To ask their columnists to stop rationalizing their inattention and frequent ignorance of hockey by saying that when the franchises aren’t winning, attendance slips, proving they are not working in a “real hockey market.” (Right, like NBA teams — even in “prime” basketball markets — don’t slump at the gate when they stink on the floor?)

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Denver-Envy: Where’s My Winter?

By pucksandbooks
Friday, December 29, 2006

moresnow.jpgA Mid-Atlantic resident virtually all of my life, I can’t quite just dial-up delivery of a white Christmas, but is it too much to ask that it be cool enough on Christmas Eve so as to mandate riding to mom’s with my Jeep Wrangler top up? I haven’t heard yet where this December ranks among the warmest in Washington history, but I’m pretty sure I don’t need to. It’s simply unacceptable. If I want windbreakers and Bermuda shorts on Christmas, I’ll move to the Carolinas.

Meanwhile, to listen to the cable news talking heads these days, all is woe for the hearty residents of Denver, CO. They’ve had to shovel lots of snow this month. Two doozies of snowstorms, fairly close together, have hit them. Imagine living in or near the Rocky Mountains and having to shovel snow!

This is not a treatise on global warming-vs.-cyclical warming and cooling periods. I have an opinion on the matter, but all that’s germane here is that I’m miserable and there’s nothing Alexander Ovechkin can do about it, much less Bob Ryan.

You see, it’s important in winter to have winter. When we don’t, it seems to me, we’re doubly reminded that “Washington isn’t a hockey town.” But for me there’s additional angst: I suffer from acute seasonal affective disorder — just not the kind commonly alluded to. I actually get grumpy when the mercury reaches 40 any time in December. And when the television weatherwrongs and their anchor colleagues gloat and cackle over our Haiti-like holidays, I actually wanna sock ‘em in the jaw.

Why are they gleeful over aberational conditions? Are they anti-sledding? Anti-shinny? Don’t they know that it’s scientifically established fact that ice skating dates featuring hand holding and foot rubbing are 47 times more romantic than movie theater outings? Don’t they know that Washington is genuinely one of the most beautiful cities on the planet under a fresh blanket of snow?

By now you know that the Caps practiced outdoors here recently. The wonder is that they didn’t drown. Continue reading ›

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Knee-jerks: vs. Montreal, 12/27/06

By OFB
Thursday, December 28, 2006

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

No rest for the weary last night, as the Caps played their second consecutive game against a good Northeast division opponent. After losing in Buffalo last night, the Caps hosted a strong Montreal club.

  • Buffalo beat Washington with offense on Tuesday night; Montreal beat the Caps with solid defense. Huet played well, and his defensive corps did a good job of keeping most shots to the perimiter, even with the Caps’ PP time advantage.
  • The Ovechkin-Zubrus-Semin line was again present last night, with a some-time second line of Pettinger-Gordon-Clark. There has been some concern that having another puck-carrier on Zubrus’ wing takes away from his offensive game. He again wasn’t a stand-out last night, so there may be some legitimacy to that thought. As far as the second unit, it would make a great checking group, but I’m not sure a line configured in that way can be counted on to put up even strength points.
  • Midway through the second and through most of the third, the Caps looked tired. Not much to be done about it, sadly, and the schedule isn’t helping - the Caps play at New Jersey tomorrow, and are at the Rangers on Saturday. Some rest would obviously help guys like Morrisonn heal up, but the daily drag of the schedule right now resembles something from an AHL road-trip.
  • Lawrence Nycholat is beginning to find his legs at the NHL level, it seems, which is good news for the Caps. Assuming that Schultz will be sent back to Hershey upon Morrisonn’s return to health, Nycholat should get some further minutes to prove his case at the NHL level. To a certain level, it seems he already has, receiving six more minutes of ice time than Heward, including eight more minutes at even strength.
  • Steve Eminger’s play continues to slowly and quietly progress. I scratched my head at the sight of a blast from the slot that Huet gloved, and wondered who had taken the shot. To my surprise it was Eminger, who also logged a lot of ice-time.
  • Brashear certainly made his presence known.

It was good to get back to hockey after the bad taste and controversy of the night before, but the result wasn’t a complete surprise. It’s a tough stretch for the Caps, but the playoff-contending pack in the Eastern conference hasn’t really had anybody who has taken advantage of other clubs’ misfortunes. If the Caps can ride out the storm, squirreling away a point here or there, then they may be poised for a move when the shcedule provides more breathing room and they get healthy. Getting a point here or there is proving to be as difficult as originally thought, however.

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Holiday Greetings from Donald Brashear

By Gustafsson
Thursday, December 28, 2006

Here’s a clip of Donald Brashear wishing Aaron Downey a Happy New Year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7GzGv-ylfE

This came one night after Brashear sent holiday greetings to Andrew Peters in Buffalo.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5539566815364970947

Thanks to HockeyFights.com for posting the videos.

Filed in Boston Bruins, Donald Brashear, Montreal Canadiens, Video Clips, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (2)

Knee-jerks: @ Buffalo, 12/26/06

By OFB
Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Alex Ovechkin knew he was going to be a marked man tonight, but he probably didn’t guess that Daniel Briere would be spearing him in the jingle bells.

  • As for the game itself, not a lot to say. The Sabres came out on fire, Brent Johnson wasn’t sharp, and the Caps’ defense is currently not good. Not a hard equation to figure. I liked the way the team played the 2nd and 3rd periods, but that doesn’t help after a stinker like the opening stanza.
  • Ovechkin cupping his ear after the goal? I didn’t like it, as his team was down by four at the time.
  • We’re seeing more of the Ovechkin-Zubrus-Semin and Pettinger-Beech-Clark line combinations. Zubrus didn’t stand out to me, but Ovechkin and Semin seem to be working well together.
  • The Caps didn’t do the little things: hard clears from the defense on the pk, crisp, strong passes, and not blowing keeps. If the Caps tighten those kind of things down, then the consistency issues should clear up.
  • Lawrence Nycholat had a decent game, and tried to play with some physicality, as well. I’d take him over Muir or Heward at this point. Alexander Semin got burned by some of his cleverness tonight, but also made a few excellent plays, including one of his soon-to-be-trademarked coast-to-coast rushes where he takes on 3 defenders to get a shot on net.

All things considered, it could have been worse (and I thought it was going to be double-digits after the first), but things don’t get much easier for the Caps tomorrow night. Here’s hoping Shaone Morrisonn, at least, can get back into the line-up to stabilize things on the blueline a bit.

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The IIHF 2007 World Junior Championship — A Preview

By pucksandbooks
Tuesday, December 26, 2006

I highly recommend a visit to the official web presence for this year’s World Juniors, which takes place in Sweden and commences the day after Christmas. In the past 5 years or so, this tournament has gained a richly deserved reputation for being perhaps the best in all of hockey.

World Junior Championship Teams 2006

Here’s why: It isn’t crammed into the compressed schedule of the Olympics; it doesn’t suffer from the conspicuous absence of marquee players as does the annual World Championships each spring; and for most competing nations, there’s been months and in some cases years of players skating in development programs together, allowing for greater roster chemistry than is generally seen within a relatively short tournament.

Best of all, the World Juniors faithfully generates at least one break-through performance that sets the international hockey world abuzz — think Alexander Ovechkin or Phil Kessel, each at age 16 — and it goes a long way toward clarifying which elite young talent will be grabbed up early in the NHL Entry Draft in June. Continue reading ›

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, American Hockey League, Atlanta Thrashers, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, College Hockey, Entry Draft, IIHF, Nicklas Backstrom, Phoenix Coyotes, Prospects, St. Louis Blues, USA Hockey, WJC, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (10)

The OFB All-Time Five: Final Tally

By The OFB Team
Monday, December 25, 2006
Bobby Hull
Bobby Hull		 Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky		 Gordie Howe
Gordie Howe
Bobby Orr
Bobby Orr		 Ray Bourque
Ray Bourque
Patrick Roy
Patrick Roy
Filed in National Hockey League, Stanley Cup, Stanley Cup Playoffs| Permalink| Comments (4)

Wishing You a 2 Point Holiday

By The OFB Team
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Wishing you a 2 point holiday

Continue reading ›

Filed in 2 Points, OFB| Permalink| Comments (3)

Knee-jerks: @ Toronto, 12/23/06

By OFB
Saturday, December 23, 2006

Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images

An exciting game, on the whole, though the first period could be bottled and sold as a remedy for insomnia. Both teams were hurting and tired coming in, and it took them the snooze period to get it in gear. Once they did, though, some good drama.

  • I’m worried that the heavy minutes that Brian Pothier has been playing is catching up with him, especially considering he’s the defacto #1 defenseman on a team currently missing three blueliners due to injury. I’d love to have the Caps find a way to scale his minutes back.
  • Jeff Schultz had, overall, a surprisingly solid game. Mats Sundin made him look silly on one open-ice rush, but the big pivot does that to veteran defensemen, as well. Around his own net, Schultz was solid, including some nice work on Sundin and Alex Steen. He had more ice time than Mike Green tonight.
  • Speaking of young rear guards, Green’s play continues to excite and, on occassion, scare. His confidence in pinching in on the play, or leading the rush, is . . . robust. He also clocked Darcy Tucker in the corner in a puck-pursuit battle.
  • I didn’t think the penalty shot was the proper call, but the Capitals can’t complain about the officiating, overall. Sure was nice to see three power-play goals for the DC club.
  • Mats Sudin was the best Leaf on the ice tonight, and in the third period he took his play to a higher level. His penalty shot was nigh-unstoppable.
  • With all due respect to Mr. Sundin, the best player on the ice, by far, was Alexander Semin. His stickhandling was amazing — he moved around at will, it seemed. Effortless keeps, quicksilver-like dekes, just breathtaking. His fluid curl-and-drag on his goal was remarkable. Where Alex Ovechkin is a bull in a china shop, Alex Semin is the fox in the henhouse — sneaky, elusive, and agile. It seemed to me that late in the game Ovechkin and Semin really began to find a higher level of chemistry — if that plays out, it’s bad news for future opponents.
  • Kris Beech was invisible tonight, and Klepis gets an incomplete.
  • The Fight Card: By my observation, the Tucker/Sutherby fight was even, with Tucker landing two big shots early, and Sutherby landing 3 or 4 back later, with less behind them. The Brashear/Belak fracas had a similar result, with Belak getting some shots in early, but Brashear getting his helmet off and getting several shots in as well. Slight advantage to Brashear in the set-to, as it looked like Belak was bloodied in the encounter.
  • Dainius Zubrus’ goal was a beaut, and Locker brought up a good point: if you try to pull that off, you just know you are going to get clocked. Zubrus did, by McCabe, but what a pretty goal. All three of the Caps’ tallies tonight were aesthetic-friendly.

A spirited contest when both teams woke up. Good to go into the break with a win, and happy holidays to everyone out in hockeyland.

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Caps 3/ Leafs, Ontario Refs 2

By pucksandbooks
Saturday, December 23, 2006
2 Point Toast
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Give Blood, Watch Hockey

By Gustafsson
Saturday, December 23, 2006

Red CrossHere’s a great opportunity to continue the season of giving and get something back in return. On January 4th, the Caps will be holding a blood drive in the Dewar’s Clubhouse at Verizon Center from noon until 6. Those who participate will receive two tickets to a Caps game.

Continue reading ›

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On Mullets and Moving Vans

By The OFB Team
Friday, December 22, 2006

boxes.jpgThis past Wednesday, the city of Pittsburgh stunned Pennsylvanians generally and the hockey fans there most particularly, and most especially NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, when the mulleted town fathers voted to award a $50 million slots license to Majestic Star Casino. Majestic’s was considered a super long-shot bid to win the license. Worse for Pittsburgh’s hockey fans, the award dealt a defeat to the application by the Isle of Capri, whose bid included the promise to cough up a cool $290 million to fund construction of a brand new arena for the Penguins.

The Associated Press has reported that Penguins’ owner Mario Lemieux has closed all bidding on the team, and is poised to pursue relocation options for the team. Among the potential suitors: Kansas City, Portland, Las Vegas, Houston, and perhaps even a Canadian city. Think a city north of the 49th might lavishly support home dates for Mr. Sidney Crosby?

If you don’t think things took a turn for the dramtic worse this week for the fate of the Penguins, take a gander at the substance and tone of the press release the team issued just hours after the gaming license decision.

Caps’ fans have a sort-of stake in this news; after all, as we saw the Monday evening before last at Verizon Center, the rivalry between the Caps and Pens is as robust as ever, and the league would like nothing better than to spend the next decade showcasing Crosby-vs.- Ovechkin matchups a handful of times during the regular season (at least), and hopefully during the playoffs in the future. A Penguins move — almost certainly out West — vanquishes the viability of that marketing plan.

So how should Caps’ fans feel about this week’s news? The four of us at OFB thought we’d offer up our individual reflections, and we welcome yours. Continue reading ›

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Pittsburgh Penguins, Schadenfreude, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (8)

Are the San Jose Sharks Saving the NHL’s Sweaters?

By pucksandbooks
Friday, December 22, 2006

We in the East were a bit distracted Wednesday by news coming out of Pittsburgh, but San Jose Mercury News reporter John Ryan that day published a bombshell: the more NHL players jump into prototypes of Gary Bettman’s new uniforms, the more they want to jump right back out of them and into tradition.

Ryan observes: “The double-knit polyester is being replaced by a moisture-wicking fabric, hardly an uncommon switch in the athletic world. They’re also making everything tighter . . . The reasons are twofold: performance and protection.”

But then check out what San Jose Sharks’ forward Jonathon Cheechoo had to say about them:

“These are to add protection?” Jonathan Cheechoo said.

“Yeah. Apparently the tighter fit holds pads into place better,” Ryan adds.

“It does do that,” Cheechoo said. “I’ll give it that. But it also gives opponents a bird’s-eye view of where your equipment stops.”

[Cheechoo's] point: For players who are injured, opponents will essentially see an MRI of the body and know exactly which spot is most vulnerable. The sweaters hide a lot of that, particularly in the playoffs.”

Note to Gary Bettman: Oopsie!

And it wasn’t just Cheechoo ripping the new threads to shreds. Kyle McLaren wanted no part of them, either, according to Ryan.

You really gotta check out the full text of what may prove to be a pivotal turning point in this uniform madness. A couple of weeks ago we suggested here that momentum was slowing lurching the way of the sensible and traditional. On this front, Ryan notes:

I can tell you the league is very, VERY nervous about the reaction.”

Reminder: if you haven’t already, add your voice to the outrage; send Gary Bettman a little ornery Season’s Greeting, and sign the online petiton to preserve our sacred hockey sweaters. More than 4,000 have!

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The Eminger Enigma

By pucksandbooks
Thursday, December 21, 2006

eminger.jpgFive years into his development with the Washington Capitals defenseman Steve Eminger invites the most discomforting of questions by fans and team officials alike, among them this: just what kind of defenseman is he?

Such uncertainty and pervasive, quiet disappointment would have been unthinkable a few years back. While a rookie Eminger took to the Air Canada Centre ice one night and made 20,000 seated in one of hockey’s cathedrals forget about Mats Sundin. He was named the game’s first star, dominating all three zones and logging like 25 minutes of ice time. At one point he drew gasps from the Ontario cognoscenti, deftly pirouetting the puck out of harm’s way, a la Denis Savard but from the backline, and rushing the puck up the ice with powerful strides, QB-ing the Caps toward a scoring chance. His future seemed not only bright but chock full of two-way impact.

And this was hardly a lone instance of brilliance. Eminger represented Canada at the 2003 World Junior Championships. You know what kind of talent you have to be to dress for the Canadian blueline in that tournament? He also led his junior team, the Kitchener Rangers, to the Memorial Cup Championship in the same season, posting 29 points in 23 games after making the Caps straight out of training camp that fall.

Secured by the Caps in their foundation-building 2002 draft class, Eminger was selected 12th overall, one pick ahead of Alexander Semin. (There’s something about Eminger and the Air Canada Centre — the 2002 draft was held there.) It’s additionally disquieting to read The Hockey News’ pre-draft profile of him that summer:

Eminger has great wheels and won the puck control event at the 2002 Top Prospects Game. He has exceptional puckhandling and playmaking skills and quarterbacked the Kitchener power play this season. He showed at times he can change the tempo of a game if he wants.”

Today, there’s little tempo changing to Eminger’s game. There’s little in the way of “great wheels” displayed. In his own end he often ambles about stiff and upright instead of trusting his ample physical skills to head off threats from opposing forwards. Deft puckhandling and playmaking among Capitals’ rearguards? You think Pothier and Green and Morrisonn before Eminger. Continue reading ›

Filed in Steve Eminger, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (6)

NHL Players Are Just Like You - Alex Ovechkin

By Gustafsson
Thursday, December 21, 2006

NHL on NBC Commercial with Alex and Ted

A rough cut of the commercial that Alex Ovechkin and Ted Leonsis are in was just made available.

Until we are able to embed the video, see it here.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, NBC, TV, Ted Leonsis, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (8)

Mirrored Shades for Marty Night

By The OFB Team
Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Alex Ovechkin - Mirrored VisorThis week a band of clever Caps’ fans on the team’s message boards designated this Friday night “Mirrored Shades for Marty Night” at Verizon Center. The Caps host the New Jersey Devils then. Devils’ netminder Martin Brodeur apparently made enough of a stink about Alexander Ovechkin’s tinted visor from last season to help get it banned this past summer. By a 29-1 tally prior to the season the league’s GMs voted to ban the visor — the lone dissenting vote coming from GMGM.

There’s nothing earth-shattering in the impact or implication of the GMs’ decision, but Brodeur’s fuss invites precisely the good-natured ridicule planned at Verizon Center Friday.

Sherry Ross of the New York Daily News offered the lowdown on MirrorMess earlier this season:

Martin Brodeur, the hockey fan, liked the distinctive look that Alexander Ovechkin’s mirrored visor gave the league’s top rookie last season. Martin Brodeur, the goalie, didn’t like that he couldn’t see the whites of Ovechkin’s eyes.”

As the matter heated up a bit in the press this fall, Brodeur backpedaled, taking pains to suggest that he had no formal role in the furor. Still, he made plain to the Daily News‘ Ross what had him so upset about AO’s visor:

I said it wasn’t right because my game is watching an athlete, and especially when it gets to a shootout, it makes it tougher for me if I can’t see his eyes.”

ericestrada.jpgAnd some French Canadians wonder why the rest of the hockey world regards them as whiners!

Anyway, the fun starts early Friday night at the rink. The Caps Road Crew is helping out with the distribution of mirrored sunglasses fully an hour before faceoff. Fans in Verizon Center sections 104 and 105 plan to be seated in shades by 6:25 — just in time to greet the Devils as they emerge on the ice for pre-game warmups. But our sense at OFB is that this prank is going to expand well beyond those two lower bowl sections. For starters, Verizon Center allows any ticket holder to watch warmups in the lower bowl, potentially swelling the number of pranksters.

The organizers of ShadesScheme have marketed the mischief enough so as to secure donations for sunglasses through PayPal, and some message board veterans have pledged the purchase of boxes of dozens of the eyewear. Later this season, a contingent of Caps’ fans, joined by the Caps Road Crew, will travel to New Jersey by bus for a Caps’ game there, and again they’ll be in shades. And we’re only about the fourth or fifth blog mentioning it.

At OFB, we commend these fans for their creativity — for well organizing a harmless prank that’s chock full of home rink spirit. We say to them: your future’s so bright, you gotta wear shades.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (5)

Knee-jerks: vs. Tampa, 12/19/06

By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Perhaps the Caps’ holiday party was last night — they played the first 40 minutes like they were hung over (or as my friend put it, “It looks like they’re still drunk!”).

  • The first two periods were awful, with the exception of Ovi’s pretty goal and a few nice passes by Zubrus. The shot count after two was 29-9… shots never tell the whole story, but shooting 9 times in 40 minutes is a symptom of the Caps’ overall poor play this night.
  • A 40% PK success rate killed them. The Caps came out flat and stayed that way, even on the PK — they were slow to the puck and couldn’t seem to get in the passing lanes.
  • It’s amazing what a difference John Erskine makes, with not only his own play but the impact he has on Steve Eminger. The Heward-Eminger pairing tonight was dreadful. Sure, Heward got a goal, but his tentative and sloppy play caused at least two goals going the other way. It’s understandable if he’s a bit gun-shy with his recent injury jinx, but he was Gonchar-esque in the worst sense of the word, even down to his untouched fall that led to a Tampa goal. Get well soon Johnny!
  • Missing Bradley, Brashear, and Erskine made for a totally different team tonight. Boyd Gordon played hard, as did Ovechkin (as per usual), but the hitting was practically non-existent until the final frame. With a team as fast as, well, Lightning, playing the body is critical. Mini-mite Martin St. Louis victimized the Caps yet again; he seemed to have open ice the whole night.
  • The third period was exciting — the Caps finally woke up at the same time Tampa was lazing about and overconfident. When your #1 goalie has a season save percentage of .878 you should never sit back like Tampa did, and it almost cost them the game.
  • Even down 5-2 when the third period started, I hadn’t given up all hope, which is a wonderful change from last year. This team can score in bunches; despite their putrid play to that point, their third-period flurry came within inches of a stunning comeback. Let’s hope Coach Hanlon makes it clear to the team, however, that a comeback would not have been necessary had the team played hard all game.

In the end, 20 minutes’ good effort won’t win games. The fact that the Capitals were in it in the third speaks more to Tampa’s weaknesses than to the Caps’ strengths. But it’s only one bad game — how they bounce back against recently vulnerable New Jersey on Friday should indicate whether the Tampa game was an aberration or whether their hot streak is at an end. Let’s hope it’s the former.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Knee-Jerk, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (6)

This Walleye has a Black Eye!

By Gustafsson
Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Logo created by Joe Bones

Meet your “Fighting Walleye”

As we mentioned two weeks ago, Cavaliers Hockey Holdings, LLC, filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the wordmark Fighting Walleye. Cavaliers Hockey Holdings is a group of investors headed by Cleveland Cavaliers’ owner Dan Gilbert, who purchased a dormant American Hockey League franchise for play in Cleveland.

Today, we find out from Sidearm Delivery that this may be just a rumour. They reference an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer from this past Sunday, in which Cavaliers President Len Komoroski said that all the talk about the team being named the Fighting Walleyes is premature.

“We’ve been getting a lot of suggestions, and we expect to have a nickname by the early part of 2007.”

That’s not really a denial now, is it? “Premature” does not mean “false information.” Along with the fact that they spent time and money to trademark the name, “Fighting Walleye” is a serious contender.

In less exciting news, the Cavaliers officials confirmed that the Cleveland franchise will be the top affiliate of Colorado in the NHL.

We’ll try to keep up with the avalanche of speculation that surrounds the AHL’s newest, fishiest team.

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