On Frozen Blog

Boz penned a persuasive piece on the great value offered up by Tiger Woods and Congressional Country Club this week. He’s right — $25 admission, and no parking charge, for a full day in the sun on one of the most beautiful pieces of property in the region is a value day very well spent. You need to be reasonably fit to walk the whole course in July heat, but if you do you’ll sleep like a baby that night. I remember strolling Congressional’s hilly terrain during the U.S. Open there in 1997, and being awed by the splendor of perfectly manicured championship golf. Or maybe I was awed by the thousands of young Montgomery County maidens sauntering about in their revealing summer wear. And come to think of it, pro golfer “partners” (and I’m not talking caddies) are worth the spectating price of admission.
Anyway, it’s a great thing Tiger’s doing this week, honoring our Armed Services as spiritedly as he is. It’s a rare occasion in contemporary sports in which corporate sponsorship seems to recede a bit behind the lustre of the venue, the stars competing therein, and the event’s beneficiaries.
But this weekend another set of world-class athletes arrives in D.C., and witnessing their labor next week will cost you $25 less than the visit to the golf course. Next week brings summer school for Caps’ kiddies, July’s annual Rookie Camp, but these aren’t truants or the grade-challenged. As the Caps have accumulated an embarrassment of high-end prospect riches from the past five NHL Entry Drafts this mid-summer gathering has become a feast for the local DraftGeek and puck-starved. You go back a few years and this event featured a sprinkling of first- and second-rounders, a number of obscure free agents, and some young local talent. But this July the Caps’ prized and largely unrivaled organizational depth gets a dramatic showcasing.
It’s a mini- training camp of sorts, partly an orientation for the young guns and a partly a modest bit of drills and such on the ice. But this is Kettler-Capitals’ first such camp, and I expect it to be the most fan-friendly one to date.
Players will arrive in town over the weekend, and in the early part of next week they’ll meet with the coaching staff and management for orientation. The Caps are still formulating the final bits of camp schedule, but this morning it appears that the players will be on the ice at various times for public consumption next Wednesday through Friday. Always the camp culminates with a scrimmage, and depending on the number of skaters, that can be a traditional 5-on-5 affair or, as with most recent camps up in Hershey, free-wheeling 4-on-4s that leave the skaters hunched over and the spectators smiling.
These are my leading storylines for this summer’s Rookie Camp:

• The appearance of the team’s impressive WCHA set: former Wisconsin Badger captain Andrew Joudrey; First-Team All-WCHA center/wing Andrew Gordon, he of the more than 100 points in three seasons at St. Cloud State; Second Team All-WCHA sniper Travis Morin from Minnesota State; and rapidly developing tower of terror Joe Finley from North Dakota.
• A Caps’ rarity: a duo of QMJHL standout prospects, both of whom dominated the Q last season — right wing Francois Bouchard of Baie Comeau and center Mathieu Perreault of Acadie Bathurst.
• OHL buzz-generating backstop Michal Neuvirth of the Plymouth Whalers.
• The ‘07 draft class, led by no. 5 overall Karl Alzner.
• 2005 first-rounder Sasha Pokulok, whose development has been slowed by injuries.
• Oh, and some super-skilled Swede.

If as preparation for next week you’d like a bit of weekend reading primer on the Caps’ prime prospects, these OFB treatments might prove to be primary assists: Hockeysfuture’s College Call-out of Caps’ prospects; Perreault Wins Q League MVP; Q League wise-eyes wide over Perreault; General Manager George McPhee’s in-season update of the farm; The Caps’ ‘other’ goaltending prospect; my look at the gems drafted in later rounds; and last but not least, OFB’s ranking of the Top 20 Caps’ prospects from January.
See you in Bermuda shorts in the stands next week.