In Glacialis Blog

Plures, comprehendo nostrum own pucksandbooks, erant ex urbs quod a suum computers per feriae ut magnus novus ledo. Iuvo reprehendo vos sursum in weeks’ vices, weve’ congero nonnullus links ut a numerus of articles. Erant’ reus habeo requiro nonnullus, sic sentio solvo dimitto nos a ineo per a link ut absentis article.

• A Visum ex Vilis Sessio: Hanlon Sicco, Boudreau In
• A Visum ex Vilis Sessio: Tersus Slate
• Bleacher Opinio: Caps’ Skid Sumptus Hanlon Suus Officium
• Canada.com: Caput Incendia Caput capitis Cogo Hanlon
• Caput Insider: Hanlon Incendia
• Dump quod Fugo: Ex Archives
• In Cella: Cogo Hanlon Incendia
• Hockey Novus: NHL Gig diu Coming pro Boudreau
• FanHouse: Glacies Ovis: Bruce Omnipotens
• Globe quod Mail: Populus Hanlon has run ex refero
• Lancaster Online: Gero’ cogo proveho ut Caput
• James Mirtle: Terminus pro Hanlon
• Pium- Novus: Boudreau Takes Super Caps
• Pium- Novus: Boudreau A Victor
• Incomparabilis Prognosticator: Change
• Lusum Novus: Caput incendia Hanlon, proveho AHL cogo
• Lusum Novus: Vicis runs sicco in Caps’ Hanlon
• Sol solis Herald: E- Mare Wolves cogo protelo Caput
• Tribune-Democrat: Iugum of e-Johnstown ludio ludius ascend coaching ladder
• Iugum Rector: Boudreau gets suus chance
• Walton, Wired & Unwired: An Patefacio Tabellae ut Caput Populus
• WashingtonCaps.com: Caput Restituo Hanlon
• WashingtonCaps.com: Postgame Notebook
• Lavatio Stipes: Hanlon Sicco ut Cogo
• Lavatio Stipes: Boudreau est Laurifer in Suus Debut
• Lavatio Vicis: Boudreau Nomen Caps Cogo
• Lavatio Vicis: Nixor Caput licentio Hanlon
• Lavatio Vicis: Backstrom’s Vir Buoy Caps
• Winnipeg Sol solis: NHL Imbuo

Duos members of Lavatio Caput’ prosapia hodie adepto adduco in Hockey Aula of Laus: Scott Stevens, quisnam ludio ludius duodeviginti seasons per Caps, quod tardus Dave Fay, teams’ pello pepulli pulsum opinio pro Lavatio Vicis pro prope a vicus century. Hockey Aula of Laus textus page dedi poignant profiles pro totus members of 2007 ordo of inductees.

Mike Vogel est in Toronto pro ceremony, neque nec surprisingly, hes’ merged res libenter, having iamlima nonnullus sententia in an OHL venatus cepit in per Ron Weber quod Vicis’ Corey Masisak is weekend, quod featured venatus’ tunc valde talentum, 2009 draft eligible Jonathon Tavares of Oshawa Imperator.

Scilicet puteus’ polleo video vidi visum snippets of inductees’ sermo tonight in inter periods of venatus, tamen per Corey quod Mike vestis proceedings optimus ratio mos adveho ex Lavatio scriptor is week.

Update[: NHL Network ero televising 2007 Hockey Aula of Laus Induction Ceremony tonight ex 730pm: 930pm:]

Lavatio Vicis’ lusum res opinio Tim Lemke prodigo a numerus of weeks interviewing a numerus of tellus’ hockey bloggers, suus penitus piqued per suum prevalence in Quin Center press arca archa pro Caps’ venatus. “haud team in professio lusum dedi quantus quantus unfettered obvius ut bloggers ut Caps,” Lemke writes huic oriens’ Vicis.

“scriptor ex a dimidium-dozen alius blogs, comprehendo Iocus’ Rink, DC Bene quodA Visum ex Vilis Sessio, es in premises, cranking sicco stipes ut analyze panton ex Caps’ novus similitudo ut Turbo’ vox- lascivio tutaminis. They es affectionately accersitus “blogger populus” quod es secui of proventus — quod unique — ars per Caps comprehendo novus interventus exitus quinymo quam servo lemma procul an telum’ tractus.

Nos erant proprie appreciative ut Lemke promeritum Off Pennae Sententia’ Eric McErlain pro suus persona in fundo protocols pro bloggers volens tectum team.

“McErlain opus per Leonsis quod Caps’ publicus consanguinei baculus in professio a “Bloggers Bill of Vox” ut would tribuo obvius ut plurrimi strenuus bloggers dum outlining sceptrum of etiquette quod professionalism.”

Lemke infero per excipio Ted Leonsis’ commitment ut novus interventus vestis suus team quod suus lusum:

“quis venio si Caps planto a profundus lascivio run?”

“tunc they can adveho sit in proprietas box,” Leonsis said. “peius’ reperio lemma a locus sedeo. Spero nos have ut proventus. Id’ amo ut exsisto vultus procul ut plurrimi novus interventus-savvy, blog-centric of teams. Si nos lucror, ut network iustus succurro vos ut servo ut momentum iens”

Vos can lego Lemkes’ piece hic.

EGO suscipio benevolens feedback nuper ex Socius Press opinio Peter Kerzel, quisnam penned Caps’ praevius huic seasons’ THN Annual Yearbook. Vos may repeto meus consilium ut Kerzels’ lima, quod featured curiosus forecasted versus iunctura inter alius alio ratio, vindico infigo of res a bit outdated for is lector. Volvit sicco, Kerzel had habeo suus forecast submitted ut THN emendator in alter week of July — “ vix satis vicis pro solvo procurator impetro subcribo” Kerzel told mihi.

“nos erant licitus facio nonnullus changes exordium of sequens week,” Kerzel cuspis sicco, “ tamen procul ut cuspis, panton eram formatted quod libri sent ut press sic they could exsisto in repono per medium- ut tardus Ales”

Hic’ quam mane in estas is praevius eram penned: Kerzel collaborated in exertus per Lavatio Vicis’ Dave Fay.

“Dave sententia is had a pulchellus bonus tracto in personnel,” Kerzel said. “nimirum, ut eram pro Fleischmanns’ ascension, Kozlovs’ permoveo ut center, Backstroms’ permoveo ut pennae, [ quod] Expedio’ permoveo ut tertius versus”

“Ive’ run in is same proventus pro, ut vestis Caps quod putting una a praevius pro Lusum Novus. annus Lavatio us Jagr, professio eram consummated philologus procul mortifer pro effingo futurus finalized.”

“nisi parumper vere bonus emendator, a guy nomen Ray Slover, quisnam succurro mihi verto a rewrite in a dime – dum etiam servo idem eadem idem amount of tractus ut had iam been allocated – universitas praevius could have been ex balanus fere statim. Suus’ iustus an inherently molestus secui of processus”

In suus praevius Kerzel picked Caps compleo 10th in Oriens is season. “ego etiam reputo Caps es in ebullio tenus playoffs go,” is told mihi, vox pro season opener. 

Kerzels’ THN praevius is estas quoque dedi nonnullus emineo pius lacuna pro teams’ bloggers.

“universitas animadverto of blogging has vere caught incendia. Unus of meus baseball  pals, Roch Kubatko of [Baltimore] Sol solis, eram donatus blog officium a iugo of annus abhinc quod wasnt’ certus quis facio of it – demotion? Penuria of penitus ex bulla? Duos annus laxus, suus baseball ruminations es plurrimi puteus- lego blog in ullus of vexillum’ newspapers’ blogs. Hes’ developed a cult subsequens.

“quod EGO can narro pro certus ut blogging has changed via plurimus interventus exitus propinquo suum jobs. EGO teneo per meus opus pro AP, quod quispiam can blog is ilicet in a cotidie paper site opes weve’ got nostrum feet ut incendia converto novus ultum cito illa dies”

An rudimentum ut suggero a voluntas of aer EGO congressus in quod super Quin Center orsa tardus Imbuo meridianus:

445: p.m.: Nos operor non have quisquam appositus hockey tempestas. Verum, pedes down 6th St. sub a aestuo sol solis, Im’ incommoditas in mereo bluejeans quod a res shirt. Tamen Im’ melior off quam six fans EGO obduco quisnam es outfitted in novus rutilus Reebok Caps’ sudo; they es collapsed quod obduco sicco obviam Quin Center moenia, sudo fluo off suum templum. Plaga Excolo recro lemma per amotio novus sudo quod restituo lemma per vetus CCMs. Fere instantly fans revoco.

Serio, EGO saw a mediocris numerus of fans in illa rib-huggers sicco in estus, quod nullus of lemma videor ut exsisto moving 9 sentio ocius quam mihi.

Caps have a numerus of tener, venustas baculus scurrying super 6th quod RESURRECTIO Vicus in Segways dispensatio sinus schedules.

505:: Ille Forma’ Caps’ quod Veneficus’ apparatus repono, quod nemo videor scio est nomen quis iam, facile has 60 vel 70 shoppers in is duos hora pro venatus. Suus’ vere per difficilis moveo inter in, suus’ sic congested. Illic est torqueo secundum torqueo of novus colo colui cultum quod logo caps, quod they es evanidus velox. versus procul duos subcriptio es convenienter six vel septem populus profundus. teams’ novus vultus has been fabrica in a vulgus array of formo huic shop, quod suus’ videlicet populus per fans in oris nox noctis domi.

Tergum foris en iter itineris ut press porta, EGO occupo super an prodigiosus os: a manus manus of super 25 vel 30 men quod women — plerumque men — congregated in 7th St. taedium fervens rutilus wigs, rutilusindutus, quod rutilus athletic shoes. Is est haud vulgaris oris nox noctis of hockey domi, EGO reputo.

520:: Predictably, suus’ novitas- nox noctis turba in press lounge. Comcast inter alius broadcast exitus est effectus a longinquus foris rink, tractus multus of interventus alio whod’ secus exsisto in lounge. EGO supervenio in lounge per a absentis lustro varius interventus pro suum veneratio slottings of Caps in Oriens is season. Hic’ quis EGO perficio:

Mike Vogel: 3rd (obviously, is has Caps victor Inferus)

Ron Weber: 10th (ouch!)

Eric McErlain: 7th

Corey Masisak: 7th

Dmitry Chesnokov: 6th

600:: In press arca archa Im’ sessio inter Eric McErlain quod Dmitry Chesnokov. Voluntas, meus hockey erudio ero provectus tonight, quod Peius’ quoque have statim vexillum of bonus amicitia. Ut vox of Eric est a Vox vocis of America opinio exemplar ex Czech Res publica. A iugo of opinio in nostrum row profero ut Caps have reservo a press arca archa opus tractus — totus season porro — pro mortuus Dave Fay. EGO profero ut VOA guy ut meus recordatio eram ut Mr. Leonsis statutum tempus ut excolo intus a dies vel duos Daves’ decessio nos. Incidentally, solum of page 1 of Caps’ 2007 Interventus Rector portatus a dedication ut Fay.

615:: Im’ in levamen area of press arca archa, quod est partially vas in, quod questio quietis illic quoniam Tim Lemke of Lavatio Vicis est interviewing mihi super blogging quod suus labefactum in Caps. Is emailed mihi a week vel sic abhinc quod edoctus mihi ut hed’ iam orator per Eric McErlain ( bonus informatio, ut) quod Jon Press.

spatium permaneo diutius quam EGO sententia is would simplex quoniam Tim quod EGO have a verus interesting quod securus verto, quod is asks bonus questions. Quoque, quoniam EGO diligo sermo super is thema. Lemke profero suus infigo ut quattuor nostrum loco multus of opus in OFB. EGO dont’ per teneo quam ut respondeo; objectively vos could positus ut nos devoveo a sanus numerus of hora sulum week ut site, tamen vel ut Im’ stilus procul 200: vel 300: in oriens, gnarus Peius’ exsisto dragging in muneris tunc dies per mane meridianus, EGO nunquam visum nisus ut opus.

Plenus promptum ( quasi): three vicis EGO scisco Lemke verto off suus recorder ut nos can chat off record. Volo ut suggero him ut plenus a voluntas ut possible of quis has venio nobis super preteritus annus, quod varius members of hockey defero have partis me, per aliquantum of libertas, quis they sentio civitas of res interventus in D.C. futurus. Mike Vogel quondam told mihi ut 80 sentio of quis audit in suus hockey eo necesse has ut terminus sursum in talea cella solum. “suus’ a bonus via servo amicitia” is told mihi. (persevero)

Suus’ a dies of sileo non tantum pro Lavatio Caput’ ludio ludius quod cogo — puteus, ludio ludius utique — tamen pro teams’ fanaticus communications baculus pariter. Res sicco procul Kettler quantus quantus EGO have been preteritus 10 dies, EGO lucrum a profundus appreciation pro commitment of Nate Ewell, Julie Petri, Paul Rovnak, quod Mike Vogel, inter alius. Suum dies per castra suscipio mane quod terminus tardus, quod nunc of annus theyre’ non tantum facilitating unus of graviter interventus flows subsequens castra in annus tamen quoque putting una in-season communications uber, talis ut Interventus Rector. Suus’ forecast futurus a attonitus tardus September Sunday hodie, quod Spero theyre’ totus sicco having fun in fun quod recharging suum batteries.

pause in in- glacies factum est a bonus vicis sumo prosapia of quis Caps have perficio eatenus in quis EGO puto est plurrimi maximus palaestra castra in norma’ history. EGO no punctum per meus saluto lustro hockey-savvy caput capitis quoque captus in cotidie effectus procul Kettler, ex procer quod broadcast opinio ut socius bloggers ut fans in sto, quod herewith Im’ misceo suum plumbum storylines of castra ut balanus per meus own.

• Superbus Papa. Ive’ ordine seen Erus Leonsis ut palaestra castra testis per preteritus 10 dies, quod dum suus’ verus hes’ haud diutius involved per dies- ut- dies operations of AOL, is somes a districtus communications vir. EGO reputo quis’ venio per suus palaestra castra penitus campester speculum ut of ceterus nostrum: species quod depth of norma in propono est sic infigo vos es iuste subigo facio trinus sicco illic quod simplex ostendo sum in verto angulus of teams’ competitiveness.

• Nylander ut versus 2. Duos annus abhinc Michael Nylander left Lavatio ut a valde bonus hockey ludio ludius. Is cado hes’ reverto tamen perfectus sic videor ut exsisto magis a astrum. Hes’ a dynamic playmaker, in confuto valetudo. Quod dum fere sulum in hockey is estas forecasted an Ovechkin-Nylander caput capitis- versus iugum, via tergum in July Caput capitis Cogo Glen Hanlon valde palam civitas suus intention of experimenting per caput capitis-6 porro iunctura, quod eatenus in castra, emineo chemistry videor habeo melded inter Alexander Semin, Michael Nylander, quod Nicklas Backstrom ut Hanlons’ secundus iunctum.

• Lubricus Swede Secui II. Narro of Backstrom, sit irrefutably questus levamentum in North American- amplitudo ovis of glacies — condita progressio “ in a cotidie basis,” ut laudo meus amicus Mike Vogel. Procul orbis terrarum Championships in Moscow in May, quondam Solio quod Swedish Populus Team Caput capitis Cogo Bengt Gustafsson told nos ut Backstrom would planto ut transitus successfully quod rationabiliter celeriter, quod is eram vox. Tim Leone sursum in Ipsa reputo is in Backstroms’, quod Caps’, optimus penitus pro him habeo a vas of capulus per Gero is season. Aint’ venio.

• Suus’ meus puck, quod Im’ servo is. Caps dont’ ( etiamnunc) have a dominor shut-down tutaminis, sic Glen Hanlons’ ars pro amplio defensabiliter lascivio is season sileo per suus stipes suscipio possessio of puck magis sepius quam in preteritus duos seasons, ut sepius they fugo is inter rink in futile formo. Si vos have puck magis sepius quam vestri contradictio, vestri calx isnt’ adepto apt ut visio 40 vel 50 offa sulum nox noctis, quod trado quinque vel six calx plurimus nox noctis. Eatenus, is ars videor futurus captus habitum. In palaestra castra’ scrimmages quod per Caps’ primoris three preseason venatus, vos can animadverto magis puck possessio quod fewer netminders collapsing ex fatigo.

• Caput, Meus Caput/ Filius of Kono-Dahlen-Halpern. Ive’ changed meus visum in cloning, propter Sarcalogos Expedio. Voluntas haud irreverens ut Dale quod suus secretum sudo, tamen should Expedio caput Caps ut a Sto Vas titulus una of tunc three seasons, is mos have futurus contemplor ut optimus quod plurimus maximus caput in team history, having rector team ex sterilis of an unprecedented solum sicco ut pollicitus terra. Quod sitting hic in September 2007, EGO wouldnt’ sto in versus ut beneficium obviam is. (animadverto Carolina ‘05-06, Tampa ‘03-04.)

Is est Sarcalogos Expedio’ team- primoris, duos- via versatility ut has Glen Hanlon fantasizing super a duos- via, labefactum tertius versus per versus of valde Steve Konowalchuk, Jeff Halpern, Ulf Dahlen trio of pauci annus abhinc. Ut versus, youll’ repeto, eram sic dominor ut Ron Wilson patefacio iustus super sulum venatus per is. Is eram quoque unus ut eram a lynchpin ut Caps’ postseason participation. cogo has told interventus ut hes’ vultus pro 60 calx ex suus tertius versus is season, quod donatus defensabiliter acumen of Expedio quod Boyd Gordon, quod Res Pettingers’ obscoena pop, suus’ rectus ut precor KDH comparison.

Im’ quoque non wagering in Expedio’ obscoena uber stringo, dramatically, per rectum of suus dropping tenus versus 3. Ut is innotesco sui in Interventus Dies, hes’ prodigo preteritus duos seasons captus amoveo obviam amo of Zdeno Tutela quod caput capitis defensabiliter pairings. Minor sic, is would videor, orsa is season.

• Profundus Depth. Caps is weekend have 35 ludio ludius pugna pro macula in oris nox noctis roster. Suus’ rationabiliter securus ut forecast alius quinque cuts, tamen insulto ex super 30 ut 23 is another matter. To put it charitably, the Caps’ are in uncharted territory, post-lockout, in terms of the skater quality they’ll be showcasing out at Kettler in week two of camp. This is the most basic and encouraging sign of the overall success of the rebuild.

• Three games, three leads. Through three exhibition games, the Caps have only once fielded a fairly veteran lineup — last Thursday night in Ottawa. They opened in Carolina, against a comparatively veteran Hurricanes’ lineup, dressing only John Erskine and Mike Green on the blueline as guys with significant NHL experience from last season (and with BJ in net). In all three games the Caps have played significant stretches with a lead (twice with two-goal leads). There remain mistakes (penalties) and concerns (penalties) aplenty, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that Coach Hanlon’s strategy of playing a more puck possession game is abundantly evident. In order to win more often, a team must first establish competitiveness, then achieve leads in games. The Caps have accomplished both early in this preseason.

The next step is to close the deal once you have the lead.

• When did Toronto’s print media come to work in Washington? For the first time in my hockey life, I wake each day knowing that with my morning coffee I need to visit the web sites for both of Washington’s big newspapers in order to follow coverage there of Caps’ training camp. There are files there basically every day. And good ones. Additionally, blog files there. This is as it should be, but to our print guys — and most especially the Times’ Corey Masisak, who’s only taking on the beat of a departed legend — good on you.

• Sharp-dressed men. It’s not anywhere near as important as the talent upgrade, but in this the autumn of uniform mischief, the Caps have showcased the best-looking new threads in the entire league. And it’s not even close. I’ll be particularly grateful when those snazzy white uniform system tops are rightfully returned to wearing on home ice.

It’s Siberia-far from their best work, but the Cure have a song titled ‘Friday I’m in Love.’ I awoke and logged on this morning to news from my bloggermate Gus that beginning in just another couple of weeks cable and satellite television providers all across North America would be offering the puck-crazed their long longed-for NHL Network. Twenty four hours of televised hockey seven days a week three hundred and sixty five days a year.

It’s Friday and I’m in television lust.

Heaven I imagine to offer fellas like me non-stop broadcasts of hockey on enlarged screens in high definition, with a few tab-free beers. Wait, that’s now my new home in Montgomery County in three weeks’ time. (I’m not in a mood to be trifled with particulars such as whether or not Comcast will offer the outlet locally; if it doesn’t, I’ll move. Nobody likes Friday joy-buzz-killers.)

In this region where Steve Czabins and their print ilk would have you believe hardly anyone is truly interested in consuming hockey media, I personally know of 61 individuals who will some time next month order the NHL Network.

If this news is dour in any regard, it is from the vantage of my mother, who’d really like to see me married and laboring toward grandchildren for her. How am I to schedule a date in this new broadcast environs? I have to work, bathe, and blog as it is, and now with this news, bid adieu to all future family and social functions.

This morning I’m actually conceiving bloggers’ pajama parties centered around weekends seated before the NHL Network. The Washington Times’ Corey Masisak debuted his very promising looking blog this week; he’d look funny in a set of those footie pajamas. Imagine if we arranged such an event for some February Saturday and a life-stopping Nor’easter settled in on D.C. right as Grapes was in full fury during Coach’s Corner. Even if we had a few laptops among us I doubt you’d hear from us again.

Here’s one strategem for liberating me from my home this autumn and winter: have that marvel of modern multimedia, the Verizon Center’s new assault-all-of-your senses center ice scoreboard, offer two-hour evening feeds of the NHL Network. It’d be like going to the movies. It’d be my best, last chance at socializing again.

The Washington Times’ Corey Masisak has a good article today on Chris Bourque’s early start at the Capitals’ training camp.

“I think this year is a big year for me,” Bourque said. “I think I made some big steps last year from my first year. I am going to do whatever it takes to make it but if not go down to Hershey and do my best down there and see what happens.”

Check it out here.

Jason LaCanfora had the great honor of delivering the eulogy for Dave Fay this past weekend. Jason got to know Dave quite well as they shared the Caps’ beat for rival newspapers for five years. It was a moving and insightful recounting of Dave’s life and work.

Jason and Dave’s wife Pat were kind enough to release the full text of the eulogy to the Capitals’ web site. One passage in particular stood out to me:

I remember visiting Dave and Pat at home and in the hospital in 2004, and being overwhelmed by his zest to work even then. I’d ask him repeatedly why he was in such a rush to get back to that freezing, decrepit rink in Odenton, and the answer was always the same.

He’d say, “[…] if I don’t go out and cover that practice, no one will.”

Dave always feared that his paper would ignore the Caps if he didn’t push so hard to cover every game home and road, even when sick, and, anything less, to him, wouldn’t be fair to the sport, the fans, the players, the team.

Truer words have never been spoken.

With the move from an isolated and ancient Piney Orchards rink to the convenient and modern Balston facility — as well as the growth of blogs dedicated to the Capitals — practices remaining uncovered may be a thing of the past.

Sadly, Dave’s other fear, that newspapers would ignore the Caps without his efforts, is still a concern shared by many. Newspaper circulation and ad revenue are down; as profits decrease, so does quality and coverage. Reporters are increasingly having to cover more ground as cuts are made, thus forcing even the hockey-friendly reporters to make hard choices about where to invest their limited time.

Truer words, indeed.

Our friends at PutCancerOnIce.org will be holding their monthly charity hockey game on July 29th from 2 3:30 pm at Kettler, and will be donating the proceeds to Hockey Fights Cancer in the name of the recently departed Dave Fay.

Please take a moment to head to their website and see how you can get in some summer-time puck and help a good cause while you are at it.

From the Washington Capitals PR Staff:

Viewing and funeral arrangements for legendary Caps beat writer Dave Fay have been made for Friday and Saturday, July 20-21:

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions may be made in Dave’s name to either:

Online condolences may be expressed to Dave’s family at http:/www.staufferfuneralhome.com//.

The hockey world in general, and the Washington D.C. area hockey community in particular, lost a great friend last night, as Washington Times hockey writer Dave Fay finally succumbed to a lengthy illness.

Fay, a fixture on the Caps’ beat for the Times since the early 1980s, brought knowledge, insight, remarkable dedication, and a passion for hockey to his work, and has been one of the defining personalities in coverage of hockey in the Nation’s Capital. His dedication to the sport was recently richly recognized, as he was presented with the 2007 Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award by the Hockey Hall of Fame in late May. He will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this fall.

We at OFB offer our sympathies to the Fay family, and are thankful that we were able to read Fay’s work for so many years. He will be missed.

Update: WashingtonCaps.com’s Mike Vogel shares his thoughts on Fay and his career here.

Memorial contributions may be made in Dave’s name to: Hockey Fights Cancer, PO Box 5037, New York, NY 10185-5037 or Hockey’s All-Star Kids Foundation, National Hockey League, 1251 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Canadian friends may send Memorial contributions to: Hockey Fights Cancer, P.O. Box 1282, Station B, Montreal, Quebec H3B 3K9

All of us had travel commitments last Friday and missed hard copies of the day’s newspapers. A copy of Friday’s Washington Times, however, remained for pucksandbooks in his office on Monday, and Friday’s sports section front from it knocked him out of his chair. Take a gander at the hockey love dramatically illustrated by the Times’ editors for Corey Masisak’s fabulous feature on the lofty state of American hockey these days:

That’s not a blowup of the story, that’s its actual layout. Allegedly there are two other stories on C1 from the Times on Friday — you just can’t find them! Patrick Kane’s hometown paper, the Buffalo News, can’t match this hockey journalism feast.

But beyond the sheer size and splendor of the piece, Corey Masisak delivered a grade A overview of the rocket rise of American hockey development today. “Massive gains” American hockey is enjoying, Masisak wrote. We hockey fans in Washington gained massively from his paper and him on Entry Draft Friday.  

At a time when newspaper editors across the country are demanding that reporters compromise their commitment to their beats with additional and time-consuming assignments, today Mike Vogel discovered the news that the Washington Times’ Dave Fay will receive the highest honor his profession can bestow, for his singular commitment to the Washington Capitals’ beat: he’s headed into the Hockey Writer’s Hall of Fame.

He’ll be inducted this November.

At OFB, we’ve had our share of disagreements with Dave about his assessments of the team in recent years, but we are also aware of his unrivaled commitment to covering our game in this region. Dave has been on the Caps’ beat at the Times since the early 1980s. Disagreements aside, if we had more of Dave’s ilk on the beat hockey wouldn’t be mired in its crazy-Uncle-kept-in-the-attic status it is in the common D.C. newsroom.

May 30 Washinton Times coverage: Corey Masisak; Dan Daly

This statement, blogged yesterday by beat guy Tarik El-Bashir, made me curious:

“it’s another slow day on the Caps’ beat.”

Having spent a fair portion of this spring inside the team’s offices and thought processes, I can assure, there is no dearth of activity or ideas in CapsLand. The transaction wire tells but one tale.

It’s the offseason for some of hockey’s beat reporters, but for the sport’s fans, there is none. Nor for its bloggers. (Most of them, anyway.) And this dynamic may, partly, be undergirding the media realignment we are witnessing within hockey’s coverage.

Both newspapers yesterday chronicled the “news” of Nicklas Backstrom’s impending arrival in Washington, but both accounts, predictably, were pro forma, cut-and-paste jobs from a press release. Meanwhile, Washington hockey bloggerdom was aware of the Swede’s arrival last weekend (some, earlier) and had spent much of May speculating about the young pivot’s winger pairings. Anyway, with present and past as a guide, I’m not sure we can expect any better from the beats.

But the purpose of this post isn’t to play a game of who scooped who (who cares?); the much larger and deeply troubling issue is that at the height of the NHL playoffs the hockey MSM here don’t think there’s anything hockey worth writing about. We also have a certain farm club just up the road making more notable postseason noise.

One of our readers informed us yesterday that on his radio show Thursday morning no less than Tony Kornheiser complained of WaPost’s lack of NHL postseason coverage! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Some months ago an OFB colleague expressed to me his concern about our site’s content come summer. A darkness over the ice necessarily meant lights out on writing ideas, no? I had to laugh. The entire month of June is Christmas Eve for Draftgeeks. Anything worth monitoring come July 1? A week or so later, the reigning MVP of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League will arrive in Washington to take part in the Caps’ summer rookie camp. And he will be joined by that league’s leading scorer from this past season as well as numerous, newly signed collegians of promise. I’m actually thinking of enrolling in Berlitz classes for French.

We have interviews scheduled for the summer that are simply impossible to carry off in-season.

More basically, aren’t the most inspired love letters composed in the absence of the beloved? Soldiers to their girls back home, campus sweethearts separated by summer jobs and vexing geography. The summer, when we’re separated from our mistress the ice, is the birthchild of a renewed yearning. Ironically, the oven-oppressive heat and humidity that plagues our region throughout July and August insulates me in inspiring thoughts of better, colder hours more pleasantly passed. I actually walk to my Metro station, dripping, on those mornings and imagine myself training for the Iditarod.

What manner of lover’s note do we in Hockey D.C. receive from 15th St. and its ilk in summer?

A Dear John.

The Dave Steckel I watched in Atlanta last night looked identical to the one I followed up in New Hampshire and Maine last month — a force in two ends of the rink, but with one key distinction: he occasionally left the ice in his Bears’ sweater for line changes. But last night for Coach Hanlon, I’m not sure I saw him leave the ice in the third period.

It was only one game, but in the season within a season, the one where many guys are making statements to management about jobs for the autumn, Dave Steckel last night announced rather loudly that he’s likely to make a serious run at a roster spot with the parent club come training camp.

Late-round draft gems are my favorite hockey personnel stories, but right behind them are the castoffs who eventually land in outposts of wide open opportunity and defy their previous doubters and develop into impact big-leaguers. We don’t know quite yet if he’s one of those, but to look at the game Dave Steckel is showcasing this year, packaged in a perfect hockey body, is to wonder instantly what in the world the LA Kings were thinking in letting this guy go at the age of 21 or 22. That same organization, perhaps not coincidentally, let go of Bruce Boudreau the same summer.

I’ve never understood traditional media’s general refusal to chronicle the developmental side of pro hockey. You don’t have to be a DraftGeek to recognize that prospects are the lifeblood of NHL teams. But traditional media’s coverage for as long as I can remember has consisted of the names of the drafted and their junior club affiliation each June and between then and their arrival in the NHL years later one vast black hole of white space. It’s certainly no coincidence that the planet’s finest source for pro hockey’s development data and narratives is electronic (hockeysfuture).

Last spring, Tarik traveled to Hershey to cover a Bears’ playoff game, and if I recall correctly, he admitted at the time that it had been his first AHL game in about three years. His file might have been the first of its kind in his paper. Not all that long ago, the Caps had an American League affiliate in Baltimore: the Skipjacks. Those teams, whose alumni included Steve Konowalchuck and Sergei Gonchar, may as well have skated in Siberia as far as the Post was concerned. Check out the four goalies who saw action for the Skipjacks in the 1991-’92 season: Don Beaupre, Jim Hrivnak, Byron Dafoe, Olie Kolzig.

In the print edition of yesterday’s Washington Times, Corey Masisak delivered terrific detail about the feats of Matheiu Perreault, Francois Bouchard, and Steckel. Earlier this year he profiled Kings’ rookie Anze Kopitar, the first NHLer produced by Slovenia. I’m hoping he stays on the beat of the off-the-beaten path of hockey player development.

Hockey players take such varied and soul-challenging routes chasing their big league dreams. Brutal busrides through blizzards over years on $25 a day per diems. Only hockey has the billet family. Players’ development journeys are instant and iconic (Ovechkin), circuitous and anonymous (Steckel), and against-all-odds defying (Cheechoo). They are anything but routine and as such the stuff of terrific story telling.

I’m acutely aware that most Caps’ fans who tuned in to last night’s win in Atlanta had no idea who Dave Steckel was or how he got there. That’s not their fault. But that’s part of the reason why we’re here.

I’m an equal opportunity media critic, and this morning the Washington Times’ Dave Fay reminds me that the one thing worse than no hockey coverage is rank amateur analysis of the game by a media pro. “Wrong direction — Capitals keep getting worse, not better” indicates that not only did Fay get up on the wrong side of the bed before writing but that he’s resorted to message board muddled thinking as inspiration for it.

I think any discussion of Washington as a rank amateur hockey town needs to acknowledge what its hockey fans have to endure from the annointed who cover it. (Mercifully, through the miracle of technological democracy, this is changing.) This morning’s Fay column is exhibit 984.

Where to begin?

How about with this absurdly false premise:

“Two years ago Washington and Pittsburgh started out about the same level — two bad teams with one exceptional talent.”

Look, I understand the proclivity to compare the Caps and Pens; there’s the bitter playoff history, the Patrick division past, the relative proximity of the cities. But for once and for all, can we at last acknowledge the Pens’ privileged draft perch — way, way at the top — the better part of this decade? Was it just El Sid and riff-raf Craig Patrick accumulated in Mulletville as play started up again two years ago? What of no. 1-overall netminder Marc-Andre Fleury? Or Ryan Whitney and his 53 points thus far this season? They arrived with the 5th overall pick in 2002. And since then they’ve been bolstered by immediate-impact, uber-elite talents in Malkin and Staal. Until this season, the Penguins have been Entry Draft lottery fixtures.

The true story behind Pittsburgh’s ascent relative to Washington isn’t so much that it happened but . . . why did it take so long???

In particular, we’d do well to remember the high crime and draft felony perpetrated on the Caps by the league — most particularly to Pittsburgh’s benefit — in 2005. It was then that the league conducted its first post-lockout draft in “snake” style, meaning in even rounds, the draft order was reversed. This mayhem was an attempt to achieve a compromise between those who felt all teams should have had an equal chance at Sidney Crosby and those who felt tradition should reign, and weaker teams should have been in the running (as was the norm). The Caps were coming off a 59-point 2004. The league crafted an unprecedented provision that penalized a team for drafting no. 1 overall the preceding couple of seasons.

The principal effect of this screwjob was to deliver SuperSid to a desired market and award the Caps someone along the lines of say Sasha Pokulok . . . in the middle of the first round. Just two weeks ago I asked Mike Vogel if that summer’s stupidity has set back the Caps’ rebuild. “Without question” was I believe the reaction he offered me.

Speaking of Pittsburgh, though, its owner-savior had an interesting initial few seasons in the big league. Drafted in 1984, he and Pens management delivered the team to the postseason for the first time together in . . . 1989. Was Fay bellyaching about that patience demanded of Penguins’ fans during those five years?

And what are the origins of this Fay rant?:

” . . . the [Caps’] marketing department wants fans to believe they are dealing with the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens.”

Has there been anything either formally or informally intimated by management evocative of dynastic claims? Instead, I’ve noticed public commentary phrased along the lines of “build for competitiveness year-in- year-out . . .,” maintaining roster flexibility with respect to salary additions (and boy won’t that be needed in the summer of 2008, with six key RFAs sitting down at the negotiations table), fostering an organic, build-from-within ethos — the models for which are compelling whether viewed in New Jersey or the Rocky Mountains.

Apparently a captain notching a certain 30 goals on the campaign is a dismissive trifle for Fay: “The Caps are fielding a team that has two players with measureable skill levels — Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin . . . ” Methinks Fay needs some footage of the productivity of recent, preceding Caps’ captains. Ones who’ve been traded for chump change and allowed to walk as free agents. Let’s just say there isn’t a run on Halpern sweaters in central Texas these days.

More message board sub-mediocrity mush:

“Take Alex 1 and 2 off the roster and this is a team that would have trouble winning in the American Hockey League.’

Not if it were coached by Bruce Boudreau, it wouldn’t. But heck, why don’t we just go through 29 other sets of rosters and cherry pick off the prime talent and agree they’d all miraculously be basically unaffected. I mean the Pens without Sidney and Malkin, they’d still sneak in the postseason I’m sure. The Devils without Brodeur and Rafalski, no worries. What’s to be gained with such ludicrous hypotheticals?

I never thought I’d say this, but work like this makes me long for more column space for Danny Snyder’s boys.

Great news on Dave Fay, the Caps’ beat reporter for the Washington Times: he’s recovering well, and his colleagues expect him to begin writing again on hockey soon, likely in the form of some analysis pieces. Dave has been a fixture on the Caps’ beat for the Times really since its inception, in the early 1980s, but had he known that during his convalescence he’d be backed up on the beat by a staffer whose family hails from western Pennsylvania, and who to this day harbors a full-throated, unwavering allegiance to the Pens, I wonder if we might not have seen Fay attempt to blog from his hospital bed.

Certainly I have to chat with Nate Ewell about greater scrutiny of the credentialed.

I met the backup scribe, Corey Masisak, in the Verizon Center press lounge before Wednesday night’s game against San Jose, and his roots notwithstanding, I liked him. I asked to meet with him because a couple of weeks ago I thought that the novelty of his circumstances at the Times — stepping in at a moment’s notice, in the middle of the hockey season, to cover for an area legend fallen ill — suggested a novel story. I came away impressed by his handling of his beat-baptism-by-fire 2007; he is poised and composed and offers a quiet thoughtfulness that belies his youthful appearance.

His has been a fast rise in a nascent journalism career. He left Pennsylvania for the University of Maryland in 2000, drawn to College Park for the quality of its journalism program. He covered various Terrapin sports teams for the school’s well regarded Diamondback student newspaper. He’s been at the Times about three years, where he’s covered minor league baseball and Navy football. His selection to cover for Fay, however, wasn’t entirely related to the quality of his coverage on the other beats.

“In the [Times’] newsroom the editors knew I was the only one who liked hockey,” he told me, laughing.

“Of course it’s not the way you want to start an assignment,” he added.

Back in December, Masisak “shadowed” Fay on a Saturday night Flyers game at Verizon Center. “That was a huge help,” he said. But soon thereafter the beat became his, and while he’d been around the Nationals’ locker room a bit, this was going to be his first full-time assignment covering a pro sports team. He confessed to a serious case of fright.

“I remember doing nothing but intense research — constant reading — the first four nights after I got [the assignment]. Coming in in the middle of the season, I needed to learn names and faces, what the team had done . . . it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.”

The Times, like so many other large print media outlets these days, has seriously scaled back its staffing on team road trips. Masisak, who traveled frequently on the road with Terrapin teams, knows well the value of being seen day in, day out by the athletes he’s cover