In Glacialis Blog

Hic es pauci pictures exTuesdays’ foras meditor procul Chevy Fugo Stipes.
(magis pictures secundum effrego)

(persevero)

Caput netminder Olaf Kolzig eram a hospes in yesterdays’ John Thompson Ostendo in SportsTalk980. Thema confero erant:

• Team reactions ut Cogo Boudreau.
• Changes no per Cogo Boudreau.
• Changes motum goaltender.
• Veterans narro ut team in repens changes.
• Es Caps physical satis.
• Instigator sceptrum
• Basketball ut a nemorosa physical lusum

Vos can audio spatium hic.

A penetranter turbo animadverto est captus habitum pro Caput is season: they mos non species pro playoffs; “ quinque- annus intentio” pro peractio of a hortus- sursum redivivus est certain sumo longer Alexander; Ovechkin est pessime egenus a suscipio iacio; quod absentis a professio, Olie Kolzigs’ tutela moris’ terminus in palma.

Caps moris’ planto playoffs is annus pro unus simplex causa: they pulvis’ bonus satis.

Is est frustror, quod Ted Leonsis may sentio is unacceptable procul seasons’ terminus, quod coepi nonnullus ratio of procuratio incumbo. Tamen quis’ forsitan tristissimus of totus est animadverto ut est sensim tamen plurimus certe certo occasus in on Olaf Kolzig. Had redivivus obviam Vas litis secuutus procuratio’ envisioned calendar of quinque annus, hed’ have capped suus Caps’ tutela in teres quod vindico formo. Is mereo mereor ut progredior a victor, secundum totus hes’ fidelis been per hic. However, absent a professio– an increasingly Dale Venator- amo possibility ut season progressio, IMO — totus abyssus’ have exhibeo pro suus fidelitas ut Caps per preteritus quinque seasons of lost- in--wilderness superstes vae est an appreciative fan substructio’ adoration. Quod quis vires probo proprie excruciating pro suus fans quod him is ut a verum, durably strong Caps’ stipes may insisto velox in heels of suus profectio.

Pro Alexander Ovechkin, tendo animadverto est recedentia minor daunting. Hes certain’ futurus re- summus per Caps procul an alienigena summa, quod team inter him, eventually, ero per validus. Magis quod magis suus tutela est orsa ut similitudo Caltha Lemieuxs’ in suus chronology: ut Aula of Laus prodigo suus primoris quattuor NHL seasons absentis playoffs, tunc saving a suffragium per championships. Comparisons with Crux crucis in Pittsburgh hodie es baseless: Pens erant puter satis porro satis habeo constipatus Sid per aurum vexillum bulla. Ovechkin has Backstrom, a rookie ut league quod ut North America. Si Alexander Semin suo lemma in All Astrum status it mos only occur ut valetudo arrives.     

Is eram understandable tamen nonetheless peius- monitus pro George McPhee quod Ted Leonsis ut ferreus-wire, publicly, the Caps’ redivivus ut nonnullus predetermined plot of quinquennis. animadverto est ut in pro sports calendars of competitiveness es quisquam tamen fixed and predetermined. Erant they secus, magis teams would suscipio lemma. Primoris- teres (Sutherby, Magnificentia) quisnam tamen a annus vel sic abhinc videor futurus aedificium edificium blocks are hodie iam jettisoned vel afterthoughts. Res Pettinger quoque may non ultimately probo futurus a secui of Caps’ palma core. Illa disappointments dont’ reddo dramatic misfires per management so ultum as they operor a cognatus typical progression toward the destination of firmus postseason impleo. Inter Avs, Diabolus quod Pennae illic erant a letanie of primoris- rotundus flameouts. The key in hockey ut res firmus bonus est primoris potuisse firmus nocens — verus nocens. Per tamen duos lottery picks in suum roster Caps es nusquam near in possessio of rebuilding clausus exaggeratus per solum nutritor stipes annus abhinc in Ottawa, San Jose, Detroit, quod Novus Jersey.  

prosperitas in Philadelphia is season est testimonium of permaneo seasons’ 30th locus perago res an aberration. Totus amplexus is has been postseason qualification. 

Multus of velico of George McPhee illa dies centers in teams’ failures in spite of suus roster res larded per primoris- teres. Duos sententia super is. Unus, dum aggregate numerus of lemma est cognatus altus, plures erant plucked ex crap-shoot bottom dimidium of rotundus unus. Neque nec, incidentally, from cognatus pallens draft ordo. Unus of causa McPhee eram validus adipiscor quot primoris teres ut is did preteritus quinquennis eram quoniam suus incomparabilis sententia cognatus parum of lemma. Tamen parumper team in cinis cineris, is eram sapiens ut ausus in species emerging ex talis volubilis . . . per predictable attero a secui of equation.

Mike Viridis, Alexander Semin, and Boyd Gordon are jewels ex is ars. Tamen Jeff Schutlz, Joe Finley, Eric Fehr, quod Sasha Pokulok es non. Nondum. Unus vel duos may ultimately probo futurus firmus effectrix in Caps’ lascivio teams, tamen hodie they pulvis’. Quod ut magis quam ullus alius causa est quare Caps es qua they es.

Nimium obvius of prestolatio eram foisted super 19- annus- vetus Nicklas Backstrom this fall. Hes’ a rookie velox emerging ut a legio Calder candide — factum satis. Ut statua him lynchpin of a season- porro, uber secundus versus, per haud pro hockey usus in North America whatsoever, was delusional quod vacuus preeo.

Tamen valde patientia semino valde somnium. Bruce Boudreau-led Caps es suscitatio ex annus of nightmare hockey. They iustus dont’ etiamnunc have somnus swept ex their eyes.      

Sis audire quis GMGM, Boudreau, quod ludio ludius have loquor super coaching change, reprehendo sicco links subter supter ex Caps’ PR baculus:

• George McPhee
• Bruce Boudreau
• Olie Kolzig
• Alex Ovechkin
• Sarcalogos Expedio
• Dave Steckel

In celebration of suum 60th anniversary, Hockey Novus took a inviso caput capitis ten ludio ludius pro sulum team super preteritus sexaginta annus.

Hic est quam THN affero Peter Kerzel (quisnam quoque wrote is annus’ Caps’ praevius pro THN Annual Yearbook) saw Washingtons’ Caput capitis Ten:

1. Peter Vinculum
2. Virga Lingua
3. Olaf Kolzig
4. Mike Gartner
5. Dale Venator
6. Kevin Securis
7. Accersitus Johansson
8. Bengt Gustafsson
9. Scott Stevens
10. Alex Ovechkin

Nostrum own Gustafsson, quisnam coepi erectus nos ut album, innotesco ut Montreals’ caput capitis ten didnt’ comprehendo Pium Roy. (ut Gustafsson said, suus’ ferreus moveo preteritus Jacques Sero quod Ken Dryden in ut album) Tunc is lego in quod evestigatus ut Roy est #3 in Colo colui cultum Avalanches’ caput capitis ten. Promptus ordo est, inter alius officina, substructio in a ludio ludius’ vicis in sulum proprius sudo, sic illic erant a numerus of athletes quisnam erant audio praeter quondam. Illa ludio ludius comprehendo sequens:

• Dave Andreychuk (BUF, TB)
• Spolio Blake (COL, LA)
• Andrew Brunette (ATL, MIN)
• Interfixus Bure (FLA, VAN)
• Dany Estus (ATL, OTT)
• Sergei Fedorov (CLM, DET)
• Ron Suffragium (CAR, Vorago)
• Wayne Gretzky (EDM, LA)
• Glenn Aula (CHI, STL)
• Arturs Irbe (CAR, SJ)
• Ed Jovanoski (FLA, VAN)
• Paul Kariya (ANA, NSH)
• Pat LaFontaine (BUF, NYI)
• Roberto Luongo (FLA, VAN)
• Ziggy Palffy (LA NYI)
• Jeremy Roenick (CHI, PHO)
• Vestigium Nuntius (EDM, NYR)
• Scott Niedermayer (ANA, NJ)
• Scott Stevens (NJ, Eram)

Sic quis operor vos reputo? Did Hockey Novus requiro quisquam vel comprehendo quispiam they shouldnt’ have?

Gratiae ut Gustafsson pro sic impigre lectio Hockey Novus quod obduco per notitia.

Lavatio Caput cogo Glen Hanlon eram a hospes in Vox Lascivio per Jim Pannosa quod Gary Viridis (in XM 204). In quinque-minute spatium Hanlon confero key pestifer, presencia illud pestifer have had in versus iunctura quod calx ustulo, Alex Ovechkins’ defensabiliter lenimentus, quod alius tidbits. Reprehendo sicco celebratio hic.

Quis pulsatus mihi plurimus super spatium est ut Hanlons’ versus iunctura intentio videor paro puteus in provectus obex ullus unforseen chemistry proventus. Hanlon admits ut pestifer es secui of venatus. . . yet is videor ut the lines had haud verus tergum intentio in locus alloquor inevitiable pestifer sulum team must visio.

Losing a caput capitis ustulo amo Alexander Semin, vel a ferreus-nosed rector amo Sarcalogos Expedio, has haud securus redintegro. Tamen unus spera ut castra, preseason, quod meditor innutum alius potentially prosperitas versus iunctura ut could exsisto socors in locus ut malum bug hit—rather quam “random versus juggling dum transitus ones’ fingers” ut videor in locus iam. Admittedly suus’ a concisus spatium quod sic thema ut repleo- in-- vestis syndrome, tamen infigo of a penuria of contingency planning eram aliquantulus abicio ut is auditor.

In alius Caput/XM novus, is tunc progressio videor amo must- audite radio. Procul 1100: PM is Monday, November 19, Olie Kolzig ero featured inHockey Specialis. Ex NHL Domus Glacies:

Hockey Specialis: Olaf Kolzig

Mon, 11/19 | 11PM ET

NHL Domus Glacies XM 204 audaciter dictataHockey Specialis per Lavatio Caput goaltender Olaf Kolzig. SuoHockey Is Oriens populus Scott Rideo risi risum ut is goes stipes ut stipes per Olie Calx, pro nostrum agoHockey Specialis bulla celebratio. Is est an hora of pia insight ex unus of NHLs’ maioribus orator, a verus astrum of venatus, quod a tireless opus pro Athletes Pro Autism.

Encores:
Tue, 11/20 8PM | Tue, 11/20 8PM  Wed|, 11/21 7PM  Fri|, 11/23 3PM | Sat, 11/24 9AM | Sol solis, 11/25 2AM, 3AM, 5PM

[Update: Animadverto ineo pro magis notitia super Kolzig XM ostendo ex a Caps’ press solvo]

Hic est utLusum Scientia video featuring Kolzig quod Ovechkin aired per Ducks/ Rex rgis venatus yesterday.

Quispiam valde frigus est venio procul Honda Center in Aneheim. FSN Occasus vescor NHL Center Glacies est ostendo LA Rex rgis Anaheim Ducks venatus. Ut’ Northmanni. Quis isnt’ est ut illic es haudrenuntio Iustus sanus of venatus quod plebis. Oh, quod totus venit Angli es ex glacies campester per quis they dico “Rinkside Visum”

Eatenus, solus narro per ullus renuntio est typical velox spatium per a ludio ludius procul terminus of period quod a inviso decorus labor lapsus of Zamboni per FSN personality Bill MacDonald inrideo per. FSN has quoque captus vos visum ut vantage ex broadcast tabernus quod organist.

2nd intermission quoque brought nos a brevis video accersitus “ lusum Scientia” sermo super cattus- amo pondero of a hockey calx. Is eram membrana procul Kettler Caput Iceplex per Olaf Kolzig quod Alex Ovechkin. An Ovechkin slapshot ex 25 feet pervenio Kolzig in .22 secundus. Cepit .11 secundus pro Kolzig ut locus puck, tamen commotus suus glove in positus in .10 secundus, quod probo ut Kolzig does vero have cattus- amo celeritas.

Iam pro satus of 3rd ex glacies campester vacuus renuntio.

Had EGO notus is eram venio, EGO would have coepi vigilo primo of venatus neque nec 3 minutes left in 2nd. Forsitan Comcast SportsNet vires amo experior is sicco quondam. Secundum totus, they broadcasted a venatus per renuntio inter scamnum.

Update[: A highlight video ex Rinkside Visum broadcast can exsisto seen hic.]

Primoris res’ primoris: Caput Sarcalogos Expedio, quisnam took a ferinus, undeflected Alexander Ovechkin slapshot directus ut suus caput capitis in tertius period Friday nox noctis, est in rationabiliter bonus vultus. Secundum team, is sino haud infractus bones, haud concussion, quod suscipio vieo ut suus auris (dont’ teneo quot). Dont’ teneo suus statua pro cras nox noctis in St. Louis, tamen gnarus is guy, abyssus’ reperio a via infirmo sicco cobwebs, confuto poena, quod plumbum suus copiae copie obviam Puteulanus.

• Nunquam a bonus informatio ut talea unus of plagiarius’ teres goaltenders ut an mane plumbum, singulariter ut is has 9-0 MoJo obviam vos iens pro him ut is est. Caps socius secundum mane, a iugo of fluky reus succurro ‘Nucks ut suum primoris duos calx, quod Caps erant lascivio reprehendo- sursum totus nox noctis.

• Non ut pitch deputo obviam a parietis, tamen venatus pes ex is unus moris’ exsisto summitto ut leagues’ Muneris of Officiating quod IDd’ ut “ puer did boys in virga dico a stellar unus hic” Faux poena, parum instances of tribuo hockey ludio ludius ( utrimque) sanctio pro unsportsmanlike, quod altus virga galore vicis “Refs vos sck*” chants ex domus fidelis. Ovechkin in proprius had suus chicklets seemingly ordine labefactum ex Canuck virga vesica wielded altus.

• Per super six minutes left in alter period, Olie Kolzig kept suus team in venatus per iugum of cuspis- vestis, fanny- erigo- in-- sto servo in Henrik Seditio.

• Aliquantulus laxus in alter, Viktor Kozlov, puck sub imperium in suus virga quod parum pressure in him altus in suus own terminus, requiro seeing a prolixus- patefacio-down-- medius Alexander Semin pro would would have been a certus tersus breakaway. Ut would have been a tracto video vidi visum, duos of venatus’ premiere talentum in a unus- in- unus showdown.

• Is eram a slapshot surculus peruro pro Alexander Semin, notus recedentia magis pro suus universitas- ordo wrister; is flatus utique three procul Roberto Luongo. Suus ratio unus cuspis in vox lascivio had quispiam efficio per ut.

• Narro of vox lascivio, is went 2- pro-5 tonight, per Cogo Hanlon intentio an totus porro iunctum of quinque (Alex O quod Alex S, Expedio, Nylander, quod Kozlov) in prothoplastus iunctum. Mos is subsisto intact in St. Louis? Ferreus ut oro per a 40 sentio prosperitas rate — quod obviam Luongo, quoque — poema poematis quis preeo is.

• Suus’ decens aliquantulus of a infractus record, tamen iterum Ovechkin ledo panton inimicus ut commotus, sepius thunderously. Im’ non certus EGO saw Vestigium Nuntius in suus prime take somes ut convenienter quod ut truculenter — quod forensis — ut AO est is season.

• EGO instituo Caps’ blueline corpus quinymo underwhelming in suus imperator effectiveness in venatus’ primoris dimidium tamen venalicium melior in alter. Kolzig mereo mereor melior suscipio quam quis is got ex lemma in prothoplastus period.

• Vancouvers’ reprehendo versus EGO sententia did a verus efficens officium obviam Ovechkin versus totus nox noctis porro. Procul vel vires is ingenero minimal sustineo pressure.

• ‘Nuck Kevin Bieska eram a convenienter vis of retardo obviam Caps’ porro down mugio totus nox noctis. Nonnullus of is eram of forensis varietas, nonnullus of is, a lascivio, eram non. Tamen is eram an efficens nuissance.

EGO had a chance ut chat per a Caps’ persona quisnam eram tendo procul utriusque Draft Certamen in Toronto quod Viscus Draft ipsum in Columbus. Tener Pat Kane, prothoplastus pick of draft per Hawks, est liberatio sui quinymo puteus ut an 18- annus- vetus in Chicagos’ caput capitis 6, torqueo sursum 13 cuspis in iustus 10 venatus eatenus. EGO volo scio si procul ullus cuspis permaneo ver Caps’ orichalcum had flirted per informatio of institutio sursum ex haud. 5 macula per an oculus in grabbing Kane. brevis refero est haud. Caps did spatium Kane, quod team eram valde infigo per him. “is told nos ut is eram positus ut is eram iens ludo in NHL, is annus, quod planto an labefactum” persona told mihi. Vox in utriusque duco.

Secundum tonights’ venatus in St. Louis, team mos no in Toronto pro Monday nox noctis’ venatus obviam Folium. team moris’ skate in Sunday quod instead mos rudimentum perceptum a beneficium Tornacense of Hockey Aula of Laus. Quasi VIP Tornacense. Gotta reputo quispiam amo ut would planto per an infigo in aliquid amo Nicklas Backstrom. Si proprius saluto takes locus, requiro Mike Vogel ut chronicle is in vivid retineo mane tunc week.

Magnificabiliter Olie Kolzig profano per Mike Vogel in Caps’ site hodie, reprehendo is siccohic. Kolzigs’ undeviginti- annus tenura per stipes est an infigo ostendo of dedication quod fidelitas — per utriusque ludio ludius quod team — rare seen in parcus lusum.

In alius Kolzig- commemoro novus, Ingredior Iam pro Autism sanctimonia vicis est scheduled huic Imbuo in Populus Mall. Pro magis notitia super vicis, vel suffrago Athletes Obviam Autism, click hic.

Vel in stipes- obfirmo NHL, astrum procul a 2-0 lacuna per alter intermission est daunting. Sessio tunc ut Gus, quod having absorbed duos periods of Caps outshooting quod outplaying Isles tamen vigilo reus bumfuzzle Caps — cosmic justicia pro nostrum rudis unmerited victoria in Insula 10 dies abhinc, EGO sententia — EGO told meus bloggermate, “ is would take lectulus miracle, sive they could iustus traho punctum ex is nuntius”

In cuspis of res, a fanaticus quod pervicax Caps’ team no tertius-period comeback vultus quinymo securus: is eram knotted sursum procul 2 puteus pro 10-minute vestigium of sto.

Tamen ut adversus centers took center- glacies duco a subitus mortifer, EGO verto iterum ut Gus quod said, “ congelo secui isnt’ necesse vesper res sursum, suus’ captus tunc step, vere victum, quod rapio a venatus per a plenus- in nixus per denique frame.”

Ive’ vigilo EGO reputo 10,000 hockey venatus in meus vita, forsitan magis. Ive’ seen comebacks subtilis amo Caps’ permaneo nox noctis a iugo of centum vicis. Nonaginta three vicis ex 100, I’d venture, the comeback kids valiantly steady themselves and soar the spirits of the home partisans to the stratosphere, only, utlimately, to trip themselves up, lose, and labor in vain.

Captain Chris Clark, behind Rick DiPietro’s net and the puck a harmless 199 feet, 9 inches from Olie Kolzig, tripped up an Isles checker while his team was in frenzy’s full flight . . . and with that error sirened the end of the comeback. I said as much to Gus as no. 17 skated to the sin bin; he didn’t dispute me. It happens almost every time. It was the absolute worst place on the ice to take a penalty at the very worst time. A mad comeback’s energy suddenly screeched sullen and silent. Next you could hear a subtle groan among the hockey cognescenti in their seats.

The recognition.

Some in the Verizon Center stands filed out last night thinking of softies that slithered past and humiliated Kolzig. They were soft, yes. They hurt, certainly. But they weren’t as determinative as the Clark miscue.

The threatening intruder snake had been boot-stomped into compliance by the Russian snake-charmer wearing no. 8. (We in the stands were rather charmed as well.) It was the duty of his teammates — all of them — not to let their Bauers up off the head of the snake.

Two minutes for tripping.

The viper recoiled.

Hockey teams like the Isles on the receiving end of such savage surges are truly helpless. Lines change among the dominators but the ice remains tilted. The coaching staffs of the beleaguered can exhort, reassure, toss towels or water bottles, it matters none. It’s called hockey’s momentum, and in third periods it’s directed at defying death — losing. Which may make it so powerful, so unprecedented to the rest of the earlier action. It’s a natural force, a Force 10 of fury.

And it can be undone in an instant.

A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to the Caps dressing a productive and seriously puck-possessing top 6 set of forwards this season. Some of the machine parts have fallen off. A cranky ankle has shelved sublime sniper Alexander Semin for all but one game thus far. Worse, one third of the top line has imploded. Has ever a young top-line winger’s fortunes soured as swiftly and as thoroughly as have Tomas Flesichmann’s early this autumn? A light switch seemingly shut down Flash’s fission. The boys up front are a bit unsettled right now.

That right side of the Capitals’ forward ranks has to unnerve management and Coach Hanlon. In addition to the flickering out of Flash there is Eric Fehr’s perpetually uncertain status. He’s not even skating these days. Joe Motzko, acquired in the offseason with the Hershey Bears in mind, has suddenly taken a turn on the top right flank. Where is the front-line right wing in this organization this October? The answer is, he may not exist — the moreso if Viktor Kozlov becomes entrenched as AO’s pivot.

Semin will eventually heal, but can the Caps plausibly vie for the postseason without the services of a scoring wing opposite Alex? I wonder.

In my darker moments, I fret about a new position leak springing — in this case, right wing — just as the blueline swiftly became old and immobile at the start of this decade.

Anyway, the Caps are tasked with gutting it out for the foreseeable future.

The beauty of hockey is that a beleaguered lineup can get its collective nose dirty and steal points even from much prettier clubs when their hearts swell for the work.

Monday brought about a two-hour practice. That’s long by NHL standards. When a rut is driven by low shot and goal totals, the most common prescription is hard work. This is a hockey club that for a few years now has been characterized by its hard work.

Not all is gloom and doom this mid-October. It appears that in net, the most important position on the ice, the Caps will regularly get quality, even game-stealing efforts from its tandem. The larger perspective up to the present is this: three weeks ago, knowing that the Caps faced four of the first five on the road, and all of the road games without Semin, had you been offered a record of 3-2 through them, you’d have grabbed it.

More good news: Pittsburgh is losing plenty.

At a news conference yesterday, Washington Capitals chairman and majority owner Ted Leonsis spoke of how professional athletes are often lauded for their courage. He noted that courage can take many forms, from the heroism of our military and first responders to our children battling disease. To find a way that their whole organization and fans could show their support, they created Courage Caps.

The Courage Caps are team-issued and branded hats which will be sold, starting October 26th, for $20 at the community relations table at Capitals home games and online at WashingtonCaps.com and NHL.com. “When our fans wear these hats”, Leonsis continued, “they show their support for the courageous people throughout our community.”

Whereas, the wearing of the Courage Caps hats shows support, the sale provides financial support. 100% of the sale price will go benefit the CureSearch National Childhood Caner Foundation. CureSearch is a Bethesda-based nonprofit “and an NHL charitable partner that focuses on raising funds for the Children’s Oncology Group, the world’s largest cooperative cancer research organization that treats 90% of children with cancer.”

The team chose an old friend to help debut this new program, for the press conference took place during the team’s annual visit to the Children’s National Medical Center. The entire team, Leonsis and partner Raul Fernandez were at the hospital for the press conference.

For years I have heard of the team’s visit to Children’s National Medical Center, but this was the first time that I was on hand to watch the players and the children interact. As a father of a four-year-old with a second on the way, the visit was heartwarming and tear-jerking. The players — all of them — sat down at tables and colored with the children that were well enough to leave their beds and be exposed to unmasked visitors and untold germs. It broke my heart to see these children, some in wheelchairs, others with numerous IV tubes and bandages, and wonder what sort of hell they and their parents are living. But then you see the smiles on their faces when Chris Clark autographs a hat for them, or Brent Johnson asks what color he should color the hockey player’s helmet, or when a little girl runs over to Olie Kolzig as he says “Hi there pigtails, how are you?” There is also a simple joy of seeing these larger-than-life hockey players sitting down with their favorite Crayola hue and trying to stay in the lines.

I was speaking with the hospital’s manager of public relations, Emily Dammeyer, who told me that this is the hospital’s favorite event of the year. “They really spend time with the children, not just make an appearance, especially upstairs where the cameras are off.”

Which made me think of Olie, who not only has been coming to Children’s National Medical Center more than anyone else in the organization, but is also a father. I asked him how this experience has changed from before he was a dad to after.

“I’ve always had a fondness for kids, and been a big believer that being a kid and being sick shouldn’t go hand in hand … then you become a father and then you realize how vital it is to have a facility like this.”

The only thing missing from yesterday’s event was the media. Press releases announcing the event and photo op were sent out by the Capitals and the Children’s National Medical Center. Perhaps I missed some faces and names, but I believe only I, a Comcast SportsNet TV Cameraman, and two photographers attended. How such tremendous works by an organization and its players can go unnoticed or with little interest is repugnant.

My thanks go out to the Capitals and everyone at Children’s National Medical Center, especially Emily Dammeyer and Mark Miller, for affording me the privilege to witness this annual event of kindness and caring.

A few more pictures of the event can be seen after the break.

(Continued)

What most caught my attention during last night’s 2-1 exhibition loss to the Flyers while listening to the ‘Net call of Kolbe and Vogel was word that despite an off-day the following day, superstar forwards Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin hopped in a car earlier in the day and journeyed up to Philly to watch their camp-mates compete in the evening. There are precious few off days during camp, and more than enough rink time for these two in the seven-plus months ahead. Vogel was impressed by the act. So was I.

This display of conspicuous camaraderie occurs within a larger context worth reviewing. Back in mid-summer, as management moved and shook the roster up for the better, we first learned of guys being eager to get back in their gear and out on the ice together at Kettler Capitals. And it actually happened, in impressive numbers, weeks ahead of the official start of training camp. Guys wanted to skate here, together.

At camp’s kickoff, on Media Day, captain Chris Clark shared a bit of his outreach efforts to his teammates spanned across the globe. He wanted them back in town early, to put the distractions of moving and settling behind them so that their collective focus could be on the important new season immediately in front of them. It was, it appears, an easy sell.

Now captains of course lead by example, and with regard to Clark, his leadership this summer extended beyond the norm. He re-signed with the Caps, at compensation and contract length irrefutably more modest than what he’d have fetched on the open market next summer. In a conference call to discuss the deal, he referenced his wanting to be a part of what the Caps were building. “I wanted to be a part of it, [of] where we’re headed,” he said. There is no guarantee of on-ice success in this season or of those ahead, of course, and yet Clark, his body memorably battered within the rebuild, wanted to lead the effort.

“We’ve got a great room” is truly a common refrain in this sport and especially this league, but there has been something distinctive about the Caps’ claim of one. Going back fully three seasons, back all the way to the early hours of the dispiriting selloff and roster overhaul, we first heard claims from some of the building blocks and even some of the roster placeholders about the caliber of the Caps’ room. That quality was certainly forged to no small degree by Olie Kolzig. But it also has to have been enhanced by a handful of recent draft classes, many of the members of which acclimated themselves to the world of pro hockey together, in recent years, in Portland, Maine, and Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Even more remarkably, the chemistry has been enhanced by free agent acquisitions conspicuous for their team-first ethos: Matt Bradley, Ben Clymer, Brian Pothier, and now, it appears, the entirety of the 2007 free agent class. Free agents in the modern era of pro sports typically arrive carrying high price tags and big egos and rarely meld seamlessly into their new environs. We aren’t hearing any of that in D.C. these days. In fact, as the Caps mature from basement dweller to contender, the growth carries some personnel anguish: some of the glue of the past couple of seasons will be cast aside, to make room for greater talents. This training camp, we are learning too how this reality is affecting the affected.

The chemist is named George McPhee. Ultimately the verdict on his tenture in town will be rendered on wins versus losses, sooner rather than later. But as GM he’s succeeded on a vitally important if under-reported upon front: assembling smiling faces and committed collectivism in shared car rides and summer shinny.

There’s an irony to the chemistry found in NHL locker rooms: no other U.S. sport knows the global diversity of the NHL’s athletes gathered on a single team, and yet no other sport knows its I’ve-got-your-back-at-all-times ethos, first through fourth lines, from Flin Flon-ner to Finn. It’s a criterion never acknowledged in fantasy leagues (reminding us of their superficiality), and yet nothing is more important to a team.

Check out this article in today’s Washington Post (yes, in the print edition) about Michael Nylander. Nice to hear that Bethesda, where half of OFB calls home, played a part in the Nylander family’s decision to return to the Capitals.

In addition, the Washington Times has a profile of Jeff Schultz and his efforts to stick with the club this year. Though competition for a defensive spot will be tight this year — and how long has it been since one could say that about the Capitals? — Schultz’s blueline grit and maturity makes him a strong candidate this year: “A couple of the guys [on the team] try and push me around kind of jokingly, but I’m not afraid to push back.” As Olie Kolzig said of Schultz, “He’s just a steady, smart defenseman out there. He makes a minimal amount of mistakes and plays with a lot of poise.”

Some dominant themes swiftly emerged at players’, coaches’, and the general manager’s media conferences this morning out at Kettler Capitals:

• What a difference a year makes in terms of training facilities. I asked Chris Clark what he thought were his responsibilities as captain to his teammates this summer, and quickly he noted how in past seasons “we didn’t have anything to come to,” but that this summer, with Kettler, “we had almost a full team skating here days ago.” He said that he wanted to get everybody settled in town, early, to get the off-ice distractions related to moving and adjusting to new surroundings out of the way, and Kettler and its amenities was an easy sell to his teammates early in the summer.

“This is the best facility in the league,” George McPhee said. “It’s a place players want to be . . . it makes everything that we do better. It helps [with] community relations, media relations . . . It helps you keep your players and it attracts free agents.”

A year ago in Ashburn, Va., training camp was conducted in makeshift and cramped quarters. “Last year we were vagabonds [out at Ashburn],” Olaf Kolzig said.

“What the [team’s] trainers went through last year is a story in itself,” Glen Hanlon said.

• “These are the better days.” This came straight from Kolzig’s mouth early on in his session with the media. The first thing out of Kolzig’s mouth, as he moved before cameras and microphones, was “This is the Caps [press event]?” Both he and Hanlon were struck by the size of the media contingent attending Media Day. As we’ve seen in recent days, there is an intensity of media interest in the Capitals, particularly among local mainstream media, relative to that of recent years at this time.

Some reporters were discussing a quote Jason Spezza gave the Canadian Press this week: ‘’I think Washington could be a darkhorse team that could get into the playoffs. They made some good acquisitions in the off-season and they had a pretty good base of young guys so they could be kind of a team that might sneak up and make the playoffs.'’

Cap after Cap came forward Thursday morning with the word “playoffs” on his lips. It’s not an entitlement, it’s something they must earn, but Captain Clark made the mission as plain as could be: “We have everything we need to get there.”

The good karma around this team now has had a clear impact on Kolzig. “My enthusiasm and energy level is at an all-time high,” he claimed.

• Yes the new guys are important, but don’t overlook our core. Hanlon noted that the Caps finished 25 points shy of the playoffs last season. “The free agents [by themselves] can’t make up 25 points,” he said. There is a tendency to overvalue high-priced, free agent newcomers as saviors swooping in to lead a surge in the standings. Hanlon pointed to the emergence last season of so many young players on Pittsburgh’s roster, guys who, like the young Caps of the past couple of seasons, played together through rough times. Like Therrien in Pittsburgh last season, Hanlon is looking to his core to come through this season. “Our remaining 16 or 17 players have advanced,” he said.

• It’s AO’s planet, we just share it with him. “Your English has gotten better,” one reporter observed after Alex answered the first question posed to him, and the reporter wondered if AO had worked on it during the summer.

“I practice in the [night] clubs,” he replied, sporting a devilish grin.

The starting goaltender offered a passing observation about the superstar left wing’s unkept hair. A reporter brought this to Ovechkin’s attention.

“It’s gangster style,” he responded, grinning again.

The general manager offered a number of insightful assessments related to the present and the recent past. He acknowledged that beyond the signings of the three big free agents, he added bodies with pro experience — guys like Boumedienne and Lepitso — in response to the experience that the team went through last December, when injuries and illness assailed an above-.500 club that was sniffing a playoff spot then. He also offered the view that chemistry with three significant new faces in the room is less an issue or concern than it was when the league was first experiencing significant free agent movement. Relatively few teams were making most of the significant acqusitions early on, he noted, but today “every team is acquiring [free agents].”

Where are the Capitals at the dawn of training camp 2007?

“A couple of years ago, we were looking [just] to fill boots. Now we have good players to fill a few number of [open] positions,” McPhee claimed.

I greatly appreciate my bloggermate Orderedchaos’ initial survey of preseason prediction silliness. Outside of Entertainment Tonight, there can be little in this world as vacuous and vapid as “experts” engaged in summertime “prognosticating” about the performance of sports teams.

I’m a college football enthusiast, and there are at least a half dozen published preseason magazines on newsstands this month, all offering specific rankings for all 117 D-I college football teams. Each team has 85 scholarship players, with approximately 20 graduating and 20 newly arriving each season. Many returning players markedly remake their bodies over the offseason with increasingly sophisticated and effective physique-altering training regimens. They also mature. There are, additionally, widespread personnel changes among the ranks of teams’ assistant coaches every offseason.

All of these publications have their preseason forecasts put to bed long before players report for physicals for fall camp. In short, the variables of change in college football are staggeringly enormous from season to season, and yet few of them are reflected in these “forecasts.” Still, the editors of these magazines would have you believe that from their New York offices they can accurately, magically divine the fates of nearly 10,000 football players scattered across the country, most of whom they’ve never seen play.

It is with the same skeptical, dismissive eye that we ought to weigh NHL forecasts offered up in summer. These endeavors are franchises of fraud. That Sports Illustrated could label the ‘05-’06 Carolina Hurricanes a lottery loser and then watch them go on to hoist Lord Stanley seven months later should forever preclude the magazine from forecasting again. There’s getting it wrong and then there’s blindfolded dart-throwing. In the case of the ‘05-’06 NHL season, dart throwing would have aided SI.

Now to be fair, the league had been shut down the preceding season by the lockout. But even in the instances of uninterrupted competition, across sports, these forecasts are exercises in little more than slickly marketed, superficial guesswork. And they are unified in their being reliably wrong. They exist because they exploit the sports fans’ enduring and insatiable thirst to know what will lie ahead for their heroes. And they are partly fueled by the troubling intersection of modern sports and high-stakes gambling (on- and off line). The fantastic popularity of fantasy sports participation has also mushroomed the popularity of the forecasting industry.

As mindless diversion for beach chair reading, they do no real harm. But they take on a larger-than-life credibility as their rankings and rationales are echoed about message boards and blogs and picked up and regurgitated by the electronic editions of mainstream media outlets. Hockey in particular ranks among the most difficult of sports to forecast; it is why there’s so little action on it in Vegas. How do you wager on or forecast a goalie standing on his head? On some nights, you know, Kerry Fraser doesn’t bring his best evaluative acumen to the sheet.

The Capitals, a few early prognosticators have weighed in upon, will make only modest improvement in the standings this season over the previous two. They will miss the postseason again, we are told.

Such assessments can only be premised on this variable: the team’s free agents signings were nice or decent but not on the order of rink shattering. But no one can know how Nicklas Backstrom will adjust to hockey in North America on the smaller sheet and over 80-plus games in his rookie season. The difference between his notching say 47 points versus 67 points almost certainly determines the team’s playoff viability, but who is confidently able to tell us which tally will prove true?

Who among the soothsayers knows how much if at all the team is improved in the shootout? Will Kolzig hold up and perform at an elite level for at least say 65 games? And certainly the team’s young blueline must have been judged in a development vacuum, within which none of Steve Eminger, Milan Jurcina, Shaone Morrisonn, and Mike Green could appreciably improve over a year ago . . . else, joined by the improvements up front, the team would have to seriously flirt with the postseason, if not outright qualify.

Hockey, too, has its future shrouded in a marvelous mystery of the unknown impact delivered from abroad. Raise your hand if last summer you saw 40 goals in Alexander Semin’s 2006-07 arsenal. You probably had Petr Prucha down for 30 in his rookie season on Broadway, too. It is North American media offering up these rigid preseason assessments, none with any notion of what impact virtually every team will enjoy from its new imports.

Hockey prose is fine for inclusion in any Labor Day beach reading list, just know that if it’s marketed as new season forecast, it’s fiction.

Off Wing Opinion has posted photos of Olie’s new red-white-and-blue mask.

Check out the rest of the pictures here.