Dateline, Philadelphia, January 5, 2012. Three Philadelphia Flyers fans are wanted by Philadelphia police for their role in beating two New York Rangers fans in the immediate aftermath of Monday’s Winter Classic. One of the victims was beaten quite brutally and hospitalized. Video of the assaults emerged. (You can watch it easily enough; I urge that you don’t.) The more seriously maimed victim, turns out, is a cop, an Iraq war vet, a Marine, and a Purple Heart recipient. He had the temerity to attend a big hockey game in Philadelphia wearing the colors of that day’s adversary. You know, just as has happened with every game in every arena and stadium on the continent the past 40 years. But in Philadelphia, this hero of his country was beaten for it, brutally.

I like to think that somewhere in her eternal rest Kate Smith is restless and nauseous.

To me there is something distinctive about this instance of violence relative, say, to that we witnessed in Vancouver after last June’s Stanley Cup finals. Both outbreaks are abhorrent to be sure, but there is in our sport something enduring and singular — and brandished as a badge of honor, even — by the bellicose and beer-swilling  in orange sweaters, somewhat a minority of the overall Flyers fanbase, I think, who for at least a generation have taken it as a blood oath to violently defend their allegiance.

There are fights in the stands at many rinks and ballparks, I know. But it’s really only with one civic outpost that news of them seems to be met with . . . a wildly warped sense of pride.

You see, yesterday I had to endure a soberly stated justification by a Flyers fan — a high school classmate of mine — for what transpired in Monday’s assault: that somehow the Rangers fan, likely loose of victory-bragging tongue, deserved his fate. My Flyers’ partisan high school buddy is a Duke graduate, a Gulf War vet (Marine), a lawyer, a husband and a father. And he thinks as he does in this instance. So I say he’s card-carrying member of a warped culture. I’ll still call him classmate and friend, but yesterday I wondered: just how eager would the hospitalized Rangers fan Marine be to share a foxhole with my Flyers’ friend, and would my friend really have articulated the defense he did with me in front of his daughters?

You want to say that only a tiny sliver of the Flyer fanbase could and would go perp like this, but afforded over many years ample opportunity to disavow themselves of the reputation, collectively they’ve passed. They like the reputation not just of their skating heroes being bullies but of being bullies themselves. That sweater, its wearers want you to know, represents a good deal more than division titles and Stanley Cups won. And it’s been that way for years.

I can’t say that I can recall an instance when the executive leadership of one of Philly’s professional sports teams has led some public initiative to counteract the city’s pride in its twisted embrace of being bullies. Instead, the culture of Philadelphia seems almost to celebrate that their football stadium — and theirs alone in the republic — erected a makeshift courthouse on site to address violent attacks that have become a staple of sports patronage there.

There is a seemingly lone voice of reason up there in all this — the Broad Street Hockey blog. Those bloggers did what the Flyers should have: reluctantly, but courageously, they pushed out video and narrative of this super sad story and condemned the violence. “We say so often that we don’t deserve our reputation as awful monsters moonlighting as sports fans, but when this sort of thing happens, it completely undermines everything we say on the subject,” they blogged.

By about 5:00 yesterday this story had gone viral — Fox News, NBC.com, Puck Daddy were all weighing in on the malevolence. Out of curiosity I visited the Flyers’ web site to see if the public relations damage had occasioned any concern from the team. Maybe the team wanted to intervene and assist the victims’ families in some way. Nope. A band of cretins wearing your sweater pummeled a Purple Heart vet, in broad daylight, fellas. Would it really be beneath you to show some moral leadership and remind your community that this isn’t really behavior that ought to be replicated, again, or even celebrated? This morning there is acknowledgment of injury in Philadelphia on the team’s web site — Kimmo Timonen got dinged (upper body) during last night’s game against Chicago.

I like to think that two forms of justice ultimately will visit the assailants in this crime — the formal one meted out by the courts, and then the other seldom detailed but widely understood, enacted, well out of sight, against those who harm those who sacrifice to keep us safe. More importantly, I hope at long last a story that makes you cry will occasion a leadership long lacking in a bully culture.

A devoted worshiper at the Church of Old Time Hockey, and imbued with resounding cynicism, I couldn’t help but think: We in D.C. have become so saturated with soft, perimeter play by our hockey players — most especially in spring — that it shouldn’t be surprising that some observers here find Callahan’s impression of William Wallace . . . so alien. One interpretation of the perpetual scratching of Jeff Schultz is that the Capitals’ new head coach thinks like I do.

An alternative interpretation of Callahan’s gallantry could go something like this:  That motherf*cker is damned tough to play against, and for the past couple of seasons, the talent-challenged Rangers have well reflected their captain’s grit and determination, by decree of their head coach, and given more talented clubs a real run for their money (especially in spring). Ryan Callahan is one hell of a captain. He will be one hell of an American Olympian captain as well.

Today, that talent gap with the rest of the East for New York has been closed quite a bit, and for me it’s no coincidence that playing inspired, finish-your-checks hockey the Rangers reside at the very top of the conference. Soon, they’ll get their best defenseman in the lineup (Marc Staal), for the first time this season, making them even tougher to play against. The Rangers are built the way serious contenders are — from the net out, big and brawny, with an unmistakable net-clearing ethos in front of the net, and mobile and skilled on the blueline. Served the Bruins rather well last spring.

Perhaps before we criticize another team’s captain and his teammates for excessive sacrifice and courage we ought to see to it that ours is within driving distance of the Viking, Alberta, meter of toughness and tenacity.

The Washington Capitals of the past five years haven’t exactly been known for the selfless sacrifice of their bodies for the betterment of the team, for finishing their checks. In fact, especially in spring, they have fairly earned the reputation of being a team that’s easy to play against, one that comparative lunch pale squads want to draw in the postseason. To state the obvious: there is today no Capitals player quite like Ryan Callahan, and there hasn’t been for some years. Once upon a time, though, there was. The good news is that the former Capitals’ captain is now behind the team’s bench. There, he’s attempting to change a country club culture.

He needs time — cultures, of course, aren’t changed in a week or a month.

Almost certainly, he also needs more Patrick division bodies. More on that in a moment.

Speaking of instructional moments, HBO’s ’24/7′ this month is again affording more stark relief for Capitals fans insofar as how the rugged East comports itself. Watching the intermission exhortations of John Tortorella and Peter Laviolette is not far removed from listening to the warrior words of William Wallace. At their conclusion I find myself clutching my abdomen on my couch to make sure no Rangers or Flyers stick blades make their way through the TV screen at me, and necessarily I’m reminded of the contrast Dan Bylsma brought with our guy on last year’s series (“Hit Green.”).

George McPhee hired Dale Hunter because he believed him to be the best possible coach for the Capitals at the present moment, and part of that formulation perhaps included his conviction that Hunter could be the architect for revamping both the style and ethos of the club. My guess is that Coach Hunter is taking inventory of the roster he has and will report rugged shortcomings to the GM in short order.

The arrival of 2012 really brings a demarcation moment for the Washington Capitals. To posit any plausible playoff success next spring the Caps necessarily will have to get past the pesky and gutsy and supremely sacrificing Rags, the larger and skilled Flyers and Bruins. I’m not sure that as comprised the Capitals would be favored in any series. But 2012 also brings Washington’s return to the reconstituted Patrick division. The Capitals of the past five years have been assembled to compete quite well in the softer Southeast. In the next calendar year the hockey for the guys in  red necessarily gets rougher and tougher.

Looking ahead to 2012 and beyond, there is cause for concern. When you inventory the Capitals’ prospects holdings at Hockeysfuture, with an eye toward who among just the top 15 qualifies as a North American forward prospect tipping the scales at at least 6 ’0, 180 pounds (hardly power forward in stature), the calculation is stunning: zero. Then for fun take a look at the size of the prospect holdings for the Rags, Flyers, Pens, and Devils — and just in their top 10. The Rangers are awaiting on reinforcements like Chris Kreider (6 ’2, 200), J.T. Miller (6 ’1, 198), and defenseman Dylan McIlraith (6 ’4, 215, nicknamed the Undertaker). Philly, ravaged by injury this season, has already received notable contributions from young, big-bodied North Americans like Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier. The Pens have Eric Tangradi (6 ’4, 232), Dustin Jeffrey (6 ’1, 205), Robert Bortuzzo (6 ’3, 196), and Brian Strait (6 ’0, 200) in the pipeline. From the development perspective, we’re coming to the Patrick rechristening party next season with jockeys.

I still suggest that in hindsight it was right to draft the likes of Brian Sutherby, Nolan Yonkman, and Joe Finley. Things didn’t work out with them; injuries eviscerated their respective development. But the Capitals obviously have gotten away from drafting size and guile and grit, and beginning in 2012, they need it badly. Funny: The ‘New-look’ NHL at the top of the East these days rather resembles the old, in stature. The Capitals hold two first-round picks and potentially Colorado’s second-rounder next June. Those picks need to resemble NFL linebackers or safeties in size, and here’s hoping Dale Hunter — uniquely qualified to assess the attributes of top junior talent — is at the draft table for their selection, and subsequently their development.

Realignment Heaven, nearly

Christmas-pinch me: Could it really be that in the very same week Dale Hunter is returned to D.C. legacy-honoring leadership is emerging in realignment discussions, such that our Dick Patrick in particular would feel like a kid at Christmas?

Even recently arrived OFB readers know well our disdain for the scourge that is the Southeast division. This realignment scheme — and it’s merely a proposal that could be voted upon by owners at their meeting this week — takes some serious TNT to the least interesting division in the history of pro sports. As a kissing cousin to the Great Old Patrick division, the proposal differs only with the addition of Carolina. Most importantly, it jettisons the rest of NASCAR country, miraculously sticking it to the historic Habs and Leafs — but under an intriguing premise: there would be, the thinking goes, some synergy between Canadian snowbirds who follow those Florida clubs and the elite markets way up North. Interesting.

Additionally, as part of this scheme, there appears to be something akin to an intriguing sweetheart promise to the historic North Atlantic clubs for accepting the sunbelt orphans: the very real possibility of absorbing a relocated Phoenix team, in Quebec City. The proposal posits a 16-14 split between what could be viewed as East and West alignment, and moving the relocated Coyotes in with the Habs et al would achieve 15-15 balance. I haven’t spoken to many in hockey media ever since Atlanta bolted for Winnipeg who don’t believe that Quebec City will have an NHL team within 5 years. Viva Les Nordiques! That division, even with its Southeast hangers-on, would have serious jam.

The travel for the ‘Ning and the Cats would kinda suck, sure, but who outside Florida cares? It’s the ‘Ning and the Cats, after all. What matters: the Wings are finally happy; nightmarish travel for Western clubs today is significantly repaired, insomuch as there is far greater an equality of travel among all member clubs; and the grave injustice perpetrated by Gary Bettman against Washington in the late 1990s is at long last rectified. If this scheme comes to pass (heavy lifting for it, undoubtedly), I’m sending the commish an OFB Christmas card.

Knowing that NHL owners were meeting this week to discuss realignment (in Pebble Beach, Calif. — nice winter meeting work if you can land it), I actually spent a fair portion of Saturday running errands with a pad of paper and a pen in my Jeep, concocting a variety of realignment lineups — all predicated on returning the Capitals to where they belong: back with Pittsburgh, back with Philadelphia, back with the Rangers, the Devils, and (for now) the Islanders. The problem I kept running into: what do with the Southeast dregs — basically, the Florida teams.

I tried of course pairing them with Nashville, and Columbus. Just when I’d get excited about achieving what I ultimately wanted I’d realize how many Western clubs I had to slide over to the East, creating grave imbalance. In one scenario I even had the Original Six clubs lined up together — talk about generating some serious buzz; no other pro sport could match that kinda fun. But nothing was working out as I’d hoped.

One of the creative tools I was tinkering with was assigning a value to each NHL club based on the likelihood of each one remaining located where it is today, in five years’ time. I raised this notion because when it comes to “radical realignment,” I really believe owners and managers need to consider the very real possibility that a handful of clubs in grave fiscal distress now won’t be where they are today down the road just a bit. This proposal as outlined on CBC last night takes Phoenix’s identity crisis into mind. Odds are at least one or two more clubs will be in a similar situation soon.

Ultimately, we may owe some mistletoe love to the leadership in Philly and Pittsburgh for this scheme. Understandably, those clubs didn’t want any realignment that separated them. The beauty of a reconstituted Patrick division is that it reignites some of the fiercest rivalries in all of hockey south of the border. And when you think about it, given all the Caps and Pens have done for the sport post lockout, how shallow and short-sided would it be to move forward with significant realignment and not put the Flyers, Pens, and Caps in direct warfare with one another? Detroit and Winnipeg obviously need their respective situations remedied ASAP, but thinking large on realignment fosters a big win for the league overall.

Heck, we could really have some fun with this new-look league: How about a Patrick Division Winter Classic round-robin New Years weekend? The top four teams in the division at Christmas get the invite. The stadium atmosphere would resemble European or South American soccer in its potential for violence. Sign me up.

Speaking of division names: This too Bettman needs to be called to the carpet for, and it needs to be rectified as part of radical realignment. If indeed there are four “conferences” established (the new set of four groupings apparently would each be called “conferences”), each should be named after a giant in our sport. I’m not wedded to Patrick, necessarily, for our grouping, but I do believe some blue ribbon panel ought to take All Star weekend, say, and meditate on names like Howe, Orr, Gretzky, as well as some of the builder giants that erected this league. A special trophy ought to be commissioned for each named setup.

Additional attributes of this potentially Heaven-sent setup: A more balanced schedule, featuring home-and-away dates with every club outside of one’s recast division/conference. While there is some concern with increased travel costs with this, I’m of the opinion that two factors override it: Most basically, what is it about the NHL that necessitates geographical isolation, relative to other pro sports? And isn’t there something akin to a moral obligation for the league to showcase its other-worldly talents (Crosby, Oveckin, Stamkos, etc.) in every market, every year? With the present unbalanced schedule if you’re a fan in Western Canada and Crosby’s Pens visited you while he was recovering from a concussion, you’re SOL for years. And divisional playoffs will breed new rivalries and give life to already established ones.

We in Washington are already indebted to Santa for bringing us an early Christmas present this year, but given what the league has put us through with the Southeast, we are entitled to another special gift, I say. Hockey’s greatest rivalry today ought to be organically housed, and in the process the abomination that has ever been the Southeast division ought to be, mercifully if belatedly, euthanized.

Besides, more postseason Preds likely means more television screen time for the only country music performer I’d try and purchase front-row seats to see.

Poile I guess is regarded as a “builder” of NHL franchises as opposed to say a guider of one to glory. I’m not sure that’s fair; he’s only worked in two “small” markets in the NHL, though Washington today certainly can’t be regarded a small market any longer — thanks in no small part to Poile’s work here. He surely built the Caps up from laughingstock to contender. He has also answered the management call of our country for the World Championships on a number of occasions. Did you know that Poile has the word ‘Caps’ tattooed on a discreet region of his frame? So out West it’s easy for me to root for the Preds.

* * * * *

I left the Caps-Rags series with a heightened appreciation for John Tortorella. It was Torts’ Tampa club that took out a Jagr-led Capitals’ team in the 2003 postseason after the Caps won the first two games in Tampa by a combined 9-3 tally, the Bolts winning that series’ next four games. In 2009, Torts’ underdog Rags club pushed the Caps to seven games. And while this year’s Caps-Rags matchup lasted just five games, they were wars, all of them; only in the middle portion of game 5′s third period did you genuinely have a sense that one team was clearly going to get it done comfortably. Totorella seems to me to be a coach who knows not only how to maximize the talent of his roster but tailor his strategy to close talent gaps in series like we just witnessed.

Tortorella’s post-series press conference Saturday evening was chock full of commendably dispassionate analysis and frank introspection. He acknowledged, for instance, his club’s inherent shortcomings: “I don’t think our team is fully built. The Washington team was, for a number of years. You look at how that team is built with their draft picks . . . we’re not there yet. We have to play a certain way [because of limited talent].”

The coach correctly lauded the sacrifice and effort made by Dan Girardi, who was I thought the series’ finest performer.

“His finger was all over the place,” Torts acknowledged of his brutally beat up no. 1 rearguard, who had a finger dislocated above the knuckle. He also had an ankle X-ray-ed Saturday evening, the coach reported.

* * * * *

The Philadelphia Flyers may well survive the first round. Game 7 against Buffalo is tomorrow night in Philly. But this team will not see a follow-up Stanley Cup finals this spring, as its goaltending is, even by Flyers’ standards, shockingly horrific. (Ryan Miller hasn’t been much better, incidentally.)

* * * * *

With no small trepidation I’ll pick the Canucks in game 7 tomorrow night, mainly just cause of home ice and a sense that the odds are so overwhelming against seeing a second consecutive spring with a team overcoming a 3-0 series deficit to prevail. My new media colleague Ed Frankovic was the first I’d heard positing that Roberto Luongo isn’t 100 percent, and may even have yanked himself out of game 5 because of his condition. If you watched game 6 last night in Chicago you saw Cory Schneider get dinged up on Michael Frolik’s penalty shot. So the ‘Nucks appear to be a mess in net. Still, winning four straight over the President’s Trophy winner? If it happens, will any club ever accept that trophy again?

The Hawks’ fortunes have changed dramatically largely because Corey Crawford has been solid in net and the impact return of center Dave Bolland. The Sedins have a combined 12 points in the series’ 6 games, which is nice, but are skating a combined -6. Bolland, in just 3 games, has 7 points and is skating a +6. One man wrecking crew.

* * * * *

In the first four games of the Pens-’Bolts series Steven Stamkos had a lone assist. Game 5′s 8-2 Tampa drubbing saw Stamkos pot 2 goals and an assist. If he’s achieved some comfort in his first NHL postseason after the rough start I think he’s the difference in the remainder of the series.

With a little bit of luck we could witness the two Pennsylvania teams eliminated in game 7s on consecutive nights this week. It doesn’t get much sweeter than that.

* * * * *

Antero Niittymaki’s only had two games between the pipes for the Sharks, so I don’t put his stats on par with Michal Neuvirth’s, yet. If you look at goalies who’ve worked most or all of first round series, Neuvirth’s at the top of all key categories: .946 save percentage, 1.38 goals-against, 4-1 record. His most impressive stat, though, for me: he’s now 15-for-15 in postseason play in his North American professional career. Wow.

That assumes of course that you’re interested in seeing the Capitals finish no. 1 in the East again — it didn’t seem to do them much good last spring. I take the position that besting the Flyers in everything merits full commitment; moreover, if the stars align and the teams were to meet in the conference finals next month, the likely scenario is a long series, and I’d want a game 7 here in D.C.

Technically, the Flyers hold no. 1 in the East this morning by virtue of having won more games in regulation play. That’s the germane tiebreaker come Sunday evening, and it’s reflected in the ROW column here. A tip of the hat to the Washington Times‘ Ted Starkey for pointing out this interesting tidbit: If Caps earn three regulation victories this week and the Flyers also win out but do so in shootout fashion twice, Caps would edge out Orange for no. 1 overall in the East.

But what happens if both teams end up tied in the standings and tied in ROWS? The next tiebreaker is points earned in the games between the clubs. The Caps went 2-0-2 on the slate versus Philly, so they’d win that tiebreaker, taking six of a possible eight points. But Philly earned six points as well — all four games went to OT. The Caps and Flyers could get to the NHL’s ultimate tiebreaker this weekend: “the greater differential between goals for and against for the entire regular season.” The Flyers almost certainly would have edged out the Caps there: their goal differential on the campaign stands at 37, to the Caps’ 24.

A few quick notes, since the shootout took me way past my writing deadline and bedtime:

– So the Caps blew a 3-0 lead, yes, but here’s the good news: they’ve dispelled any OT/shootout jinx, they are now scoring on the power play (thanks, Dennis Wideman), and they have a surprise shootout sniper in Matt Hendricks, who led off for the Capitals and scored. They ended up walking away with two points on a 5-4 shootout score, all minus Alex Ovechkin’s services as the captain rests. If there is an MVP to the Caps’ season right now, it’s a tossup between Hendy and Jason Arnott.

– Individual Performances: Mike Knuble’s goal gave him 20 for the season, and he also had two assists. 106.7 The FAN’s Sky Kerstein tweeted Knuble’s postgame reaction to his eighth straight season of 20 or more goals: “Caps Knuble said he was worried he wasn’t going to get to get 20 goals this season, 7 year streak going you don’t want it to end.” Rookie Marcus Johansson had an assist and the game-tying goal—his point total from the past three months has more than doubled over his first three. Nicklas Backstrom had a goal, an assist, and a shootout tally.

On the other end of last night’s individual performance bench were Alexander Semin and Dennis Wideman. Semin looked like Paris Hilton at Goodwill during regulation, but, after earning more penalty minutes than anyone on the team, was responsible for the Capitals’ win with his shootout goal. Wideman, meanwhile, got a power play tally, but was more than helpful to the Flyers in their scoring chances. Just ask Homer McFanboy.

– On Neuvirth’s performance/Caps goaltending: Neuvirth stopped 29 of 33 shots through OT and 2 of 3 in the shootout, but was part of what looked like a disjointed Caps team for most of the 3rd. Frankly, this #1 goaltending issue has been exhausted these past few weeks more than Albert Haynesworth trying to pass a physical. Let Philly fret about a goaltending debate for once instead.

I will, however, share a quote that came to my mind when I watched the Caps – including the goaltender—scramble for most of the 3^rd. It’s a quote from Braden Holtby, actually, during camp way back in September:

“A lot of the best leaders in hockey are goaltenders, because they’re going to have to be your best player when it comes down to it.”

Temple student Tatsiana Kopach, super spirited about Sasha while seated in Flyers territory

Yes, they exist. Tuesday night I saw them, spoke with them, and most especially, asked them if they had escorted passage back to their cars at game’s end.

We do have OFB readers at the Pentagon; our nation’s defense leadership may want to recruit these valiant souls for service.

You’ve heard the horror stories of extreme rudeness, and worse, befalling the visitors in Philly arenas and stadiums over the years — it’s a large part of this sports town’s lore. Tuesday night I set about surveying the reception experiences of the Red-clad in Wells Fargo Center. Their numbers were modest, as you might imagine, but what they lacked in brigade breadth they more than made up for in proud fashion bravado.

Matt Kosmel, 23, of Silver Spring, Md., made the trip up Tuesday with his college buddy, David Clifford, of Bethesda, also 23. The two attended the University of Maryland together. Tuesday night Kosmel wore a red Nick Backstrom sweater as he navigated the Wells Fargo concourse in search of frothy refreshment. Clifford was wearing a red Alex Ovechkin sweater, hard by his buddy’s side. This stunned me: not only didn’t they report any assaults against their persons, instead they reported more than civil treatment prior to puck-drop — Flyers’ fans, struck by the novelty of seeing such fashion courage in their home rink, actually asked the pair to pose for pictures and engaged them in cordial, welcoming fashion.

The world is supposed to end in 2012, not 2011.

But this civility, alas, didn’t last.

Three questions into my interview of these brave Terps a bellicose brute in orange, seizing upon our patriotic confab, walked by us, shot us a dagger stare, and bellowed, “Asshole! . . . Asshole!”

Ah, Philly.

“Well that didn’t last,” a smiling Kosmel said of his party’s pleasant early evening experience.

Kosmel is a newcomer to the Red Army, having been introduced to hockey by his buddy just in 2007. His mid-week roadtripping, while wearing the colors of his team in one of hockey’s greatest hornet’s nests for visiting fans, qualifies him for fanbase captain’s status. Clifford is a Capitals’ fanatic from deep in his youth — since age 8. The pair were seated in section 217 Tuesday night, and I asked them how prepared they were for taking in a hockey game in hotseats.

“I can run!,” if need be, Clifford told me with a laugh.

More Courage Caps: no less than the owner, Mr. Leonsis, who spent most of Tuesday night seated two rows behind corner glass nearest the Capitals’ bench. No attending security posse, it seemed, just Ted, in the company of a business companion and friend. Leonsis’ son Zach, who attended Penn, once went to a Caps’ game in Philly with college buddies while wearing the patriots’ sweater and had beer dumped on him by surrounding ruffians. I thought about that incident last night while looking down on the exposed owner from the Wells Fargo press box. Hopefully, I thought, Mr. Leonsis was wearing one of his older, more replaceable suits.

No Caps’ fan, though, was more noticeable in vulnerability than Tatsiana Kopach, an international business major at Temple University who arrived in the States five years ago from Belarus. Tuesday night Kopach moved about the beachhead in an authentic Alexander Semin visiting white sweater, replete with a stylish red cap. Her admission Tuesday was the gift of friends who know well her passion for the Caps. When I interviewed her she was all alone in her row, unguarded.

“I’m not intimidated at all!” the Baltic beauty told me from her seat about 20 rows up behind the Capitals’ bench. “I feel special in all this orange,” she added with a beaming smile. Tuesday was Kopach’s third Caps-Flyers game in Wells Fargo. I asked her if she owned a copy of ‘Braveheart.’

“The first time I came, I was walking with too many Caps’ fans outside [the arena], and then I did get grief, but nothing too bad,” she acknowledged.

“All my Russian friends liked hockey, so one day they invited me to a game here. I prefer the Capitals because of Ovechkin and Semin.”

Two years ago Kopach was in Miami at the same time the Capitals were playing the Panthers. She went to a nightclub popular with athletes and learned of the presence there that night of Ovechkin. She failed to see him, but the proximity to a hero from near her home delivered an excitement she remembers vividly to this day.

She has been to D.C. twice, but never been seated in Verizon Center for a Caps’ game. I think the owner should host a night honoring the Philadelphia courageous in his Verizon Center box. Theirs is a special badge of honor.