Perhaps the most impressive thing about Joel Ward is his life motto.
Undrafted, college graduate, AHL veteran, the Capitals’ newly signed Ward knows the non-glamorous side to being a professional athlete. He told OFB that being a leader sometimes means stepping out of a personal comfort zone in order to get someone to listen. But then comes his life motto—”Never have a bad day”—and you understand what makes him stand out in a sports culture of NFL lockouts and hour-long sporting events dedicated to one player’s decision to change teams.
Ward told OFB he’s excited about the makeup of his new team and says it will be fun to watch guys like Mike Green, Alex Ovechkin, and Alexander Semin as teammates. And the Capitals fanbase has already made an impression on him from his time in an opposing team’s jersey. Ward described the Capitals’ fan support as unbelievable, gave a verbal stick tap to the sea of red jerseys , and talked about how he could see the passion among Capitals faithful.
But can you deal Alexander Semin? Practically speaking, is there any semblance of a market for this enigma?
Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis hinted at big moves; GM George McPhee surely did not disappoint.
From bringing back a former team captain (something Pittsburgh was unable to do) to bidding Do svidaniya to an oft-injured netminder, Capitals fans will be seeing lots of new names in red, white, and blue. Team OFB discusses the Caps’ moves, and what might be next.
Tonight’s hard-fought Eastern Conference Finals victory by the Boston Bruins assures one thing: The Capitals are moving up… on a list they’d rather not be on in the first place.
The Vancouver Canucks have never won a Stanley Cup. The Boston Bruins last won in 1972. Therefore, regardless of who wins the 2011 Stanley Cup, the Capitals will find themselves in 6th place on the list of teams with the longest Stanley Cup droughts.
As the pain of the Caps’ loss fades to a dull ache, I find myself watching the Bruins-Lightning series with great interest. It’s exciting stuff—unpredictable, fast-paced, and… confusing. Because while I’m a fan of neither team, I still like to pick a horse if I’m going to bother watching a race. Whom to pick?
My wife takes a simple yet elegant approach: root for whoever’s losing at that exact moment. Stay with that team while they’re losing or tied… then switch to the other team if the lead changes. Effective, if a bit murky before the game’s first goal.
In three years I’ve had the opportunity to see three playoff runs, two series wins, dueling hat tricks, Game 7 heroics and had the opportunity to be apart of one of the best communities in sports. After three seasons of covering perhaps the most electric team hockey though, my time as a member of the OnFrozenBlog team has come to an end.
Boudreau is a character in the best sense of the word—a cranky, cantankerous coach whose foul-mouthed tirades shocked many watching HBO’s Emmy-winning 24/7 series. He managed to yank a downward-spiraling team out of its losing streak with a change in its system, mid-season… no easy task given the offensive mindset that dominated the team since Alex Ovechkin arrived.
But after the Capitals’ sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boudreau simply needs to go.
It seems like a no-brainer that sitting in a suit, the weight of the world off your shoulders all while watching an NHL game from the press box would be less stressful than being out on the ice or on the bench. But it’s not – at least for Caps goaltender Braden Holtby. He finds it more stressful to sit out a game rather than play in it.
Saw an ad on ESPN.com’s NHL page today that caused me to double-take: ticket reseller StubHub seemed to already know what days the Caps’ Round 2 games would be.
What is it about the Pittsburgh Penguins that encourages their players to flagrantly attempt to injure others? In hockey, elbows fly. Sticks jab. Shoulders crush. It’s a brutal game we love, and that’s as it should be. But no one should so blatantly intend to injure their opponents—for while all may be fair in love and war, anyone elevating professional sports to that level is deluded.
