In Glacialis Blog

Conventional sapientia civitas ut verus “ victor” in a professio isnt’ notus pro plures annus. Tamen OFB doesnt’ vindicatum futurus conventional ( vel sapiens), sic nos scisco vos: Quisnam no optimus permoveo is February?

Hac nos vilis permoveo ut mos succurrovox iam, i.e., tunc pauci mensis. Draft picks quod prospicio es non duco relevant pro 2007 playoffs. Plures illorum teams caveo suum posterus, verus; tamen quisnam added optimus contraho parumper Vas run vox iam?

Maximus permoveo es audio subter supter. Sumo unus, quod sentio solvo interpretor vestri choice in ineo.

Iustus meus humilis sententia, tamen ex 2002 per 2006 illic est an eximius infigo somes of explorator quod drafting opus artificiosus per George McPhee quod suus team of explorator. Having said ut, meus voluntas est ut they seldom vultus tergum in 2001 Viscus Draft — ultum prefero, altus laudabilis pro suus super species quod depth — per ultum fondness. In suum tutaminis, Caps erant vacuus a primoris- rotundus pick ut annus. Suum primoris lectio venit 58th super, quod they adsuesco assuesco lego Nathan Paetsch. In tertius rotundus, they tabbed Owen Fussey per 90th pick. In quartus rotundus, Jeff Felicis procul haud. 125. Nullus es per norma hodie.

I’ve porro been of sententia ut a sanus, lascivio-viable NHL stipes cannot offendo sicco per suus lectio procul ullus draft; mercedis postulo pro is est quoque implausible in successio drafts. Vel per 2002’s prosperitas (Semin, Gordon, Magnificentia, Max II, quod per professio Fleischmann quod Klepis), there’s a pretium futurus pensus pro 2001’s deficio, quod ut nonnullus ambitus EGO reputo we’re utpote is season. Multus of league fulcio ipsum per ut magnificabiliter ‘01 ordo, quod Caps did non.

Jiri Novotny’s acquisition ex Plaga yesterday can exsisto visum intus carcer of belatedly oratio Caps’ ‘01 shortcomings. An ‘01 draftee, 22nd super per Sabres, Novotny iam suo novus teammate Shaone Morrisonn ( frendo, haud. 19 super) ex ut ordo. Caps procul porro permaneo have aliquanto repletus gaping foramen left per estas ’01’s penuriosus drafting.

Narro of viscus drafts, fax ink ex yesterday’s tracto Plaga wasn’t siccus pro salutor ut Caps’ nuntius tabula could download seemingly dozens of pages of protestor ex vas- est- non- tantum- dimidium- cassus, it’s-got-a-chipped- ora- ut- opportunus- vestri- os turba. Procul OFB, we’ve porro relatum sibimet ut Fatum quod Senium paro. Suum presertim cuspis of improbus, is videor, eram a contraho voluntas ut ‘07 Viscus Draft eram “weak,” ita Plaga primoris teres, tardus ut is eram certain exsisto, wasn’t quisquam ut exsisto gauisus super. Interesting. 2002, EGO memor vividly, eram refer futurus inter pessimus lacus of talentumumquam. Vel 1996’s draft, quod sincerus can exsisto titulus atrocious, eventually vindico Fastidiosus Zubrus ut D.C. Meus cuspis est,sulum NHL draft usus ingeniosus tener hockey ludio ludius; officium of McPhee quod suus explorator est ut reperio is.

Ive’ alius bone eligo per nuntius tabula GMs: pro annus weve’ had perfero suum vindicatum ut ut is adveho ut Fastidiosus Zubrus, is eram a hopelessly misplaced, “non- peractio” caput capitis- versus center. Lets’ totus congruo ut hes’ non a haud. 1 cardo in a lascivio stipes. Tamen doesnt’ is sto ut causa ut erant is magis reprehendo versus quidam quaedam quedam quidam guy, is plurimus certe certo wouldnt’ arcesso a haud. 1 pick . . . permissum unusduos Atqui, ut ut’ quis Plaga reverto yesterday, illa same naysayers wrung suum manuum super “ penuriosus” reverto. Simulator.

Yesterday eram a rabies of rudimentum res gelamen per fans quod interventus finitumus ludio ludius tractus, totus of is magis vel minor insequor in versus. TSN quod NHL Network erant broadcasting breathless ratio of transactions totus dies porro. Unus GM nuper told Lusum Illustrated ut mortifer dies “ought futurus a feriae in Canada.” Locus, nos in Capitals’ defero es indebted ut trado opus of Tarik El- Vercundus, quisnam eram lodged totus oriens, meridianus, quod vesper procul Quin Center, ordine updating suus blog per professio intelligence, quodMike Vogel, quisnam parumper period of vicis yesterday meridianus eram brought in Caps’ hockey operations’ penitus orbis. incursus of utriusque men no parumper mirifice compelling meridianus. Si vos weren’t convinced pro super revolution captus locus in hockey novus occulto — plurimus proprie is season — yesterday ought habeo ushered in a vegetus reconsideration vobis.

Sic Caps professio suum primoris- versus center, plene sleepwalk per primoris duodeviginti minutes of prothoplastus period, tunc curo facio ceterus of venatus dignitas vigilo. Insolitus, insolitus venatus.

• Secundum res universa zombies per primoris dimidium of prothoplastus period, Lavatio got tergum ut lascivio appareo, altus- navitas penicullus ut venalicium suum prosperitas mane in season. Is eram a exspectata os, maybe tunc vicis they satus ut primo of venatus.
• Secundum meus duco, Caps had totus of 30+ annus vetus ludio ludius in suum versus sursum tonight: Procax (35), Muir (33), quod Cassivi (31). (Sarcalogos Expedio est 30, Kolzig est 35, utriusque vulnero)
• Vepres Pothier had a lentus defensabiliter venatus mane.
• vox lascivio fere vultus contendo. Caps vere videor ut simplex res, quod ut went a porro via ut servo possessio quod questus offa in net.
• Steve Magnificentia had plures glaring turnovers, quod Shaone Morrisonn had plures odd defensabiliter lego.
• Caps did a cognatus eu of subsisto ex arca archa vacuus giving sursum suum aggressiveness
• Boyd Gordon threw duos hits in idem eadem idem amoveo, sententia is eram promeritum per nullus, pro nonnullus causa. Kris Beech ludio ludius ut physically ut Ive’ seen him, pariter.
• Olie Jokinen? Nocens vir.
• Narro of nocens men, Ovechkin vultus amo is eram medium January of ‘06. Volo, decens positionally, trado in forecheck, quod universe rambunctious. Bonus video vidi visum.
• Im’ non certus quam Alexander Semin didnt’ instar in ustulo. Is quod Ovechkin vere videor habeo chemistry tonight.
• Vepres Sutherbys’ obscoena resurgence persevero. Nimirum, res teamed sursum per a fervens Ovechkin doesnt’ vulnero.

Caps videlicet pluo presencia of institutio Zubrus, quos they adsuesco assuesco in totus locus quod eram a rector pro team. Ovechkins’ primoris calx videor concutio lemma ex funk. Vel sententia they lost in a surculus, via they venit tergum secundum talis a atrox satus eram heartening. Tunc subsisto: non having a nocens satus.

Tarik est in is.

An ‘07 primoris teres quod tener, quondam primoris- rotundus center Jiri Novotny es coming tergum.

Pierre McGuire, in TSN is meridianus: “nos have sumo vispilio’ os off of George McPhees’ visio”

245: update: Mike Vogel has been invited in Caps’ “ bellum cella” is meridianus per George McPhee quod est opinio ut “ magis ferrum es in incendia” Frigus effercio.

Historically, quam maximus has NHLs’ Proficiscor ( iam tardus February) professio mortifer been ut Lavatio Caput? Quis est imperator vis of typical paciscor no per Caps tunc — major domus, medius, vel pupillus? Curiosus ut censeo Caps’ propinquo ut mortifer per annus, EGO scrolled per teams’ interventus rector transactions pages. EGO volo scio quam formative Proficiscor permoveo had been ut stipes in norma’ history. Quis EGO instituo eram offensio: vere Caps have no quis EGO reputo can exsisto classified ut unus sincerus blockbuster paciscor procul mortifer vicis. Suum alius magnus alio permoveo per alius stipes have res plurimus sepius procul alius cuspis in calendar — singulariter offseason.

EGO termino meus contemplatio ut preteritus 25 annus — Poile quod McPhee reigns. David Poiles’ primoris significant transaction pro team, September 1982 hoodwinking of Habs, est penitus contemplor ut an norma servo quod milestone ut transitioned stipes ex laughingstock ut statutum tempus outfit.

Quod is iustus tersus venio habeo transpired 25 annus abhinc.

Tamen primoris EGO necessarius a classification ratio ut numerus unique professio. EGO sedatus in three ordo of paciscor; they erant fictum per Proficiscor mortifer in mens tamen pomum ut universitas of calendar annus pariter. Significant professio involved utique unus nomen/ labefactum ludio ludius quod vel utique a primoris rotundus pick res commotus. Major domus professio had multiple nomen/ labefactum ludio ludius quod vel altus draft picks moving utroque. Quod Blockbusters erant, puteus, securus ut identify. Caps havent’ been involved in quoque plures illorum. They es landscape- muto satis sic ut ut vicis supremus--fold, lusum page 1 placement per Lavatio Stipes. Acsi Redskins es tenura offseason mini- castra procul vicis.

Sic nam, Brendan Witts’ res commotus ut Nashville procul undecim hora permaneo Proficiscor parumper primoris rotundus pick ( quod Kris Beech) eram a significant professio tamen non a major domus unus. (is videor magis significant iam ut ut pick vindico Simeon Varlamov.) Usquam, ut haud ones’ admiratio, ingens major domus of paciscor no in NHL es of sub-significant varietas, quod is habitum verus nimirum per Caps.

Meus tunc reperio in meus contemplatio eram ut three plurimus significant professio/transactions in Caps’ history, in meus humilis sententia, had haud affinitas per Proficiscor professio mortifer quodcumque. Quod Poiles’ September 1982 veneficus occumbo meus album. Vacuus is, suus’ altus incertus illic est a Caput team in D.C. hodie Ut refoveo, Poile traba Ryan Walter quod Rick Viridis ut Montreal pro Virga Lingua, Craig Rideo risi risum, Vepres Engblom, quod Doug Jarvis. Illic eram adeo talentum brought in per ut paciscor ut dimidium of is secretum ut notabilis hockey broadcasting tutela pariter. Suus’ a admiratio ullus Montreal telephone operator has loco per ullus dico ex Poile ut Habs’ muneris utpote. Si nos etiam had telephone operators.

Alter plurimus significant transaction ludio ludius a crepidoinis persona in meus growing odio Lavatio estas. In July 16, 1990, Caps lost Scott Stevens ut a termino solvo procurator volo ovis ex St. Louis. Caps erant awarded quinque primoris rotundus picks ut mercedis, inter lemma Jason Foedus quod Sergei Gonchar. Etiam, illic’ haud mercedis pro damnum of unus of quinque maioribus blueliners in NHL history. Stevens’ profectio fere certainly somes maioribus “ quis si?” queror inter Caps’ fanbase.

Quod meus tertius plurimus significant professio/transaction in stipes history — vero nequiquam suus messor probo — eram July 11, 2001, tracto Craig Pium quod Pens ut terra Jaromir Jagr quod Attonbitus Kucera pro a pera of prospicio pucks. Is no occulto of Hockey Novus sequens week, Jagr eram penitus identified ut maioribus ludio ludius in venatus procul vicis, quod in suus prime, quod paciscor bred haud vegrandis numerus of Sto Vas forecasts pro Caps cado cado.

April eram inhumanus mensis pro T.S. Elliot; July est pro Caps’ fans.

Nunc in meus contemplatio EGO congressus a murky intentus per meus classification ratio, videlicet, presencia ut vicis usquequaque has in censeo a professio’ significance. Ut lepor lepos, in Proficiscor 1989 Caps us Accersitus Johansson quod alter rotundus pick ( quod verto sicco futurus Byron Dafoe) pro Inhaero Malarchuk, Tribuo Ledyard, quod a sedecim teres. hockey universitas didnt’ singultus ut Proficiscor. Neque nec did ultum of D.C. Atqui, 10 annus laxus, quis videor tantum a parce significant paciscor procul vicis certainly probo futurus a major domus unus in history of Caps’ blueline. Sic quam operor EGO ordo is? (persevero)

Lavatio Caput populus inaugural “Hockey ‘n Heels” vicis in Monday February 26, 2007. vicis eram intended accerso magis female fans ut venatus per showcasing solers, sceptrum quod secundum scaena vultus procul ludio ludius. Super 250 women subcribo sursum quod vicis eram a universa exigo sicco.

Ut Gustaffson primoris foveo mihi ut famulor, EGO eram aliquantulus “iffy” in universitas res. informatio of traipsing inter Quin Center per a bunch of women pro three hora did non sanus amo meus informatio of a bonus vicis. EGO had mental statua of centum of women condita dementis audacia ut ludio ludius ut famulor, similis ut scaena ut vos animadverto in television pro magnus nuptialis gown venditio. Tamen Gustaffson est penitus in condita mihi a diehard hockey fan, sic absentis EGO went.

EGO ero prothoplastus admitto ut EGO had a valde vicis quod vicis eram valde puteus intentio. Sulum eram scindo in minor humus quod roto per quinque diversus activities, sic chaos eram kept ut a minimum. Illic eram a prolixus range of women illic pariter, ex hockey moms ut puck Hunnam quod sulum in inter. Etiam, illic erant ubertas of ladies in custodis hoping ut snag nonnullus species vicis per tener, singulus ludio ludius. Vero, illic erant iustus quot women asking thoughtful hockey commemoro questions. Plus, nos totus got ut surculus pucks in glacies per Jamie Heward, Shaone Morrisson quod Cogo Dean Tergiversatio. Secundum coepi tergiversatio impetro sicco illic ( ego did have in 2 inch heels) EGO can grate narro EGO non tantum subsisto in meus feet, tamen quoque no contactus per puck quod got is in calx! Sic quis si calx eram tantum ten feet absentis? (persevero)

Caput have professio Uber Zednik ut Novus York Insula, reportedly parumper secundus rotundus pick in 2007 draft.

Decens reverto parumper pensio — Zednik est an liber solvo procurator procul terminus of season — proprie pro unus ut ludio ludius tantum 32 venatus is annus.

Per vastatio tamen tersus ledo Sarcalogos Neil inicio Sarcalogos Drury permaneo week quod respondeo is has vicis ex seemingly everybody in Plaga — mos urbs’ Mayor tunc transporto a tear- macula tabellae ut Gary Melior? — nos may exsisto testis plurrimi validus theca etiamnunc pro Kansas Urbs res awarded a hockey team. Iustus non Pittsburghs’.

In Imbuo Sabres’ erus Tom Golisano, edoctus ut dies per NHL ut suus norma’ manus manus-wringing super a tersus ledo eram baseless, took unprecedented factum of putting in stilus suus querulus. Take a vultus:

Proprie benevolens, wasnt’ is, pro Golisano ut outline pro mandatum instances quibus hitting in hockey est dignitas? Quisnam knew? Nota, sententia, ut Golisano didnt’ agnosco hittings’ persona in territo vel changing momentum of a hockey venatus. . . vel forsitan vel transporto a nuntius pro postseason . . . vel sententia illud have been a secui of hockey utpote, narro, suus inception. (melior vires have respondeo ut tabellae per suus own asking “ quis’ per tardus in letterhead?”) Golisanos’ turpis vae- est- meus-team litterae res velox in heels of suus cogo’ meltdown pro interventus permaneo week. heaviness of hankies in upstate Novus York tantum persevero cretum, vero.

Imbuo nox noctis Ottawa quod Plaga met iterum, quod per an intermission Ottawa Occasus’ Bruce Presidium agri vegetus sobs ex a Plaga broadcast crew. Statua inviting a hospes in aer dissero a altus- profano, altus contentio piece of defero tunc, vexo per hospes’ tutaminis of eons of hockeys’ toughness quod suus dico sicco ignavus quisnam wrote is, licentio illud visum per vindicatum “ in equitas, vos havent’ lego [Golisanos’] tabellae” Ut’ subtilis quis Plaga broadcast crew did.

Presidium sagaciter characterized Golisano tabellae ut “ querulus ut a novus campester” cuspis sicco ut permaneo season, in playoffs, Flyers’ erus Ed Snider nunquam sententia ut bellyache ut Melior ut suus ludio ludius, R.J. Umberger, eram laid sicco in vel magis viscious formo per Buffalos’ Vepres Campbell. Hic’ Presidium prudens in smackdown modus:

Unus cant’ succurro tamen locus Sabres’ sullying nostri lusum is preteritus week in contineo contigi of a battered uxor syndrome pro lusum paro off urbs- prolixus forsitan per Scott Norwood. Quod Britones Hull. Magis nuper Alexander Ovechkin. Quod iam Sarcalogos Neil. Plaga has a magnificabiliter hockey escendo, quod nonnullus eximius solers forensis. Quis is doesnt’ have ultum illorum dies est pectus pectoris quod grit.

Hockey fans without DirecTV or Digital Cable will soon have access to heaven, NHL Centre Ice. According to an Associated Press report on the Broadcast Newsroom, the NHL is close to delivering its Center Ice package via broadband.

The league is currently testing distribution of its cable and satellite NHL Center Ice out-of-market game package on the Web, and it could make it available to any hockey fan with a high-speed-Internet connection before the end of the season, according to Keith Ritter, president of NHL Interactive Cyber Enterprises.

“We’ve been testing it, but our primary concern is the security of the gating and the ability to make sure our broadcast partners are protected,” Ritter said. “So far, the test is going very well, and I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to offer it in the not-too-distant future.”

Currently the NBA, MLB, and ESPN all offer broadband access to compliment their current TV subscription service.

Ritter mentions that there will be a yet to be determined fee for the broadband access and that 80% of the traffic on NHL.com is accessed by broadband.

“Given the high level of technical literacy that hockey fans enjoy, we want to be in as many platforms as we can be,” he said. “I think that this is yet another place that [our fans] are and it’s another place we need to be.”

This is good news for all hockey fans currently without a way to access NHL Center Ice. As a subscriber for the past 6 years, I highly recommend it, especially come playoff time. I wonder, though, will the feeds currently blacked out on my satellite also get blacked out on the internet?

A tap of the stick on the ice to Kukla’s Korner for the assist.

Nice game overall by the Caps today. Given yesterday’s win in the swamps of Jersey, there was a good chance the Devils would come to town and take a pound of flesh from the Caps in the form of an old-school beat-down. But despite the loss the team put forth a solid effort.

• After 32 straight starts for Marty, the hardest working goalie in the NHL, he watches from the bench today.
• Did we spy Brodeur sporting a mullet while enjoying the bench?
• Semin circles like a shark: at times he seems dispassionate, but then he smells blood in the water and attacks. With more consistent effort he could be one of the best in the league, but he’s still pretty damned good.
• Fleischmann had a nice pass through the crease on the power play, only bright spot of the 1st PP.
• Caps’ 1st goal looked more like a PP than the PP did . . . nice cycling, nice patience . . . granted, it was a lucky bounce, but good teamwork.
• Per GMGM, the Caps will be active in/before the trade deadline but will not deal away young players.
• Clemmensen leaves rebounds that Brodeur does not.
• Rupp vs. Suts — give the decision to Suts with the late strikes even with less of a reach than Rupp
• Lukovich with a puck to the face to end the 2nd and stayed on the bench instead of the locker room . . . that has to hurt.
• Erskine seemed to have been burned on NJ’s first 2 goals.
• Caps looked flat in the 3rd, perhaps the 2nd straight matinée was showing its wear?
• Brent Johnson looked good . . . obviously he needs to play more often to be effective.
• I miss the intermission interviews with the GM back when Poile had the duties . . . although I’m not sure it would be as good now since GMGM is very tight-lipped
• Finally, Ovechkin with a goal . . . and not a garbage goal either; will this break the dam or merely crack it?
• Questionable call on Pothier which lead to a PP goal for NJ . . . looked like he got puck, but perhaps too late?

Two points of a home-and-home weekend against the Devils is not bad, but I think we could have had more.

A welcome win in the swamp, against a top-notch goaltender on a team that is leading its division. What I thought was going to be the first game in the most boring home-and-home series in recent memory turned out to have some scoring, some hitting, a few diving defensive plays, and we even got a tilt, though not much of one. It’s amazing what a win against a solid opponent will do in regards to enjoying the game.

• Brent Johnson turned in a strong goaltending performance, marred only by giving up Cam Janssen’s first career goal — the Pandalfo goal wasn’t stoppable.
• Milan Jurcina continues his solid play in all zones, and it’s hard to believe that the Caps got him for a 4th round pick. It seems the coaching staff is giving him more power play time, and it’s paying off. I like him on the second power play unit — he can just blast away from the point, and not have to worry about getting Ovechkin and Semin the puck so they can create. It’s just bombs away.
• Speaking of Alexander Semin, nifty move to score, but it seems at other times he ignored some open teammates in scoring position today. His puck-handling skills are beyond critique, but he’s been spending more time lately holding the puck himself, and typically veering back towards the boards or center ice. I like how hard he worked in puck pursuit, but I wonder if he still doesn’t have a lot of faith in his linemates.
• The Caps’ offense seems to live or die with their passing on the breakout. If they can put together a good head-man pass (like Beech’s on Semin’s goal and Gordon’s on Pettinger’s shorty) their transition game is pretty darn good. If not, they are in trouble, as the Caps seem to be better at transition offense than they are at scoring off of prolonged puck possession in the offensive zone.
• Alex Ovechkin didn’t figure in, goal-wise, but I liked his hustle, especially in his fore- and back-checking. In one instance his closing on a Devils’ forward from behind spoiled a Jersey scoring chance, and that’s all effort. He’s still on the schneid, but I have the feeling that once he gets one goal, he’ll get a bunch.
• While New Jersey’s power play numbers aren’t daunting (17.9%), the Caps did a good job of keeping the Devils’ man-up unit back on their heels, and the shortie was a nice cherry on top.
• Shaone Morrisonn looked out of sorts today, with poor puckhandling and an unusual display of poor positioning. While the Morrisonn-Jurcina pairing is certainly working for big Milan, is it working as well for Morrisonn… or was this just a hiccup?
• Brian Pothier didn’t have a good game playing the power-play point, making several bad decisions and missing a keep that seemed to be an easy play.
• Jeff Schultz had a solid game, his only glaring mistake being caught flat-footed on a Devils’ outlet pass. Luckily, John Erskine made a nice diving sweep check from behind to save the day. Schultz seems to be the target of some dissent, but he’s been playing remarkably well for a twenty year old in his first full season of professional hockey.
• Calling the Erskine-Janssen fight a draw, though it looked like Erskine landed the one punch that truly connected in the scrap. It was pretty much just wrestling and tugging.
• Not much can be said about Brodeur that hasn’t already been said, but if not for Marty the Caps score at least three more goals. Can’t be many who have been better.
• The Caps still are lazy on their clears out of the defensive zone. I’m not sure how it can be fixed, but cutting down on the three or four extra scoring chances they give away through lackadaisical own zone attempts would help. A lot.

Well, a pleasant result, and the Senators/Sabres rematch later tonight on Center Ice. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

Ah, the Trade Deadline — when NHL General Managers’ thoughts turn to flights of fancy, seeing what’s behind Door #2, and trading their second-round draft pick, if you’re Brian Burke. With so much rumor, innuendo, and plain baloney flying around, let’s take a moment and examine the Caps’ situation and possible moves as Deadline Tuesday approaches us.

The Caps probably aren’t going to make the playoffs, that much I think we can agree on. Washington have a wealth of decent-to-good prospects in the fold; so many, in fact, that it’s hard to imagine the club taking another significant number back as the result of trades. There are glaring needs at center and defense, and filling them with solid veterans would really help the club.

With that criteria in mind, we move on to assessing what assets the Caps could move in the next few days. The following players will be unrestricted free agents at the end of the season:

(Continued)

Great news on Dave Fay, the Caps’ beat reporter for the Washington Times: he’s recovering well, and his colleagues expect him to begin writing again on hockey soon, likely in the form of some analysis pieces. Dave has been a fixture on the Caps’ beat for the Times really since its inception, in the early 1980s, but had he known that during his convalescence he’d be backed up on the beat by a staffer whose family hails from western Pennsylvania, and who to this day harbors a full-throated, unwavering allegiance to the Pens, I wonder if we might not have seen Fay attempt to blog from his hospital bed.

Certainly I have to chat with Nate Ewell about greater scrutiny of the credentialed.

I met the backup scribe, Corey Masisak, in the Verizon Center press lounge before Wednesday night’s game against San Jose, and his roots notwithstanding, I liked him. I asked to meet with him because a couple of weeks ago I thought that the novelty of his circumstances at the Times — stepping in at a moment’s notice, in the middle of the hockey season, to cover for an area legend fallen ill — suggested a novel story. I came away impressed by his handling of his beat-baptism-by-fire 2007; he is poised and composed and offers a quiet thoughtfulness that belies his youthful appearance.

His has been a fast rise in a nascent journalism career. He left Pennsylvania for the University of Maryland in 2000, drawn to College Park for the quality of its journalism program. He covered various Terrapin sports teams for the school’s well regarded Diamondback student newspaper. He’s been at the Times about three years, where he’s covered minor league baseball and Navy football. His selection to cover for Fay, however, wasn’t entirely related to the quality of his coverage on the other beats.

“In the [Times’] newsroom the editors knew I was the only one who liked hockey,” he told me, laughing.

“Of course it’s not the way you want to start an assignment,” he added.

Back in December, Masisak “shadowed” Fay on a Saturday night Flyers game at Verizon Center. “That was a huge help,” he said. But soon thereafter the beat became his, and while he’d been around the Nationals’ locker room a bit, this was going to be his first full-time assignment covering a pro sports team. He confessed to a serious case of fright.

“I remember doing nothing but intense research — constant reading — the first four nights after I got [the assignment]. Coming in in the middle of the season, I needed to learn names and faces, what the team had done . . . it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.”

The Times, like so many other large print media outlets these days, has seriously scaled back its staffing on team road trips. Masisak, who traveled frequently on the road with Terrapin teams, knows well the value of being seen day in, day out by the athletes he’s covering. Recently, at an LA Kings practice at Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Masisack was the only beat reporter present.

“It makes a difference,” he noted. “When you get to work with guys every day, you’re certainly going to develop relationships.”

Masisak’s work covering Navy football made him a bit apprehensive initially about moving to a pro sports beat. “You don’t get higher quality [individuals] than those guys in Annapolis,” he said. But working with hockey players, he soon found that “character” athletes could be found in NHL rinks as well.

“Everybody in hockey is so nice,” he told me. “I was working on piece about Eric Staal, and he gave me his parents’ phone number up in Thunder Bay [Ontario]. I got a hold of his mom, and after talking to her she had Eric’s dad ring me later. This is what it’s like among players, coaches, managers, and their families across the league.”

He picks up scraps of information
He’s adept at adaptation
Because for strangers and arrangers
Constant change is here to stay

He’s got a force field and a flexible plan
He’s got a date with fate in a black sedan
He plays fast forward for as long as he can
But he won’t need a bed
He’s a digital man

—”Digital Man,” Neil Peart

Bloggers’ row for Wednesday night’s game against San Jose included my good friend Eric from Off Wing Opinion and two new ones, Rebecca (aka Caps Chick) of A View from the Cheap Seats, and Rob of Random Reality Thoughts. Rebecca is a graduate of world-famous McGill University in Montreal. This made me nearly insanely jealous; I briefly asked her about the prevalence of hockey on campus and then assigned her the impossible fantasy honor of skating from class to class over the course of her four years there.

I was immersed in a quasi-crowded press box with these distinguished bloggers and print and broadcast press, and an ongoing discussion among us New-Age media folk was the pace and surety of change that Bloggerdom was leading. Rob was especially animated by and assured of this revolution.

“They (the Old media) still don’t get it,” he told me. “They’re merely adding layers of copy and paying lip service to the heart of the revolution.” I knew exactly what he meant. While there’s a vital common ground between the Old and New media with say professional standards of journalism — judicious fact-checking; getting quoted reflections accurately conveyed; exercising discerning news value judgments — that common ground swiftly disappears in vapor trails as the digital age demolishes conventional notions of beat coverage.

Principally with its edgy electronics and its passion prose.

Where Old Media has Dragnet’s Jack Webb seeking “Just the facts, ma’am,” the New is dealing in DNA evidence.

Rob then informed me of a startling bit of data: the planet apparently has 57 million registered bloggers. He asked me how many of them I thought had formal journalism training.

“At least 45 million would be without, I’d guess,” I replied. Interesting, though, that when I took a quick survey among us, three of the four had B.A.s in journalism and or real pro journalism experience in our pre-blogging careers. The unsupervised and untrained in their basements and in their pajamas with laptops libel didn’t quite apply in Blogger’s row this night.

The elder statesmen of Blogger’s row Wednesday, Eric and I chuckled at our Paleozic Era-like era of copy layout labor with “rulers and wax.”

Earlier, down in the press lounge, the four of us were lucky enough to share a dining table with an extremely hockey knowledgeable reporter from Sports Illustrated. He regaled us with his insider’s knowledge of some of the game’s leading personalities, but then he began a grilling of Eric and the Off Wing Opinion enterprise, and I was struck by the basic nature of his inquiries. SI of course has SI.com, which includes sports blogging, and the two entities share reporter staffing and copy. SI is Old Media, and this was an Old Media reporter, and even with the New brought inside the Old, and lodged there for some years, the culture of the change was still somewhat alien to him. As I thought about this I saw a parallel with the Washington Post’s recent efforts at playing blogging catch-up. (Continued)

pucksandbooks: “Hundreds over the years have stopped me in my Jeep at shopping mall and ice rink parking lots, or with beaming smile inquiries at red light intersections, all with comments about the significance of my tags or the impact the Miracle had on them. Regularly I hear about where people were then. More recently I see arms extended out of car windows, cell phone cameras presumably poised to snap the moment. I hope this never stops.”