Season Wrap-up; Commentary On the NHL Awards

Over the past two weeks it's been hectic here in Bristow, VA and the Caps haven't done much in the way of free agent signings so the blog has been pretty far from my mind. I spent the past three days in Stillwater, OK working at ICx - Nomadics. Lots of great, smart folks in an interesting town that is the home of 1) Oklahoma State University, 2) Eskimo Joes, 3) the largest business unit in the ICx Technologies, Inc. Corporate Family, and 4) one of the nicest McDonald's on the planet if your into sports memorabilia as part of your decorating accessories.

So after spending much of today aboard crowded airplanes, I settled in to watch the NHL Awards on Versus. I haven't watched much hockey since the last game of the Stanley Cup Finals - weren't they great? I certainly thought so, games 4, 5, and 6 were all just so much fun to watch. Next year I'll keep my prognostic pronouncements to myself, I confess by game 2 I was rooting for Osgood, Datsuyk, Zetterberg, and Lidstrom. I was actually disappointed for the Red Wings, at the end of game 5, everyone loves to win championships at home, but also happy I'd get to see another great game. The Red Wings' season and accomplishments can't be overestimated. It was super. Congrats to the Wings, the Penguins, and the Penguin Fans who showed a lot of class after the final horn of Game Six.

Tonight's NHL awards only had one surprise for me, and I agreed with all the selected awardees - of course that's not saying much given the great season all the nominees had. The surprise? Bruce Boudreau. I'm very, very happy for Boudreau and the Caps organization and I think he is very deserving. I just figured it was Mike Babcock's to loose and Guy Carbonneau also coached a heckuva season. Way to go Coach Boudreau. I'm also just basically psyched overall that Alexander Ovechkin won both the Pearson and the Hart Trophies...and yes CapsChick, I definitely enjoyed all the gushing the Versus guys were doing over the Caps. Once again I want to take back all my bad thoughts and comments about Comcast's Lisa Hillary as well - her commentary and interviews were great tonight. Also - Lisa nice gown on the runway, as they say "Baby's got back!" Clearly, the future should be bright for the Washington Capitals the way things played out tonight. The upcoming draft and free agency period should be quite interesting to watch. Who will the Caps resign and draft? Will the Penguins be able to hold their team together with all the UFA and RFAs they have? What will the Canadeans, Hurricanes, and other Eastern Division teams do to improve their rosters? Personally I can't wait till next season! It should be the start of the "Ovechkin - Semin Era" here in DC, so much for the "Crosby - Malkin Era". LETS GO CAPS!!!

While I'll continue to follow the Caps and I've renewed my season tickets - I have a partner this year and we'll be splitting the games - until next season winds up my Caps writing will consist primarily of commenting on the RFA & UFA re-signings as well as the Caps 2008 draft. That means my posts will start to have much more content on the subjects of my other "musings." Like the header says that means primarily Family, Technology & Career, life approaching the big Five -oh and to a much lesser degree moderate politics, which will likely be limited to a small lament that the Congressional Representative from Virginia's 11th District, Tom Davis has chosen not to seek re-election and retire. Congressman Davis, has in this constituents opinion served the district and the nation well and has generally been a rationale, moderate influence in a body that, at least from the MSM's presentation, is becoming increasingly polarized. I believe, we the residents of the 11th District would do well to once again send a moderate to Congress and hope we'll have a set of choices in November that gives us that opportunity. Looking at the two candidates websites, it's hard to tell what their positions really are on any if the issues. Neither Democrat Gerry Connolly who won the Democratic primary while I was in Oklahoma this week or Republican Candidate Kieth Fimian, who has been the GOP candidate since April have any real meat that lets you know where they really stand on any issue. Hopefully that will change soon, otherwise I'll miss Congressman Davis even more than I already do.

Until the opening of the 2008 - 2009 NHL season and the time comes to really comment on that though my blogs will likely primarily be on to Family, Technology & Career and life approaching the big five-oh as fodder to muse about. Looking ahead our calender this summer I'll have the following events to prompt musings on these sort of subjects.

June 6th: our only child, Chris graduated from High School. That has me musing about life in general and our future "approaching" middle age - think 50 is the new 40 kind of stuff, especially when you are 48; also just how proud of my great kid I am.

During the remainder of month of June and July, I expect our team at ICx Technolgies will reach a few milestones that will prompt musings about Homeland Security - Technology - Military Force Protection - Interoperability & Standards and the interplay and inter-relationships of those four broad subject areas. In Security Industry speak, a word that is rapidly becoming overused - "Convergence". Some of these subjects will likely "bleed over" into August as well.

July 10th: Chris reports to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy for Indoctrination, and we officially become "empty - nesters." True fodder for "life as one approaches the big Five - Oh" is when your kid selects your alma mater as his college choice and joins the class that will graduate just before you plan on going to your own class' 30th reunion/homecoming.

In August, we'll take our first vacation in 18 years without a child/teenager as part of the trip.

September 4th and 5th, we'll get to see our son for the first time face to face since July 10th at the USMMA's "Parent's Weekend", another family trip/event to be prompt musings.

Along the way will be the various Caps and NHL events and news to analyze as well as life in general but to be sure, like most Caps bloggers I suspect this off-season, my first as a Caps blogger, will see a slowing of the pace of my posts. It's just the nature of things, it really doesn't mean I've slowed down, it's just that many things in my life are not the types of things I think are newsworthy or worth posting/sharing with a larger community. Does that make me "weird" for a blogger? - as if all bloggers aren't a little weird, I don't know, you tell me. Anyway on the hockey front, "Can't wait till next season!" Congrats once again to Coach Boudreau and Alexander the Great. LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Looking to Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals Tonight

Game 3 the Penguins came alive, they were still out shot, but they certainly were NOT manhandled in any way, and of course "Sid the Kid" played to the level he's capable of which on anybody's scale is awesome. Marc-Andre Fluery was again excellent as well with a save percentage of 94.1% while facing 34 shots compared to the human numbers of 87.5% while facing 24 shots by Chris Osgood at the other end of the rink. The Pens took two more penalties than they had power plays but they gave up only one power play goal to Detroit on their 5 chances. Penguins' coach Michel Therrien used the last line change well and the +/- numbers of Crosby, Malkin and Hossa bear that out. So what's in store tonight?

Both teams had a day off on Thursday, the Red Wings went to Nemocolin Woodlands (a great get away not at all too far from DC for a great weekend escape) did some relaxing, some bonding and some marketing for the NHL. The Penguins apparently took a real day off Crosby told the MSM he laid around, mostly in bed, apparently alone getting rest. Hal Gill indicated he lounged and spent the day in Pittsburgh with his family going out to lunch. The point being both teams got a day to rest and relax on Thursday and were back at practice on Friday. For the Red Wings Tomas Holmstrom sat out Friday's practice but indicated he intends to play. As far as intangibles for the Pens, more sadly, Kris Letang received word that his best friend, Vancouver Canuck, Luc Bourdon was killed in a tragic motorcycle accident , Letang has indicated he is shocked by the news and had trouble focusing on hockey yesterday. All of this means both teams should have a high energy level in general but both also have a few potential "chinks" in their armour. Expect the Red Wings to again work very hard at "bottling up" Crosby and Hossa, as well as Malkin; and expect Coach Therrien to again make good use of the last line change to get them freed up some more than they were in Games 1 and 2. The things to watch are potentially elsewhere - for the Red Wings how will Johan Franzen react, his second game back? and how will Holmstrom's injury slow him down? will a rested Chris Osgood return to the impenetrable force in the Red Wings' net he was in games 1 and 2? - for the Penguins, how will Hal Gill handle the Red Wings in front of the Pens net? will Kris Letang be able focus on the game and play the inspired hockey of which he is capable? and will the Pens figure out how to at least match the Red Wings in shots on goal?

(Ed Note: There will be a moment of silence tonight before the game for Luc Bourdon, as the father of an 18 year old son, I can only imagine the grief and depth of the nightmare this untimely death is for his family. My heart truly goes out for them, no father or mother should ever have to deal with what they are going through. They are in our thoughts and prayers and I hope they are in yours as well.)

Stay tuned Caps Hockey Fans, tonight's game is on the same "bat station" at the same "bat time" as Wednesday night's - NBC. Tune in to see how this plays out, after all, it's the only hockey we've got available till Camp Opens at Kettler or even better, the pre-season starts.

Can't wait till next season. LETS GO CAPS!!!

Detroit Blanks Pittsburgh Again (3-0) Take 2 - 0 Series Lead

Last night, Detroit again controlled the tempo and play of the game for 60:00 minutes and beat Pittsburgh to take a 2 - 0 lead in the Stanley Cup finals. Once again Marc - Andre Fluery played an excellent game in net for the Penguins and delivered a save percentage of 91.2% on the 34 shots the Red Wings sent his way. Unfortunately for the Penguins, Chris Osgood again stopped 100% of the 22 shots the Penguins managed to take.

The Red Wings dominated most aspects of the game despite coming up behind or only matching the Pens in several statistical categories. The Penguins didn't get their first shot on net until over 12 minutes of the first period had been played. The only aspect of the Red Wings game that didn't hit on all cylinders was their power play. The Wings didn't score a power play goal all night despite having a man advantage for 13:20 of the game. The series now goes to Pittsburgh where the Penguins haven't lost since February 24th. It will again be interesting to see what adjustments and line match-ups the Penguins try now that they have the last line change. The Pens need to make some major changes to their game plan in order to turn things around because right now the Red Wings look like the much better team. (Ed Note: Maybe I should leave the prognostication to Peerless.) The nice aspect of this story no matter who you are rooting for? Thirty-five (35) year old, Chris Osgood is only the fourth goalie, all-time, to start a Stanley Cup Finals with two straight shut-outs. Not bad for a guy who came into the net in relief in the first round of this year's playoffs. Perhaps Osgood's performance is a reason, thirty eight (38) year old Olaf Kolzig believes he can still be a dominant, number 1 goalie in the NHL next season. Of course it might also be cause to hope another thirty-something goaltender might be able to anchor the Washington Capital's drive to their first Stanley Cup next year... In any case if the Pens can't make some effective adjustments in the next two days and Osgood and his teammates keep playing the kind of hockey they've shown fans in the first two games, this might be a very short series.

On the Washington Caps news front, for all those folks clogging up the Capital's Insider with comments about what GMGM should have done before or instead of signing Karl Alzner last week; please note the following facts:
1) Alzner was the Caps number 1 pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft and as such the Caps had until June 1st (this coming Sunday) to get him under contract.
2) By virtually all accounts and scouting reports the 19 year old is the best Defensemen who did NOT play in the NHL last year - in other words a tru "blue chip prospect" and the Caps would have been crazy to let him get away.
3) The three year entry level contract Alzner and the Caps signed is apparently very similar to the deal Caps Defenseman Mike Green signed three years ago (Green's deal averaged $833K/year).

Most of the folks blog posters and commenters feel the Caps should have signed before they signed Alzner, will indeed be signed. It's likely the Caps have now started serious discussion with many of them now that the IIHF Worlds are over. In most cases the posts involve Mike Green and Christobel Huet, or the Caps Goaltending picture in general. Some of these posts are obviously based on uneducated emotional reactions such as:
- One recent poster indicated he felt the Caps should try desperately to trade Tom Poti away - seems kind of ridiculous when you look at and understand Poti's role on the team and understand the 31 year old led the Caps in Ice Time, had a +/- rating of +9 often against the oppositions best forwards, and often was a stalwart on the penalty killing units. (Poti is under contract through July 2011 with an annual Salary Cap Hit of $3.5M - which will probably be the average or a steal for a top 2/to 4 defenseman after this year's free agent signings.)
- Other posts and comments indicate many do NOT understand what the word Restricted means before the words Free Agent in the terms of the current NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Shoanne Morrisson; Mike Green, Brooks Laich, Steve Emminger, Eric Fehr, Boyd Gordon, along with minor leaguers Stephen Warner and Jamie Hunt are all RESTRICTED Free Agents this year. Certainly Caps Management will resign and/or match any qualifying offers most of these great young players get.
- Another subject of many posts and comments relate to the resigning of Sergei Federov, the thirty-eight year old veteran of 1,196 NHL regular season and 169 NHL playoff games trade deadline pickup, played a stellar post season and was super in the IIHF championships. Most point to that and the clear spark he and young Russian teammates Alexander Semin and Alexander Ovechkin seem to have when they play together as the reason the Caps should resign him now. This despite the fact it is unclear whether Federov wants to play another season in the NHL (his 19th) and the fact that the Caps need to have the right role and salary cap room for him when a healthy Michael Nylander and Chris Clark return to the lineup next season.

Can't wait till next season - LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Wings Flew to Game 1 Victory - Downed Penguins 4 - 0 in Series Opener

Saturday night the Detroit Red Wings basically "man-handled" the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup finals opening game at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. After the first ten minutes of the first period, that were, for the most part, the usual opening of a multi-game series, the sort of tentative "feel each other out" cautious, don't make too any mistakes kind of hockey, the Red Wings "turned on the jets" and basically shut down the Penguins for the remaining 50 minutes of the game.

Tonight it's game two, once again in Detroit. For the Penguins to win, they'll once again need super goaltending from Marc-Andre Fluery since it appears Chris Osgood continues to make that aspect of the game, "the price of admission". Some pundits are indicating this series is NOT a goaltenders battle and it's NOT JUST a goaltenders battle. However, there is indeed a goaltenders battle being waged within the larger battle between these two powerhouse teams. While a lot of comparisons will be made between the young Fluery and the experienced Osgood, on Saturday Fluery had a save % of 88.88% stopping 32 of 36 shots and Osgood posted a save % of 100% stopping all 19 of the Penguins shots. To be sure, Fluery's play in the first and second periods was, in large part, the only reason the Penguins started the third period within 2 goals of winning the game. During period 1 and 2 the Penguins were out shot by the Wings 27 - 16 and that was only because the Penguins spent much of the last half of the first period on the powerplay. The Red Wings won Saturday night's game in the neutral zone. During the second and third periods, Pittsburgh's powerful offensive weapons could not get moving and were rarely allowed to "setup" in the offensive zone. Detroit's penalty killing unit(s) were excellent holding a powerplay unit that averages a 25% success rate scoreless for 9:50 AND scoring a shorthanded goal late in the third period to go up 3-0.

Like Detroit, Pittsburgh is a powerhouse of a team and no doubt will make adjustments in tonight's game. After the lesson they got on Saturday, fans can be sure that the young guns from Pittsburgh will indeed "kick it up a notch". In game one the "less physical"/smaller/older Red Wings out hit the Pens 31 - 25 and swarmed over both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Malkin was held to just 1 shot and Crosby to only 3. Adding insult to injury on one the few shifts where Pens coach Michel Therrien put Crosby and Malkin out together, in what appeared to be an attempt to force the Wings to open the game up a bit early in the third period, the Red Wings' Mikael Samuelsson scored his second goal of the game to put Detroit up 2-0. Perhaps the worst outcome of Saturday's game is the Red Wing's have given the rest of the league a blueprint of how to take apart the Penguins, even with Crosby, Malkin, and Marian Hossa all in the lineup. Of course to do it you need a tremendous amount of talent, like the Red Wings have, and to play awfully solid, near flawless hockey yourselves. In any case, the interesting thing tonight will be watching the adjustments the Penguins have made in the first period and Detroit's reaction and counter to them in the second and third periods.

For Caps fans though it's nice to know those blasted flightless birds are vulnerable. LETS GO CAPS!!!!!! Can't wait till next season.

Stanley Cup Finals Start Today - Preview for Caps Next Year?

The Stanley Cup Finals start today when Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins face off against Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsuyk and the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit this evening. To Caps Fans, this will be a good, hard fought series between two teams likely to be between the Capitals and the Cup when next year's regular season ends and the 2009 playoffs begin as well.

As indicated in earlier posts this blogger is predicting that the Red Wings will fall slightly short and this year's Cup will be the start of the Crosby - Malkin - Fluery era in Pittsburgh. That assumes Marc-Andre Fluery continues the stellar play he has shown so far in the playoffs, even though he is likely to be tested even harder than he has at any point of his career. At the other end of the ice, veteran Chris Osgood is unlikely to waiver, so fans will have a good yardstick by which to measure the Penguins' #1 netminder.

The contrast between the two teams should be interesting Lidstrom vs. Gonchar; Datsuyk vs. Crosby; Zetterberg vs. Malkin will all no doubt be featured in various VS. network highlights and commentaries. However, the real battles/contrasts to decide the series will more likely be Franzen (when he returns) vs. Stall; Samuellson vs. Hossa; Chelios vs. Gill; Kopecki vs. Sykora; Maltby vs. Malone; Filppula vs. Talbot, etc.. It's here, the backside of each team's depth chart, where the exceptional depth of both teams becomes apparent. It's also here where the youth, raw talent and SIZE of the Penguins becomes clear and there is a contrast to the experience, finesse and learned skill of the Red Wings. Given the length of the season and the comparisons between the two teams there seems to be the potnetial for a slight edge to go to the Penguins here though as they say "That's why they play these games on the ice." For now the only thing left to do is speculate on the future outcome. Who do you think will hoist the Cup above his head Penguins Captain Crosby or Red Wings Captain Lidstrom and after what game of the series?


All the above in consideration it certainly seems if the Washington Captials are to build on their accomplishments for 2007 - 2008 and advance further into the 2009 playoffs, they will meet the likes of at least one, if not both, these teams next year as well. Of course a lot of water needs to pass under the bridge before the Caps are assured to be playing hockey past tax day next year, but this year was "a breakout year" for the young Caps team. Assuming the Caps can resolve the following off ice challenges between now and the start of the 2008-2009 season: a) resign their young number 1 defenseman, Mike Green, who is currently a restricted free agent; b) sign a legitimate number 1 goalie, preferably the resigning of Christobel Huet who is an Unrestricted Free Agent; c) sort out their blue line corps so the once again have 7 or 8 legitimate NHL Blueliners on the roster; d) figure out what/how to accommodate a roster with a healthy Michael Nylander AND a Sergei Federov, if Federov wants to play another NHL season given his post deadline performance for the Caps and his clear chemistry with young gun Alexander Semin; e) sort out what they want to do with "grinders" Matt Bradley and Matt Cooke in a way that retains sufficient "grit" in the line-up but also gets some additional secondary scoring in the lineup besides Brooks Laich (who they need to resign) and hopefully a healthy Chris Clarke, Fans can once again expect to be watching hockey in "the phone booth" in late April next year.


The biggest area of likely change/fluidity for the Capitals is probably the Defense Corps. The resolution of the top 4 defenseman on Bruce Boudreau's roster card at the start of next season will require sorting out the resigning of Shoanne Morrisson (RFA) and Steve Emminger (RFA) as well as the status of Brian Pothier (Career Threatening?/Ending? Concussion Syndrome Injury), as well as the play and ranking of Milan Jurcina, John Erskine, Sami Lepesto, Ben Clymer and Karl Alzner. Basically the only things settled in the blueline corps seem to be a)Tom Poti will be back and b)the Caps want to resign Green and Morrisson but the salary cap implications of those two resignings and Pothier's status need to be understood, and Coach Boudrea has to understand and decide where he is on the depth chart ranking of Emminger, before Boudreau and General Manager George McPhee look at whether they feel they need to go to the free agent pool for another top 4 D-Man. It seems Jurcina, Erskine, Lepisto and Alzner are all likely to compete for roster slots 5 and 6 when camps open with Jurcina the likely #5.


The most critical area currently in flux is Goaltending. As has been highlighted well by DMG in his Caps Blue Line, the only NHL caliber goal keeper currently under contract for the Caps is backup Brent Johnson. Whether you're an "Olie the Goalie" continued supporter or not it certainly seems the Caps need to resign Christobel Huet now. It seems clear that Olie Kolzig will either end his career elsewhere or Caps fans will be seeing his number hoisted to the rafters of the VC next season if he retires after testing the free agent waters. None of the goalie prospects are NHL ready and even Fredric Cassivi last year's number #1 goalie on the Caps AHL Affiliate Hershey Bears is an unrestricted free agent, not that he's the right guy for the job any more than Johnnie is. If the Caps need to go into the Free Agent pool the pickings get slim pretty fast after Jose Theodore and if the Caps are willing/able to spend 5/6+M for a goalie, they will likely be just as able to save a few bucks and sign the 32 year old Huet rather than the 31 year old Theodore. Though both Huet and Theodore fit the right age bracket to fill the gap between the end of longtime number 1 Kolzig's Caps Career and the current prospects in the Caps system.

Forward line positions are a strength and all the Capital's Management Organization has in these positions at this point seem to be choices between good, better and best. That being said, General Manager George McPhee will still need to continue to do the excellent job of Salary Cap Management that he's been doing if the Caps are to rise to the heights that both of this evening's contestants have. LETS GO CAPS!!!! Can't Wait For Next Season.

It Was Inevitable - the Beatification of Sidney Crosby Begins

It Was Inevitable - the Beatification of Sidney Crosby Begins

USA Today Writer Kevin Allen First To Start NHL Star On Road To Being Recognized As The Deity He Must No Doubt Be.

(Editorial Note: This may be as ill-advised as my rant about Comcast's Lisa Hillary (sorry once again Lisa, but I think I've atoned and hopefully learned from that information age/web 2.0 mis-step. Here we go. I was working on a much more interesting piece on the Caps and wasn't going to post again till tomorrow prior to the start of the Stanley Cup Finals, but I saw this little comment/gaffe made by Kevin Allen in today's USA Today, a paper with a circulation of over 2Million - America's largest and I couldn't resist my urges to comment. So here goes.)

With the Penguins in the Stanley Cup finals it was likely inevitable. Since his team is in the finals, and Sidney Crosby would be the youngest player to Captain an NHL team to it's championship IF they win, it was likely inevitable that rather than describing him as what he is, media from the broader markets and more traditional sources would slip into hyperbole and declare him the undisputed best forward and/or player, etc. Calling that one and confirming that hype must sell papers sure didn't take long. In his "Finals Preview" on page 9C of today's USA Today, Kevin Allen states: "Key matchup: Lidstrom vs. Crosby. This is best-on-best, the game's best defenseman against the NHL's top forward."

Calling Lidstrom the game's best defensemen is as problematic as calling Crosby the NHL's top forward. Using "the game" as the predecent to the statement implies the best of all time, to be sure the 38 year old Swede is a future Hall of Famer and the likely winner of the Norris Trophy as the best defensemen in the league this year; but the best of all time? - clearly open to debate since now the group expands to include the likes of stars from bygone eras such as Bobby Orr. Nicklas Lidstrom's career is long and storied enough to warrant consideration and inclusion in that GROUP of players who could be considered the best of all time, but why do we need to declare him the best other than to sell copies of today's USA Today, which a hockey story on page 9C clearly isn't likely to do anyway.

Calling Crosby "the NHL's top forward" or even "the NHL's top center" right now is also clearly premature; and, by objective measures, probably just plain wrong. One of the best - yes again, he is definitely in that GROUP of players who are the elite in the NHL today. However, Crosby's play this season, prior to the playoffs, in the position of center had even been eclipsed by his teammate Evgeni Malkin. There are 30 players who finished with more points them Crosby overall; granted his season was shortened by injury, but even on a points per game basis, Crosby, a center, tallied 1.36 points per game (.45 goals per game and .91 assists per game). That puts him slightly behind scoring title winner Alexander Ovechkin who averaged 1.37 points per game (a whopping 0.79 goals per game and 0.58 assists per game). Also, Many consider Goals vice Points, the measure by which forward's contributions to their team should be gauged, if that's your measure of a forward's worth/value, "Sid the Kid's" 0.45 goals per game put him behind approximately 14 other NHL forwards this year. Crosby's +/- is +.34 per game (overall +18). His +/- performance per game puts 8 players ahead of him for the year including Ovechkin, Defenseman Lidstrom, and forwards Jarome Iginla, and Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg, who with 1.23 points per game and .57 goals per game also puts him in the group. Teammate Evgeni Malkin's per game stats this year: 1.29 points, 0.57 goals, and overall +/- +18 while playing 100% of the regular season games and logging an average of 21:19 per game.

My point - Sidney Crosby is very good, and if he has a reasonable length career, the 20 year old Center from Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia, will indeed likely be in that group of all time greats that includes Wayne Gretzky and Crosby's mentor in Pittsburgh - Mario Lemieux. However, the risk of early deification of Crosby, who played only 53 games in this year's 82 game regular season, is three-fold. First, it cheapens the achievements of those who match or actually exceed Crosby's current performance, for example Ovechkin, and arguably Malkin, Iginila, Pavel Datsuk, Zetterberg and a few others. Second, it clearly cheapens the accomplishments of the "all time greats" like Gretzkey, Lemieux, and numerous other including "Rocket" Richard, etc. Third, since so many of the other players in the current NHL who are in the ranks of the elite are European, it is fuel for the claims that the "Hockey Press" favors Canadians; regardless if this is fact or merely perception it is fuel for these claims.

On the overall plus side, thanks USA Today, the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs got a picture and inset headline on the front page of the Sports Section on a Friday edition along with a story about the NBA playoffs and this weekend's Indianapolis 500. Not bad for a sport The Onion frequently pokes fun at and usually doesn't get it's due in the MSM. LETS GO CAPS!!!!! Can't wait for next season at the phone booth. Now it's back to work - seriously, this was just a diversion from putting the finishing touches on a proposal update due on Tuesday morning, here at ICx Technologies.

It's Penguins vs. Red Wings In the Finals

Well yesterday Pittsburgh pretty much manhandled the Philadelphia Flyers downing them 6-0 in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference Championship series to get into the Stanley Cup finals; and this evening the Detroit Red Wings took control of their game 6 with the Dallas Stars and drove to the Western Conference Championship behind a 4-1 victory. The Stanley Cup finals start in Detroit on Saturday and it should be a great series.

Predictions anyone? For me it's Penguins in 6. If that happens it will be the true start of the Malkin - Crosby - Fluery era in Pittsburgh and the Penguins first Stanley Cup since 1991 - 92 and their third ever. If Detroit wins it'll be their first since 2001 - 02 and their 11th all time.

Next Round of NHL Playoffs Start Tonight as do NOVA High School LAX Playoffs

The NHL Conference Championship Round of the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs start tonight when the Dallas Stars faceoff against the Detroit Red Wings at 7:30 EDT at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. It's a pretty safe bet that even the HOT Dallas Stars Goalie, Marty Turco, will have his hands full with the "pucksters" from "Hockeytown". Both Conference Championship series: Dallas - Detroit, and the next chapter in the Pittsburgh - Philadelphia rivalry should be a treat to watch. Now that San Jose is out of the action my last team in the playoffs to root for - Philadelphia - is playing the team that IMHO Caps Fans like to watch get beat the most, so my allegiances are once again fully aligned. It's nice to be "unconflicted" once again.


Closer to home the Battlefield HS Boys Lacrosse Team takes on the Osborn HS Eagles at Osborn in Manassas, VA. The Battlefield Bobcats, in just their fourth year of existence have amassed a regular season record of 9-5 while the Eagles are 10 -3. They will meet in the Virginia Cedar Run District Playoffs on Thursday. In the regional power rankings Osborn is #85 and Battlefield is 188th, so the Bobcats will be looking to pull off an upset to avenge their 11-5 defeat at the hands of the Eagles earlier this season on April 9th. LETS GO BOBCATS!!!!

The playoffs continue for the Captials ECHL affiliate South Carolina Stingrays on Friday when The 2008 Kelly Cup Playoffs American Conference Finals will begin in Cincinnati when the North Division champion Cincinnati Cyclones host the South Division champion South Carolina Stingrays in Game 1 of a best-of-seven series at the U.S. Bank Arena. It is the third trip to the conference finals for South Carolina and the second trip for Cincinnati. The Stingrays won in each of their previous trips to the conference finals in 1997 and 2001, going on to win the Kelly Cup both times, while Cincinnati lost in seven games in 2003 to eventual Kelly Cup champion Atlantic City. Cincinnati will host Game 2 at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday before the series travels to the North Charleston Coliseum for Games 3 and 4 at 7:05 p.m. ET on May 14 and 16. The winner will advance to the Kelly Cup Finals where they will meet the National Conference winner. The National Conference Finals begin on Monday when top seed Las Vegas hosts sixth-seed Utah in Game 1 of their best-of-seven series.


Finally, here's a pretty cool on-line article about "The Great Eight".

The Week Ahead - Into The Breach Without Caps Hockey for a Diversion

Well the week ahead looks pretty busy and hectic as usual. So even though the Caps have concluded their season, this week like last will probably just fly by.

On the professional front, it's another couple proposals, in process and looming. As we at ICx Technologies look toward our next couple of months we have several large US DoD Force Protection related procurements that are in process or looming that will keep us busy over the next couple of months. First on the horizon is a task order proposal related to a "Joint Capabilities Technologies Demonstration" or JCTD that needs to be completed this week. If I get that done early in the week then I can go out to the West Coast to look at some interesting technology the DoD is using to fuse CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives) sensor data with, if I don't get the proposal done early in the week, then that's what I'll be doing till its done. Hopefully, we'll also hear about the next steps in a program procurement the Army has in process for a proposal we submitted about 10 months ago, soon as well. The the Air Force has their next large Force Protection program procurement coming out later this month. All in all it should be a busy couple of months and with some good fortune it'll be a happy time for those of us who have been working these types of things. On the product side things also continue to move forward briskly and in a positive but busy fashion, we've started closing early sales of our CohesionIF(tm) - sensor integration software - and that too will mean we'll be increasing our capabilities in providing CBRNE and Advanced Wide Area Surveillance sensors for incorporation and integration to enterprise-wide security solutions. I'm very excited about our prospects in both areas as they are things I've been working towards since joining the ICx Team, 17 months ago.

On the personal front, we are getting prepared to be empty-nesters in Bristow when our son Chris enters the United States Merchant Marine Academy, in Kings Point, NY - he'll report for "Indoctrination" - sounds ominous doesn't it? - on July 10th. It's not that ominous, for the record, I reported to KP for Indoctrination on July 10, 1978, 30 years before my son enters to the day but I started on a Monday, he'll start on a Thursday. Indoctrination is a 2 1/2 week period prior to the start of classes where entering Freshman - Plebe Candidates in USMMA "speak" - receive their first taste of Academy life and their first "Indoctrination" to "Regimental Life" - it's basically the start of their military training prior to the start of the academic year. They "learn" the rules of the regiment as well as a significant amount of historical information about the Academy - "Plebe Knowledge" and start their PT (Physical Training) and learn to march, etc. While not all that ominous, it will be a large change for most Midshipman, including our son. However, yesterday, he told me he was looking forward to "finishing this stuff and starting the next thing in his life" - hopefully, he'll keep that attitude going forward, I believe he will.

On the "hockey diversion front" both the Caps and Hershey Bears are now out of their respective playoffs, however the South Carolina Stingrays will play a series ending (one way or the other) game 5 tonight to see if they or the Columbia Inferno continue on in the ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs. The winner of the Stingrays - Inferno series will play the winner of the Cincinnati Cyclones - Reading Royals series who also play their "rubber match" game on Monday evening in Cincinnati.

Washington DC Area Hockey fans continuing to follow the Stanley Cup playoffs know the Eastern Conference Championship series starts later this week in Pittsburgh when the Penguins face off against the Philadelphia Flyers. Meanwhile in the Western Conference the Detroit Red Wings will face off against the Dallas Stars. The Stars beat the San Jose Sharks with a 2-1 win in the fourth overtime last night in Dallas. Both NHL games contested yesterday were exciting to watch. An earlier post provides the highlights of the Penguins - Ranger finale. The Sharks - Stars game went into a fourth overtime and was an exciting, fun game to watch. Throughout the entire game, the goal tending was superb, but the stupendous saves that both Evgeni Nabakov and Marty Turco made in the first three overtime periods were pretty mind-boggling. Through 6 periods of hockey the Sharks had 61 shots and the Stars had 51, even more amazing than their respective save percentages of of 98.36% and 98.04%, was the nature of some of the saves made by Turco and Nabakov. There were numerous scoring chances where it seemed the Goalies were superhuman. Both played top notch hockey through 131 minutes of hockey, and they both amassed several games worth of highlight reel saves throughout the action. In reality, both goalies played to a 1-1 tie in the first "game 6", then to a 0-0, dual shutout, tie in the second "game 6". The game went on like this until in the seventh period/fourth overtime when, at 9:03, Brenden Morrow scored a power by deflecting a pass from Stephane Robidas as the Stars and eliminated the pesky San Jose Sharks 2-1 in a game that ended early Monday morning. It was the longest game in the NHL playoffs this season, and the longest in San Jose history. The sad thing is that by the end of this game, both teams deserved to win, as did both goaltenders, but in the end only one team could win and that was Dallas. So Dallas now faces the Detroit Red Wings to see who from the Western Division will play for the Cup.