarding the Todd Fedoruk incident:

"The last time Philadelphia was in there ... the same player came out of the penalty box and went right for Jagr and hit him real hard on probably a borderline charge or a major for charging," Campbell said. "I think it's incumbent on the Rangers to protect their players in ways they can."

No, Colin, you nitwit, it is incumbent on you, and the NHL as a whole, to protect the players in any way you can. If it was, as you say, a borderline charge or a major for charging,why didn't the on-ice officials in your employ call a penalty? And if it was an offense so grievous as to require another player to punch him in the face, shouldn't it also be grievous enough to deserve some sort of suspension? Colin Campbell, in another article, has pointed to the lower number of suspensions this year as an indication that the game is getting cleaner.

While there have been other ugly moments this season, Campbell says supplemental discipline has dropped "tremendously" since the lockout.
Campbell handed out 31 supplemental suspensions in 2003-04 (not counting automatic suspensions), which dropped to 21 last season.
Amazingly, despite all the headline bad behaviour this season, only nine supplemental suspensions have been handed down this season.

I've got news for you, Colin. Improvement would be if you had issued more suspensions this year than last. Given the current state of the game and its current level of popularity in the United States, you should be putting more pressure on the players to clean up their acts, not less.

Or, let's consider for a moment that perhaps Fedoruk's hit on Jagr wasn't an illegal charge. If it was a legal hit, it was a legal hit, and everyone needs to get over it and move on. I hate Jaromir Jagr just as much as the next person, but I feel pretty confident that he can take a hit, and if he can't, then why should Todd Fedoruk be punished for it in the form of a concussive blow from the right hand of Colton Orr? In sports like football and basketball, if a team is bigger, stronger and/or more physical than your own team, you don't get to start bashing people's faces in to level the playing field. You either find a way around the oppositions physical play, whether it be toughening up and being just as physical, or you find a way around it with speed and skill. (Please note that, in this case, "physical play" and "fisticuffs" are two distinctly different things.)

Imagine, if you will, that you are watching a football game (Half of you have just stopped reading. Please come back!) in which Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher comes off the outside and levels Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning with a bone-crunching hit from the blind side. Manning is one of the NFL's biggest stars, and arguably the most important player on the Colts' roster. Now, imagine if one of the offensive linemen, on the next play, were to completely eschew his run-blocking duties and instead made a beeline straight for Urlacher and started throwing punches. Sounds absurd, right? In the NHL, it would not only be unsurprising, if would actually be expected.

And therein lies the problem. We can talk and talk (or write and write, as it were) about banning fighting or increasing the penalty for it or finding some sort of compromise, but nothing will work until the overall mentality of the players (and the idiots in charge (and the fans (and the on-ice officials who are, for the most part, grossly incompetent, thus necessitating the self-policing by the players in the first place))) changes. One of the chief arguments for keeping fighting is that, without it, there would be more cheap shots and dangerous stick infractions. How about instead, the players have enough respect for each other that they simply don't specifically try to badly injure each other? Is that too much to ask? Shouldn't simple sportsmanship, rather than a goon's fists, be enough of a deterrent?

Apparently not. The culture of incidental, gratuitous violence is so ingrained in the NHL at this point that it may be impossible to ever fully extricate it. I'm guilty of it myself, having started this here blog in the joyous delirium that followed the Great Brawl of Atlanta. This in spite of the fact that I am a rather big proponent of phasing fighting out of the league, as any right thinking person should be. That is what the league is working against, and given the people currently in charge, I'm not especially optimistic about the prospects of improvement. Although, to be fair, Gary Bettman has never seen a hockey tradition he wasn't happy to piss all over. So maybe there's hope yet.

If You Live In Virginia, Stop Reading This, You Traitor

2007-03-23T12:14:00.000-05:00

I generally try to avoid talking about politics the same way I avoid things like the plague, or Pittsburgh Penguins fans, but the issue of D.C. Voting Rights is something that is rather close to my heart. It is also an issue that I think everybody, at least around here, can agree on regardless of political persuasion.

As such, I think this is the greatest thing ever. If you live in D.C., I sstrongly encourage you to participate.

Today In Theatres, And Not a Moment Too Soon

2007-03-23T08:56:00.000-05:00

Perhaps Glen Hanlon should take his team to see this instructional video, because last night was kind of sad.

The Season Isn't Over Yet? Seriously?

2007-03-21T19:42:00.000-05:00

Many people never quite understood my exasperation with Dainius Zubrus. Or, if they understood, they probably didn't agree. But tonight, during the first period, Joe Beninati uttered the following words: "Zubrus has his stick lifted by a back-checking Alexander Semin." No, that isn't a typo, you read "Alexander Semin". This may be the only instance in the history (and the future) of hockey that anybody has been succesfully defended by a back-checking Alexander Semin, and I defy you to find another forward in the NHL besides Dainius who could make it happen.

In other Caps-Sabres news, I went ahead and granted commenter/younger brother/sometime contributor DefDude a reprieve over on the left side of the page, replacing him with Brian Pothier immediately after a Pothier turnover resulted in the Sabres' second goal. Just three minutes later, he goes and scores a goal. Do not doubt the power of the KHFC Whipping Boy© award. (Please note that the Capitals are 2-1 with a total of 14 goals scored in the three games since the inception of the KHFCWB©. I don't think it is too far out of the question for me to take full credit for the wins over Toronto and Tampa Bay.) (No, his goal is not enough to earn him a reprieve. A poor decision by the judge of a certain nickname contest might get him off though.)

In other news, I get the chance to say, once again, that "All [Donald Brashear] does is score goals!" Also, shots to the head of Andrew Peters, who is going to need some Advil when he gets home tonight. And then again some more a week from now. If ever you find yourself wondering "Would it be a good idea for me to get in a fight with Donald Brashear?", I beg you to watch a video of tonight's fight. Because you, not being a professional hockey player, will probably be killed.

Oh right... Also, the Caps lost by a wide margin. The result is pretty much irrelevant, so I don't particularly care to comment on it other than to say that, if a few bounces in the first period go another way, the Caps probably jump out to an early lead and end up at least taking the Sabres to overtime. But they didn't, so they didn't. Oh well.

"Oh I get it, it's very clever."

2007-03-19T17:44:00.000-05:00

The first rule of Kevin Hatcher Fan Club is: You do not talk about Kevin Hatcher Fan Club. (Not really, but just roll with me here.) The second rule of Kevin Hatcher Fan Club is: You do not correct Biff's grammar and/or spelling.

And so it is that commenter/younger brother/occasional contributor DefDude came to be the newest KHFC Whipping Boy©.

We Get It. You Wish You Were Actually Irish.

2007-03-16T07:36:00.000-05:00

You know how DCSportsChick is constantly railing on pink sports merchandise? Well I'm sick of letting her have all the fun, and I'd like to take an opportunity, after seeing a whole lot of them in the stands in Boston last night, to rant about the Green Hat phenomenon. As near as I could tell, they must have been giving away green hats with a Bruins logo on them at the game, because it seemed like everybody was wearing one. There was even a Caps fan in an old school RWB sweater with one of the green monstrosities perched atop his head.

Please, sports fans, I'm begging you. Stop. For God's sake, stop. You look rediculous. Unless you are a fan of the Boston Celtics, New York Jets or Hartford Whalers, there is no excuse for this kind of behavior. Your team does not wear green. You look like a drunk buffoon. Which offends me, as an Irish person, because you are perpetuating the myth that all Irish people are drunks. (To be fair, all the ones I know actually are, myself included. But I'm sure there's someone out there who isn't.)

Most importantly, the green hat phenomenon was started by the Boston Red Sox, who wear the things every year in spring training on St. Patrick's Day. Do you really want to be asocciated with Red Sox fans in any way? (For my own, personal, opinion of the city of Boston, click here and be sure to focus on the two paragraphs about Boston). You'd think mispronouncing the word "Celtic" would have been enough for them, but the people up there seem always eager to bastardize their famously Irish heritage.

As a quick aside: Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody!

Snubbed!

2007-03-16T07:22:00.000-05:00

CapsChick has announced the winner(s) of her little nickname contest, and guess who was Winner #1? Not me! I call shenanigans. Nobody makes Biff number two!

As retribution for this injustice (and mostly because I feel bad about putting him there in the first place), Steve Eminger's reign as KHFC Whipping Boy© is over after just twelve hours. Take that, CapsChick!

Caps Finish Season Series Against Bruins At Even .500

2007-03-15T20:53:00.000-05:00

Sort of. If you want to count 0-0-4 as an even .500 record. For the purposes of making me feel better, I'm going to go ahead and do just that.

It would be easy (and kind of lazy) to pin all of the blame for tonight's loss to the Bruins squarely on Steve Eminger and his prodigious ability to whack opposing players in the face with his hockey stick at the worst possible moment, but it is exactly what I am going to do anyway. Because that is just how I roll. In fact, I am going to go so far as to give Stevie E. the dubious distinction of being the inaugural Kevin Hatcher Fan Club Whipping Boy©. "What is the Kevin Hatcher Fan Club Whipping Boy©?" you ask? The premise is simple. Now, instead of having to actually read my blog to figure out which NHL player I derive the most enjoyment from disparaging, you can simply look to the right side of the page and see that it is Dainius Zubrus. Or, rather, would have been, if I had gotten off my ass and instituted this beguiling feature before he got traded. Because I really did take all kinds of perverse pleasure in finding new and creative ways to deride him. (I also missed out on John Erskine. Which is a shame.)

To be fair, I actually like Steve Eminger and feel most of the harsher criticism directed his way is unwarranted, and he had a pretty good game tonight if you take away the two minutes he spent in the penalty box watching the Bruins storm back to tie the game. Actually, if you take away the two minutes Eminger spent in the box, the entire team played really well. The defense (most specifically Eminger, in fact) looks a lot better with Olie "God" Kolzig between the pipes. They were much more aggressive physically, and one can only assume that much of this derives from the feeling of security that comes from having an extra safety net in front of the... ummm... net.

But, alas, you can't take away the two minutes Stevie E spent in the box. Unless you are magic. In which case, I would appreciate it if you would go back and take away those two minutes. Because Olie really deserved to win this game. As much as I like Brent Johnson, and while he did a more than adequate job in relief of Kolzig, Olie is simply on a whole other level. Without Olie in net, this game never even goes to overtime. In fact, if I had been living in a cave the past month and had just now emerged, you would have had a pretty hard time convincing me that he had missed any time at all.

Also, to whoever out there is magic and is planning on going back in time to change the outcome of tonight's game, I ask that you also find away to make sure Marc Savard becomes a free agent this offseason. Because... well, yeah.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Japers' Rink
-Puckhead's Thoughts
-The Peerless Prognosticator

Ruh-Roh

2007-03-05T15:37:00.000-05:00

I imagine that I am in the rather small minority that hope that this turns out to be nothing more than another stupid ploy for the Penguins to get a sweeter arena deal than the one they already have.

That said, "we have no choice but to declare an impasse and to notify NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman that we will aggressively explore relocation" sounds pretty damn serious.

Here We Go Again

2007-03-05T13:21:00.000-05:00

If you're anything like me, and God help you if you are, the Caps' recent performance has probably caused you to become a fairly heavy drinker. Or not. Either way is cool.

The point I'm trying to make is that one week from today (Monday, March 12) you have a rather excellent opportunity to do some good old fashioned drinking with some fellow Caps bloggers at the fourth (and possibly final (for this year, at least)) Caps Bloggers Happy Hour, where we will be watching the Caps take on the Hated Atlanta Thrashers. This time around, we will be taking over the Grans Slam Sports Bar (because nothing says hockey like baseball) in the Grand Hyatt hotel at 1000 H St, NW in downtown DC. It's within walking distance of both the Gallery Place and Metro Center Metro stations, so there's really no excuse for you not to be there. (As per usual, I will be there early wearing my red-white-and-blue hat with Craig Laughlin's signature on it.)

And before you say anything, you are absolutely right. It was rather brilliant of me to schedule this on the day between Selction Sunday and the first day of the NCAA Tournament. It didn't happen through sheer coincidence at all. I swear.

The Ugliest Thing You'll See All Day

2007-03-02T13:16:00.000-05:00

Unless your team is the Buffalo Sabres.

Discuss.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: I have absolutely no reason to believe this is anything other than a Photoshop mockup of what a new Caps jersey could look like. I just put it here because I was bored.)

The Jiri Novotny Era Begins

2007-03-01T22:17:00.000-05:00

Well that was interesting. Whichever member of the Panthers coaching staff was blackmailing the officiating crew with pictures of one of them in a compromising position with a farm animal must have accidentally left the pictures behind at Verizon Center on Tuesday night. Because blackmail is more or less the only explanation I can come up with for the bizarre ending that befell tonight's game between the Caps and the Tampa Bay Lightning. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like that. First, the Caps find themselves witha 5-on-3 in the final minutes, only to pull the goalie for the uber-rare three-man advantage. Then, they somehow manage to allow one of their skaters to get double teamed along the boards anyway and turn the puck over for an easy empty net goal. Then the trail official makes a game-saving stop in place of Brent Johnson.

And then there was the ten-round shootout. Not really the refs fault, but bizarre none the less.

The trade deadline may have passed on Tuesday, but there is still one important trade the Caps need to make. The sooner they send John Erskine to the Hershey Bears in exchange for Mike Green, the better. Erskine was absolutely awful tonight, getting burned in the final minute of the second period for the Lightning's second goal and then taking a stupid (although eventually, fortunately, harmless) delay of game penalty in the third. It was just another of a string of poor performances by Erskine.

Speaking of poor performances from defensemen, Brian Pothier has also looked pretty bad of late. Against the speedy Lightning, he looked very much as though he were skating in some sort of molasses. Or perhaps someone replaced his skate blades with lead.

But let's not dwell on the negatives. Overall, this was another good performance from the Caps. Save for the last few minutes of the game, they just couldn't get the bounces going their way. I eventually lost count of the number of great scoring chances that where whiffed, muffed and/or shanked. The most blatant of which was newcomer Jiri Novotny in the third, sitting at the top of the crease when the puck came to his stick with a yawning net staring him in the face. But maybe I just noticed that one more because it was exactly what Dainius Zubrus would have done.

That said, I'd like to commend Lightning goaltender Daniel Tarnqvist. When the Caps were actually managing to connect on their shots, he came up huge. He made several huge saves right before Vinny Lecavalier's shorthanded goal that probably won the game for Tampa Bay.

Next up: The New York Ex-Capitals. Get ready to roll out the red carpet for Chris Simon, Brendan Witt and Richard Zednik.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Capitals Corner
-Capital Fanatic
-Japers' Rink
-The Peerless Prognosticator

The Zubrus Trade: My Reaction

2007-02-27T23:59:00.000-05:00

Sitting in the stands tonight at Verizon Center, one would have thought the Capitals had just traded away Jaromir Jagr, Sergei Gonchar, Mike Griere and Robert Lang. There was a lot of vitriol, in Section 110 at least, being directed towards Ted Leonsis and George McPhee. Several people in the vicinity were hear to utter some permutation of the phrase "Looks like I won't be renewing my season tickets!" and/or "Oh great, another rebuild." (That second one is real. Nevermind that this is all just part of the first rebuild which is just two years old.) Most of the backlash seems to be a result of the Zubrus trade. Zubrus was something of a fan favorite around these parts, and he was also the team's top line center. So I understand and respect the frustration a lot of fans are feeling. Especially since it is exactly the way I would feel if the Caps hadn't traded Zubrus.

Lost in all the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments is one important fact: Dainius Zubrus really isn't all that good. And by "good" I mean "good at hockey". Sure, he has had career years playing alongside Alex Ovechkin, but if Zubrus' play is any indication, a reasonably well-trained monkey could probably pot 10-15 goals a season playing alongside #8. Most of Dainius' goals are scored almost by accident off of good plays by Ovechkin. Sure, he's shown occasional flashes of brilliance, such as his skate-backwards-from-behind-the-net-and-roof-it goal several weeks back. But for every highlight reel goal he's scored, I can point to five or six instances where the puck came to him with nothing between him and a yawning goal mouth but a whole lot of empty space and he managed to whiff/shank/fall down and embarrass himself. Add to his frighteningly bad finishing skills a rather uninspiring ability to pass the puck and the more I think about it, the more I find myself wondering what he was doing on the top line at all. (Okay, not really. He's really good along the boards and quite responsible in his own end.) There is a reason why when I hypothesized about the potential 2008-09 opening night roster, Zubrus was not on the team.

Then there's the contract situation. Truthfully, I think Zubrus will be back next season for one reason: The Caps will be the only team willing to give him a contract anywhere close to what he is looking for. I think he'll find when he tests the free agent waters that other teams are fully aware that he is nothing more than the player that was lucky enough to get dropped onto a line right next to one of the best players the league has seen in a decade. Think about it. If you were an NHL GM, how much would you be willing to pay a third line winger who will probably chip in 10-15 goals? And how long would the contract be? (If you said "$3.5 million for five years" then I have some bad news: You are probably fired. Or working for the New York Islanders.) What's worse it, I would rather George McPhee not bother. It seems a waste of cap space to sign Dainius Zubrus when you already have several players (chief among them Brian Sutherby, who has officially moved out of the KHFC doghouse, his presence on the PP in Zubrus' place being one of the key reasons for their impressive 3-5 showing, in my opinion) who can do pretty much the same things as Zubrus, but for less money. Because even if the Caps do sign him, they will hopefully be doing so as part of a wave of UFA signings that will relegate him to the third line winger position he so richly deserves.

Of course, most of my accepting/embracing of this trade is contingent upon the Capitals actually being extremely active in the free agent market over the summer. Let it be known that I have officially gotten it into my head that Sheldon Souray needs to be wearing a Capitals sweater next season. Also, Brad Stuart.

The Brian Sutherby Era Begins

2007-02-27T23:41:00.000-05:00

One could probably forgive the Caps for not showing up tonight. Less than twelve hours removed from having two respected veterans (and regular starters) traded away, one would expect the Caps' overall game to be affected, both by mental anguish and the daunting prospect of a short roster trying to plug several holes. And for the first eight minutes, that was exactly the case for Washington.

And then Glen Hanlon finally, mercifully, released the hounds. Let the record show that, over the final 52 minutes of play, the Capitals outscored the Panthers 5-2 and mostly dominated just about every aspect of the game. They looked a little bit like the team that reeled off a 7-1-1 streak in November and December. Heck, they looked a little bit like a playoff team at times. And why? Because when a team is trailing by three goals, that team doesn't get to play anything even resembling the trap. Which means the players were finally able to play the type of game most of them are best suited to play: a high-energy, aggresive forecheck combnied with Ovechkin and Semin freelancing and creating chances. The result? Five goals. Most of them as a result of good offensive zone pressure (on the power play, no less!).

In the standings, this game will be recorded as a loss, but as far as I'm concerned, it is very much a win. Partly because I have long since taken to regarding shootout games as ties in my head, and partly because, for the first time in almost a month, the team wearing black at the Verizon Center were the real Capitals again. The crazy fellow behind me said many things tonight regarding trades, George McPhee, the general direction of the team and so on, and for the most part, he was none to bright, but I have to agree with him on one thing. The Caps may want to consider whether or not Glen Hanlon is really the guy to take them to the next level. His insitence on playing a trapping defense in February seriously hindered this team, and tonight is proof of what might have been if he had let this team do what it was meant to do.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, I am fully aware that one game is not a large enough sample size to coming to sweeping conclusions such as "Fire Hanlon!' I also do not particularly care. I am also aware that giving the offense more free reign would not have particularly helped the team in the long term, but dammit I want to see Ovechkin win the Richard Trophy. It was really the only thing any of us had to look forward to.)

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Alex Ovetjkin
-Capital Fanatic
-Off Wing Opinion
-On Frozen Blog

Some Quick Thoughts

2007-02-27T17:39:00.000-05:00

On the Zubrus Trade: The Caps trade a third line winger masquerading as a first line center for a third-fourth line center masquerading as, well, a third-fourth line center and a first round pick. Good deal.

On everything else: Caps trade dead weight to free up roster space, while getting draft picks in the exchange(s). Good deal.

On the comment section of Tarik's blog: The new Darwin's Waiting Room. Or perhaps just visitors from the real thing.

I'll have some actual, well thought out thoughts later on tonight (or tomorrow morning), after I get home from the game. If you need me, I'll be down on the glass, right next to the visitors penalty box.

Caps' Offense Remains Trapped

2007-02-22T00:04:00.000-05:00

Today's stat of the day: Capitals record when allowing three or fewer goals against
Through Jan. 31: 20-2-5 (.833) (Overall record: 21-23-7, .480)
Feb 1-Present: 2-3-3 (.389) (Overall record: 2-5-3, .350)

Please note that, throught the first four months of the season, the Capitals, on average, where allowing three or fewer goals against once every other game, whereas in the month of February it is happening four out of every five games.

The point I'm trying to make, in case it isn't abundantly clear right now, is that Glen Hanlon's trap isn't working. Sure the Caps are allowing far fewer goals, but what has it gotten the team? A significantly hindered offense, and tonight's game against the Sharks was yet another example. The Caps were, once again, not nearly aggresive enough forechecking and a solid effort from the defensive corps goes wasted, as is becoming the norm. The most frustrating part about tonight was that the Caps' trapping defense still failed to prevent San Jose from generating a fair number of fast breaks and odd-man rushes, but the Caps backliners managed to handle them ably with only one exception. And that was John Erskine, who isn't so much an actual defenseman as a human wrecking ball. Can someone explain to me why he is on the ice in place of Steve Eminger?

Just two goals allowed needs to equal a win, folks. And the fact that on six different occasions in the month of February compared to seven the previous four months the Caps have failed to capitalize on keeping the puck out of there own net ought to be enough to convince Glen Hanlon that he needs to let his boys do what they do best. It is high time he let the Caps' skilled guys roam free like he used to. Whether he will or not, only time will tell, but in the mean time, get used to this nonsense.

To be fair, on the rare occasions the Caps were able to generate any real pressure, they looked pretty good. And the Pepco Energy Services Power Outage started looking almost like an AHL caliber power play (which is a huge improvement, sadly enough). And the hooking call on Eric Fehr should have actually been a diving call going against the Sharks. But once again (placing broken record on turntable) the Caps ultimately didn't get it done offensively, and I don't think we have anyone to blame at this point except Glen Hanlon. (Seriously though. Kris Beech is your solution to the power play woes? Pathetic.)

Recaps From People That Matter:
-3 Grumpy Caps Fans
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Capital Fanatic
-DCSportsChick
-Off Wing Opinion
-Puckhead's Thoughts

Tuesday, Bloody Tuesday

2007-02-20T23:00:00.000-05:00

Quick, name the only team in the National Hockey League that can take two four-minute power plays and turn them into three goals against...

That's right, it's your Nation's Capitals.

That was pretty much the story of the game for the Caps. Montreal wasn't especially impressive, but when you are blessed with a four-minute double minor and follow it up with three (three!) penalties, you are going to lose the game. Period. Sure, the Caps played great even strength hockey and even managed to find their way on the penalty kill, especially in the third period. And two goals from the blueline are certainly encouraging. (EDITOR'S NOTE: It has been brought to my attention tha tthe Caps first goal was ultimately credited to Brian Sutherby. Which is bulls***.)And Alex Semin's goal at the end of the second period was a thing of beauty. And, yes, it certainly seemed like tonight's officiating crew had been instructed by the league brass to make up for the goalie interference call on Saku Koivu from the last time these two teams met. But, seriously, three goals against off of two four minute double minors. Pathetic.

It serves to underscore a rather important point, though. The Habs won tonight by virtue of three-for-seven power play efficiency. Special teams are as important as ever these days and the Capitals simply don't have what it takes in that area of the game. I get that he is going to be rather expensive (and that I am probably one of the only people that holds this opinion), but if the Caps don't make a very serious play for Sheldon Souray I will be very upset.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Capital Fanatic
-Capitals Corner
-Japers' Rink

Stat of the Day

2007-02-19T10:00:00.000-05:00

From November 28 to December 16, a stretch of nine games, the Capitals allowed an average of exactly three goals per game. Their record during that stretch was 7-1-1 (.833).

So far in the month of February the Caps have played eight games and have averaged exactly three goals against per game. Their record for the month? 2-4-2 (.375).

EDIT: 3 Grumpy Caps Fans has a post up that says the same thing I'm trying to say here, only in a far more eloquent and well-thought out manner.

I Hate Pittsburgh

2007-02-19T09:26:00.000-05:00

Once again the Capitals played a solid game defensively and once again, the guys on offense let them down. The Caps have now scored just 17 goals in their last nine games (an average of 1.89 goals per game) since a 7-3 win over the Hurricanes on January 27. They are 2-5-2 over that stretch. For all the early-season talk of how much the defense needed to improve, it is incredibly frustrating watching them hold Sidney Crosby in check yet again yet still fail to convert it into any points in the standings. What's worse is I can't even figure out exactly what is wrong with this team's offense (Okay, that's not true, the problem is that the Alexes are slumping and the Power Play is for shit. But how do you fix that?) At this point, I really don't see them turning it around, which means the Caps are likely to finish at or below where they finished last year in terms of the standings.

As for the game itself, I thought the Caps, at the very least, played it dead even with the Penguins. The problem is, when one team is hot and the other is slumping, guess which team is going to get the lucky bounces that decide close games? I give Evgeni Malkin a ton of credit on his goal late in the second period because it was a fantastic shot to the top corner from a bad angle, but I doubt he could do that again if you gave him fifty tries. Likewise, when Alexander Semin beats a goalie that badly, 99 times out of 100 the puck ends up under the crossbar (his overtime game winner against Atlanta being the best example of that) instead of ringing off of it. Once again, if this loss were an isolated incident, everybody involved would simply shrug and say "It just wasn't our night." Unfortunately for the Caps, it hasn't been their night in quite a long time.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Off Wing Opinion (1st Period, 2nd Period, 3rd Period)
-Puckhead's Thoughts

Caps Bloggers Happy Hour Version 3.0:
Once again, the Caps Bloggers Happy Hour was a roaring success. Which is good, because for a while there it looked like the whole thing was going to consist of me sitting in a corner by myself. The attendees this time around included yours truly, Mr. and Mrs. DC Sports Chick, A View From the Cheap Seats (plus guest), Capital Fanatic (plus guest), and Gustafsson (plus Mrs. Gustafsson and Gustafsson Jr.) and pucksandbooks from On Frozen Blog. We also had some verious non-Caps bloggers show up: William F. Yurasko (and guest) who was joining us for a second time, as well as Ah, Bugger and As Smooth as Sandpaper. Which brings the grand total of attendees to... fifteen! For those of you who are keeping count, that is a 50% increase over v.2.0. I bet you feel really stupid for not showing up, don't you? But don't worry, you have one more chance when the CBHH will be taking over the Grand Slam Sports Bar in the Grand Hyatt downtown at 10th & H St, NW on March 12. If you miss that one, you'll never forgive yourself.

Looking Ahead

2007-02-14T17:10:00.000-05:00

If there was any doubt that the Capitals playoff hopes for 2007 were finally snuffed out, it's gone now. With all due respect to Brent Johnson, who is an excellent goaltender in his own right, there is no way the Capitals turn this season around without Olie Kolzig, especially given the way they've played of late. I think we've probably hit rock bottom in terms of overall fan frustration. A lot of fans are starting to lose patience with the rebuilding process and that is mostly understandable, especially given the success of the yellow and black clad evildoers in Pennsylvania. It is especially tough because, at this point, I don't think there is much more this particular group of guys can do to grow as a team.

Part of the fun last season was watching all the new faces grow as hockey players. There was consistent improvement over the course of the season. This year, the team seems to have hit a wall, and I don't really think there is anything that can be done about it. It is time to start bringing in some new faces, but those new faces aren't likely to arrive until the free agency signing period starts in July. So why watch the team right now? The playoffs are out of reach, there's little to be seen by way of growth and improvement from the players, even Ovechkin's attempt to catch Sidney Crosby in the points scoring race is pretty much over. Now the only thing to root for, really, is for Ovechkin to edge Vincent Lecavalier et al for the Richard Trophy, an accomplishment that will likely ring somewhat hollow for most Caps fans as they watch Crosby receive the Art Ross and, most likely, the Hart Trophies while leading his team to the playoffs. So the frustration is to be expected.

Fear not, though. We will get through this. Sure, it's tough, but it's nothing new. It isn't nearly as bad as the final stretch of the 2003-04 season. Besides, no matter how little it shows on the ice right now, there is definitely a bright future in store for this team. One need only look at the amount of space the team has remaining under the salary cap and a list of the potential free agents over the next two years to see that there is a very real possibility of this team being a legitimate power in the Eastern Conference by the 2008-09 season.

In order to help you get through the coming hard times in Capsland, I'm brazenly stealing an idea from 3 Grumpy Caps and running with it. I'd like to show you some of the more notable potential free agents this coming offseason. For the task at hand, I'm only going to look at centers and defensemen, as those are widely accepted as the team's two most pressing needs:

Centers:
-Petr Sykora, EDM
-Pavel Datsyuk, DET
-Robert Lang, DET
-Daniele Briere, BUF
-Chris Drury, BUF
-Mike Comrie, OTT

Defensemen:
-Brad Stuart, CGY
-Sheldon Souray, MTL
-Brian Rafalski, NJ

Nothing especially exciting by way of centers, but I see two defensemen on that list whom I ~~expect~~ hope and pray the Caps will seriously pursue. Stuart, from what I've seen on the two occasions Boston came to visit, is particularly solid in his own end and can really dish out some hits. As for Souray, his contribution to the power play would, one would hope, prove invaluable.

Now let's move on to the summer of 2008, when, out in San Jose, both Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau are scheduled to become UFAs. What are the odds the Sharks will be able to sign both of them? Imagine a world in which Ted opens his pursestrings and lures Marleau to Washington with a good contract and a chance to be the #1 center alongside Alex Ovechkin. Suddenly, everything is looking quite rosy.

Combine the acquisitions of Stuart, Souray and Marleau with the arrival of Nicklas Backstrom and the further development of the youngsters (who will all be 3-4 year veterans by 2008) and all of a sudden things are looking up. Not convinced? Take a look at what the lineup could, conceivably, look like at the start of the 2008-09 season:

Ovechkin-Marleau-Clark
Semin-Backstrom-Fehr
Sutherby-Gordon-Pettinger
Brashear-Laich-Bradley

Morrison-Jurcina
Eminger-Stuart
Green-Souray

Kolzig
Johnson

Pretty impressive, no? The best part is, based on salary figures obtained here and my own estimation of what kind of raises the UFAs might get, the salary comes in some $3 million under the cap. (Assuming the Cap goes to $49 million, which I'm pretty sure I heard was true. Somewhere.)

So things may look bad now, but with a little patience and a whole lot of shameless optimism, I think that we're gonna make it after all.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is not, necessarily, meant to be an outline of what I think will actually happen. It is mostly just a fantasy I've concocted to make myself feel better. It is based largely on baseless assumptions and wishful thinking. So feel free to go ahead and correct, berate and/or agree with me, or share your own ideas about who might be wearing a Caps ~~sweater~~ uniform system soon, in the comments section.

F%$@

2007-02-12T12:39:00.000-05:00

No. Seriously. F%$@.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Capital Fanatic
-Capitals Insider
-Japers' Rink
-Off Wing Opinion
-Puckhead's Thoughts
-The Peerless Prognosticator

Roughing, Roughing, Roughing

2007-02-10T21:48:00.000-05:00

First, let me admit that I watched this game on a tiny TV screen tucked away in the corner of a particularly lame "sports bar" in Silver Spring where the clientele found the NFL Pro Bowl, Keno and computer generated horses all more important than some hockey game. So it was tough to get a good read on exactly how things were going for the Caps. For example, after watching the first period, I thought the Caps played especially well. They did a great job of establishing possession in the offensive zone, controlling the boards and playing a very physical brand of hockey. Yet when the first period stats flashed across the screen during the intermission, to my surprise the Rangers were badly outshooting the Caps. In fact, all of the first period stats seemed to heavily favor the Rangers.

The difference, of course, is simply a question of overall team mentality. The Rangers don't seem to be particularly afraid to put the puck on net, whereas the Capitals tendency to keep passing the puck no matter what during power plays seems to have spread to even strength play as well. You would think after the game against Los Angeles ended on a garbage goal resulting from a seemingly harmless shot from Milan Jurcina, they might have figured out the value of taking shots, but they still seem rather obsessed with trying to make the perfect tic-tac-toe play.

It seems to me that some of the guys out there think that they are better than they really are. They see the sort of plays that the Alexes make and they endeavor to try to replicate that and as a result, all they get are turnovers and the occasional close-but-no-cigar scoring chance. The Rangers, meanwhile, scored almost all of their goals from above the hash marks. Granted, a few of them were on one-timers, but the point is: SHOOT THE FREAKING PUCK!

Speaking of the power play, the new scheme didn't seem to make a lick of difference. If you just looked at the box score and saw the Caps' two power play goals, you would think that they had actually made some sort of improvement, but the reality is that both of those goals were lucky bounces. The Caps failed to generate any real scoring opportunities without the generous assistance of the end boards.

As a quick aside, the officiating seemed particualrly dreadful tonight. The roughing call against Clark was pretty much absurd based on the replay I saw. The one on Kolzig was less rediculous but it seemed to me that there was a lot worse happening (from both teams) (but especially the Rags) that wasn't getting called. I don't ask that every single infraction result in a penalty, all I ask is for some consistency within a single game.

So the Caps end their homestand with a 2-1-1 record, a record that is misleading since one of those wins was a shootout win against a team that they are ostensibly competing with for a playoff spot. Really, if they wanted to have any chance of jumping back into the hunt for real, they needed to win at least three.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-Bettman Hates Hockey!
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Capital Fanatic
-Capitals Corner
-Capitals Insider
-Off Wing Opinion
-On Frozen Blog
-Puckhead's Thoughts
-The Peerless Prognosticator

Yes, It's That Time Again

2007-02-07T21:51:00.000-05:00

This here blog may not be very good, but if there is at least one thing it is good at, it's uniting Caps fans with the lure of alcohol (also, hating on Dainius Zubrus). And so it is I'm pleased to announce the third edition of the Caps Bloggers Happy Hour. This time around, we'll be heading back to Bugsy's in Old Town Alexandria to take in the February 18th game between the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguin Scum (a.k.a. the Kansas City Penguins, Flightless Sea Fowl etc. Take your pick).

As has been the case previously, your truly will be there about a half hour before the opening face off wearing my red white and blue hat (like this one) with Craig Laughlin's signature on it. So feel free to stop on by. (Seriously, please come. So far the only people who have said they'll be there are myself and Mr. and Mrs. DCSportsChick. That's only three people.) (Not that there's anything wrong with that. They are both excellent people.) (Also, screw you J.P. Nobody challenges me in a contest of parentheticals because I always win.)

That Looked Familiar

2007-02-06T22:32:00.000-05:00

From January 4 to January 9, the Capitals had a stretch of three straight games in which they held the opposing team to two or fewer goals (they allowed five total over that stretch). They won all three of those games. From February 3 to tonight, the Caps have now held their opponents to two or fewer goals in three straight games for the second time this year (again, five total during this stretch). This time? One win, one loss, and one shootout loss. The difference? The first time, the Caps scored five, three and six goals respectively, an average of 4.67 goals per game. This time around, they've scored zero, one and two goals respectively (steady progress, at least) for an average of exactly one goal per game.

You can talk all you want about steadying the defensive corps, but this team lives and dies by it's offense and right now, they are not getting the job done. There's not much to say about this game that hasn't already been said about the previous two. Start with a healthy helping of blown opportunities on offense, add a dash of soft goal between Olie Kolzig's arm and his body and sprinkle liberally with an inability to pass the puck effectively through the neutral zone and you have the recipe for yet another Caps loss. It is becoming repetitive and, frankly, somewhat boring.

Alex Ovechkin had one of the worst games of his career. He was virtually a non-factor tonight save for his delay of game penalty that ultimately cost the Caps a point in the standings. I'm not sure I understand why Glen Hanlon felt compelled to have Ovechkin spend so much time on the bench, but it seemed to me like it started happening after the Caps first power play when Ovechkin didn't make the line change with the rest of the first PP unit. We saw Hanlon bench Ovechkin last year for double-shifting without permission and that is pretty much the only explanation I can come up with as to why Alex Semin got moved in OV's spot on the top line. It certainly isn't as if Semin was all that much more succesful.

The sad thing is, the Caps are finally starting to get some scoring support from the secondary forwards. Brooks Laich's goal was as pretty a slapshot you'll see, and Eric Fehr exhibited some great hands on the second goal. Fehr was especially solid tonight. Without Ovechkin's delay of game penalty and the subsequent game tying goal, Fehr's goal would have been the game winner. He nearly had another goal (which then would also have been the GWG), but was robbed on a brilliant save by Tim Thomas.

Speaking of Tim Thomas, is it just me, or does he appear to be completely insane? I give him a lot of credit for the bizarre little backflip he did after Fehr scored, but what the heck was that all about? And then the Comcast cameras caught him yelling at Alexander Semin after Semin beat him with the backhand in the shootout. I can understand a goalie having something of a hot temper *cough*Olie*cough* but there really wasn't a whole lot to get upset about on either of those goals.

On the positive side of things, the loser point the Caps picked up tonight keeps them from falling behind Boston in the conference standings (though thet do have three games in hand). So we can thank Gary Bettman for that, at least.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Alex Ovetjkin #8
-Off Wing Opinion

Gotta Put the Puck In the Net

2007-02-03T20:03:00.000-05:00

Because I have a real life that occasionally forces me to drop everything I'm doing at a moment's notice and rush out to Takoma Park, I missed a large portion of today's Caps-Penguins game, so I'm going to refrain from commenting on it too extensively other than to say that there is very little left to say. They played badly two nights ago against the Panthers and got blown out, they played pretty well against the Penguins today and lost a close game. Get used to it.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Capital Fanatic
-On Frozen Blog
-Puckhead's Thoughts

Caps Finally Show Up, Eight Periods Too Late

2007-02-01T22:38:00.000-05:00

Tonight, the Capitals spent 4:33 of the first 5:26 of the second period on the power play. Part of that power play time included a lengthy 5-on-3. The result? At the end of those five minutes and twenty-six seconds the Capitals were even further behind the Panthers than they were at the start of the period.

For a game in which the Caps scored two power play goals, their power play sure did look anemic. One could look at the box score and think that the Panthers played a badly undisciplined game (11 penalties) but the truth was that they had simply figured out the secret to keeping the Capitals from putting goals on the board. With all the talk about the defense being too inexperienced, too out of position, too not-keeping-the-puck-out-of-the-net-ish, I feel like the real problem with this team has been the offense. It's not that they aren't getting chances, but they seem to be completely incapable of converting those chances. It seems like every single player on the team not named Alex or Chris is completely snakebit. I don't know if it's just a really, really, really, really nasty team-wide slump, or if it's a more serious malaise. Given the fact that Richard Zednik returned from injury, played exceptionally well, and still couldn't make a difference, I'm leaning towards the latter. (Editor's Note: I am not, in any way, trying to let the defense off the hook here. They played pretty bad too.)

The more serious problem, however, is the consistently slow starts they have exhibited over the past month and a half. During the first intermission, Craig Laughlin asked Jamie Heward about the Caps poor first period, and Heward's respons was, in effect, that the Caps were caught off guard by the Panther's energy and speed. Seriously?! The Caps have been pasted twice by the Panthers in the past two weeks, yet somehow they manage to come out flat footed yet again, giving up the first goal and trailing almost the entire game. (In all fairness, the Panthers' first goal should absolutely have been disallowed due to goaltender interference.)

I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a bold prediction. The Capitals will not make the playoffs this season. Period. They are now in last place in the Southeast division, 9 points out of the eighth seed in the conference, and falling fast. Getting some defensemen back from the injured list might help, but by then it will be too late, and besides, it won't solve the offensive woes.

I'm not entirely sure how to proceed from here. After spending much of the first half with very real playoff hopes, I find myself somewhat disillusioned. I am aware that, realistically, the Caps are right where I expected them to be back at the beginning of the year, but after seeing the playoffs flash before my eyes, going back to the whole "enjoying watching the guys grow as a team and not worrying about wins and losses" thing seems rather unappealing. The only thing left to root for at this point really is that Alex Ovechkin maintain his lead in the goal scoring race and, hopefully, catch Sidney Crosby for the overall points race.

Of course, I won't be the least bit upset if the Caps bounce bag, reel off a winning streak, and make me eat my words. In fact, I'd love that.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From The Cheap Seats
-Bettman Hates Hockey!
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Capital Fanatic
-Capitals Corner

Special Bonus Coverage! Question of the Day: Which of the three Florida losses is most embarassing? Answer in the comments.

#25

2007-02-01T21:30:00.000-05:00

Just when it was starting to look like the Caps' win total would threaten to catch the number of Caps bloggers, Alex Ovetjkin #8 shows up. At this rate, they may never catch up. (To be fair, this one is not so much a Capitals blog as much as it is an Alex Ovechkin blog, but I'm going to count it.)

A Trade? A Trade!

2007-02-01T21:17:00.000-05:00

I wasn't even going to bother mentioning this, because yet another young defensive prospect hardly seems worth noting, but I'm going to go ahead and do it now because it looks like evryone else has. (Also, I need something to take my mind off of this game.)

Obviously, you've heard that the Caps acquired Boston defenseman Milan Jurcina in exchange for a 4th round draft pick. Overall, it's not a bad move by the Caps. I really don't think having too many defensive prospects is going to hurt, and a 4th round pick seems a small price to pay for a player that could possibly have a huge upside. That said, I don't know too much about him other than the Boston Bruins value him as much as a 4th round draft pick.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-3 Grumpy Caps Fans
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Capital Fanatic
-Capitals Insider
-DCSportsChick
-Dump and Chase
-Japers' Rink
-On Frozen Blog
-Alex Ovetjkin #8

Meme Time: "If I were a hockey player."

2007-01-31T08:19:00.000-05:00

Stolen from Off Wing Opinion-

If I Were a Hockey Player:

Team: Washington Capitals
Uniform Number: 16 (I'm giving up 17 to Clark, and Eric McErlain, apparently. Plus, 16 is one half of 32, a fitting tribute I think.)
Position: Right Wing
Nickname: Mad Dog (This was honsetly my nickname playing youth hockey.)
Dream Linemates: Wayne Gretzky and Alex Ovechkin.
Rounding out the PP: Ray Borque and Bobby Orr.
Job: Offensive specialist who is gleefully irresponsible in my own end, before developing into a good all-around player later in my career.
Signature Move: A laser-guided wrist shot to the top corner.
Strengths: Aforementioned wrist shot. (It is entirely possible that Alex Semin is living most of my dream already.)
Weaknessess: Secret inability to skate crossovers to the right.
Injury Problems?: Right knee.
Equipment: Full face cage, a la college hockey (you can never be too safe), Bauer skates with one of the blades colored red. A good old fashioned wood stick.
Nemesis: St. Louis Blues defenseman Jay McKee.
Scandal Involvement: Whatever it is, I'm sure it involves a limousine in some way.
Who I'd face in the Stanley Cup Finals: The Red Wings. I still haven't forgiven them for 1998.
What I'd do with the Stanley Cup after our victory: Try to dropkick it accross a frozen canal in Ontario and then leave it there over night.
Would the media love me or hate me?: My quick wit and impish grin would win over everyone, and I would quickly become a media darling and the new face of the NHL.

All He Does Is Score Goals: Part II

2007-01-30T22:34:00.000-05:00

Wow.

(I had a really long, obscenely insightful recap written. And then my computer ate it. The one you see here will not be quite as mind-blowing. Sorry.)

What a game. Seriously? That was one of the best hockey games I've seen in a long time. So I'm having a hard time getting upset about this loss. (Especially when compared to my level of upset-ness at my computer right now.) Great chances each way, fantastic flow and it really could have gone either way. But it didn't. It went the Senators way. Which, at this point in the season, is a very bad thing.

Alex Ovechkin was flying all over the ice as well as I've ever seen him. Alex Semin was damn near untouchable stickhandling all over the place. It seemed like every time the puck entered Martin Gerber's crease, the Caps were getting two, three, even four quality whacks at it. Yet somehow they failed to score. Time after time the puck bounced over someone's stick or went wide or ended up right in Gerber's belly. Frustrating? A little bit, yeah.

This is not to take anything away from Ottawa's play tonight. This is what quality teams do. They take games that they don't deserve to win, and through a combination of lucky bounces and timely goaltending they turn them into two points in the standings. There's no ignoring the fact that Gerber had 35 saves on 37 shots for a .946 save percentage (Olie was .921), and Dany Heatley's goal was a thing of beauty (who knew non-European players could use their feet like that?). In fact, I have a strong feeling that Heatley was probably robbed of what should have been a second goal, not that I'm going to complain about that particular call.

When you get down to it, though, it all comes down to the Caps' inability to convert on their scoring chances. Given the way they were playing in the last two periods, I found myself thinking "They have to tie the game up soon. There's no way it won't happen. Right? Right?!?" (as the minutes ticked down, the ratio of exclamation marks to question marks got exponentially higher). I think this may end up being something of a microcosm for the Caps' whole season; coming tantalizingly close only to come up just short on opportunity after opportunity. If anything, the Caps loss tonight is probably further proof that they are still a year away from seriously contending for aplayoff spot. However, if they can play all of the games between here and April the way they played tonight, I will be okay with that.

(P.S. - I obviously can't go an entire recap without mentioning Donald Brashear's second goal of the season (as alluded to in the entry title), can I? Congratulations to everybody's favorite #87.)

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Capital Fanatic
-Capitals Corner (f.k.a. Capital Punishment)
-Japers' Rink
-The Peerless Prognosticator

Fifteen Miserable Years

2007-01-29T20:34:00.000-05:00

Rather than simply regurgitating the gist of this article by Yahoo! Sports columnist Dan Wetzel, I will simply quote what may be the single best paragraph ever written about the current state of the NHL. (Special thanks to the Caps' Message Board for the heads up. They don't completely suck absolutely all the time.)

Bettman is set to begin his 15th year as commissioner Thursday, and like most hockey fans I feel the need to mark the occasion by popping a bottle of champagne, chugging the entire thing in an effort to drown my misery and then smashing the empty bottle over my temple to black out the memories.

This is why you may notice that most of my links to game recaps send you over to Yahoo!

As for me, you are welcome to read my opinion of Mr. Bettman by checking out my favorite tag, Gary Bettman is a freaking moron.

You May Want to Sit Down Before Reading This

2007-01-28T17:41:00.000-05:00

A piece of news information that may very well be the most shocking thing you hear all week: Viewership for the NHL All-Star Game was down. Waaaaaay down. 76 percent down, to be exact.

I know what you're thinking: "But Biff, Gary Bettman, in all his infinite wisdom, moved the game to a cable network that many people in the U.S. can't watch and to a night where it would be up against the most watched program on television. How could such a thing have happened?"

Remember, back when the NHL was on ABC, when the league had the All-Star game on the same day as the NFL Pro Bowl? Back when Bettman was at least able to make it appear as though he might be able to try to attract casual fans? The sad thing is, Bettman could have easily moved the game to today, a Sunday with no NFL and no other major sporting events, on NBC, a nationally broadcast network.

Gary Bettman sucks at his job almost as much as I do. And I suck at my job pretty bad. Just ask my boss.

#24

2007-01-22T11:05:00.000-05:00

Please welcome Behind the Goal Line to the blogroll. Behind the Goal Line earns bonus points for having a URL that makes me giggle.

No Comment

2007-01-21T11:09:00.000-05:00

I spent part of the day on Saturday annoyed that I ws going to be missing the Caps' game against Florida because I had work. Now? Not so much. I didn't see the game, so I won't comment on just how bad the Capitals actually were. Because everyone else seems to have that rather thoroughly covered.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-3 Grumpy Caps Fans
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Capital Fanatic
-DCSportsChick
-Off Wing Opinion
-On Frozen Blog
-Pass Shoot Score
-The Peerless Prognosticator

Look Ma! Twenty Wins!

2007-01-18T21:36:00.000-05:00

On the one hand, I was certainly glad to see Ovie get the ENG at the end to keep pace with the other three guys at the top of the goal scoring list as well as Crosby and St. Louis (one assist each) on the points list. On the other hand, I was really hoping to see him give the puck to The Captain for a chance to score, essentially, three empty-netters in one game. Because, really, how bizarre would that have been?

If you watched the game, or heard about it, or read the box score, you don't need me to tell you that the Caps played a great game tonight. They did everything tonight that they hadn't been doing in the first three games of the road trip, like scoring fluke goals off of harmless dump-ins and drawing diving penalties. Oh, and they also established a consistent forecheck and got lots of pucks towards the net. Not to mention discovering the meaning of the term "power play", and killing penalties with a vengeance. And Olie. He wasn't too shabby either.

And then there was Alex Semin. What more can anybody say? Both goals were beautiful, and his jubilant celebration after the second when he jumped against the glass nearly brought a tear to my eye. He is now just two off of the league lead, and there is no reason to think that he won't soon catch up to Ovie and the rest. Forget A.O. vs Crosby, I'm excited to watch the Alexes dueling for the goal-scoring lead over the second half of the year.

Of course, none of this really matters too much if they can't carry this level of play through to the All-Star Break. I can think of few things that would be better for this team than to go into the break on a bit of a roll.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Capital Fanatic
-Japers' Rink
-On Frozen Blog
-The Peerless Prognosticator

I Believe That's What They Call Progress

2007-01-17T08:40:00.000-05:00

The title of this post it in no way a reference to the way the Capitals played tonight. Sure, it was better than Saturday in Florida, but the Caps could have out a team of untrained squirrels out on the ice and they probably would have played better than the team that showed up in Sunrise. I'm not even going to bother recapping this one.

Instead, I'm going to spend some time reminding you about just how much your life sucks if you didn't attend the Caps Bloggers Happy Hour. This month's attendees were: A View From the Cheap Seats, Bettman Hates Hockey!, Capital Fanatic, Gustaffson from On Frozen Blog, William F. Yurasko, 1/2 Asian Man and Random Reality Thoughts. And me. Obviously. It was a heck of a good time and, as always, everybody far surpassed my expectations. The bar was really nice, too. I had never been to Bugsy's (f.k.a. The Penalty Box), and I encourage you to check it out if you get a chance. Because, seriously, an entire bar devoted to hockey. It's pretty neat.

Next up for the Caps Bloggers Happy Hour Series: I'm not sure. I'm shooting for one of the Caps-Pens games in February. I'll keep you posted.

Caps Bloggers Happy Hour Version 2.0

2007-01-16T13:26:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to remind those of you who may have forgotten, tonight is the second edition of Caps Bloggers Happy Hour. We're meeting at Bugsy's in Alexandria to watch the Caps take on the Senators. Look for me in my red-white-and-blue hat with Craig Laughlin's signature on it.

See you there. If you're there.

This Just In: Caps Still Have More Bloggers Than Wins

2007-01-12T17:24:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Capital Fanatic, which earns the distinction of being the 23rd blog added to the "Other Caps Bloggers" list here at the Kevin Hatcher Fan Club.

Seriously, though, 23? This is becoming quite ludicrous.

The One Where I Find Out That Statistics Completely Disprove What I Was Trying to Say In the First Place

2007-01-12T00:56:00.000-05:00

You may remember (because it was less than a week ago) when I spent a lot of time ranting about how the shootout/overtime loss rule was skewing the way people perceive their teams. I argued that, by awarding teams points for losing, the NHL was artificially inflating teams' records to make it seem as though they were better than they actually are. I also made the argument that the supposed parity in the league was merely a function of mediocre teams staying in the playoff race by being awarded points for losing games.

Lucky for you, I wasn't satisfied with just spouting my completely uninformed opinion. So I did what any self-respecting person with way too much time on his hands would do: I went through the Eastern Conference standings and recalculated every team's record as though there was no such thing as a shootout and without giving them a point for losing in the five-minute OT. Needless to say, the results surprised me. (Standings are through January 11, 2007. You can click on the graphic to get a better view.)

As you can see, the standings would actually be even more tightly bunched in the Old NHL. In the real standings, the difference between second and 14th (i.e. second to last) is fifteen points, with the 14th place team (Florida) just five points out of a playoff spot. But under the old rules, the gap from 2nd to 14th would be even smaller, twelve points, and the Panthers would be just four points out of the playoffs. You'll also notice that, with the Thrashers and Rangers being the exceptions, most teams would be in roughly the same spot in the standings or higher in the Old NHL, further disproving my hypothesis that the NHL's Points-For-Losses program makes fans feel better about their tem than they ought to. In fact, it actually caused me to be more down on the Caps than they deserved. (Not surprisingly, the Caps are getting screwed by the new rules more than any other team. Note that they are the only team that is in playoff position under the old rules but not under the new ones. I choose to look at this as a league-wide anti-Capitals conspiracy.)

The moral of the story, kids, (aside from "The NHL hates the Caps") is that most of what I say on here is probably nonsense. Try not to be too surprised by that. (Although my point about the .500 mark having lost its meaning is still a valid one, as only six of the thirteen teams with "above .500 records" have accomplished the feat without the aid of the NHL's silly rules.)

Lecavalier+St. Louis > Ovechkin+Semin (For One Night Only)

2007-01-11T21:14:00.000-05:00

I don't have a whole lot to say about tonight's game. It was one of those games where there wasn't anything specific the Caps should have done better, and they lost to a team that simply played better. Tampa certainly got some lucky bounces; their first goal where Olie got hung up at the wrong post while the puck was pinballing behind the net comes to mind, and they capitalized on them better than the Caps.

The good news, however, is the Alex Semin continues to be the absurd offensive dynamo that we all hoped he'd become. On his second goal, I pretty much knew he was going to score the moment he cut towards the middle of the ice. That's seven goals in his last four games for those of you keeping count of such things.

Also continuing an offensive hot streak was Donald Brashear. I've been saying all year that the man is nothing but an offensive machine, but I was usually joking.

In case anyone was wondering, Alex Ovechkin's two assists leave him just four points behind Sidney Crosby in the points-scoring race. If you're interested.

So, tough night for the Caps, but not altogether unexpected and certainly not one to spend too much time thinking or worrying about. Time to move on and start thinking about ripping the Panthers to shreds.

Recaps From People That Matter
-Nothing so far. I'm going to bed.

Here We Go Again

2007-01-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

Okay folks, its time once again for what the Washington Post describes as "an unmitigated success", the Washington Times describes as "an obscene disaster" and the Kevin Hatcher Fan Club describes as "the new dance craze that's sweeping the nation": The Capitals Bloggers Happy Hour.

This time around, we're changing up the location, moving across the river to the town of Alexandria to watch the Capitals take on the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, January 16. We'll be meeting at Bugsy's Sports Bar at 111 King St. Hopefully, this will be a little easier for everyone as it seems that a majority of my fellow Caps bloggers live on that side of the Potomac.

The plan will be the same as last time. I plan on getting there around 6:30-6:45 wearing my red, white and blue old-school Capitals hat with Craig Laughlin's autograph on it. After that, we can all watch the Caps (hopefully) beat the snot out of the Senators and then go home happy.

As always, questions/comments/insults are welcome in the comments or direct them to kevinhatcherfanclub@gmail.com

Disrespect Alert!

2007-01-10T08:53:00.000-05:00

Maybe I'm crazy, but take a look at this AP article about the All-Star selctions and see how long it takes you to find any mention of Alex Ovechkin.

All He Does Is Score Goals

2007-01-09T22:07:00.000-05:00

The headline is my go-to tongue in cheek thing to say pretty much every time Donald Brashear touches the puck. (Except when I'm by myself. Because turning and saying that to a complete stranger would simply be innappropriate.) So the best moment of the Capitals 6-2 win over the Flyers had to be Brashear's goal in the second period. I also enjoyed it because I seemed to be the only person in my entire section who realized a goal had been scored, and there are few things I enjoy more than feeling superior to others.

Another fun thing about tonights game was that I was lucky enough to end up seated in Section 114 right next to Barra Brava. While I don't necessarily condone their style of cheering, I can't say I was annoyed by it either. There was certainly alot more energy in the building as a result of it (or at least my little corner of the building). What I definitely can't condone, however, is any cheer or chant that is taken from a Broadway musical. So if you are a member of the Bravas and you happen to be reading this, the "We Love You Capitals" song has got to go. It is bad enough that it is set to a song from the god-awful Bye, Bye, Birdie, but it is set to the most obscenely stupefyingly annoying song in the entire show.

Okay, sorry... my inner musical theatre geek got carried away there for a moment. Seriously though, much kudos to Barra Brava. Partly because of the enthusiasm, and also in part because of the increased Caps Blogger activity in and around my section. I saw Dan Steinberg of DC Sports Bog walking around and I'm pretty sure I saw Chanuck up towards the top of the section. I also happened to run into Caps Chick on the way out. So that was fun. (From the A.P. recap of the game: "A boisterous contingent from the D.C. United fan club decided to give hockey a try Monday night. The "Barra Brava" took over most of a section in the upper deck and behaved like soccer fans -- standing, singing and chanting for most of the game.")

Oh right, the actual game. To be honest, I wasn't especially impressed with the Caps tonight. Brashear's first of the year was certainly exciting, and Alex Ovechkin's goal was a thing of beauty, but overall, I thought they could have played much better. If you take away the three cheap goals that Esche allowed, the offensive production was not where it needed to be against a vastly inferior team like the Flyers. The power play was anemic for most of the game and the defense was just lucky that every player in a white sweater had a nasty case of Zubrusitis, because there were quite a few instances where a Flyers player had the puck in front of them on the doorstep to a wide open net.

Don't get me wrong, it was the most fun I've had at a hockey game since, well, actually since last week's shellacking of the Canadiens. Any time you can be there to watch the Caps finish off a season sweep of the Flyers for the first time ever is a night to remember. Also, if I've done my math right, Ovechkin is now alone atop the goal scoring leaderboard. So I'm going to go ahead and chalk it up to an off night that was lucky enough to come against the worst team in the NHL, and just count my lucky stars that I was there to see it in all it's glory.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-DCSportsChick
-Japers' Rink
-Off Wing Opinion (courtesy of On Frozen Blog)
-The Peerless Prognosticator

Pictures!:
If you'll take a moment to look back to October, when the Calder Trophy was on display at Verizon Center, you'll remember that I had a little too much fun with my then-new camera phone. This time, it's a Cup instead of a Trophy, but my attitude towards my camera phone hasn't changed.

The Most Meaningless Statistic In Hockey

2007-01-06T12:42:00.000-05:00

The Capitals, if you hadn't noticed, recently completed the first half of their season with a win over the Montreal Canadiens to give them a 17-17-7 record. Many people have said that it is quite an accomplishment to see this team finish the first half of the year with an even .500 record. What those people fail to realize is the utter meaninglessness of the term ".500" in the New NHL. Take a look at the standings and you'll see that, for all games completed through January 5th, there are 21 NHL teams with "above .500" records, while there are only eight who are "below .500".

By comparison, the NFL's recently completed season saw a total of 12 teams above five hundred and twelve teams below (with eight teams finishing even). The MLB's 2006 season had fourteen above and sixteen below, and the NBA to date has fourteen teams above and fifteen below (with one team even).

Can someone explain to me how it is that having twenty-one teams with supposedly above five hundred records is supposed to be good for the sport? I get that it creates the illusion of parity so that just about any fan can look at his or her tema and think "Hey, we're still right there in it!" but I think most fans are smart enough to look at the standings and realize that Gary Bettman is trying to pull the wool over their eyes. I get that complaining about the overtime loss rule is nothing new or original, but with the owner of the team saying "We are halfway through the season and we are a 500 team" as a way of encouraging fan support, we are all deluding ourselves a little bit. Say what you will about the shootout, the fact is that this team has lost 24 times so far this year.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This whole thing has a much more negative edge than I intended. I'm not trying to take anything away from what the Caps have accomplished. I assure you I am still wearing rose colored glasses and drinking plenty of Kool Aid. All I really wanted to do was rant about how stupid Gary Bettman's "New" NHL is.)

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

2007-01-01T16:35:00.000-05:00

Caps fall behind early, run into a hot goaltender and ultimately fall just short in a valiant comeback effort at the end of the game. Sound familiar, doesn't it?

Not a whole lot to say about this game. The Caps didn't do any one thing particularly badly. They could stand to get a little more traffic in front of the net, as well as sending the puck there a litte bit more often as well, but this was one of those games where the Caps lost simply because the other team played better. In and of itself it's no big deal, but once you string it together with all their other losses and this one is kind of a disappointment.

It seems like every game they play during this losing streak, they run into a "hot goaltender". I'm starting to think that maybe it's not so much the opposing goalies. It's frustrating watching shot after shot land squarely in the logo on the goaltender's sweater. Today especially it seemed every shot was hitting the Coyote square in the mouth.

A few positives though: Brian Pothier bursts out of his goal scoring slump and adds himself to the long, illustrious list of players who have scored goals for the Washington Capitals. Sutherby also breaks out of his goal scoring slump and Matt Pettinger gets his first point in a long time. Hopefully, all these broken slumps by individual players will portend a similar turn around for the team as a whole.

Recaps From People That Matter
-Off Wing Opinion

Goodbye, Cruel Year

2006-12-30T22:05:00.000-05:00

I am trying to think of an uglier hockey game that I have seen, and nothing is coming up. Not just the way the two teams played, which was pretty unimpressive on both ends. That may have been one of the most poorly officiated games I've ever seen. From penalizing Brashear after sticking up for one of his teammates who had been on the recieving end of an unpenalized hit from behind all the way to the unacceptably lenient punishment doled out to Colton Orr. (To be fair, they were pretty crappy in the Caps favor as well.) That third period was a perfect example of something the NHL needs to get rid of if it ever has any aspirations of getting anywhere near the same level of respect as the other major sports.

As for the Caps' play, I don't have much to say. They were unable to establish any sort of consistent forecheck or get shots to the net. It is not a coincidence that the Caps have run into a string of "hot" goalies over the course of the current losing streak. Lundqvist wasn't particularly impressive, but the Caps didn't really make him work. For all the flu-induced inexperience on the backline, the offense seems to be proving just as troublesome of late.

More importantly, I'm sick. I slept through the first period, and so far, this entire recap has been nothing but a series of unrelated sentences. So I'm going to go ahead and cut it short now. Have a happy New Year, don't do anything too stupid, and I'll see you back here in 2007.

Recaps From People That Matter
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-The Peerless Prognosticator

And So It Goes

2006-12-29T21:48:00.000-05:00

There was very little reason to expect the Caps to make very much noise tonight. Given all the injuries and call-ups and the brutal schedule, if you had told me you thought the Caps would win this game with any sort of ease, I would have immediately had you institutionalized. So the final score is no surprise. What did surprise me, however, was the fact that the Caps managed to hang with the Devils for most of the game, losing on a few isolated defensive lapses rather than being outright dominated like I thought they would be. And at least they made it interesting at the end.

So why am I so disappointed by this loss? Under the circumstances, it is definitely a moral victory for the team. Thing is, I don't know if I can be satisfied with moral victories anymore. I know the Caps are "rebuilding" and at this point it isn't necessarily justified to expect a team that will compete for the playoffs, but here I am, growing increasingly frustrated by their current slump. They really could have used a win in this one, especially after scoring first. They now face the daunting task of going into Manhattan needing a win to avoid going 0-4 in the first four games of the five in seven stretch.

I guess it's just a question of expectations. At the beginning of the year, if you would have told me the Caps would be where they are at this point in the season, I would have been encouraged. But somewhere along the line (probably the 7-1-1 stretch) something changed. Suddenly, I look at games as "should win" rather than "could win". Am I wrong to have these sorts of expectations? Or are the Caps really that far ahead of schedule in their development that they (and I) should expect better of themselves?

My Trip to New York City, in Photographs

2006-12-28T08:44:00.000-05:00

Outside The NHL Store at 47th St and 6th Ave in Manhattan:

Inside The NHL Store at 47th St and 6th Ave in Manhattan:

And that is pretty much all you need to know about my trip to NYC.

Highlight Night

2006-12-23T21:45:00.000-05:00

Well, that was interesting. After an exhausting day, the first thirty minutes of tonight's game nearly put me to sleep. Thankfully, I was able to struggle through and get rewarded by witnessing three beautiful Capitals goals. It ended up being much closer than it really needed to be, something that is somewhat troubling given the tough stretch the Caps have ahead of them. I would have liked to have seen them able to take it easy there in the third, but as the Caps have learned a few times this season, you just can't do that.

As for the penalty shot awarded to Mats Sundin. Rule 25.8 Subsection iii:

The player in possession and control (or, in the judgement of the Referee, clearly would have obtained possession and control of the puck) must have been denied a reasonable chance to score (the fact that he got a shot off does not automatically eliminate this play from the penalty shot consideration criteria. If the foul was from behind and he was denied a "more" reasonable scoring opportunity due to the foul, then the penalty shot should be awarded)

I suppose you could look at what happened on the play and interpret that a certain way so as to justify the awarding the penalty shot, but given the quality of the scoring chance Sundin managed to get, I'm going to go ahead and get up on my high horse and say that I don't care how many games you've officiated, the right call there is, at most, a two minute tripping call. (After watching the replay, I actually think the right call would have been a two minute diving call on Sundin, but that is neither here nor there.)

Ultimately, though, I think the Caps have to be pleased with this one. Especially given the depleted defensive corps and the questionable officiating. It's also a big win because, as has been mentioned already, the next week or so is going to be absolutely brutal, what with the five games in seven nights.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Capital Punishment
-On Frozen Blog

Standings Watch: I Watch So You Don't Have To (Because You Shouldn't Be Watching To Begin With, Probably)!
The Caps didn't pick up any ground tonight in the Southeast Division as the Thrashers were winners over the Devils. In terms of conference standings, the Caps managed to knock the Leafs out of the logjam at eighth, but remain tied with the Islanders.

Ovechkin vs. Crosby Again Some More
At the Christmas Break:
-Ovechkin is 24-23-47 in 35 games. He is now tied with Marian Hossa for the NHL goal scoring lead.
-Crosby is 17-38-55 in 31 games. He stands atop the points scoring leaderboard.

I will be out of town for Christmas, so you won't hear from me again until Thursday night. Lucky you. Happy Holidays!

Are We Being Called Back Home?

2006-12-23T17:17:00.000-05:00

J.P. is already all over the recent news about the NHL's potential realignment, but I felt compelled to chime in with a quote from a Canadian Press report (emphasis added):

The new divisions in the East: one would feature Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Buffalo, Boston, Pittsburgh and Western Conference alumni Columbus. The other division would include the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington, Tampa Bay, Florida and Carolina. The Caps rejoining their old Patrick Division rivals was a popular sentiment at Wednesday's meeting.

Kudos to the NHL for finally getting it. No matter how hard he tries to prove it isn't so, Gary Bettman is actually occasionally capable of a thought that isn't completely idiotic. Although, to be fair, this proposal still ends with the Caps two most prominent rivals in other divisions. Heck, it actually sends Atlanta to another conference altogether. So it's not completely lacking in Bettman-esque stupidity.

Of course, this will probably all change when the Penguins end up in Kansas City. But I'll save that discussion for another time.

Seven Outta Ten Ain't Bad

2006-12-19T22:01:00.000-05:00

Okay. I'm going to go ahead and take the optimistic, big-picture look at this game. The Capitals are so talent-laden that they can very nearly beat a decent hockey team despite only playing roughly fifteen minutes of hockey.

Okay. Now for the realistic look. The Capitals once again came out of the locker room flat. The Lightning are a much better team than the Flyers and the Caps can't afford to come out and fail on three straight penalty kills while also failing to get any pucks towards the net or win any faceoffs. To be fair, from where I was sitting, it was tough to tell wether the Caps just sucked in the first two periods or if the Lightning were just that good. They certainly looked pretty good on those three first period power plays. However, the Caps were unable to develop any sort of consistent forecheck and I can't help but wonder how much of that had to do with the fact that Donald Brashear was out of the lineup. (Anybody wanto to give me a pointer as to why that was?) Recently, Brash had been doing a great job of getting the puck in deep and setting a tempo for the Caps, and without him, it seemed like just a lot of dumping and chasing the puck back towards their own end again.

Also, it was tough to tell from my seats, but it certainly seemed like the officiating was questionable at best. I recall seeing not one but two Tampa defenders put their arms across Alex Semin's chest and basically wrestle him to the ground in front of the Lightning goal during the second period without any sort of call.

All in all, I'm going to go ahead and chalk this one up to the inevitable speed bumps a young, developing team is going to run across.

(EDIT: I forgot to mention this story. During the first admission, after the Olympia ice resurfacing machines had finished their work, I watched to ice technicians walking the ice looking for ruts. I saw one of them point to a rather large, rather obvious rut in between the circles at the end the Caps would be shooting at in the second period. The other tech, who had a water bottle for filling such ruts, walked up to it, put his finger in it to demonstrate how deep it was, and then proceeded to ignore it. The rut would later go on to cause the puck to bounce over Chris Clark's stick after a beautiful pass from Alex Ovechkin on a two-on-one.)

(EDIT #2: It has been brought to my attention that it was, in fact, Dainius Zubrus who, when faced with a wide open net and the puck on his stick in the waning moments of the Caps final power play with his team down a goal, shanked it off of the post. I've ranted before about my frustration with Zubrus' inability to convert chances, and I'm now officially declaring that his KHFC nickname shall be "Esa" until further notice.)

Standings Watch: I Watch So You Don't Have To (Because You Shouldn't Be Watching To Begin With, Probably)!
Atlanta and Carolina both won tonight, so the Caps are back in third in the Southeast, seven points out of first. They have two games in hand over both Hurricanes and the Thrashers. As for the conference, they find themselves once again tied with the Islanders and Maple Leafs.

Ovechkin vs. Crosby Again Some More
Ovie had a goal and an assist while Crosby added an assist in a 4-1 loss to St. Louis. Their stat lines are 23-22-45 and 16-37-52 respectively. Ovechkin is one behind Marian Hossa for the NHL lead in goals, while Crosby remains the NHL points leader.

Their numbers for the month of December:
Ovechkin: 7-11-18 in 8 games played (2.25 PPG)
Crosby: 6-15-21 in 10 games played (2.1 PPG)

Recaps From People That Matter:
-Capital Punishment
-Japers' Rink
-Off Wing Opinion
-The Peerless Prognosticator
-Puckhead's Thoughts

Ask Not For Whom the Alex Tolls...

2006-12-16T21:37:00.000-05:00

... He tolls for thee. One night after Alex Ovechkin single-handedly beat the Atlanta Thrashers, Alex Semin decided he would not be outdone and scored two pretty goals to provide all the offense the Caps would end up needing. That is, of course, not to ignore the contribution of Alex 1.0, who added a highlight reel goal of his own along with two assists, and just like that the Caps have won seven of their last nine, recording 15 out of a possible 18 standings points (that's 83.33% for those of you who were wondering).

Ignoring, for a moment, the first ten or fifteen minutes, this was one of the Caps most complete wins of the season. The offense seemed to be clicking on all cylinders, generating a lot of zone time. The defense did a good job of forcing shots to the outside, allowing only one real scoring opportunity which resulted in Mike Knuble's goal. Olie had a pretty good night, though it's tough to tell as he was never really tested. The most impressive thing about the defenseive performance was the fact that the Caps played much of the game shorthanded on D, with Erskine hiding out in the dressing room (being joined briefly by Mike Green).

Next up, the Caps face Tampa on Tuesday, followed by back-to-back games against New Jersey and Toronto. These are games where they are really going to need to record some wins, as their schedule after the Christmas holiday is absolutely brutal (five games in seven days after Christmas, followed by a stretch where they never have more than two consecutive days off all the way until the All-Star Break).

Standings Watch: I Watch So You Don't Have To (Because You Shouldn't Be Watching To Begin With, Probably)!
With the win, combined with losses by the Devils and the Penguins (YAY!) the Caps find themselves tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference. As for the division, the Thrashers got blown out by the Islanders and the Caps are now just five points back with two games in hand.

Ovechkin vs. Crosby Again Some More
Ovechkin in the month of December: Six goals and ten assists for sixteen points in seven games (2.286 PPG). Team's record: 5-1-1 (Ovie is now tied with Marian Hossa and Brendan Shanahan for the league lead in goals.)

Crosby in the month of December: Six goals and fourteen assists for twenty points in nine games (2.222 PPG). Team's record: 4-4-1 (He's still leading the NHL in points. I am nothing if not fair and balanced.)

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From The Cheap Seats
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Capital Punishment
-On Frozen Blog (Empty Maybe)
-On Frozen Blog (pucksandbooks)
-Off Wing Opinion
-Puckhead's Thoughts

Best. Rule. Ever.

2006-12-16T08:32:00.000-05:00

With 1:19 left in what looked like a sure Thrashers win, J.P. Vigier hoisted the puck up over the glass, earning himself one of those newfangled delay of game penalties that the NHL ~~stupidly~~ brilliantly added to the rulebook after the lockout. After that, it was all Alex Ovechkin proving yet again why he is the best player in the NHL. Give me a clutch goal to tie the game followed by an overtime winner over a stat-padding one goal three assist night in a blowout win anytime. Since ESPNews seemed to be very much in a "Let's compare Crosby and Ovechkin since they both had big games tonight", I'd like to point out that for the month of December, their stat lines look like this: Ovechkin - 6 Games, 5-8-13, 2.16 PPG, 1 GWG; Crosby - 8 Games, 6-13-19, 2.375 PPG, 0 GWG. Their teams have records of 4-1-1 and 4-3-1 respectively.

I won't spend too much time recapping the actual game. You probably saw it, and if not all the links you need are below. The only thing I have to add is my rant about Dainius Zubrus and his inability to convert quality scoring chances. By my count, there were at least three instances in last night's game where the puck ended up on his stick with a wide open net staring him in the face and I don't think he got a shot off on any of them.. If he converts just one of those chances, the Caps have a good chance of walking out of Atlanta without even giving them a point. (Yes, I am aware Zubie had two important assists. I don't care.)

I will, however, recap "Caps Bloggers Unite! (Beta Test Version)". Blogs in attendance included myself, A View From The Cheap Seats, The Bench Minor, DCSportsChick and 1/2 Asian Man. My goal was to manage to scrape together four people including myself, so I'm glad to say that the evening was an unmitigated success. Especially since, as it turns out, these people are just as much fun in person as they are on their respective blogs, if not more so. Heck, even ESPNZone didn't totally suck. Sure the service was lousy and we had to deal with the Wizards game being up on the main screen (apparently, people didn't realize that they could walk four blocks to Verizon Center and take in the game live). But they did have the decency to show two other hockey games, Islanders-Penguins and Maple Leafs-Hurricanes, both of which had standings implications for the Caps. And they didn't kick me out for throwing my hat. Twice.

So I can say with some confidence that the next version of "Caps Bloggers Unite!" will be even more fun, and you should mark your calendar now for January 16th and stay tuned here for more details.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From The Cheap Seats
-Capital Punishment
-On Frozen Blog
-Puckhead's Thoughts

Caps-Thrashers Viewing "Party" Update

2006-12-14T22:53:00.000-05:00

Okay, looks like everything is set to go. Word on the street is that we will have to settle for ESPNZone (11th & E St, NW, near Metro Center or Gallery Place metro stops). It goes without saying that I probably could have planned this out a little better, but this is what we get the first time around. (Hey, it would have been a lot worse if not for all the work CapsChick has also put into it. In fact, should you decide to show up, I would highly recommend buying her a beer.) I will try to show up around 6:45 (faceoff is 7:30). Wondering how you'll find us? Look for the red-white-and-blue baseball cap with the old-school Caps logo on it. The one with Craig Laughlin's autograph on it. That will be me.

Any questions, comments or complaints should be directed towards kevinhatcherfanclub (at) gmail (dot) com.

I realize, based on the comments under the original announcement, that many people wont' be able to make it due to the incredibly well-thought-out combination of last-minute notice and holiday-related obligations, and I promised that I would make sure this happens again sometime soon. I'd like to make this a monthly thing, if possible, and with that in mind, I've got a tentative schedule for future Caps Blogger Get Togethers:

Tuesday, Jan. 16 - vs. Ottawa @ 7:30
Tuesday, Feb. 20 - vs. Montreal @ 7:30
Monday, March 12 - vs. Atlanta @ 7:00
Wednesday, April 4 - vs. Atlanta @ 7:00

Obviously, this is all very tentative. Especially the February one. The Caps play the Penguins twice in February, and both are weekend day games that, as near as I can tell, won't be competing with any other big sporting events. So I might try to put something really big together for one or both of those games. Also, one of those dates might get replaced by a Blogger Get Together night at Verizon Center for a home game.

Worthy Causes

2006-12-13T19:15:00.000-05:00

This is the part where I take a break from my hectic holiday schedule to take note of a few things that you've probably already seen, but I feel strongly enough about them that I think you need to see them again.

First, Caps Nut is all over the current fiasco that is the NHL's online All-Star voting. In case you haven't noticed, the general populace is horribly disrespecting Ovie and we, as Caps fans, need to do something about it.

Second, the guys over at On Frozen Blog are keeping tabs on an even more important fiascotasterastrophe, the NHL's planned sweater change. This is something that we, as hockey fans, need to make sure never actually happens. Not because we would have to look at it, but because if we ever want our sport accepted as anything other than a joke, we need to make sure the players we root for don't look like clowns out on the ice. (EDIT: They've done it again. I can't let their rant about the "O" go unnoticed.)

And last but not by any means least, something that actually matters. Because, in the grand scheme of things, all of our concerns about sports pale in comparison to real issues.

Caps-Thrashers Viewing Party

2006-12-12T19:29:00.000-05:00

It is a true testament to my disorganized ineptitude that, in spite of the fact that this was my idea and I have been largely involved in trying to get it organized (with much help from CapsChick), Eric over at Off Wing Opinion still managed to beat me to it. I hope everyone else finds that as hilarious as I do. Moving on...

I am a big fan of meeting other bloggers. I've done it before on a few occasions, and it has never resulted in anything other than unending hilarity. And drunkeness. Bloggers like to drink, apparently.

So it is with that in mind that I extend this formal invitation to any of you Caps bloggers who would care to join me this Friday to watch the Capitals on the road against their heated rivals the Atlanta Thrashers. As of the writing of this entry, the actual location of such a gathering is still somewhat up in the air. I have a place in mind but there might be a band playing during the game, which is problematic. I'm shooting for a bar somewhere around U Street or Chinatown. But rest assured I will come up with something soon. Just, you know, make sure you're schedule is clear Friday night. And check back here. (Also, if you have any suggestions as far as a particular place you think might be a nice place to meet, send them along to the newly minted kevinhatcherfanclub (at) gmail (dot) com)

Okay, maybe one or two things...

2006-12-12T08:26:00.000-05:00

It has been brought to my attention that my initial reaction to the Capitals' ~~humiliating~~ ~~disheartening~~ frustrating loss to the Penguins might have been a touch pessimistic. Therefore, I'd like to take a moment to highlight the positives that came from the game, in convenient bullet point format:

Alex Ovechkin's two assists, bringing his totals for the month of December to two goals and eight assists for ten points in five games.
Chris Clark's two goals, giving him a total of five goals in his last four games. (These first two are not at all unrelated, by the way.)
The Capitals' one standings point, moving them into a tie with the NY Islanders for seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
The $70 or so I spent on this game, leaving a rather noticable hole in my checking account. (Okay, this isn't, technically, a positive.)
The somewhat nifty "jersey bag" I was given upon entering the arena. All of a sudden, my Christmas shopping is slightly more complete.

Let the record show that these positives do not, in any way, mitigate the fact that this night ultimately turned out to be some sort of hellish nightmare. But I need something to get me through to Friday.

I Have Nothing Good To Say

2006-12-11T22:28:00.000-05:00

During the second intermission, there were not one but two text message marriage proposals flashed across the big screen. For both couples' sakes, I hope nobody said yes, because A) text messaging your marriage proposal? Seriously? B) any engagement that started at tonight's game is most certainly going to end badly. I'm thinking probably something involving some sort of decapitation.

Going into tonight's game, I thought it would be a chance for the Caps to have a real statement game, and they did. However, instead of saying "Take notice, NHL. We've arrived", they said "We all belong to some strange, Scientology-like cult in which we do not recognize the existence of anything labelled with the number two. In fact, we've never even heard of Brian Pothier." I don't know what the problem is, but something needs to be done about the Capitals' inability to put together a complete 60 minutes. With the exception of that ten minute stretch from the end of the second to the start of the third, the Caps pretty thoroughly dominated every aspect of the game. Yet here I am, lamenting yet another heartbreaking loss (albeit a somewhat contrived shootout loss, but still) to the Penguins.

This would normally be the part where I give the Penguins their due credit for their heroic comeback, but the fact is that they deserve no credit. The Capitals were the better team tonight and they flat out gave away two points. The fact that they get a point for trying is of little consequence and, quite frankly, offends me somewhat. The fact that this team will be rewarded in any way for this debacle is disgusting and the NHL needs to do away with the point-for-a-loss travesty.

Okay. I'm done. I've vented. I've said my piece. Let's take a semi-rational look. What was the deal with Hanlon's shootout lineup? Green? Clark? I love them both, and I know some of the other guys have had some issues in the shootout but I just don't get it. I get that Clark had the hot hand tonight with two goals, but they were both a result of hard work in front of the net, not his beautiful breakaway skills. I'm not one to get too upset about anything that happens in the shootout, because I still think it is a load of crap, but my opinion of it doesn't change the fact that the Caps are leaving points out on the ice. And making it absolutely unbearable to be around the Pittsburgh fans. (Thank God I can walk home because I don't think I would've been able to take the Metro. There is a very good chance I would have gotten into some sort of physical confrontation. Which is kind of scary in that I was completely sober and, even when I'm not, I don't get in fights with people.)

The worst part of the whole evening (or best, depending on your point of view about these sorts of things) is going to be the large welt I'm going to wake up with on my ankle tomorrow morning, thanks to my kicking my seat in frustration as I was getting up to leave. That was a poor decision.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From The Cheaps Seats
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Capital Punishment
-Japers' Rink (Pretty much everything you need to know is right here)
-The Peerless Prognosticator
-Puckhead's Thoughts

Look Ma! No Hands!

2006-12-10T09:12:00.000-05:00

Any time the Caps can go into Philadelphia and leave with two points, you can color me a happy camper. Or green. I would be okay with being colored green. It's a nice color.

While you're coloring things, go ahead and pull out your red crayon red, as in "red hot". Don't look now, but Alex Ovechkin has eight points in his last four games. That's a lot of points. He also seems to have regained whatever elusive quality it is that made him so much fun to watch last year. He is finally back to the point where it seems that every night he does something that makes me slap my forehead and drop my jaw in disbelief. Tonight, his beautiful pirouette goal was just another instance of just such an occurance.

The most entertaining part of the evening for me, though, was Chris Clark's dogged insistance on using his hand instead of his stick. First, there was the excellent breakout pass to spring Ovechkin for what would have been an excellent scoring chance, then there was the washed out goal. Neither time was there even any question as to whether or not it would be called back. All things considered, though, it's better than his old plan of trying to advance the puck using his mouth.

On a completely unrelated note, it struck me, as I was watching this game, that I can't remember the last time I threw a sock at my television screen in response to something Steve Eminger did on the ice. This can only mean good things for Steve. Though to be fair, I haven't had much occasion for sock throwing at all in the past six games.

Now it's on to rivalry week, with Monday night's marquee matchup between ~~Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin~~ the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals, followeed by Round II of the heavyweight bout that is Atlanta vs. Washington next Friday. (I'm hoping to get some other bloggers together to watch this game as a group. Check back here for details. Or to watch me fail miserably at trying to be organized. 'Tis not generally my thing.)

(EDITOR'S NOTE: I would like to extend my apologies to my internet connection, which I unfairly accused of being a bandwagon Caps fan, only allowing me to get online after Caps wins. As it turns out, it is actually completely useless either way. In fact, it will be a miracle if I ever manage to get this post up. So, you know, screw you Verizon.)

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From The Cheap Seats
-On Frozen Blog
-The Peerless Prognosticator
-Puckhead's Thoughts
-Ovechkin-Kolzig '08

My Internet Connection Is a Bandwagon Fan

2006-12-08T18:27:00.000-05:00

The only thing more frustrating than an internet connection that isn't working is finding a gecko in your shoe. Or something like that. My apologies for the complete lack of a recap of last night's game. Apparently, my internet only likes it when the Caps win. Hopefully, it won't happen again tonight.

Pizza! Pizza!

2006-12-06T21:18:00.000-05:00

There was a time when a string of games like the Caps have had would mean my family would be eating nothing but Jerry's Pizza for a week. TANGENT ALERT: I remember once, back at the Capital Centre, we rented a skybox (remember before they were called "luxury suites"?) for my father's birthday. If I remember correctly it was a game against Calgary that proved to be the last game Jim Carey played for the Caps. The Caps scored six goals and all twenty or so people at the party got free pizza coupons and they all gave them to my dad. That was kind of nuts. (EDITOR'S NOTE: It is entirely possible I imagined that story. Carey did, in fact, play his last game as a Cap in a win over Calgary, but it was a 3-2 win.)

Sorry, that was surreal. Moving on...

Fun game to watch, to say the least. Sure, the Senators played last night and they were without two of their star players, but you know what? A good hockey team takes advantage of a chance like that and blows away a team that is in that sort of whole. Which is exactly what the Capitals did. Nineteen shots and two goals in a span of fourty seconds made for an impressive first period, but what really impressed me was the way the Capitals slammed the door. The other night, when I turned the game on during the second intermission and saw the Caps with a 5-3 lead, I didn't feel remotely comfortable about it, given the way the Tampa and Dallas games had gone down. There were no such issues tonight with the Caps uickly answering both Sens goals and nailing down the win with two quick goals from Pettinger and Laich.

On TV, they awarded the "Player of the Game" to the entire Capitals offense, which couldn't have been more appropriate. Clark gets most of the love for his two goals, but I thought that the offensive output was largely due to the fact that Alex Ovechkin was all over the ice. I thought he could have easily ended up with a six or seven point night were it not for Ray Emery's relatively brilliant play. However, Emery himself said that he tends to shade a little bit Ovechkin's way, and it opened up plenty of ice for the rest of the team. (I also thought Alex Semin had one of his best games of the year, though you probably wouldn't be able to tell looking at the scoresheet.)

Special props go out to Matt Bradley. When I saw that Jakub Klepis was a healthy scratch, I was especially disappointed, as Klepis has become one of my favorites. Bradley did a good job of making me forget al about my sorrows pretty quickly. I enjoy watching laser beam top-corner wrist shots like that almost as much as, if not more than, a pretty deke. Good job, Matt.

So, here we are. Four straight. In case you've forgotten, I called it! Okay, maybe not. But at the very least I reverse jinxed the Caps and I am, therefore, solely responsible for their current success. Possibly not. Either way, the team has now won four straight, which, to say the least, is exciting. Surely, there will be fans out there who will claim that the Caps streak is diminished by the fact that three of their wins came at the expense of teams playing for the second of back to back nights. Those people are crazy and should be ignored. The Capitals beat four of the best teams the NHL has to offer to bounce back from a six game losing streak, which means that they are clearly headed for a Stanley Cup Championship this year. (EDITOR'S NOTE: I am crazy and should be ignored.)

(As yet another aside, I'd like to point out to the folks at Comcast SportsNet that the only thing more frustrating than having my cable go out right after Matt Bradley's goal is having to listen to a marginal Redskins wide reciever being interviewed by Al Koken WHILE THE GAME IS IN PROGRESS!)

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-Capital Punishment
-Japers' Rink
-Off Wing Opinion (taken care of by J.P.)
-On Frozen Blog
-The Peerless Prognosticator
-Puckhead's Thoughts
-All-Star Voting (Not a recap, obviously, but things are beginning to get dire.)

Gary Bettman Probably Shouldn't Read This

2006-12-05T16:24:00.000-05:00

If ever you wanted a reason why the NHL will never acheive the mainstream popularity that its commisioner so desperately craves, you need only look at this, from today's Washington Post. Even if you ignore thre "figure skating" and "WNBA" responses (because most of those were probably girls, and girls don't matter, right?) the number for the NHL is pretty bad.

For the record, I don't really care. As far as I'm concerned, I'm perfectly happy having hockey as a "Versus" sort of sport rather than an "ESPN" sort of sport. As long as the NHL continues to exist and the Capitals stay in Washington, that's all I need. Who needs mainstream media exposure? The internet is here now and instead of reading the Washington Post, I can read one of the twenty or so Caps blogs the day after a game. Instead of suffering through an hour of some half-crazed Sportscenter anchor in hopes of catching a glimpse of some hockey highlights, I can just head over to YouTube. And, come playoff time, I'll be able to catch at least one game every night on Versus rather than having to tune to ESPN to watch the scores scroll across the bottom of the screen during yet another meaningless early season Red Sox-Yankees game.

I Am Quickly Becoming Something of a Menace

2006-12-03T23:39:00.000-05:00

For those of you keeping score at home, this is in fact my fifth post in twenty four hours. No, I'm not proud of it, but now that my latest play has closed, I have a little too much free time. Deal with it.

Jordi, hlog's resident Montreal Canadiens fan, alerted me to this rather interesting tidbit.

Toronto coach Paul Maurice accused the Bell Centre Zamboni driver of leaving rough ice in the end the Leafs shot from in the shootout. He said they did the same when Toronto visited on Oct. 28, although the Leafs won that time.

"I asked the refs to bring the Zamboni back out," said Maurice. "It was beautiful because they left a six-inch swath, so our chute was narrower. But anyway, that didn't cost us the game."

Wow. I can't emphasize enough the absurdity of such a claim. There are only two possible ways this could possibly be true. The driver(s) would either have had to A) intentionally miss a rather large spot, which would be painfully obvious to anyone who took even a cursory glance at the ice, or B) raise the blade on the conditioner so that the machine wasn't cutting as much at the one end, then lower it back down at the other end, which is neither easy to accomplish in an efficient way nor is it very good for the long-term well being of the ice surface. Also, it is entirely possible that, like the Caps, the Canadiens don't even have a Zamboni for their ice resurfacing needs (anyone familiar with the team who wants to confirm this one way or the other, feel free), in which case, Frank J. Zamboni & Co. Inc. will be rather upset with Paul Maurice.

(While I'm at it, I'd like to say that, if you haven't already, you should definitely spend some time poking around the official Zamboni website. Also, in case you were wondering, I used to drive one of these. And one of these. So if I come off as a little bit obsessed with all things Zamboni, it's because I am.)