(Veronderstel.) en zo van NHL zoek ik iets groter als vertoning en herinnering. Why not have a team wear the actual sweater, for one day? And who better to do that than our boys?

OFB readers this week will have noticed our humble efforts at offering up a third jersey design for the Capitals to consider down the road. Its color scheme — wholly unintended — bears a striking similarity to the sweater worn on February 24, 1980, when the Americans earned gold at Lake Placid against Finland. I find that interesting.

The next obstacle to address would be a purported “forced nationalism” on a contemporary NHL club necessarily comprised of nationals from a half dozen or more foreign nations. Specifically, wouldn’t there be awkward irony in an Alexander Ovechkin and his Russian teammates wearing “USA” across their chests the third Sunday of next February?

It’s irrefutable that the achievement of 2/22/80 was distinctly sovereign, distinctly — I would argue — American. But as it’s aged, hasn’t it acquired an EveryNation sheen of admirable heroism, a universally acknowledged sense of David slaying Goliath, and thereby broadened the general appeal of our now very global game? Isn’t there something in the Miracle for every hockey player from every nation to delight in, and celebrate? Isn’t it part of the Miracle’s lore that even the shocked and stunned Russians, standing forlorn on their own blueline, looked down the Lake Placid ice at their collegian vanquishers and admired? And if not, if that’s overstatement, couldn’t we next rationalize the commemoration merely on these grounds: at the highest level of hockey, for just one day, let’s simply and distinctly acknowledge the greatest hockey game ever played.

It would be close to a franchise-best moment to have the Capitals debut a new, very patriotic-looking third sweater next February 22, but the NHL requires that teams identify in advance all sweaters to be worn during the season. The Capitals aren’t adopting a third sweater this season. What I’m advocating is a league-issued waiver from the uniform regulations for a very special Sunday that just happens to showcase the two greatest hockey players on the planet. If not then, when?

This is a very, very, secondary consideration, but talk about a marketable television event! The game between Ovechkin’s Capitals and Crosby’s Penguins is already slated for national television (I say this not because I’ve confirmed it with NBC but from a sense of how could it not be?). What aura in the Phone Booth then if this unprecedented uniforming were to take place. What might tickets sell for out on the District’s streets that morning? What if one or four members of the Miracle team were in the house?

I have another compelling and deeply personal reason for pursuing this idea. During their home games the Capitals like to seat me next to SovetskySport’s Dmitry Chesnokov. Dmitry, newly sworn in as American citizen, is younger than I am and by virtue of his age forgiveably unaware of the immediate impact of the Miracle. After next February 22nd’s game I’d like my friend to accompany me down to the Capitals’ locker room and interview his countryman Ovechkin, who’d be wearing a sweater whose style will never go out of fashion, and one which changed the world.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, American Hockey, Dmitry Chesnokov, Hockey, Hockey Heroes, Miracle on Ice, Morning cup-a-joe, National Hockey League, Pittsburgh Penguins, Sovetsky Sport, USA Hockey, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (0)

Gabby Mic’d Up

By The OFB Team
Wednesday, July 30, 2008

We are indebted to Kukla for this tidbit: Caps’ Head Coach Bruce Boudreau will guest-host ‘The Morning Show’ from 6:00-9:00 tomorrow morning on the Fan590.

And yes, there is live streaming at the 590 site.

Filed in Bruce Boudreau, Fan590, Radio, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (0)

Boy and Girl First-Date at Caps’ Game, Make Life Together

By The OFB Team
Tuesday, July 29, 2008

We never imagined that offering up a mere coffee mug would occasion the outpouring of superb reminiscence of Caps’ hockey memories that’s transpired here since last Friday. By Saturday night we needed two or three dozen mugs of honor to bestow. We don’t have that, but we are going to make multiple awards with our inaugural Free Loot Friday gift of OFB booty. In the dead of hockey-less summer, OFB readers by the dozens these past few days often gave us chills with their detail-rich strolls down Memory Lane.

Your Cup'pa Joe tastes better with OFB.

Your Cup'pa Joe tastes better with OFB.

If you’re a Caps’ fan of any duration and you haven’t persued the comment thread for the competition, you really ought to. In addition to rich descriptions of seminal moments in the franchise’s history, there are loads of warm and moving testaments to the power and hold our game has had on the lives of the region’s puckheads. Under such circumstances, we were at pains to pull out merely one or two favorites; we hope that all of you who so generously shared such personal anecdotes realize that you’ve helped craft a lasting and memorable forum.

We’ve long known the caliber of our puck-savvy reader, but never before has it been showcased in such quality and abundance in a single file. At least not here. This is what we’d hoped would happen here back in October of ‘06.

So it was good, good fun. Certainly it helped bridge a bit of the hockey-less gap we’re presently enduring. Certainly we’ll be doing it again, next month.

OFB reader Bill soon will sipping his morning joe out of an OFB coffee mug. This he shared with us last weekend:

“. . . On December 11, 1976, against the short-lived Cleveland Barons (see California Golden Seals)(later to merge with the Minnesota North Stars)(later to move to Dallas). This particular night happened to be a “Date Night” promotion — for the cheapskates in the audience, buy one ticket, get one free for your date. A high school senior that winter, I of course took a lovely young lady out on our very first date that cold December evening to see the Caps play. The relationship that subsequently developed was far more successful than the on-ice results (sadly the Caps lost 4-2), with plans to celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary this coming season at Verizon Center cheering for a more successful result by the home team!”

We’re such softies.

Speaking of affairs of the hockey heart, check out joyfulleigh18’s poignant reflections on what the journey of the 2007-08 season meant to her life:

“My most amazing hockey moment was a sad one. It was the very last second of our very last game this past season, a game that we lost and our Stanley Cup hopes were dashed for the year.

“How on Earth could that be my best hockey moment? Allow me to explain.

“This was my first year of hockey. My husband PJ (a life-long hockey fan) got us season tickets and I decided to go and do my best to understand what about this crazy sport he loved so much. During the preseason, almost no one showed up to the Verizon Center. “This is it?!?” I thought to myself. Pretty pathetic. But I did my best to follow along and learn the game. My goal became to figure out why the whistle would be blown and make the call before the ref did. I’d whisper “icing?” or “hooking?” to PJ and he’d either nod or correct me.

“Sometime in early November I “saw” offsides for the first time. PJ had explained it to me about a million times, and while I could wrap my brain around the concept I still couldn’t “see” it because my eyes were following the puck instead of watching the whole ice at the same time. And then one day I just got it, and I’ve been able to see it ever since.

“By Christmastime I knew all of the players and their strengths and weaknesses. I knew which ones I liked and which ones I didn’t. I encountered some guys at a bar one night and had an incredibly articulate and well-informed conversation with them about the Capitals. My husband stood by and watched with an amused and amazed expression on his face.

“Little by little the Caps were getting better and better, and the Verizon Center seats were getting more and more full. As the playoffs approached, I found myself going online to figure out which other teams had to win and lose in order for us to be division champions and/or make the post-season. Of course, we made it, and I attended every game, wearing my red and yelling my head off. Those preseason games from last fall seemed so long ago. I was a different person then.

“So back to the point (thanks, if you’ve stayed with my rambling story this far). On the last second of the last game of the season, as people started filing out of the Verizon Center with their heads lowered, I looked at my husband and quietly said, “I don’t want to leave. I don’t want hockey to be over.” And that’s when we both knew that I wasn’t just a hockey fan’s wife. I am a hockey fan in my own right.”

Indeed you are, Leigh. With writing like that, you need a new mug for morning to help carry you through the next narrative, we think. We hope you share that with us just as you did this.

And thank you all for sharing your most cherished Caps’ recollections.

Filed in Blogs, Frivolous Summer File, Internet, Media, OFB, OFB Booty Giveaway, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (6)

Arbitration Ain’t About Summer Love

By The OFB Team
Tuesday, July 29, 2008

In Tuesday’s Globe and Mail, James Mirtle uncovers the unpleasant side of the NHL’s arbitration system, in which clubs make the case that their player ain’t all that while the NHLPA suggests that the club pretty much can’t live without him. “When cases go to a hearing, they can often get ugly, as players, agents and teams fight for dollars under the salary cap,” Mirtle writes this morning. In Shaone Morrisonn’s case, ugly is the operative word.

Morrisonn was awarded $1.975 million in his arbitration case this past Saturday, but according to Mirtle, “the Capitals offered several less than flattering assessments of Morrisonn, a stay-at-home defenceman who was fourth on the team in ice time last season.” As in:

“Calling him “one-dimensional,” Washington argued that Morrisonn received substantial playing time in 2005-06 and 2006-07 on a weak team as a result of being “at the right place at the right time.”

“Morrisonn’s agent, Mark Stowe, said negotiations before the hearing were extremely contentious.”

Mirtle goes on to suggest that such acrimony is a principal reason why so many cases ultimately never make it to the actual arbitration hearing, citing most recently Jay Bouwmeester’s coming to terms with Florida for one year and $5 million. With hundreds of thousands — indeed millions — of dollars at stake, and under a cap-constrained environment, it’s understandable that the two sides would make the best possible cases for their respective positions. But that means some tough language on one side and all sweetness and light on the other.

More from Mirtle on the inside of this messy moment:

“In the Morrisonn case, the Capitals were seeking a salary of $1.1-million in arbitration and used six other young defencemen as comparables: Milan Jurcina, Josh Gorges, Lukas Krajicek, Mark Stuart, Garnet Exelby and Mike Komisarek.

“On behalf of the player, the National Hockey League Players’ Association asked for $2.8-million and used Trevor Daley, Tim Gleason, Fedor Tyutin, Henrik Tallinder, Anton Volchenkov and Komisarek as comparisons.

“In response to the club’s filing, the NHLPA argued that Morrisonn played a key role in the team’s Southeast Division championship under new coach Bruce Boudreau. Even though Morrisonn has had only five goals and 37 points over 234 games the past three seasons, the union said his contributions in his own zone and killing penalties justified a salary of nearly $3-million.

“Unlike in major league baseball, where arbitrators choose between the salary proposed by either the player or his team, NHL arbitrators can use any salary they deem appropriate.

“Ultimately, arbitrator Terry Bethel sided slightly with the union position in the Morrisonn case, awarding a contract that was almost directly between the figures sought by the sides. Bethel indicated the NHLPA’s comparison players were more appropriate, given Morrisonn’s experience and role with the Capitals, singling out Daley and Gleason as suitable matches.”

Filed in James Mirtle, Media, NHLPA, National Hockey League, Print, Shaone Morrisonn, Toronto Globe and Mail, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (10)

Mink’s Got a Link

By pucksandbooks
Monday, July 28, 2008

Welcome to the hockey blogosphere, Graham Mink, 2006 Calder Cup hero. Mink, signed just a couple of weeks ago by the Caps and Hershey Bears, made his blog debut just this past weekend. If his opening efforts are any indication, this is a site you’ll want to follow regularly:

“One of the major reasons why I started this blog was to give myself an outlet for all the excited energy I have in anticipation of this season. Anyone that has been following the Washington organization the past year knows that they are one of the up and coming teams in the league with a lot of positive energy surrounding them. Their rebuilding efforts over the last couple of years are finally paying off now that they have the right pieces in place. Having played for Coach Boudreau for the 05/06 season I know that this years Caps will be a very competitive team that will love to play every night and that will be fun to watch. I am also looking forward to seeing several old friends and teammates who are still with the organization. Seeing all of the great players that have signed on with Wash/Hershey for next season I know that regardless of which team I play for they will be a contender for a Championship.”

Filed in American Hockey League, Blogs, Calder Cup, Graham Mink, Hershey Bears, Hockey, Internet, Media, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (2)

The Times Provides the Tale of the Tape on Caps’ Tickets

By pucksandbooks
Monday, July 28, 2008

Strong stuff in the Times today from Tim Lemke, who documents the success the Caps have enjoyed this offseason in moving tickets for 2008-09. The base of ticket plan sales, Lemke reports, could approach 5,000, renewals from a season ago are at 91 percent and could climb higher, and Caps’ officials indicated that the season-ticket base could reach 12,000 — nearly a 40-percent increase over last season.

“These guys are like [what] athletes used to act like,” said Patrick Rey, who attended one game last season. “You can’t not love these guys. They’re like a whole team of Brett Favres.” [Without the melodrama, we might add.]  

Filed in Hockey, Media, Print, Washington Capitals, Washington Times, Washington the Hockey Town| Permalink| Comments (5)

Caps-Flyers Playoff Coverage on the NHL Network This Weekend

By The OFB Team
Saturday, July 26, 2008

July sports television — yeah, we’re with you in the agony of unappealing programming choices. But the NHL Network is helping out Caps’ fans this weekend. Right this moment it’s offering up Game 5 of the Caps-Flyers first-round series from April. Tonight at 7:00 fans can settle in with game 6.

That prime-time affair offers a very appealing bit of Flyer fan silencing from #8 at the 2:46 mark of the third period.

For early risers, Game 5 will air again Sunday morning at 7:00. And game 7, contested on Verizon Center’s mush, airs as a weekend culminating bit of torture at 7:00 Sunday night.

Hey, it sure beats Arena Football, and we never tire of seeing, and hearing, the Sea of Red.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Media, NHL Network, Philadelphia Flyers, Stanley Cup Playoffs, TV, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (1)

Rockin’ the NHL Awards Red Carpet Red: “It’s always Ovie time”

By The OFB Team
Friday, July 25, 2008

Here’s a great video from HockeyBarn.com — one in which stellar cameos feature Comcast’s Lisa Hillary, owner Ted Leonsis, Head Coach Bruce Boudreau, Calder candidate Nicklas Backstrom, some Ovechkin fella, and Caps’ media maestro Nate Ewell doing real good by a monkey suit. Enjoy.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Bruce Boudreau, Comcast SportsNet, Internet, Lisa Hillary, Media, Nicklas Backstrom, TV, Ted Leonsis, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (2)

A Flower in Bloom but a Single Night Washed Away by Wild Winds and Rain

By pucksandbooks
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Photo by Allen Clark / Off Wing Photo

Photo by Allen Clark / Off Wing Photo

Washington isn’t a city of vertical architecture, but among the 10- and 12-story office buildings and hotels surrounding the new professional team tennis stadium, home of the Washington Kastles, dozens of men could be seen standing out on terraces, verandas, rooftops, or pressed hard against office glass looking down and out onto the tennis court Wednesday night. More than a few were armed with binoculars.

Really hardcore tennis fans, perhaps? What, you didn’t know that D.C. is mad about its Wednesday night professional team tennis — so much so that $500-an-hour attorneys billing from on high would stop their labor (but not necessarily their billing) and catch a bit of the Kastles?

Ok, so maybe, just maybe, Anna Kournikova’s arrival in Washington with the St. Louis Aces had a little to do with the single-gender spying from on high.

Wednesday night I was all prepared to pursue this storyline at Kastles Stadium at CityCenterDC: whose arrival in Washington this year was the bigger news occasion, Pope Benedict’s or Kournikova’s?

Continue reading here.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Blogs, Frivolous Summer File, Internet, Media, OFB, OFB on Anna, Other Sports, Print, The Sporting News, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (2)

That Other Russian Competing This Summer

By The OFB Team
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Ovechkin Stretching - photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Ovechkin Stretching - photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Dovgan Ovechkin & Kapitonov training - Photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Dovgan Ovechkin & Kapitonov training - Photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Ovechkin and Dovgan - photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Ovechkin and Dovgan - photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Ovechkin on the

Ovechkin on the Electric Chair - photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Pavel Lysenkov, Sovetsky Sport, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (8)

Lust, 15 . . . no 30, no 40: A Hockey Blogger Warms to the Tennis Beat

By pucksandbooks
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

You might ask, what business is it of a hockey blog to cover a team tennis match? I might reply, forgive me for wanting to chronicle . . . a legend!

Legends are forged both by championship mettle and star-crossed curses. Greg Norman is a legend more for his losing than his winning. And so it is with our sensational starlet from SovetskyLand. So there.

It is an interesting time — some would say fortuitous — to be on the tennis beat. Tennis pro Ashley Harkleroad is in the news, nude. I go on a new beat and on day one I discover that the young, fit, and hard-bodied with rackets in their hands are running around in the buff.

Tennis, anyone?

Harkleroad’s reputed inspiration for extreme exposure in the August Playboy struck me as peculiar: it arrived in tandem with her recovery from an ovarian cyst procedure. How many sinus infections lead to new nose jobs?

She is the first professional tennis player to appear in Playboy, birthday suited. The only other pro athlete likewise unlayered there was swimmer Amanda Beard. For some reason I really wish puck daddy had been around when Ms. Beard took her dip in Playboy’s warmer waters. As it is, I’m saving a seat for him at tomorrow’s Anna K presser.

But who is Ashley Harkleroad? Good question. She’s not in the top 10 rankings of women’s professional tennis; in fact, she’s not in the top 50. Like Anna Kournikova, she made a precocious if palpitating first impression on court: her appearance at the 2001 U.S. Open, in extra tight shorts and a midriff-baring top, is said to have “paralyzed the ball boys.”

Tennis, anyone?

Actually, I don’t feel wholly alien to the endeavor of entering tennis journalism. Around the time I was 15, I thought rather seriously of authoring a coffee table book worshipping Canadian tennis star Carling Bassett, of the Carling O’Keefe brewery family. A hottie Canuck who’d never have to pay for our beers.

Tennis, anyone?

Anyway, Harkleroad, at the onset of this decade, was marketed-hyped as “the next Anna,” and like Anna, she hasn’t won much. She’s 23, and in tennis years — particularly on the women’s side — that’s getting up there if you haven’t won a tournament. It may be with this competitive sunset settling in that Harkleroad devined the inspiration to go streaking about the tennis court.

What if OnFrozenBlog morphed in summers into, say . . . OntheBaselinewithBabes?

A child of the ’70s, I vividly recall the “boom” tennis experienced then. In greater Washington, as in many parts of the country, recreational tennis courts were jammed, day in and day out. That’s hard to fathom today for anyone under 30, looking out over the vast empty fenced-in courts of today, but it’s positively true. It was a surreal time, with anecdotes of fights breaking out among tennis moms over access to courts.

So tennis knew this golden moment in America, and then, without rhyme or reason, it busted. To the point where today it’s all about (exposed, highlighted) busts. To this day I’m not sure why, and I’ve never read an attempt to explain it. Suddenly, everybody just started playing golf, clogging the courses and emptying out the courts. And it’s been that way for two-plus decades.

Anna Kournikova, however, seemed to be the helium for tennis’ flaccid air balloon. But she never ascended into the clouds of acclaim . . . for her play.

I’ve yet to hear anyone in tennis’ leadership articulate, in the mainstream press, a sense of what kind of conditions are needed to replicate the ’70s tennis boom. It happened once; is it the case that it can never happen again? If so, why?

It is money? Are other pro sports so ludicrously well-heeled by TV and sponsors that kids won’t pick up a racket? That seems too cynical a theory.

But who today in the hierarchy of American tennis is working on a Manhattan Project to revitalize tennis to something approaching its glory of three decades ago? Is anyone?

Or, is the sport’s leadership altogether passive and content to pimp out the sport’s popularity to the pinups of the moment?

(Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

(See you at “Guy’s Night Out” Wednesday.)

Filed in Blogs, Internet, Media, OFB on Anna, Other Sports, team tennis| Permalink| Comments (4)

We Are Readying Ourselves for Her Arrival in D.C.

By The OFB Team
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Knowing our of association with Russia’s largest sports daily, SovetskySport, the Most Valuable Network approached us this week and asked if we’d accept an assignment few who know outdoor sporting events in July in D.C. would even consider: sitting beneath a searing sun, skin clammy with Mid-Atlantic humidity, and blogging . . . on tennis, as played by Russia’s Anna Kournikova. Wednesday night, Kournikova and her St. Louis Aces tennis team strut into CityCenterDC to face our Washington Kastles.

Initially, of course, we begged off the assignment, pointing to our fidelity, our monogamy, with but one sport. Also: we know less about tennis — team or any other version — than we do about quantum physics. But Washington today is a special destination for elite Russian athletes, and from some cursory investigative work this week we learned that that nation produces notably gifted female tennis players as well as sick-skilled hockey players. And these Russian hockey players have a way of attaching themselves to beautiful female athletes in other sports, including tennis, or to American fashion supermodels, and so we began to regard the MVN assignment as an opportunity to learn more about this distinctive culture — and share the edifying experience with our readers. Really, we’re doing this for you, dear blog reader.

It is also true that we are willing to do anything to help draw media attention away from the Washington Redskins at this time of year.

The assignment calls for us to attend a press conference with her hotness late Wednesday afternoon, take perch among the tennis press for the St. Louis-Washington team match that evening, and bring readers here and at MVN OFB’s unique flavor of new media coverage.

Our aim is simple: to shed light on a strikingly fit world-class athlete thus far little known to users of the Internet.

Because OFB is animated by the collective spirit comprised in its patronage, we welcome with your comments here your suggestions for coverage of this Starry Night in SportsWashington.

Remembering that OFB is a family-read blog, what would you ask Anna if you could put but a single question to her?

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Blogs, Internet, Media, OFB on Anna, Sergei Fedorov, Sovetsky Sport, Washington Capitals, Washington the Hockey Town| Permalink| Comments (9)

Summertime on the NHL Network: Not Yet Must-See TV

By pucksandbooks
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Any criticism of the NHL Network has to be qualified with the acknowledgment that during its dullest, most uninspired of programming slates it offers puckheads a respite — 24 hours a day — from ESPN and everything else that is broadcast-indifferent to our great game. So it is in the spirit of constructive criticism and unyielding gratitude that I offer my personal assessment of what the network presently is and what it could, and should, become.

In July especially, the network has relied, disproportionately, on replays of games from the most recent NHL postseason. To reiterate, were it to broadcast merely the pre-game warmups from those games I’d embrace that over say a home run derby carried off by bloodstream-polluted lab rats called major leaguers. Or televised poker. Or the WNBA. (Gracious what a wasteland July in American sports is.) But the NHL Network, which is a promotional tool for the league, isn’t going to lure in new viewers with that manner of prime-time programming. I love hockey as much as Mr. Hockey, but I just don’t need a refresher on game 4 between the Ducks and Stars from April. Every night of the summer.

In this odd bit of recurring programming the outlet seems to fail to recognize that the allure of NHL postseason hockey is the cumulative effect playoff series have — of antagonism built up over the course of 10 days, and from rivalries forged from season to season — and that isolating individual, non-classic playoff games isn’t the same thing as chronicling the Habs-Nordiques April wars of two decades ago.

But initially let’s acknowledge what the network is getting right. Some of the network’s staple programming — ‘Hockey Odyssey’ and ‘Hockey Academy,’ for instance — is quite good, carrying strong production values and well serving the larger hockey community. These 30-minute programs are not easy to produce, nor do they offer the promise of delivering big revenue returns for their costs. These are acts of TV goodwill by the league for its supporters.

The network also deserves plaudits for its coverage of the most recent NHL Draft, most particularly for carrying forward coverage all the way through on Day 2. The draft has become a bit of a cult hit for the league, and so it’s a natural fit on the league’s TV network.

I was also very impressed by the NHL Network’s presence in Buffalo in the leadup to, and after-event coverage of, the Winter Classic. When the NHL hosts a special event, its network seems to rise to the occasion.

But covering hockey in the dead of winter ought to be like breathing for the rest of us for this network.

I’m not an XM subscriber, but I’m familiar enough with the characteristics of XM 204 to know that puckheads who have it are grateful for it. The league has something good going with XM, and in-season, when the NHL Network broadcasts all two hours of ‘NHL Live’ each day, that’s quality programming. Repeating it in the early evening is wise as well, as most fans aren’t home at 10:00 a.m. to view it. The network in the offseason suffers to some extent by losing such a program, which offers engaging in-studio interactions with serious league insiders like E.J. Hradek and their thoughtful take on league developments, delivered informally and always with enthusiasm. That’s a winner of a TV formula, and the network needs to find some manner of replacement for it in the offseason.

It seems to me that there needs to be a recognition by the network that its patrons in summer are, on some level, seeking an escape from summer heat, from baseball — from NASCAR most particularly. It’s then when we most need images and associations of our frozen game. So why not offer up a re-broadcast of the very first league-sponsored outdoor game, the Heritage Classic, when frosty Edmonton froze up the event’s Zambonis? Some NHL teams are now annually holding one or more practice sessions outdoors (as the Caps do at Chevy Chase Country Club). Footage from those affairs would be especially novel to view in the dog days of summer.

There are also compelling stories emerging from every NHL summer Development Camp. The league’s network should be broadcasting press conferences and prospect interviews and even snippets of scrimmages. When George McPhee beamed in front of cameras at Kettler Capitals last week about the arrival of the Frozen Four in Washington next spring, that was an occasion for all of hockey to celebrate. This is not a league or a sport that goes dark in the dead of summer (influencing, incidentally, the genesis of OnFrozenBlog) — and its TV channel ought to reflect that.

I’ve yet to see ‘Slapshot’ air on the network. May I ask why? Schedule that for one summer Saturday night, and promote it with an appearance by the principal actors offering commentary in interludes, and see if more than 17 folks tune in (the Canadian Parliament will go out of session).

This is a league that is chronicled, on line, by some of the most creative and talented commentators in all of sports. Why wouldn’t the league open up a few hours of its offseason each week on the NHL Network to the wit and wisdom of its bloggers? “My NHL” was advertised by the league just a couple of seasons ago. Make it so on the network in summer, and eventually year round. After all, we’ve given traditional media a fair century at the endeavor, to underwhelming reviews.

The NHL was bold and beautiful with its idea of a Winter Classic; similarly, it needs to be bold and beautiful with its around-the-clock television broadcast branding. Especially during Redskins’ training camp.

Filed in Blogs, Don Cherry, Hockey, Hockey Movies, Internet, Media, Morning cup-a-joe, NHL Network, National Hockey League, Stanley Cup Playoffs, The Winter Classic, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (13)

Dave Fay Memorial Hockey Game and Silent Auction - Sat, 19 July, 2008

By The OFB Team
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

It is not often we publish the full text of a press release — in fact we have never.  It is also not often we are asked to help spread the word of such an important event.  We encourage you to catch some live puck action Saturday night, bid on some fantastic hockey items, or even send a check to Put Cancer on Ice.

PUT CANCER ON ICE to Hold Second Annual Dave Fay Charity Hockey Game and Silent Auction to Benefit Hockey Fights Cancer

July 14, 2008 - Washington, DC - Put Cancer On Ice™ (PCOI) will hold the Second Annual Dave Fay Memorial Hockey game this Saturday July 19, 2008 at 8:30 p.m. at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia.

With support from the Washington Capitals and the NHL Hockey Fights Cancer, PCOI will augment this year’s game funds by holding a silent auction for authentic, autographed NHL and Capitals team items.  The 14 auction items include a Western Conference All-Stars jersey, a Nicklas Backstrom jersey, and a Limited Edition Young Guns (Ovechkin, Backstrom, Green and Semin) signed and framed poster, among others.  A full listing and photos of the auction items may be found on the PCOI website at www.putcanceronice.org.

“We have received amazing support from the Capitals organization, the NHL and the entire community for this grassroots event,” declared Rob Keaton, PCOI co-chair. ”Likewise, the Fay family has been helpful and encouraging of our efforts.  Mrs. Fay will join us Saturday evening and we will proudly display Dave’s 2007 Hockey Hall of Fame Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award.”

Dogfish Head Alehouses of Maryland and Virginia join annual PCOI sponsor, Mirant, in supporting this event. “Our Maryland versus Virginia format fit perfectly with the Dogfish locations.  Their support has allowed us to arrange for official event jerseys for each team commemorating the event,” explains Gavin Toner, another event co-chair, “and the assistance and support we have received from Beth Lenz and the entire Kettler Captials Iceplex team for this event, as well as our regular monthly games, has been instrumental in our success.”

The addition of local sports announcers, Steve Kolbe and Wes Johnson, has players for this year’s Memorial anticipating hearing their names called in true Capitals style.  “What started out a few years ago as a casual, monthly pickup hockey game among Caps fans has developed into a charity that we all are excited to be a part of,” explains Toner.

“What the PCOI group had done to honor Dave – and to fight cancer – is so appreciated,” offers Patricia Fay, Dave’s wife.

“We are honored and excited to again hold this event.  Dave’s support of our sport and unbiased, reliable reporting of the Washington Capitals made him a favorite of players and fans alike. Dave’s untimely passing from cancer last year was a loss for so many and we are pleased to again donate all proceeds from this event to Hockey Fights Cancer,” said Keaton.

We invite you to come out and watch the game and cheer on your home team as they play to win Lord Brown’s Boot and support the fight against cancer.  There is no admission fee to watch the game, but donations are always appreciated.

For event information, visit the organization’s website at www.putcanceronice.org.

Filed in Charity, Dave Fay, Hockey Heroes, Washington Times| Permalink| Comments (4)

NHL.com Prospect Spotlight: The League Likes the Look of Caps’ Q Leaguers

By The OFB Team
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The promise of the Caps’ prized prospects from the Quebec League, Mathieu Perreault and Francois Bouchard, has caught the attention of the NHL’s web site. Tuesday’s superb feature includes some eye-opening assessments from Caps’ GM George McPhee. On Perreault’s size:

“While the knock on the 5-foot-8, 151-pound Perreault is his small frame, Washington General Manager George McPhee has looked beyond that in making his evaluation.

“He’s not a big kid, but he’s a very bright player and we’ve always said that if you’re good enough, you’re big enough,” McPhee told NHL.com.

We’ve been big supporters of Perreault’s since we laid first laid eyes on him at his first Development Camp, but in this piece he flexes a bit of moxie in responding to critics who see only his size: “I feel I’ve already proven I’m better than a sixth round player,” he told NHL.com. He is also inspired by another undersized Q graduate — Daniel Briere.

“(Briere) is a smaller player like me, but he’s not scared of anything and very smart on the ice,” Perreault told NHL.com. “He’s the type of player I want to become. Ever since I started playing hockey, my size has really been a motivating factor and the fact (McPhee) would say something like that means a lot. Really, though, my size is never something I think about on the ice. I just go out there and play my game as if I were a bigger hockey player. I won’t change a thing and if (McPhee) thinks I’m doing well, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.”

Is there quality character stacking up high in this organization or what? In noting that Bouchard was among the final cuts made at 2007’s training camp NHL.com demonstrated that it had done its research on the Caps’ other Quebec prospect. This is the type of reporting that’s all too infrequent in mainstream hockey media.

Filed in Development Camp, Francois Bouchard, George McPhee, Internet, Mathieu Perreault, Media, National Hockey League, Prospects, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (0)

Ted’s Take on Spirit

By The OFB Team
Sunday, July 13, 2008

Reaction to the news of the Capitals Spirit Squad has been quick and largely negative.  Today, Ted Leonsis responded to the criticism on his blog, Ted’s Take.  He states that sponsors have requested a group like this for several years and the revenues from such sponsors are needed to pay for the increased player payroll.

The organization will proceed with the squad which will be “fairly consistent across the league and across sports.”

“We will develop this team in the best manner possible and we will not offend anyone. … I am a family man with a wife and a daughter. I promise we will not offend anyone with the Capital Spirit team. “

Filed in Blogs, Ice Girls, Ted Leonsis, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (33)

2008 Development Camp Final Scrimmage Live Blog

By The OFB Team
Saturday, July 12, 2008

Join us at 10:00am today when we will join Eric McErlain of the Sporting News and the AOL Fanhouse and Chris Poisal, Public Relations Assistant for the Hershey Bears, for some live blogging of the action. If you cannot make it out to Kettler, join us right here with your Saturday morning cup-a-joe.

Filed in Blogs, Development Camp, Francois Bouchard, Hershey Bears, Internet, John Carlson, Josh Godfrey, Karl Alzner, Keith Seabrook, Mathieu Perreault, Michal Neuvirth, OFB, Oskar Osala, Sasha Pokulok, Simeon Varlamov, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (7)

Saturday Live Blogging from Kettler Capitals

By The OFB Team
Thursday, July 10, 2008
For this Saturday’s Development Camp concluding scrimmage at 10:00, we’ll join Eric McErlain of the Sporting News and the AOL Fanhouse and Chris Poisal, Public Relations Assistant for the Hershey Bears, for some live blogging of the action. For those of you who cannot make it out to Kettler, join us right here with your Saturday morning cup-a-joe.
Filed in Blogs, Development Camp, Hershey Bears, Internet, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Media, Prospects, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (0)

Simeon Varlamov: Stranger in a Strange Land

By pucksandbooks
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Varlamov contemplates his future

Varlamov contemplates his future

Simeon Varlamov is an exceptionally driven competitor, and like all of his prospect peers, passionate about his sport. But today he is very much a stranger in a strange land. We hope that our video of his first formal press conference in Washington yesterday illustrated how isolated he is here. According to Varlamov, his father will be coming over at some point to offer support, but today he speaks zero English, and he told us yesterday that he can receive precious little instruction and guidance from anyone affiliated with the Caps, on or off the ice. That’s a remarkable realm of isolation, and frankly, I find it deeply lamentable.

As a native Washingtonian, I abhor the thought of any young man or woman seeking some manner of the American dream, however that’s defined, so isolated. This existence highlights the global origins of elite hockey talent, but also, from my vantage, the dire need for some manner of warm welcoming to be institutionalized not just by the Capitals but by all NHL clubs.

During yesterday’s presser, I imagined ahead to Varlamov being on the Hershey Bears’ long bus rides this coming season. I thought it harrowing for him to be riding those linguistically isolated from his teammates. It’s a real challenge I think for the Capitals’ organization. But I don’t think that hockey clubs should be singled out for more or less “hoping” that a foreign player’s presence here and immersion in our culture will eventually render them, at some point, comfortable; I think it’s a part of a long-standing American creed – a “tough love” expectation, a rough “rite of passage” into America for our newcomers. But I also believe it’s one that we ought to rigorously revisit.

Simeon expressed his intent to enroll in English classes yesterday, and hopefully he will arrive in Hershey this autumn with at least a rudimentary command of English basics. But like every other member of the Capitals’ organization, he ought to feel every bit as welcomed in the room as the right wing from Connecticut. How can one, though, when the most basic communication with teammates is impossible?

Our friend Dmitry Chesnokov was 14 when he moved from Moscow to the UK to study. “The first few weeks away from home were the toughest in terms of the language barrier, even though I had, what I thought at the time, was a very good grip on English. It wasn’t,” he told me.  Chesnokov found that adjusting to the culture took much longer.

“It was still somewhat easier for me, than what Varlamov will have to go through,” he added. “I came from a large city with a lot of Western influence — you know that Moscow is anything but a small Russian town.  Varlamov is from a much smaller Russian city. Thus, it will be harder for him.

“Language barrier is the most important factor,” Chesnokov noted. “Without [command of English] one cannot go grocery shopping, rent an apartment, buy a car, learn the rules of life in America. And most importantly, one cannot communicate with others here. Communication is vital to learning the way of life in America, to making friends — which is important! – and to get the job done well in net because one would not be able to understand coaches’ instructions.

“In Russia each team holds camp for a couple of months. They live together, train together, travel together, etc. A lot of times before games Russian teams do not live at home with their families, but at a hotel adjacent to or incorporated into their practice facility. It might be changing now, but it is still very different from the NHL. Varlamov will have to learn to train on his own, get ready for the season alone: rent a rink, hire a personal trainer, etc.

And last but certainly not least, Chesnokov pointed out, there is the issue of homesickness.

“Living in a different city in the same country could be lonely, let alone half across the world where food is different, people have different habits — like smiling to others, as weird as that sounds.

“After the official presser when I asked him whether he was staying in the U.S. to look for a house, buy a car, etc., he told me there was no way, because he would “die” of boredom with no one to talk to.”

Filed in Development Camp, Dmitry Chesnokov, Hockey, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Prospects, Simeon Varlamov, Sovetsky Sport, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (30)

KHL Head: “Most likely, today [Fedorov] will sign a new contract with Washington”

By The OFB Team
Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Sergei Fedorov at the World Championships - photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Sergei Fedorov at the World Championships - photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Our thanks to Sovetsky Sport’s Dmitry Chesnokov for tracking down and translating the following piece of intriguing news:

At a press conference today in Moscow, Alexander Medvedev, the head of the newly formed Continental Hockey League, or KHL (which repaced the Russian Super League after the 2007-08 season), told Pavel Lysenkov of Sovetsky Sport:

“It is sad that we will not see Sergei Fedorov in the KHL. Most likely, today he will sign a new contract with Washington.”

Of course, around this time last week, things looked pretty good for re-signing Cristobal Huet.

Dmitry also relays that according to Lysenkov, Medvedev is on the board of the SKA St. Petersburg hockey club, which was involved in negotiations with Fedorov. Medvedev was attending a press conference at the Gazprom offices today regarding the KHL and its new logo. This was when Medvedev was asked about Fedorov.

A little before 11:00 this morning, the Capitals told us that, “We’re still negotiating with Sergei and remain hopeful that he will return to the Capitals.”

Acquired from Columbus at the NHL trade deadline last February, Fedorov tallied 13 points in 18 regular season games with the Caps and added 5 points in seven playoff games in the first round against the Flyers.

Filed in Dmitry Chesnokov, Pavel Lysenkov, Sergei Fedorov, Sovetsky Sport, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (11)

ESPY - Best NHL Player

By The OFB Team
Monday, July 7, 2008

Alex Ovechkin has been nominated for yet another award. Alex is looking to add the ESPY for Best NHL Player to his mantle already sporting trophies with the names Ross, Richard, Hard, and Pearson. What makes the ESPY a bit different is that award winners are selected exclusively through an online fan balloting conducted from amongst candidates selected by the ESPY Select Nominating Committee

Voting is set to end this week, so be sure to visit espys.tv and make sure the award does not go to one of the other nominees — Sidney Crosby, Pavel Datsyuk, Jarome Igilna and Evgeni Malkin.

The 2008 ESPY Awards will be held on Sunday, July 20, at the Nokia Theater L.A. Live in Los Angeles and will be hosted by Justin Timberlake.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, ESPN, Evgeni Malkin, Hockey, National Hockey League, Sidney Crosby, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (9)
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