On Frozen Blog » Buffalo Sabres

Caps Shake Off Rust: Washington 3 / Buffalo 1

The OFB Team — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:25:44 +0000

Caps’ Fan to Kneeling, Proposing Sabres’ Fan: “I Do”

The OFB Team — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:00:14 +0000

David Stearns, 25, a native of Buffalo and to this day a proud Buffalo Sabres’ fan, was not quite prepared for the fate that confronted him last June, at an NHL Awards watch party co-hosted in town by hockey bloggers Greg Wyshynski and Jon Press. It was there that he was introduced by a friend to Wendy Beveridge, 26, a native of Silver Spring, Md., and a lifelong Caps’ fan.

“It was love at first hockey sight,” he said.

One week ago, little more than six months after meeting the love of his life, Stearns, seated next to Beveridge at the Caps’-Sabres game December 23, fell to one knee in section 426 of Verizon Center, outfitted in his Sabres’ sweater, and proposed marriage. (As fortune would have it, there just happened to be an OFB camera one row away.) Stearns wears a Maxim Afinogenov Sabres’ sweater — he simply likes to work fast.

Of course she said yes. (Even outfitted in her Caps’ sweater.) Would we be sharing this story with you on New Years Eve, the most romantic night of the year, if she hadn’t?

Now get this — according to Stearns, the awards watch party was love at first sight for both of them!

“I kind of thought she was out of my league,” he admitted.

He also admitted that he knew he wanted to marry Beveridge two weeks after meeting her. He also knew where he wanted to propose: at a Caps’-Sabres game. Puckhead Love.

He ordered a ring, trying desperately to have it ready in time for the Caps-Sabres game on December 23. No luck. He was told December 26. But then the best of holiday season luck arrived, and he was informed of the ring’s availability by Tuesday, the day before the game. In an act rather redeeming (almost) of a Sabres’ fan, Stearns on that Monday asked permission of Beveridge’s father before embarking on his proposal. (He got it. Enthusiastically.)

Stearns’ plan was to fall to one knee at the first TV timeout of the first period. Good thinking — who wants such a momentous act hanging in prolonged fashion over the important proceedings below? Besides, the thinking suitor envisions his sectionmates buying the happy couple celebration beers the remainder of the game.

Speaking of beer, it had a role in this magical moment — but not the one you probably think. Stearns and Beveridge had settled into their seats before puck-drop with fresh frothies in hand. Then at their feet. One of which Beveridge accidentally kicked over right in the intended kneeling spot! Doh! But hey, the guy’s from Buffalo; you think he was gonna be foiled by a little wet cement?

Incidentally, the Hershey Bears’ Giant Center has become a bit of a Las Vegas chapel on the Strip: according to Bears’ radio voice John Walton, no fewer than two dozen marriage proposals are proffered there every season.

Beveridge had no idea the ask was coming, as you’ll see in the images we captured below. The bride to be is in her first year of law school at CU, and the couple plans on marrying in the fall of 2011. She probably won’t wear red, but there’s time to address that. Is there any hope this love converts Stearns away from the dark side?

“Actually, I’ve become a bit of a Caps’ supporter the past couple of years, going to a lot of games, and as Buffalo has missed the playoffs,” he acknowledged. “But when it comes to the Caps playing the Sabres . . . no, I’m remaining loyal.”

On this particular New Years Eve, we at OFB choose to believe instead that Love will conquer all.

A Night for Great Skating, and Morrison’s Magnificent Marker

pucksandbooks — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:39:07 +0000

This week I have as part of my city-to-suburban-home commute a wonderful walk through some snowy suburban woods. I arrived at the woods late last night fresh off a thrilling and well played hockey game downtown, featuring two quality hockey clubs, aware that much-need holiday leisure was setting in at last. It was a walk of merely two hockey shifts’ length, but pedestrian traffic had forged a knee-high, snaking tunnel through the woods, and I delighted in the sound of snow crunching under my feet and bracing chill filling my lungs. Hockey conditions. Washington this Christmas has a first-place hockey club, the best team in town, and a winter wonderland within which to experience it. So I already have my Christmas present.

Last night’s was such a speed game — it was beautiful to watch. North-south attacks and, on Buffalo’s part particularly, furious forechecking, which is a byproduct of their outstanding speed. Brendan Morrison noted in the postgame that the Sabres represented just about the best skating club the Caps face all season. I thought both clubs well utilized trailers and weakside options off of speed rushes and high-octane attacks. If you enjoyed the pace and creativity with last night’s game hopefully you DVR’d it, because next up, on Saturday, is New Jersey. That will be a lateral attack affair. As it ever is.

The Hershey Bears are on holiday break, and so a healthy contingent of the Hershey hockey community was on hand last night. I shared with them my concern about the likely quality of Verizon Center’s ice sheet, seeing as how the Georgetown Hoyas dribbled on it in the afternoon. But by the standards we’ve become accustomed to when hoops preceeds puck in the same day, last night’s sheet, I thought, appeared to be of inexplicable integrity. Certainly the Caps’ performance in the opening 20 minutes suggested they had no difficulties with it — the Ovi-Backstrom-Semin line especially.

Bruce Boudreau loved his team’s first period as much as the fans did, and he loved his first line’s play precisely because of its attack ethos. You didn’t see overpassing from them in the offensive zone, what the coach terms “being too cute.” Later one, they reverted a bit, and he broke them up. It’s tantalizing to imagine what that line and this team could do in the postseason were his top three guns to perform reliably together as they did in Wednesday night’s opening 20 minutes.

Mike Green stated plainly in the postgame that he regarded Wednesday’s opening 20 minutes a direct carryover from the third period in Edmonton Saturday night. The periods were similar in shotcounts and overall dominance.

Brendan Morrison’s goal. Oh. My. God. In the postgame he pointed out that he believed himself to be at such a severe angle on the play that had no recourse but to Magic-Johnson it between his legs. He also joked that he hadn’t scored a goal like that in seventeen years. I’d like to be able to score a goal like that in beer league hockey just once, let alone every seventeen years. I wondered if any Washington Capital had ever scored such a scriptedly virtuoso tally before, ever. I mean Bonzai scored his share of jaw-droppers, and Ovi’s ‘The Goal,’ while it deserves designation as immortal, was wholly improvisational. What was so impressive about BMo’s strike — besides the fact that he bested perhaps the best goalie in all of hockey at the moment — was that he sublimely executed precisely what he intended to. I asked Bruce Boudreau if he’d ever scored such a goal, and at first he claimed not to remember (as if you could forget) but then fell back on “I was a meat and potatos guy.” The head coach was well aware that everyone in the press had already seen replays of the goal a few times, but nonetheless he urged us to watch it again to more fully appreciate it. And so we shall.:

It’s Not Miller Time in Washington: Caps 5 / Sabres 2

The OFB Team — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:29:29 +0000

Demons Exorcised: Caps 4 / Sabres 2

The OFB Team — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:27:00 +0000

Helmer 2 Helpers, AO Dazzles, Throws Salt on Wound: Caps 3, Sabres 2

The OFB Team — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 01:23:00 +0000

Caps / Sabres Boxing Day Open Thread

The OFB Team — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Hockey Sweater Obsessives, Your Ship Has Arrived

The OFB Team — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:02:40 +0000

Paul Lukas of Uni Watch fame has published his NHL preview, chock full of hockey uniform photos from new sweaters, to memorial patches, to the sneaky “C” that Roberto Luongo added to his mask since by NHL rules no goaltender may wear the captaincy “C” on his jersey. So if you’re into the details of hockey uniforms, check out his article here and geek out to the hockey-gear minutia.

Hockey Sweater Obsessives, Your Ship Has Arrived

The OFB Team — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:02:40 +0000

Collin McKinney Sees Life Through Hockey [Part II]

The OFB Team — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:42:58 +0000

[Miss Part I? Click here.]
What kind of job does a suddenly blind-in-the-middle-of-his-life man perform? For two years Collin McKinney didn‚Äôt see anything at all. Eventually, he could see out of his left eye an area ‚Äúabout the size of a 50-cent piece.‚Äù His medical remedies more or less exhausted, McKinney contacted the Virginia Department of the Blind and Visually Impaired. The work options offered him there — ‚Äúmoving paperclips‚Äù was how he described the meager administrative listings — were a poor fit for his broad and varied educational background and work experience.
But back in his Fairfax neighborhood, McKinney had developed an affinity for taking care of dogs belonging to his neighbors. He‚Äôd walk them during business hours, care for them during neighbors’ vacations. He developed a reputation for being something of a ‚Äúdog whisperer,‚Äù effectively training unruly canine rascals on his block. Dogs and a blind man, working well together. Who knew?
Post- NHL lockout, and now fairly a fixture at Caps‚Äô games, McKinney was enjoying himself and the friends he was making from the experience. Except for one set of fans: Buffalo‚Äôs.
‚ÄúBuffalo fans are the worst,‚Äù McKinney told me. ‚ÄúThey actually stole my blind stick one time from me at a game.‚Äù
Now you‚Äôre certainly reacting as I did as those words arrived on my ear — Buffalo Sabres‚Äô fans . . . did . . . what?
It was two seasons ago, during the final game of the 2006-07 campaign, at Verizon Center, the one that was sold out, lamentably largely due to wave after wave of belligerent Buffaloan.
‚ÄúThank God I could see a little bit, because they decided to play keep away with my stick, and I managed to grab it back, which surprised them, I think,‚Äù McKinney related. ‚ÄúI couldn‚Äôt believe people would do that. They were so obnoxious and so foul-mouthed.‚Äù
As shocking as this story is, having been in Verizon Center that day (Washington‚Äôs hockey bloggers hosted an end-of-season party at the Chinatown Clyde‚Äôs after the game), I look back and think that something like this monstrosity was entirely plausible amid so large an ornery and inebriated set of visiting fans. Not all Buffalo fans in Verizon Center behaved badly that day, of course, but a striking and surly subset most certainly did.
‚ÄúCollin,‚Äù I told my dinner partner, ‚Äúthere really was something about that day that was distinctive in a very bad way. A lot of people had a bad experience that day, although what you describe is off the charts — sub-human, really. Our team was lousy, theirs was in first [place], and the scene was just unruly and altogether unpleasant.‚Äù
Wanted: One Hockey-Loving Ocularist
In early 2008, as Collin McKinney grappled with the reality of having his right eye removed and replaced with a prosthetic, his ‚Äútwisted” sense of humor set upon a novel idea. He was fitted with a standard prosthetic eye, but he again wanted to summon his passion for hockey to help alleviate his trauma. He had been in contact with an area ocularist to try and get the Capitals‚Äô logo etched on a second prosthetic eye. In other words, when you looked Collin McKinney in his replacement eye, he wanted you to see his passion. But first he needed the team‚Äôs permission.
‚ÄúI have a twisted sense of humor,‚Äù he told me. ‚ÄúIf something horrible like this is going to happen to you, you better have a sense of humor about it at some point, because if you can‚Äôt laugh, you end up sitting around doing nothing, wasting away.‚Äù
‚ÄúI just thought it would be funny and cool, ‚Äòcause it kinda shows what I‚Äôm into.
‚ÄúI don‚Äôt get tattoos,‚Äù he added with a laugh.
McKinney wrote Capitals‚Äô owner Ted Leonsis, seeking permission to use the team‚Äôs trademarked logo on a prosthetic eye. He sent the owner his request in a letter. And the owner replied.
‚Äú‚ÄòWow,‚Äô I think was his very first reaction,‚Äù McKinney noted. ‚Äú‚ÄòYou really want to do this?‚Äô‚Äù
‚ÄúI think he thought I was a kook at first,‚Äù McKinney said with a laugh.
The request, McKinney pointed out, required more than just the owner‚Äôs blessing — that of lawyers, as you might imagine. Capitals‚Äô attorneys were consulted, but also ones from the NHL‚Äôs league offices. Ultimately, McKinney got the team‚Äôs permission, and that of the league. He also received an invitation from Leonsis to take in a game in the owner‚Äôs box, where he could model his passion-prosthetic.
Now comes the hard part. The personalized prosthetic comes with a $3,000 sticker price. McKinney, an early recipient of Social Security due to his disability, subsists on $12,000 annually and some additional, modest money from helping out his Fairfax neighbors by walking their dogs and performing odd jobs.
‚ÄúThere‚Äôs no way I can afford that,‚Äù McKinney noted. ‚ÄúBut now I know that there‚Äôs an ocularist in town who‚Äôll do it. That‚Äôs what is important to me. If he had turned me down I had already Googled the entire country for others [ocularists]. I‚Äôd have contacted every one of them. It‚Äôs not something I‚Äôm going to give up on.‚Äù
At this point I wanted to reach into my back pocket, pull out my fraying black leather wallet, open it and turn it upside down and empty out all of its contents in this cause. Problem there is that that wouldn‚Äôt have purchased McKinney a temporary tattoo.
‚ÄúThings are thrown your way in life,‚Äù Collin McKinney told me over our final sips of Monday night beer. ‚ÄúYou just have to find a way to move on.
‚ÄúThis idea I have for ultimately winning over¬† . . .¬† getting the better of, my misfortune, it‚Äôll happen one day. I believe that.‚Äù
In my nearly 35 years as a Caps‚Äô fan I thought I had terrific reason on top of terrific reason to support this city‚Äôs pro hockey team, and to champion its cause. Over the years it had hockey heroes — Rod Langway, Dale Hunter, Olie Kolzig, Peter Bondra, now Alexander Ovechkin — wear its sweater. It had endured, in searing and endearing fashion, a brush with death, a thrilling run to a Stanley Cup finals, a sale to a hockey-town-constructing-committed owner. And the drafting of a franchise-altering and anchoring talent. But in September 2008 I found the best possible reason yet to be a Caps‚Äô fan: Collin McKinney wears our team‚Äôs colors, and life can‚Äôt attack his hockey heart. There’s a life-long, no-trade clause in Collin McKinney’s allegiance to the Caps. He belongs to us.