Waiting for Godot? No, Searching for Boudreau . . . or rather, the next Bruce Boudreau, a.k.a. the next AHL coach or coaches ready to make the leap into the big leagues. In Saturday’s Globe and Mail, James Mirtle highlights a few of the leading candidates and points out that “some prominent voices in the hockey world suggest a long-time minor-league bench boss might be the way to go.”
Monthly Archives: May 2008
“I don’t understand sometimes what’s going on at this World Championship”
By The OFB Team
Monday, May 12, 2008
As always, many thanks to our friend Dmitry Chesnokov for translating and passing on the following.
As a result of a poll conducted by “Sport” [Russia’s public sports channel] and Sovetsky Sport [Russia’s largest newspaper], Washington Capitals and Russian national team forward Alexander Ovechkin was named Athlete of the Month in April. Alex received 51.4% of the vote, overtaking Evgeni Malkin who received 48.6%. This interview Alexander Ovechkin gave to Pavel Lysenkov and Vitaly Slavin of Sovetsky Sport in Hotel Concorde two hours after the end of the Russia-Sweden game [3:2], where Alex the Great scored the game winner.
Alexander Ovechkin - photo by Pavel Lysenkov / Sovetsky Sport
I WOULD START BEATING THE SWEDE TOO
Honestly, we did not expect Ovechkin to give a candid interview. Right after the game Ovechkin entered the mixed-zone [you all know that access to players in the NHL is way better than the IIHF regulations], but he looked so tired that he only gave interviews to TV crews. When Ovechkin saw dozens of print media reporters, he sighed and went back to the locker room. Such incidents are very rare for Ovechkin, who always finds time to talk to the media.
What saved us at Sovetsky Sport was that a day before Alex promised to give us an interview. And he always keeps his word.
Are you getting ready to go out for dinner? Let us wait for you at the hotel.
“No, let me wait for you,” – Ovechkin replied. “How much time do you need? Twenty minutes? Let’s sit down right here then, on this couch, and talk.
Congratulations on becoming Athlete of the Month!
“Thank you, fans. But I would give it to Evgeni Malkin. He is still in the playoffs carrying Pittsburgh on his back. In my spare time I watch the Stanley Cup playoffs, and I am happy about the way Malkin is playing. What a goal he scored against Philadelphia! He was hit, but still made it and slapped one behind Biron… I stand by my prediction that the Penguins will win the Cup this year.”
And what will you say about the game against Sweden?
“That the Swedes played very dirty in the first period and did not give us a chance to play our game. They started hitting us right away. As a result, we lost Morozov due to injury, and then Kovalchuk for fighting. Kovy was absolutely right when he stood up for his captain. If I were him, I would also show my fists to the Swede.
I was very surprised that Ilya got a game penalty. Why? Kovalchuk didn’t even drop his gloves. If he did drop his gloves, only bits and pieces would be left of the Swede… I also think that Sweden intentionally went for this exchange – sacrificed this Murray (sp?) to injure our captain and rid us of our best scorer.”
Did you miss Morozov on the ice?
“We were left with only 6 wingers instead of 8. All the other guys had to work more. But Nabokov played very well and saved us.”
Was it hard for you?
“For me personally, no. I played every other shift. Same way I play in Washington.”
Do you think Murray did it on purpose?
“I am absolutely sure. The puck was nowhere near. Morozov was turning trying to get back into his own zone, but was hit.”
After that you started playing very physical…
“I started playing very physical. And I didn’t care whether I get a game misconduct penalty or 2+10. I was very angry that the Swedes cowardly rid us of two players.”
But if you had got a game misconduct, our team would have been without our third leader!
“I didn’t think about it at the time. My mind was fixed on hitting someone and splashing them across the boards.” Continue reading ›
Sunday Bloody Sunday at the Worlds
By The OFB Team
Monday, May 12, 2008
A World Championship that in its first week was marked by superb officiating (you didn’t hear anything about the guys in stripes, right? That means something.) took an abrupt turn for the markedly worse Sunday, as incompetent on-ice work by the four men in stripes working Sunday’s U.S.-Finland tilt had a partner in crime off it.
Finland bested the U.S. 3-2, but few who watched or followed it will think much about the score when so much madness over the course of 60 minutes ensued thanks to the officiating crew. They’re pictured below. They shamed their mothers on Sunday. This is what U.S. head coach John Tortorella had to say after the game:
“I’ve heard about these horror shows as far as international refereeing. I have finally lived through one. It’s just ridiculous as far as how they’re calling the game when you have two pretty competitive teams willing to go toe-to-toe. Let the teams and players decide.”
It was a rare instance in international hockey in which a game’s officials constantly interjected themselves into what should have been a classic hockey game contested between two great hockey nations, robbing the game of flow and especially of its five-on-five strategies. The zebras whistled 23 infractions, and things got ‘74 Broad Street Bully-ish at the final horn. We recommend that you take a glance of the game’s official scoresheet here.
It was a disgraceful performance by the on-ice officiating crew. But it was matched by incompetency off it. Finland’s first goal of the game wasn’t a goal — it went through the side of Robert Esche’s net. The play was reviewed and, mystifyingly, upheld as a goal.
By the third period exasperated players and coaches on both sides, on the ice and on the two benches, could be seen laughing in surrender at the officials for their ludicrous efforts.
The IIHF was forced into a supremely embarrassing position afterward: acknowledging the non-goal mistake and firing the off-ice official! Give the Federation credit for swiftly taking action and attempting to restore credibility to its championships.
The NHL certainly could learn a lesson from this action.
Get OFB via E-Mail
By Gustafsson
Sunday, May 11, 2008
You can already get your OFB fix via RSS, mobile, and plain ole web browser. Now you can get your OFB fix by email.
With the NHL offseason and summertime activities right around the corner, you may fall out of the habit of checking your favourite hockey blogs. Posting may not be as frequent as during the season, but it will continue. By subscribing to the email delivery version of OFB, you will receive a daily email containing all of the posts since the last email. Emails are automatically sent between 11am and 1pm.
Start your subscription by entering your email address into the form below and click “Subscribe”. Per our Privacy Policy, your email address will not be shared with any third-party organization except with your express consent.
Although all of the images should be included in the emails, visiting OFB online will always give you the best presentation as the formatting may vary slightly in the emails.
Rooting for Fire, Famine, and Pestilence on a Sheet of Ice
By pucksandbooks
Saturday, May 10, 2008
I was hoping for more hatred. I don’t have a dog in this Pittsburgh-Philthy affair, so naturally I’m rooting for a rink full of rottweilers and pit bulls on blades. Who haven’t been fed in a while. Let it be a bloody war of attrition, period after period of marauding and maiming, devouring so many carcasses that the American League farmclubs for both sides are exhausted.
This, especially, is what I don’t want from this series: pretty boy puck.
In game 1 last night, based on some springtime flairups I witnessed between these clubs, I expected a bit of feeling out fisticuffs — some messages sent and received. Some elbows carried high, some sticks carried higher, some blade-jabs to the abdomen about eleven seconds after whistles. Some old time hockey. This is the Battle of Pennsylvania, for gods sake, and a clear contrast in incompatible styles. But we really didn’t get what we deserved for a Friday night with a fridge full of beer. We got a pretty good hockey game. Nothing wrong with that. And actually, this series has the early look of a potential classic.
But it can only rise to the level of Classic if the two teams acknowledge their inner hatred.
I turned off Thursday night’s game 1 between Detroit and Dallas early not only because it wasn’t competitive but because I had the sense that there was no piss and vinegar present. And likely, there won’t be. I’m far more interested in the Eastern Conference finals because there’s far more potential not only for a lengthy and competitive series but also for scores of Pennsylvanians swaying plexiglass with their over-beered bloodlust. It’s true, you wouldn’t hire a single one of them for an office job, but you want them present at a hockey game between these clubs at this time of year.
Whatever objective detachment I possessed at 7:00 last evening was obliterated when I tuned in to the pre-game fare only to be confronted by a 30-minute Versus Valentine for FishLips. At one point they even had the lad wax poetic about playing injured. (When’s he ever done that?) No wonder that at 7:30 last night I had visions of Hartnell and Ruutu rioting shift after shift in my head. But neither lived up to their lurid billing. Ruutu especially could have auditioned for the Lady Byng last night. Georges Laraque — was he even dressed?
There were some terrific hits last night, but they were clean. We can’t have that.
I try and content myself with the thought that each night’s outcome will deliver agony to one franchise I loathe, and therefore shadenfreude joy to me. But with, necessarily, a corresponding victor, that’s Pop-Tart nourishment.
Caps’ fans friends have asked me this week who “I’m rooting for” in this series, and I return them expression-less stares of bewilderment. Imperfect as I am, I am nonetheless a man of rudimentary morals and irregular religiosity. “Rooting” for either heathen franchise is a genetic impossibility. Instead I “root for” marital discord among all the series’ players; for their nights spent in the company of Bill McCreary; for debilitating addictions and IRS audits among them all; for the early onset of arthritis.
People of mainstream breeding listen to my depraved wishlist for this series and challenge my stability. I can’t possibly be genuinely rooting for widespread injury, they allege. Why on Earth not? In so doing am I going to get fired from my job? (No.) Will my dog cease wagging her tail at my arrival home? (No.) (In point of fact, she barks her approval at Flyers’ and Penguins’ misfortunes, when I point them out to her). Will Metro learn of my arrival on its cars and swiftly deliver deficient service? (It does that anyway.) Will the Earth suddenly cease its rotation?
I wouldn’t begrudge life insurance largesse directed at a single series’ widow. I call that taking the high road.
For gods sake, this isn’t the Hatfields and the McCoys, or Iran and Iraq. It’s the Flyers and Penguins. Neither deserves to triumph in a universe presided over by a just Deity.
Look [channeling my inner Donnie Schultzhoffer], get the kids out of the room. This is how it is: there is no one on the Flyers’ roster remotely close in talent to Evgeni Malkin. There is also no one remotely close in ability to Sidney Crosby. Frankly, there’s no one in orange and black who can hold Marian Hossa’s jock. It’s a fact. So how should Philly strategize?
The only way it knows.
And let the high definition cameras chronicle every beautiful brutal second of it. Lets us have a series to make Bobby Clarke proud. And Mario Lemieux cower.
A Capital Day in the District
By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Friday, May 9, 2008
Approaching the John A. Wilson building on a sunny Tuesday morning, I reflected on the once-unlikely event about to occur. Official recognition by the Washington D.C. of its hockey team would have been unthinkable not too long ago. The way the Capitals started this season, positive recognition seemed a far-off mirage. But as the team fought back into contention, it won the hearts of Washingtonians along the way, including several on the District of Columbia City Council.
The Wilson, home of the City Council and adjacent to the more modern but blander Ronald Reagan Building, has quite a history of its own — changing ownership, money issues, resident/tenant turnover — not unlike the Capitals’ past in some respects. But the Wilson, like the Capitals, is now a well-established and stable part of Washington. The building is a fairly impressive sight to behold, both outside and in, including an elaborate stucco ceiling in the council chamber and art sprinkled throughout the hallways.
Shaone Morrisonn, Ted Leonsis, & Jack Evans (photo: Mike Rucki)
Apropos the District, the meeting started about 30 minutes late. With still images of Capitals players in action on the screens behind the council, the session began with some bureaucratic shuffling and a roll call (all but Marion Barry were present; his name plate is likely closer to hockey in this photo than he will ever be).
A bit after 10:30 a.m. Councilmember Jack Evans (of Ward 2, which includes the Verizon Center) introduced Leonsis and Morrisonn. Evans’ ward includes the Verizon Center, and he emphasized how the excitement of the Capitals’ run “energized our city in a way that I haven’t seen since the Redskins won the Super bowl . . . it’s been a long time.” He also
Jack Evans (left) & Shaone Morrisonn (photo: Mike Rucki)
The best part of the resolution: “WHEREAS, The Washington Capitals Rocked the Red in the ‘Phone Booth’, displaying tremendous skill, spirit, and athletic achievement on the ice.” Yes, the phrase Rocked the Red (and “Phone Booth”) are now in the official record.
Leonsis took to the podium, thanked the council, and jokingly pointed out a dozen or so red-clad Unite Here affordable housing proponents as evidence of “rocking the red” in the council chambers. “A dozen years ago,” said Leonsis, “Washington didn’t have a professional sports team.” Now five professional teams play within the District’s borders—the Capitals, Wizards, Nationals, DC United, and Mystics—evidence of a renaissance in the city of Washington as a sports destination.
Morrisonn presented Evans with an autographed Capitals sweater, which Evans accepted with a smile as a brief highlights video started in the background.
So yes: It was a photo op moment. But Councilmembers Evans and Council Chair Vincent Gray were genuinely enthusiastic in their praise of the Capitals—and as any long-time Capitals supporter knows, such public and genuine appreciation is a far cry from not so long ago, and a heartening sign of hockey’s improving stature in the nation’s capital.
Click here for video from the event, or here for for the full text of the council resolution.
An End-of-Season Message from the Farm
By The OFB Team
Friday, May 9, 2008
The following is a letter from the Hershey Bears President and General Manager Doug Yingst to all Bears fans.
Spring 2008
Dear HERSHEY BEARS Fans:
On behalf of the BEARS and our front office, I want to thank you for another outstanding season here at GIANT Center. With your support, our attendance for the season reached over 350,000 for the first time in team history! We simply could not exist without your strong support, and we are grateful.
It was an up-and-down season on the ice, but was certainly memorable! After back-to-back Eastern Conference Championships and the 2006 Calder Cup, the BEARS took to the ice October 3 in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to face the Penguins in the AHL’s season opener. After starting out 0-3, the BEARS righted the ship by mid-November, climbing over the .500 mark for the first time. On November 21, the BEARS defeated the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 2-1 to improve to 8-7-0-0. Although the game gave HERSHEY more wins than losses for the first time all season, the game was much more significant for a different reason.
That same night, The Washington Capitals lost at home to Atlanta 5-0. HERSHEY’S parent club, after winning its first three games of the season, had fallen to last place in the Southeast Division, with the worst overall record in the NHL. Washington looked to Chocolatetown for the answer and summoned Head Coach Bruce Boudreau to Washington to serve as interim head coach. Boudreau won 103 games in just over two seasons behind the bench in HERSHEY, winning the 2006 Calder Cup and a spot in the 2007 Calder Cup Finals. Boudreau’s departure left gigantic shoes to fill. The BEARS did not stray from the family to find his replacement.
Capping off a whirlwind 24 hours, HERSHEY named assistant coach Bob Woods as interim Head Coach. Woods earned his first AHL head coaching job as Boudreau departed for Washington. He won his AHL debut in Philadelphia and proceeded to win a total of 34 regular season games in an abbreviated first season. As the calendar turned over to 2008, the BEARS brought in assistance for the bench. Mark French was named assistant coach relieving much of the burden of breaking down video and running the defense during games.
A challenging March kept the team battling to the end of the regular season for a playoff berth - our third straight, and 59th in team history.
Although we fell short in the Semi-Finals, falling to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, hopes remain high for the future. Rookies Andrew Gordon, Jay Beagle and Andrew Joudrey are expected to return after successful first years. Alexandre Giroux is under contract for 2008-09 as well. The Capitals also appear to have several promising young draft picks in the pipeline for the future. For the BEARS in 2007-08, the run in the Calder Cup playoffs ended much too soon, but the team looks poised to rebound to greatness next fall.
Thanks again for all of your support this season. With your help HERSHEY was #1 in fan attendance in the league!
We look forward to seeing you all at GIANT Center again this October as we make our run toward winning our 10th Calder Cup!
Sincerely,
Doug Yingst
President and General Manager
HERSHEY BEARS Hockey Club
Free Youth Hockey in Baltimore This Saturday
By The OFB Team
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Baltimore Youth Hockey is hosting two free hockey clinics for boys and girls this Saturday:
Boys and girls from 6 to 16 who wish to give ice hockey a try are invited to two Let’s Play Hockey events on Saturday, May 10, 2008, at new Reisterstown rink in the morning and at Ice World in Harford County in the afternoon. Prospective players will try on equipment and get on the ice with coaches and experienced players. There is no charge.
For more information, or to volunteer, check out the Baltimore Youth Hockey site.
Farewell to Our All-Time-Best Netminder
By pucksandbooks
Thursday, May 8, 2008
It seems reasonable to posit that Olie Kolzig’s play as a middle-thirtysomething netminder during the first two seasons after the lockout was distinctly solid. Not spectacular, clearly, but quite solid. He didn’t have the most formidable blueline corps in front of him, which to some extent his numbers reflected, but few in the sport would have pointed to those seasons and suggested that Olie Kolzig was no longer a no. 1 netminder in the NHL.
Heading into 2007-08, we knew that Kolzig the gracefully aging elder statesman was a superbly conditioned and distinctly dedicated professional athlete. He spoke very openly about the adjustments he was incorporating in the twilight of his career to ready himself for a new and long season and its rigors. This was an explicit acknowledgment that he was feeling the effects of Father Time. Still, he appeared to be aging a bit like wine. During training camp he spoke of playing another two or three seasons after ‘07-08, under a new contract, hopefully with Washington.
Last fall, the present and the forecasted future for Olie Kolzig seemed promising, without a scintilla of wishful thinking attached to it.
The difficulty, the angst, as it’s settled in among Kolzig’s legion of loyal fans here this spring derives singularly from what settled in upon Kolzig’s game this past season. Most glaringly, October through January: really bad numbers. Now Olie Kolzig, save his Vezina season and his spectacular run through the postseason in 1998, has never really been about stellar numbers. But this season’s were unprecedented in their wretchedness. At one point deep into the season the statistical Olie Kolzig didn’t rank among the league’s top 40 netminders. George McPhee wouldn’t have dealt for a no. 1 netminder bearing looming unrestricted free agency unless he believed he needed an upgrade — immediately — in net. The acquisition of Cristobal Huet proved to be one of the GM’s most impressive personnel moves in his 10-year run in Washington.
No one would reasonably have suggested that with Kolzig in net instead of Huet the Caps would have won 11 of their last 12 regular season games and stolen a Southeast title away from Carolina. The lone loss during that run was with Kolzig in net.
Moreover, there was something peculiar and unnerving about Kolzig’s very public rebuke of Bruce Boudreau to the Washington Post’s Mike Wise at a time when the team was really gelling and making early rumblings of transforming its season. He intimated that the locker room had become a home for Hershey Bears, and that he was a bit out of place in it. He very explicitly called into question the head coach’s faculties in handling goaltenders. The bellyaching seemed out of character. It seemed distracting. Knowing what we know about Kolzig and the franchise deep in the spring of 2008, one wonders if that wasn’t the breach from which there was no repair.
Which brings us to early this offseason when every apparent indicator suggests that Olie Kolzig has played his last game in a Capitals’ sweater. The situation strikes many of the team’s fans as outlandish, as cruel and cold-hearted to the core on the part of management. These fans are reacting as fans should. Caps’ management, however, is acting precisely as it should.
The fans, understandably, want the franchise’s all-time best netminder to enjoy the promising harvest from a rough rebuild. Kolzig having guided the team to its only appearance in the Stanley Cup finals, this thinking goes, it’s only cosmically just that he’d lead them into postseasons ahead, when the Caps would enjoy roles as favorites rather than long-shots and underdogs. He’s been through so much this sorry decade, his sympathizers sigh. And it’s true. But fairness and cosmic justice and Hollywood endings aren’t the domain of the National Hockey League.
This is about business. The business of winning hockey games. And the cold hard reality is that in this Olie Kolzig NHL offseason the skill set he has to offer is at odds with the present composition and ambition of the only NHL hockey organization he’s ever served. Gordie Howe shouldn’t have left Detroit, ever, but this isn’t a mythical, age-resistant athlete we’re talking about. Olie Kolzig, somewhat sadly, but also somewhat predictably and certainly rather naturally, is aging away from the Capitals’ ascension.
He may well find gainful if non-no.1 netminder employment elsewhere in the NHL this offseason. And as with Peter Bondra, Dale Hunter, and Calle Johansson before him, if that comes to pass it will be jarring and painful to see him compete in a sweater not the Capitals’. Against the Capitals. The man who stood so tall when all around him hockey was so small here actually working to defeat the Caps? I could almost feel an opposing force emanating from the keyboard as I typed the thought.
But by April 5, when Cristobal Huet backstopped the Caps into storyline-of-the-year contention, the business writing was bright on the arena wall. No longer losers, with losers’ payrolls, the winning Caps now need to pay up for services very well rendered. (Think Mike Green.) The team needs not Olie Kolzig so much as his $5.45 million per.
Kolzig and his agent, to judge by their public pronouncements, believe that #37 is worthy of no.1 dough and no. 1 minutes, somewhere. The Caps can’t deliver either to him. It’s really that simple. There is also the matter of their having a capable backup netminder under contract at a budget-friendly rate for ‘08-’09. And Brent Johnson’s contract will expire right about the time it would appear probable that one of a stable of young, highly skilled, recently drafted netminders is ready to ascend to an apprenticeship behind Cristobal Huet or someone like him.
It’s business — the business of pro hockey. Uncomfortable at times to be sure, but never sidelined for sentimentality.
Enough about business, though. Olie Kolzig deserves his night of honor, he deserves to have his sweater retired, when the timing is right, and the wager here is that it’ll happen. Kolzig with his commitment to his club and his leadership in his hockey community came to embody what fans cherish most about pro athletes: he was the rare superior performer and role model. His fans deserve a night to shower him with a decade’s-plus worth of admiration. But until that night, gone now seemingly forever is Verizon Center’s chant of “Olie, Olie, Olie.” The place won’t quite be the same.
Hall of Fame netminder Eddie Giacomin played 10 seasons for the Rangers before being dealt to Detroit. He famously discussed his return to Madison Square Garden to face New York as a Red Wing, where Rags’ fans stood and thundered down — drowning out the national anthem — chants of “Eddie, Eddie, Eddie” while Giacomin stood in his new crease with tears streaming down his cheeks.
“The New York crest is embedded in Eddie Giacomin’s heart,” he said of that night and New York’s impact on his hockey career.
Giacomin never won a Stanley Cup. He also never forgot where was his home in hockey.
Let it be said — God willing one day soon — that this player, his organization, and his fans realized that Olie Kolzig is Washington’s Eddie Giacomin.
Bad News for Team USA, Tampa Bay
By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Is captaining the United States’ hockey team in the IIHF tournament becoming hockey’s version of the Madden Curse? Washington Capital Chris Clark was the captain of Team USA in Russia for the IIHF World Championships in 2007; he missed most of the 2007-2008 season with a groin injury. This year’s captain, former Capital and current Lightning center Jeff Halpern, limped into the locker room yesterday according to NHL.com:
Jeff Halpern has suffered a right knee injury that is expected to require surgery, it was announced by Lightning Executive Vice President & General Manager Jay Feaster. Halpern sustained the injury during the third period of Team USA’s 5-4 loss against Canada at the IIHF World Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia yesterday. Halpern is serving as captain of Team USA at the tournament.
Update, May 8
The news just got worse, per the CBC: Halpern will be out 6-8 months with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, a Grade 3 sprain to his medial collateral ligament, and a small tear to his lateral meniscus.
Kolzig’s Home a Free Agent Too
By The OFB Team
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Kolzig's Washington Area Home
With the 23rd Pick, The Washington Capitals Select …
By The OFB Team
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The National Hockey League announced that the Washington Capitals will pick 23rd in the 2008 Entry Draft. From the press release:
Washington has previously held the 23rd pick in the first round on two occasions. In 2006 the team selected goaltender Simeon Varlamov, and in 1995 the team drafted left wing Miika Elomo. The last time the Capitals first selection of the draft was higher than 23rd was 2001, when Washington’s first pick of the draft was No. 58 in the second round.
The Capitals enter this year’s draft with eight picks in the seven-round Entry Draft, including a first-round selection and three picks in the second round. This year’s Entry Draft will take place on June 20-21 at Scotiabank Place in Kanata, Ontario, home of the Ottawa Senators.
Below is a listing of the first-round draft order for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft:
Q & A with AO
By The OFB Team
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
[OFB Admin Note: Thanks to Dmitry Chesnokov for translating the following Q&A that Pavel Lysenkov conducted with Alexander Ovechkin.]
Sovetsky Sport continues the tradition of “on the road” Q&A sessions with players at major hockey tournaments. Sunday night, right after the game against the Czech Republic, NHL’s highest scorer and simply a great guy Alex Ovechkin answered questions left for him by our readers at our website www.sovsport.ru.
Alexander Ovechkin - photo by Pavel Lysenkov
“Wow!” - Ovechkin said. “What am I doing on the cover?”
Strange person, no? Mr. Shy. As if it wasn’t him, but we were lighting fire during the regular season in the NHL, filmed commercials, and became idols for women.
Do you remember who you gave these interviews to?
“No. I am trying to figure it out using the photos. Let’s see..” – Ovechkin is flipping pages. “Oh, this one was taken during the first season with the Capitals. I even have the front tooth in place. Alright, I will read it in my spare time.”
Well then let’s get to fans’ questions. User Hedgehog is asking: this was the first year you played in the NHL playoffs. Are these really such special incomparable to anything else games?
“Actually, yes. During the Stanley Cup playoffs every game is treated as if it’s the final battle. How can I explain it? Do you remember the Olympics in 2006 in Turin when we had a great game against Team Canada in the quarterfinals [2:0 - Ovechkin scored the game winner]? So with Washington I played seven such games against Philadelphia! When we needed either to win, or to die.”
Is it true that an NHL player is only paid during the regular season?
“Yes, we do not get paid for the playoffs. Not even bonuses.”
So why would you “die?”
“Everyone want to win the Stanley Cup. Believe me, these are not just empty words.” Continue reading ›
They’re Making a Hockeytown in Chi-town, Too
By pucksandbooks
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Business that brings me to Original Six cities is my favorite kind (save trips to Detroit), and I’m in Chicago this week. Weather is very much a weather vane in my life; among the 40 colleagues here with whom I met last week to discuss this trip, I was the only one who smiled at word that spring hadn’t yet arrived on the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan. It actually snowed here a bit last Monday night, if you can imagine. Many trees here are without leaves still, and so I won’t lift allergy medicine from my travel bag during my stay. I arrived Saturday, and the mercury hardly moved above 50, along with 20 mph gusts and strong at times rain. It was a nice backdrop from which to huddle in Miller’s Pub on Wabash St. and watch some NHL playoffs on a large flatscreen with a few puck sodas.
I’ll enjoy a warm, sunny spring day like the rest, and we had that here on Sunday, but there’s something about a novel re-immersion in hockey weather, at odds with the calendar, that warms my hockey heart. Even in May. Besides, we really didn’t have winter this winter in D.C.
I’m one of those hockey fans who believes it’s good for hockey to have all of the NHL’s Original Six franchises, save perhaps Toronto, healthy and vibrant and competitive. (Actually, as part of a realignment scheme that would largely reconstitute the Patrick Division, I’d like to see an Original Six division. A file for another day.) And the Chicago Blackhawks had been lagging behind on this front for a good solid decade. Had been. But Dollar Bill Wirtz is deceased, the Hawks started winning hockey games this past season — they took Detroit to the woodshed a number of times — Patrick Kane and Co. have this town talking hockey again, the big rink — sadly, tragically located well away from this great city’s heartbeat — was filled to the ceiling for a lot of winter, the home team’s games are back on TV, and perhaps like in Washington, hockey in a sports-competitive town may be set to take off in the hearts of the locals for a durable future.
On my very first trip to Chicago, many years ago, while strolling the shopping strip of Michigan Avenue, I happened upon a quaint boutique-sized shop called Hawk Quarters — an outlet whose merchandise was devoted exclusively to the Blackhawks. It was distinctive for its largesse of authentic team equipment and uniform wear. You wanted a pair of Denis Savard’s shin guards, or skates, Hawk Quarters had ‘em. The store had dozens of hangers of multi-colored, authentic practice sweaters, all of them with endearing stress markings about them. On Sunday I visited Hawk Quarters again, and I enjoyed the stop every bit as as much as my first.
For one thing, a full hour before the store opened at noon, there was a middle-aged, silver-haired Chicagoan standing before the store window, within which a large flat-screen TV was replaying, perfectly audibly, a months-old game from the regular season. He was following it intently, even conspicuously and loudly exhorting on his Hawks to prevail. Standing not quite near enough to him to be associated with his eccentricity, I thought to myself, you wouldn’t see this in Atlanta or Nashville or Raleigh. I also didn’t think I’d have seen it for preceding renditions of the Hawks.
Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part, but I thought the old geezer was where he was Sunday morning because he missed his fun-to-watch hockey team again. Offseasons do that to the devoted.
Inside, I was drawn to the authentics section, as before. But on this visit it seemed expanded. Scores of sticks. Rows of skates. Bins teeming with well-worn protective gear. And that fabulous array of practice sweaters. There were some new Reeboks, but I noticed many, many more of the old school Centre Ice set, cut and formed the way hockey sweaters were supposed to be: beautifully bulky. Leave it to an Original Six franchise, I thought, to still skate a contemporary hockey season in a hockey sweater that looks like a hockey sweater. At least during practice.
They looked so good, in fact, that I very nearly plunked down $100 for one. I took a real hard look at a selection of green practice sweaters bearing that distinctive Hawks’ logo and thought how well I’d fit in this town were I sipping St. Patty’s beers here in one next March 17. But I reasoned that while I love Chicago, I just don’t love the Hawks.
Another reason for my attachment to this little store in this sorta hockeytown is its exclusivity of product. During all of those very lean years of losing Hawk Quarters remained open and faithful to its team, never once jumping on MJ’s formidible marketing bandwagon. Or the always marketable, lovable Cubs. Or the rebuilt Bears. That’s a monogamy I admire.
After an indulgent visit I left Hawk Quarters Sunday afternoon for a sun-splashed walk along Lake Shore Drive, and I thought about the chances of the Capitals needing/supporting a devoted store of their own in their downtown. A heck of a lot of gear today is moved on line, making stores like Hawk Quarters perhaps archaic or antiquated. The Caps of course have never had one. There’s a devoted store to the team at Kettler, but that’s different from announcing one’s presence to the residents and tourists of a downtown. There’s something commendably civic-minded about such a site, I think — a sort of meeting place for the like of heart. I hope we see one one day soon.
Washington Capitals Week
By The OFB Team
Monday, May 5, 2008
Per the press release from the Washington Capitals:
Washington Capitals chairman and majority owner Ted Leonsis will receive a ceremonial resolution from the D.C. City Council on May 6. Councilmember Jack Evans will present Leonsis and the Capitals with the resolution during the council legislative meeting, which is scheduled to being at 10 a.m. in the Wilson Building on Pennsylvania Avenue.
The resolution, which will be signed by the entire council, congratulates Leonsis and the Washington Capitals on a terrific regular season and return to the Stanley Cup playoffs. It also declares that the week of May 5, 2008, is “Washington Capitals Week” in celebration of the team’s winning season.
City Council hearings are televised live on District Cable Channel 13 and on the Internet at www.dccouncil.us.
Washington Capitals’ Top Prospects, Spring 2008
By pucksandbooks
Monday, May 5, 2008
Continuing an OFB tradition, we present our rankings of the Capitals’ prospects at the conclusion of the hockey season. Many of the names below you’ll have a chance to see at Kettler Capitals Iceplex this July, for Development Camp (July 7-12). What’s the lead storyline among the futures holdings? Gotta be the arrival of one of the best young hockey players in Western Canada, Karl Alzner — one of the best young players in Canada or anywhere else, for that matter. If he has a strong training camp come September he’ll bypass the American League this fall and begin his NHL career fresh from an awards-rich CHL career.
Another gleaning: that a Q-league scoring champ and MVP can’t crack the top 10 of an organization’s prospect rankings. That tells us that Ross Mahoney and his stable of scouts the globe over are getting it done.
| Name | Draft Class | ‘07-’08 Club | The skinny |
| Karl Alzner, D | ‘07, 1st Rd. | Calgary (WHL) | WHL Player of the Year, Defenseman of the Year, CHL MVP Finalist. Any questions? |
| Simeon Varlamov, G | ‘06, 1st Rd. | Lokomotiv (RSL) | Excellent RSL regular season stats, then, in the postseason, sublime: 16 games, 1.56 GA, five shutouts. Welcome to North American professional hockey, Simeon. |
| Sami Lepisto, D | ‘04, 3rd Rd. | Hershey Bears | So much for struggle in a rookie pro season in North America: 45 pts. in 55 Bears’ games, and a +29. A Tier I candidate for promotion to the parent club in the fall. |
| Andrew Gordon, RW | ‘04, 7th Rd. | South Carolina (ECHL); Hershey | Fought through early-season demotion, matured into reliable two-way, impact forward. Two hat tricks in his American League rookie season. Bright, bright future. |
| Chris Bourque, LW | ‘04, 2nd Rd. | Hershey Bears | Bears’ MVP; became a top performer in the American League the final month of the season; ready to stake his claim to a lasting promotion. |
| Josef Boumedienne, D | acquired from Ottawa, Dec. 2002 | Hershey Bears | Injury-marred ‘07-’08 campaign, but still posted 7 & 35 in 52 games, and a +18; less a prospect and more a quality depth signee; draft day trade bait? |
| Kyle Wilson, C | Signed as a free agent, July 2007 | Hershey Bears | Only Bear to play in every regular season game; nearly a point-per-game performer through two American League seasons. |
| Jay Beagle, C | Signed with Washington in March 2008 | Hershey Bears | Diamond in the rough? Big-bodied, mobile, and fancies the contact game; one goal shy of 20 in his freshman AHL campaign. |
| Francois Bouchard, RW | ‘06, 2nd Rd. | Baie-Comeau (QMJHL) | Strong but unspectacular ‘07-’08 campaign; much improved skater; needs AHL seasoning. |
| Joe Finley, D | ‘05, 1st Rd. | North Dakota (WCHA) | Enjoyed third straight season of statistical improvement — and ‘07-’08’s numbers included a conspicuous spike in offensive production; a team-leading +24; still magnificently mean and nasty. |
| Josh Godfrey, D | ‘07, 2nd Rd. | Sault Ste. Marie (OHL) | 17 & 34 , +31, in 60 Greyhound games; Western Conference All Star; Team Canada WJC selection; time for pro hockey. |
| Michal Neuvirth, G | ‘06, 2nd Rd. | Windsor, Oshawa (OHL) | More prime-time performing: 7-2 for the Generals with a 2.48 GA, .932 SP this postseason; led Plymouth to the Memorial Cup last spring; time for pro hockey — South Carolina or Hershey? |
| Mathieu Perreault, C | ‘06, 6th Rd. | Acadie Bathurst | 2007 Q MVP, 2008 Q scoring champ; nothing left to dominate in major juniors; time for pro hockey. |
| Oskar Osala, LW | ‘06, 4th Rd. | Espoo Blues (Fin) | Returning to Europe to advance his development, Osala put up impressive numbers in Finland’s top pro league: 18 & 17 and a + 12 in 53 games; will be interesting to see what’s in store for him in ‘08-’09. |
| Daren Machesney, G | ‘05, 5th Rd. | Hershey Bears | Exceeding expectations — everyone’s — was the story of “Cheese’s” season. He got in 38 games with Hershey and went 22-10 with a 2.55 goals-against. He’s on track to be an elite goaltender in the American League; question is, with what Washington has arriving this summer in goal, is there room in the organization for Cheese? |
| Andrew Joudrey, C | ‘03, 8th Rd. | Hershey Bears | Solid first full pro season, often centering another prized Caps’ NCAA prospect, Andrew Gordon; strong on his skates, superb hockey sense, makes smart plays. |
| Stephen Werner | ‘03, 3rd Rd. | South Carolina, Hershey | Remains a longshot to see anything but a cup of coffee in the bigs. But his game matured in ‘07-’08. Skated a +4 for the Bears in just 8 games. Does have a pro stride. |
| Travis Morin, C | ‘04, 9th Rd. | South Carolina | Big, big numbers for the Stingray pivot: 34 & 50 in 68 games, including 14 power play markers; still has issues with skating and strength at the pro level. |
| Patrick McNeill, D | ‘05, 4th Rd. | South Carolina, Hershey | Split time between Carolina and Hershey this season; he’s undersized but not physically overmatched in the A; should enjoy a full year with the Bears in ‘08-’09. |
| Oscar Hedman, D | ‘04, 5th Rd. | Modo (Swe.) | A top-4 pairing blueliner who by the age of 22 had completed five seasons in the Swedish Elite League. Though I’ve seen only glimpses of him in WJC play, I wasn’t going to pass on the opportunity to have two Oscars in my table. Should Osala and he connect on a scoring play in a game with the Caps, it’d be the first Oskar-from-Oscar feat in NHL history. I really want that. |
Hardware Hopes and World-Class Hockey Help Alleviate Some Local Heartache
By pucksandbooks
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Last week, in the throes of a sudden and sour end to the season, it was somewhat difficult to delineate just how successful a season the Capitals and their fans had enjoyed, wasn’t it? Lip service to a terrific run could be mouthed, but there was a pervasive sense that something quite magical had prematurely expired. But this week, virtually day by day, the formal acknowledgments of a transformative season began rolling in, affording more than a wee bit of perspective.
The beginning of the week brought word of Nicklas Backstrom’s designation as Calder finalist. By mid-week we received word of Alexander Ovechkin’s finalist status for the Hart. And near week’s end came the good word for Gabby — a finalist for the Jack Adams. None were surprise announcements, but their formal delivery captures the attention of the hockey world, and this spring — one quite unlike any other for the Caps as far as hardware nominations go — the NHL has helped create an echo chamber for the remarkable story that was, up until this week, rather parochial to Washington.
It wasn’t so much that Western Canada or the Maritimes or Minneapolis-St. Paul intermittently followed Alexander Ovechkin’s historical season; it was that we in Washington necessarily held the larger and more appreciative context for the Ovechkin-led rebirth of a franchise forming fast within frenzied-Red Verizon Center. This week, with the NHL’s press releases fairly screaming that something spectacular happened in HockeyWashington in 2007-08, room on the big story stage has been created for years to come for the Caps.
It’s really remarkable.
And this is much, much different from what we saw both Carolina and Tampa Bay acquire with their respective Stanley Cup victories. Neither team — Tampa especially — was constructed for a lengthy run with success. This May, there is, I venture to say, a pervasive acknowledgment in hockey that the Caps won’t be fun to play against for quite a while.
Really, you have to go back I think all the way to the dynastic Oilers of the early ’80s to find a parallel for a team that has accumulated so many world-class skilled parts so early in their NHL careers (and with more reinforcements fast arriving) and have guiding them an ascendant maestro — with all of them pursuing glory’s journey together for quite some time. Even Mario’s two-Cup Pens of the early ’90s were a more thorough blend of young and veteran. (To me, Tom Barrasso was a Sabre, Bryan Trottier an Islander.) It matters not how skilled a draft eye Lou Lamoriello possessed in New Jersey last decade and much of this — the product he peddaled as Cup winners was antithetical to marketing hockey.
Washington, however, attracts admirers in other NHL markets for precisely the style of hockey it plays. We saw this most individually on this blog this spring, as scores of fans of other teams stopped by to sing this team’s praises and profess a new-found allegiance to the Caps as an adopted team.
Another novel form of admiration arrived this week from Mother Russia: from Team Russia with love for the Russian Capitals, who in the 2008 World Championships have formed the entirety of that team’s first line. It’s as if international hockey wants to pay tribute to what Washington accomplished — and possesses — with such a lineup. And as luck would have it, the Worlds this year are being contested in North America, in time-zone friendly fashion, allowing Washington and anyone else on the continent to appreciate a key core to the Capitals’ renaissance. And as has been duly noted already, Ovechkin, Semin, and Fedorov have six additional teammates competing in the tourney.
These are small solaces for the disappointment of last week. Or maybe not so small. I forgot to mention that neither Paul Devorski not Don Koharski are working the Worlds
Sunday’s Alright for Fighting
By Gustafsson
Friday, May 2, 2008
Here’s a reminder that Hockey Fights Cancer Maryland’s event takes place this Sunday, May 4th. As we told you a few weeks ago, the event features a skate-a-thon with celebrities such as Duff Goldman - Ace of Cakes, skills competition on the ice, broom ball on the ice, rides, carnival games, vendors, food, and a silent auction. Additionally, there will be a Washington Capitals / Philadelphia Flyers alumni hockey game, a special appearance by the Hanson Brothers, Chef Duff from Charm City Cakes, and live music by The Zambonis - North America’s Favorite ALL-HOCKEY Band!
If you can’t make the event, you can still help raise money by participating in the online auction which is now open until 4pm on the 4th. Items include a Nicklas Backstrom signed NHL hat, a white Michael Nylander signed sweater, a 2007-08 Washington Capitals team signed sweater, and more.
Here are the particulars: Hockey Fights Cancer Maryland, Sunday, 4 May, 2008 - Ice World in Harford County, Maryland. And if you run into Dave Zamboni, tell him OFB sent you.
Pittsburgh Wins; Ovechkin to NFL
By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Friday, May 2, 2008
Pittsburgh won on Thursday . . . no, not the Penguins, who were shut out by the Rangers, but Pittsburgh itself won the title of Sootiest City in the country, snatching the title from former champion Los Angeles. Click here to read more about it on CNN.
The Friday funnies continue: equal-opportunity offenders at The Onion mock both hockey and the mainstream media’s hockey ignorance/dismissal (yes, we’re looking at you ESPN) in their latest ONN (Onion News Network) video, sort of starring Alex Ovechkin with some surprising news:
Where to Watch the Worlds
By Gustafsson
Friday, May 2, 2008
The 2007 edition of the World Championship Tournament found half of OFB watching the games live and in person. What about the other half? We, too, watched live — just not in person.
Like last year, we don’t believe that this year’s tournament will be on television, though we are hoping for a few games to be on the NHL Network. There is a way to watch ALL of the games… the World Championship Sports Network.
The games are live and WITHOUT COMMERCIAL INTERRUPTION (at least they were in 2007). Last year there was some analysis between periods, and the arena camera remained on live. We even got to experience the Russian version of the Kiss Cam. Though an internet feed is usually inferior to a television broadcast — especially in HD — the WCSN.com video stream was quite good, especially considering it originated half a world away.
A monthly pass is only $4.95 and includes live and “on demand” event coverage, plus access to thousands of hours of archived sporting events. During Team USA’s off days, if you are wondering how Ovechkin or Backstrom played in last year’s tournament, it is all archived here.
Here are the preliminary games for the United States and Russia.
| United States | Russia | |||
| Friday, May 2nd | vs. Latvia | 7:00 pm | vs. Italy | 6:45 pm |
| Sunday, May 4th | vs. Slovenia | 7:00 pm | vs. Czech Republic | 12:45 pm |
| Tuesday, May 6th | vs. Canada | 3:15 pm | vs. Denmark | 12:45 pm |
You can find the full 2008 Schedule here.
