On Frozen Blog » Donald Brashear

From Boudreau(x)'s to Brashear, TX: My Summer Vacation

The OFB Team — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:30:00 +0000

When my cousin in Dallas announced last year that she was getting married, I mentioned to Chanuck that we should go, especially since my parents live in Houston and we could visit there first. For a variety of reasons too boring to list, I decided that it should be a road trip. Surely I must be a masochist- who in their right mind willingly does a 3000-mile drive with an active 13-month-old?

We allowed ourselves plenty of time to get to Houston, stopping outside of Knoxville the first night and ending up in New Orleans the second night. As it was Memorial Day weekend, Bourbon Street was quite busy. I had to laugh when I happened upon Boudreaux’s Backyard bar (I was reminded of this item from Japers’ Rink, towards the bottom), though that was only the first nominally hockey-related item we came across during the trip.

When we got to Houston, we had a few days to relax from driving. Chanuck and I were hoping that the Aeros would still be in the playoffs (we’ve been to Aeros games before and really enjoyed it), but no luck- Manitoba finished them off. So our consolation prize was going to The Maple Leaf Pub, the only hockey bar in Houston.

We arrived towards the end of Detroit-Chicago’s Game 5, to a full house; all the bar stools were taken and only one table was available. There were several red jerseys in attendance, as well as a few Chicago fans. The crowd was all hockey, though; the bar erupted in screams (both happy and disappointed) when the final goal was scored to give Detroit the series. (The video below captures the crowd’s reaction.) Several of the Detroit fans were gracious and bought a round of shots for the Chicago fans. We talked to the waitress and asked about the bar’s owners; we figured that the owner must be from Calgary, because of the selection of autographed Flames jerseys on the wall. Yes, she said, he’s from Calgary and she’s from Houston. The bar attracts fans of all backgrounds; Chanuck had a conversation with a guy from Ottawa who had been living in the Houston area for three years. Of course, no evening at a hockey bar would be complete without a few Canadian beers and a couple of games of bubble hockey.

Then it was on to Dallas. It almost wasn’t a surprise to see a guy in a Montreal Expos shirt and Whalers hat at our hotel. During the long drive from Dallas to Memphis, we passed Brashear, TX and I thought of our favorite pummeling pugilist. It was somewhere in Arkansas that we passed a car with New Brunswick plates. And I thought our drive was long!

After passing Canada Road in Tennessee, I was ready to get home. We finally did, ten days and 3000 miles later. I never thought we’d be reminded so much of hockey during an early summer drive through the South. Maybe it’s the hallmark of a fan: you want hockey so much that you see it everywhere. (Sorry, but the current Stanley Cup matchup just doesn’t do it for me; I’m ready for some Caps hockey.)

Now it’s back to the daily grind. At least I have the memories of crawfish, cowboys, and Corky’s. I’m already looking forward to our next road trip; Chanuck suggested a drive across Canada.

Minor Moments That Matter

The OFB Team — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:25:42 +0000

Check out Mike Vogel’s engrossing post about the small moments in a game that constitute turning points; his fascinating article delving into the details of the Washington Capitals’ home opener victory makes for a terrific read. Check it out here.

Are You Ready To Rock?

The OFB Team — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:58:34 +0000

In case you missed the opening video for 2008-2009, here it is:

For those of you who attended the taping, have you spotted yourself in the video?
If you want to update your CapsMix, the song is Hell Yeah by Rev Theory.

Opening Night Roster Set

The OFB Team — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:10:11 +0000

The Washington Capitals announced that Karl Alzner and Chris Bourque have been assigned to the Hershey Bears. Quintin Laing was placed on waivers and, if cleared, will report to Hershey.




2008 Washington Capitals Opening Night Roster
FORWARDS
#	*Player*	*Ht.*	*Wt.*	*Shoots*	*Born*	*Birthplace*	*2007-08 Club(s)*	*League(s)*
19	BACKSTROM, Nicklas	6‚Äô0‚Äù	183	Left	11/23/87	Gavle, Sweden	Capitals	NHL
10	BRADLEY, Matt	6‚Äô3‚Äù	201	Right	6/13/78	Stittsville, Ontario	Capitals	NHL
87	BRASHEAR, Donald	6‚Äô2‚Äù	234	Left	1/7/72	Bedford, Indiana	Capitals	NHL
17	CLARK, Chris	6‚Äô0‚Äù	196	Right	3/8/76	South Windsor, Connecticut	Capitals	NHL
91	FEDOROV, Sergei	6‚Äô2‚Äù	207	Left	12/13/69	Pskov, Russia	Capitals/Columbus	NHL
16	FEHR, Eric	6‚Äô4‚Äù	212	Right	9/7/85	Winkler, Manitoba	Capitals/Hershey	NHL/AHL
14	FLEISCHMANN, Tomas	6‚Äô1‚Äù	190	Left	5/16/84	Koprivinice, Czech Republic	Capitals	NHL
15	GORDON, Boyd	6‚Äô1‚Äù	201	Right	10/19/83	Unity, Saskatchewan	Capitals	NHL
25	KOZLOV, Viktor	6‚Äô4‚Äù	232	Right	2/14/75	Togliatti, Russia	Capitals	NHL
21	LAICH, Brooks	6‚Äô2‚Äù	210	Left	6/23/83	Wawota, Saskatchewan	Capitals	NHL
92	NYLANDER, Michael	6‚Äô1‚Äù	195	Left	10/3/72	Stockholm, Sweden	Capitals	NHL
8	OVECHKIN, Alex	6‚Äô2‚Äù	220	Right	9/17/85	Moscow, Russia	Capitals	NHL
28	SEMIN, Alexander	6‚Äô2‚Äù	200	Right	3/3/84	Krasnoyarsk, Russia	Capitals	NHL
39	STECKEL, David	6‚Äô5‚Äù	222	Left	3/15/82	Westbend, Wisconsin	Capitals	NHL
DEFENSEMEN
4	ERSKINE, John	6‚Äô4‚Äù	216	Left	6/26/80	Kingston, Ontario	Capitals	NHL
52	GREEN, Mike	6‚Äô1‚Äù	208	Right	10/12/85	Calgary, Alberta	Capitals	NHL
23	JURCINA, Milan	6‚Äô4‚Äù	233	Right	6/7/83	Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia	Capitals	NHL
26	MORRISONN, Shaone	6‚Äô4‚Äù	210	Left	12/23/82	Vancouver, British Columbia	Capitals	NHL
2	POTHIER, Brian #	6‚Äô0‚Äù	200	Right	4/15/77	New Bedford, Mass.	Capitals	NHL
3	POTI, Tom	6‚Äô3‚Äù	210	Left	3/22/77	Worcester, Mass.	Capitals	NHL
55	SCHULTZ, Jeff	6‚Äô6‚Äù	221	Left	2/25/86	Calgary, Alberta	Capitals/Hershey	NHL/AHL
GOALTENDERS
1	JOHNSON, Brent	6‚Äô3‚Äù	199	Left	3/12/77	Farmington, Mich.	Capitals/Hershey	NHL/AHL
60	THEODORE, Jose	5‚Äô11‚Äù	182	Right	9/13/76	Laval, Quebec	Colorado/Lake Erie	NHL/AHL

# Non-roster injured player
Rosters as of 6 Oct, 2008.

Super Teambuilding

The OFB Team — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:20:33 +0000

Thanks to Capitals Director for Media Relations Nate Ewell for passing on a great photograph from the season ticket holder’s party.

That's Jose, But Those Aren't Pussycats

The OFB Team — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:51:43 +0000

OFB reader cows3500 was kind enough to share photos from the Caps’ recent video shoot (see Puck Daddy for more info). Click on the photo for a full-size view.

Travel Agents Need Not Apply: My R&R at the September Rink

The OFB Team — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:44:51 +0000

Welcome to my vacation. This week I have friends recreating in Switzerland, Canada, and Virginia Beach. Meanwhile, I’m spending my week-long R&R at Kettler Capitals. No offense to my traditional vacation-traveling friends, but I think mine the most alluring, fulfilling, and restorative of getaways. And yes, most exotic. You could offer me a cruise, a secluded and gorgeously rustic mountain chalet, a week in a massive suite at a 5-star, swanky hotel in a happening town, and I’d turn them all down in favor of my perch in the rink atop a parking garage.
About five or so years ago I began the puck-afflicted habit of of burning a week’s leave at opening week of Capitals’ training camp. I travel enough as it is with my day job, but even if I were a desk jockey I’d still make this annual pilgrimage. At the risk of overstatement, it carries and delivers a genuinely spiritual dimension for me. I guess it has something to do with being a native Washingtonian and being in love with the game and being a survivor of the Save the Caps campaign way back when and never tiring of watching world-class hockey players up close and personal. I just don’t take for granted that this magnificent sport resides in my hometown, and so at the very start of each new season I schedule a series of dates with it to feed and express my affection.
I understand perfectly well the allure of soothing breezes on tropical islands, or golf getaways out in flesh-friendly temps. But this week I’m watching world-class hockey and blogging in bluejeans and a sweatshirt in a well-refrigerated rink, among friends; at the end of this week my skin will be Elmer’s Glue pasty white, but my hockey heart will be euphoric.
Each morning this week I’ll Metro down to Ballston and leisurely sip coffee and chat puck for hours each day with the likes of Mike Vogel, Corey Masisak, Tarik El Bashir, Lisa Hillary, Nate Ewell, and perhaps a couple of bloggers who’ve snuck out of the office for an hour or so to take in some scrimmaging. Over the years I’ve known colleagues who’ve burned a week’s leave merely on long-neglected household chores. My week is much better than that.
For my friends in Canada, my vacation — far from requiring a defense or justification — is viewed as a literal fantasy camp, the type of week they’d very willingly plop down $2,500 to replicate.
Late last Friday afternoon the parting exchange I had with my boss was rather amusing.
“So where are you going next week?” he asked.
“A parking garage in Ballston,” I replied.
“How exotic,” he returned.
Beyond getting reacquainted with rink friends after summer’s adjournment, week 1 of camp typically delivers September’s special storyline: that unheralded individual who seizes the attention of the coaching staff and the media, catching them completely off guard, breaking through and injecting a palpable buzz in camp with his play. It happens just about every camp, and it’s something special. It’s Jan Benda one year, Matt Herr and Jacub Cutta another. Alexander Volchkov remains one of the most impressive training camp performers I’ve ever seen. It’s absolutely true: he could do things with the puck that his countryman Ovechkin a decade later can’t even dream of. I hate how thoroughly wretched and fleeting his career turned out to be, but still I savor some of the dazzling displays he authored in drills and scrimmages.
That’s the other thing about camp — you see on display the elite hockey player’s full compliment of toolbox treats. Over the weekend I watched transfixed as Alexander Semin scooped up a puck and dangled it on his blade in the air, as if he were a lacrosse player, while skating fairly quickly. During camp, players always are on the ice early, sometimes many minutes before scheduled drills, just because they want to be. I love that about them. If you merely attend games guys then are carrying out the coach’s system, and reacting to the conditions of the game that night. But here, at the dawn of a new season, among the even the oldest players, you see the enthusiasm of a boy at play. Donald Brashear was tossing a puck across the full width of a newly made sheet of ice yesterday — still very wet — with Alexander Semin. But they weren’t snapping hard, accurate passes onto one another’s blades but rather lofting soft tosses that often landed near the feet of one another; it appeared to me that they were trying to make small splashes onto one another.
One day this week my old man will drive over the Bay Bridge really early one morning and take in a full morning and early afternoon of camp with me. He rang me over the weekend to find out what time he should leave, taking account of traffic of course, so that we were seated in the stands in time for the very first drill of the day.
I can’t wait for him to get here.

For Love of the Goon

pucksandbooks — Thu, 22 May 2008 04:42:36 +0000

My friend’s wife, a Minnesota native, loves a good hockey fight. Oh, she’ll attend fight-free games and enjoy them, but it’s really the fights that get her blood boiling and make the game exciting for her.
She is not alone. The divide between fight fans and fight haters is deeper than ever, with pundits and fans coming down strongly on one side or the other with very little middle ground. Some truly love it as pure gladiator-esque displays of passion. Others see fighting as a deterrent to dirty play–a way for the players to police a game that referees are hard-pressed to manage (“With a guy like Donald Brashear,” per Ted Leonsis, “it’s mutually assured destruction”). Those who hate fighting feel it has no place in the game and cartoonishly taints the sport they love.
Patrick Hruby of ESPN recently delved into “the world of hard-core hockey fight fans, the Cult of the Goon” on a multi-month exploratory mission. He even visited the Phone Booth to take in a Capitals-Penguins game on the strength of a potential Donald Brashear vs. George Laraque fight card (they were disappointed: no fight this time).
Hruby spoke with Ted Leonsis about dropping the gloves in the NHL:

“It’s a balancing act,” Caps owner Ted Leonsis says. “The day after that Atlanta game [OC: the fight-fest in November '06 with 176 PIM, $40k fines], I probably got 400 e-mails. Half of them went like this: ‘How dare you, I took my son or daughter to the game and have never been more embarrassed. I will never go to a game again. Fighting should be outlawed, and Donald Brashear should be suspended for life.’
“Meanwhile, the next e-mail would say, ‘That was the greatest game I’ve ever been to in my life. I love seeing the team stand up for each other.’”
Leonsis laughs. As a hockey fan, he respects and appreciates fighting; as an owner, he says his franchise wouldn’t build a marketing campaign around it. “Now, one complaint is too many. But let’s not forget that Atlanta did TV commercials promoting the rematch.”

Check out the rest of Hruby’s article, including his chat with Minnesota Wild heavyweight Derek Boogaard, in-depth discussions with the videotaping legions of fight fanatics, and a visit to the AHL for some rink-bound pummeling. As always, we invite you to share in the comments where you side in the on-ice pugilism debate.

Caps / Flyers Post Game 1 Interviews

pucksandbooks — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 19:15:50 +0000

Game Highlights (because you can’t tire of watching it):

How to Watch the Playoffs Without Going Into Labor

pucksandbooks — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 13:00:59 +0000

I obviously didn’t plan the timing of this pregnancy well, since I now find myself watching the Caps’ playoff run from the comfort of my couch instead of being at the Verizon Center. When you’re 9 months pregnant and less than a month away from giving birth (in total, it actually works out to 40 weeks, or 10 months), and you can’t fit into the seats anymore, it’s time to stay at home. Dear husband Chanuck is at the arena, so it’s just me, the remote, and the Internet. The one key item I’m missing is beer, of course. Don’t talk to me about non-alcoholic beers; they’re pointless. Let’s hope the Caps win so I won’t be wishing I had one.
7:10- Here we go! Can’t get enough of that sea of red. Glad to hear the “Flyers suck” chant is going already.
7:14- How ironic that Brashear gets the first goal against his former team.
7:23- Lousy Vinny Prospal. I hope the Caps shove it up his posterior.
7:29- Here’s the Flyers’ statistically impressive power play. Deep breathing exercises commence: hee-hee-hoo, hee-hee-hoo.
7:36- The GEICO ad with the dancing caveman is actually kind of entertaining- then again, I’m a fan of jazz hands. The Bruno Cipriani ad, however, is not. I think it would be greatly improved if Giuliana or Joe B. used jazz hands.
7:43- End of the 1st period. What’s with the two guys in the crowd wearing Rangers jerseys? They’re clearly confused- why, the Rangers aren’t playing here tonight!
8:05- Joe B. is ridiculing a fan for “scarfing down a little snack” and not sharing his chicken fingers. That guy must be pregnant too.
8:06- Excellent goal by Steckel! That’s a great way to come back from a broken finger.
8:17- Briere is going to sit in the box and feel shame. There is some justice in the world after all.
8:22- So much for that justice- the Magical Spearing Midget (MSM) scores a goal.

8:23- The baby is kicking up a storm after Prospal’s second goal. Can’t say I blame her. Here come more hee-hee-hoos.
8:30- MSM scores another one. Well, I’m always happy when people with disabilities show they can succeed.
8:38- HEE-HEE-HOO.
8:40- I receive an email from Dave Lifton. “Ugh, kill me now,” he says. I couldn’t agree more.
9:01- Mike Green singlehandedly stopped the light contractions I was having.
9:10- Mike Green again! We may have to consider naming this baby Michaela.
9:28- I spoke too soon; we may also need to consider the name Alexandra.
9:33- This last minute is going to kill me. Contractions starting again.
9:34- WHEW. Time for a celebratory bowl of ice cream (no pickles, though).
If every game is like this one, I think the baby is coming early.