Yuck - Hurricanes 3, Habs 2 OT; FLA 3, COL 0; Eagles 3, Redskins 10

Why Not Cap the Weekend Off With More Unpleasant Developments...Where I Come From Both Bad & Good Things Are Alleged to Come In Threes, Anyway.

Well to make a bad weekend worse, as far as the professional sports teams I follow go, today's scores were all negative for the teams I root for. Being from Philadelphia I'm an Eagles fan; yes, I know that's a weird combination Eagles & Capitals but those are my teams. So the easy one for most Capitals fans to take first. The Eagles' receivers lost the game for them - seven dropped passes that should have been caught and then failing to push back three more steps so you're in the end zone when time runs out are just inexcusable at the NFL level.

Now that's off my mind how about the bad set of circumstances for the Capitals this weekend. First the Caps loose 7-1 to the Flyers last night, then Carolina beats Montreal in overtime today, and Florida shuts out Colorado. So at the end of this evening while the Caps retain first place in the Southeast Division they are only 6 points ahead of Carolina, and they are only 7 points ahead of Florida - who have a game in hand on both the Caps and the Hurricanes. Also, don't look now but the Florida Panthers are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games (after going 5-6-3 in the month of November). During the last 10 games the Panthers have outscored their opponents 23-20 and both Tomas Vokoun and Craig Anderson have each notched a shutout. Making Florida's recent run even more impressive are the facts that 6 of their last 10 games have been on the road including a 10 day/5 game in a row road trip from 12/8-12/18 AND the fact that four of the six wins were against Western Conference foes, 3 of which were on that road trip. Finally, lest we not forget this recent 10 game sure started with the Panthers beating the Capitals at Verizon Center on Tuesday, December 2nd. Clearly, the Caps can't afford to take the Panthers lightly the next time the two teams meet on Saturday, February 7th. Possibly by then the Panthers will have come back down to be the team many thought they were. However, it's just as possible that over the next 6 weeks the Panthers continue their new found ways and keep playing 0.700 plus hockey, like the Capitals did last season once they found their "mojo." The Panthers next six weeks schedule is decidedly easier with regard to travel and rest than it has been over the past seven weeks, so it is indeed possible that the real threat to the Caps for the Southeast Division Championship will come from Florida. The Carolina Hurricanes are 4-4-3 (0.550 hockey) in their last 10 games, including a 3-1 home victory against the Capitals at RBC Center on Pearl Harbor Day (12/7). On the season the Hurricanes have played 0.530 hockey and since opening the season with a 5-2-2 October have basically played 0.500 hockey or slightly below that level since. The one team they have dominated this season has been Montreal - they are 3-0-1, but in a quirk of NHL scheduling, they will not see the Canadeans again this regular season as for some reason they have played them four times already. Based on last years playoff teams as well as current team power rankings, discounting Montreal over the next 7 weeks, the Hurricane's schedule is slightly more arduous then it has been thus far this season.

Theoretically, the Capitals own schedule over the next 4 weeks should be easier then it has been. Of course that ignores several facts - first and foremost the injury situation, especially with the blue line corps; second 7 of the 16 games the Caps will play over the next 7 weeks are away games and it seems like any away game is posing a challenge for the Caps so far this season; finally the Caps have all to often played up or down to the level of their opponent so far this season and not had the killer instinct needed to put opponents away early of with finality. With any luck, Saturday's 7-1 loss to the Flyers will have shown the Caps the errors in their ways and that the time has come for them to use their size and really start to pack the low slot in a way that gets more scoring from the second, third and energy lines, even if Alexander Semin is out for a few weeks to get his back into shape. It'll also take a little luck with regard to the injury situation with the defense as once again Tom Poti has an injured groin and Mike Green is being asked to play what amounts to basically too many minutes. The luck would be the continued excellent play of two guys most Caps fans hadn't heard of before this season - Tyler Sloan and Sean Collins as well as the continued rapid maturation of Karl Alzner and the continued higher level play of Milan Jurcina. An on track recovery by Jeff Schultz wouldn't be a bad thing either. No one should rush the return of either Brian Pothier or John Erskine - concussions are not something to mess about with.

Next up the rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday Night. The Rangers are 0.639 on the season (22-12-2); though, after starting fast they are only 5-5-0in their last 10. The rangers have been tough in the Garden this year though and are 12-6-1, they have also gone 6-3-1 in their last 10 home games. Interestingly, during their last 10 home games, the Rangers have been outscored by their opponents 27-25. Given the motivation the Caps should have to make up for the lack of getting puck by Antero Niittymaki on Saturday, one might expect the Capitals to come out shooting again on Tuesday evening, but with even more grit.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Caps 1 - Hurricanes 3; Eagles 20 - Giants 14

December 7th, 2008 Scores to Remember: Capitals 1 - Hurricanes 3; Philadelphia Eagles 20 - New York "Football" Giants 14; Hershey Bears 3 - Norfolk Admirals 0.

As I sat down to watch the Caps take on the Hurricanes, I was comforted in my knowledge that so far it had been a good weekend for the teams I was rooting for.-The Caps won in Toronto last night; Carolina lost last night; the Hershey Bears won #10 in a row last night; the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Giants today; and the Johnstown Chiefs (yes of "Slapshot" fame) beat the Cincinnati Cyclones 3 - 2 last night as well. I sat down with a nice French Made "Frambiose" Belgian Style beer and began to watch the Caps take on the Hurricanes, or perhaps since they were wearing their semantically incorrect new third jerseys they should be referred to as the Carolina "Full Gales" today. If you haven't seen the Carolina third/alternate sweater before it looks as shown in this photo. Any Mariner worth half his or her salt knows that the symbol for a hurricane is two red flags with black inset squares flown one above the other; yet, the 'Cane's third jersey only has one such flag as shown. I guess one of two things could account for that situation a) the Hurricane is so windy it has blown the other flag off the hockey stick, but since that doesn't really appear to be the case, b) they just don't really know what the symbol for a Hurricane is or they don't care. Given the Hurricane's lackluster record so far this season, I'm thinking management in Raleigh has other things on their mind, and they don't have any Merchant Mariners on the Management team. Well those were my thoughts at the beginning of the game.

As the game wore on and the Caps stayed sharp and in the game, I could only get happier. Sure the Caps were down 1-0 at the end of the first period, after Carolina scored first for the first time in 13 games when Ray Whitney controlled Joni Pitkanen's rebound and stuffed it past an sprawling Jose Theodore at the 13: 18 mark of the first period. But the Caps hung in there and they were playing with heart and passion, despite having called up yet another member of the Hershey Bears for this game - Alexandre Giroux. The following players on the ice tonight were on the Hershey Bears roster at the start of this NHL season: Giroux, Keith Aucoin, Karl Alzner, Sami Lepisto, Bryan Helmer, and Sean Collins - 2 forwards and 4 defenseman. Despite that at the end of 40 minutes of hockey, the Caps were engaged in the game and they were out shooting the 'Canes 27 - 19, and were in the thick of things as they say. At the tail end of the second period, with Carolina on the power play, Alex Ovechkin, the Great Eight was pulled down from behind by Joni Pitkanen on a breakaway and given a penalty shot. Unfortunately, at 19:58 of the period OV was stopped on that attempt - the fifth penalty shot of his career in regulation by Hurricanes goaltender Michael Leighton and the period ended with score still 1-0 hurricanes.

The third period started with the Caps skating hard and dominating the Hurricanes. The Caps got a 5 on 3 man advantage at 7:33 in when Ryan Bayda was whistled off for Delay of Game (puck over the glass) with Joni Pitkanen already in the penalty box for a hooking call he received at 6:25. The Caps failed to score with the the two man advantage but right as Pitkanen had exited the box Alexander Ovechkin made a beutiful feed to Nicklas Backstrom who scored his eighth goal of the season. Backstrom whipped a lightning quick wrist shot top shelf past a stunned and helpless Leighton that knocked the 'Canes goalies' water bottle off the top of net - just like you would ring a bell. At that point, Caps fans watching the game everywhere had to be thinking - okay we have at least one point tonight now lets get the second one and see if we can hold these guys off the board too. Things continued to look that was surely going to be the story for another couple of minutes. Indeed at around the 14:30 mark, during a shift when it looked like the entire team consisted of Hershey Bears on the ice, the Caps dominated the play and held the puck in the 'Canes end for over 30 seconds. Only Leighton's great play kept the Hurricanes in the game through the first 15 minutes of the third period. Then the wheels sort of came off and it didn't seem obvious to those watching the game why that occurred. However at the 15:51 mark, Eric Staal, who was playing a strong game, dug out the puck from behind the Capitals goal. Staal then moved to the front and fired a backhander past goalie Jose Theodore on the short side, surely a goal that JT60 would like to have back. Theodore yielded the post and left a nice gap for Staal to put the puck past him. Then just 2:07 later at 17:58 Ray Whitney scored his second tally of the net to give the Hurricanes an insurance goal with only 2:02 left to play. That goal too was one that Theodore probably wants back.

However, the real story tonight isn't so much as the Capitals loosing the game as Hurricane's goaltender Michael Leighton beat them. The Caps outshot the 'Canes 39 - 25; the Caps and 'Canes were almost even in hits Caps 28 - 'Canes 29; Caps had 6 takeaways to the Hurricanes 3. yes the Hurricanes dominated the faceoff circle winning 63% of the faceoffs but the Caps only yielded 2 giveaways as compared to the Hurricane's 5. As far as disciplined hockey, the Caps only took 4 minor penalties to the Hurricane's 7 and you almost have to discount Brooks Laich's hooking penalty with 00:04 left to play in the game. In short, despite being plagued with injuries and playing the second of back to back away games against a division rival at home - who was playing the second of back to back home games - the Caps played well enough to win. If not for the stellar play of Michael Leighton, the Caps might be 3-0 in their series so far against the Hurricanes instead of 2-1. That said the Caps first line was -2 on the night and the second line finished the night -1. While straight +/- ratings have their limitations, all three goals by the Hurricanes were even strength goals. Perhaps it was the extra wear and tear of the travel or the extra wear and tear of the high number of minutes being played by the number one and two lines and the number one defensive pairing because of all the injuries, but during the last five minutes of the game the Caps could make something happen. Or perhaps it was just great goaltending by Leighton during the prior five minutes that got them wondering what they would have to do to get a puck past the guy at even strength. Who knows in the end the bottom line was a "no point night" for the Capitals.

Interestingly, in a quirk of NHL scheduling the Caps now do not face the Hurricanes, who are currently 4 points behind them in the Southeast Division standings until March 3rd. During the last three weeks of the regular season the Capitals have 3 games against the Hurricanes and eight (8) of their final 13 regular season games against Southeast Division rivals.

As a side note, tonight in Hershey, the Hershey Bears won their 11th game in a row in front of shutout goaltending by Daren Machesney. Tonight's performance was Machesney's third shutout he's backstopped during the bear's current 11-game win streak. "Cheeser" faced and stopped 30 shots tonights from the Norfolk Admirals. How's that for a "WOW". The three stars of this evening's game in Hershey were: 1) Daren Machesney, 2. Greg Amadio, 3. Steve Pinizzotto (Who was recently recalled from ECHL affiliate South Carolina). The 11 game winning streak is an all time record for the Hershey Bears - a club with a 70 year history, so that's something, eh'?

Next up for the Caps - the RED HOT Boston Bruins home at the Verizon Center in DC on Wednesday evening. My STH partner Tom has the tickets so I'll be watching the game on Comcast and "Rockin' the Red" Here in Bristow. The Bruins have been awesome so far this season and lead the Eastern Conference with 40 points and a 18-4-4 record despite having played just 26 games.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The end of another crazy, good week

Well the hectic pace of my week continued through last evening so by the time I got home and sat down the first period of the Caps - Canes game was already underway. I did get to the Caps game on Wed. evening - a colleague of mine from ICx Technologies, Rob went to the game with me. Rob is with ICx's Solutions Division in Sales & Marketing, and also a big hockey fan. Rob grew up in the SF Bay Area and his dad was a STH of the California Golden Seals. Rob is also a very sports minded guy having played Division 1 College football at BYU and then professionally as part of the Kansas City Chiefs organization. It's back to always being fun to watch the Caps since they have returned to the hard working team we have come to know. I myself wouldn't be a STH if I wasn't a huge fan but I find games even more fun to go to when you are with other fans or if you are introducing someone new to hockey. In Rob's case he isn't a new fan and is knowledgeable, but since he now lives in San Diego it'd been a while since he'd seen an NHL game or even a minor league game now that the Gulls have halted operations. This was the first time ever he saw either the sudden death OT or the shootout. So there was novelty in that, additionally we both agreed: 1) the game was well played; 2) the ice surface was horrible - you could see it visibly -in EVERYBODY's skating at one point or another and even how the puck moved throughout the entire game; and 3)there was one part of the third period (from about 7 min - 12 into the session) where the Caps seemed to break down a little and need to regroup. More on that coming.

First and foremost before I whine about a) the officiating and b) the five minute stretch of the third period where there was confusion I want to talk about my overall feelings about everything else Wednesday evening. Primarily, Wednesday night's game, even though a shootout loss, is in general and in specific reasons why I think everyone should pitch in and get Caps season tickets if you live in the DC area. The game was exciting to watch, well played by both teams (even though, perhaps because) they are in the SE division of the NHL and a great sports entertainment value. As I've started to say over and over, Alex Ovechkin, is a special player to watch, even if the rest of the Caps had bad nights (which they did not, in fact it was pretty much the opposite - I thought everyone had pretty good nights from my vantage point in section 103), Ovie's athleticism is something special to watch and his creative play and power bring it all home. Olie the Goalie and - unfortunately for us Caps Fans looking for two points - Tomas Vokoun's performances were also singularly worth the price of admission, last Wednesday. Were mistakes made and noticeable yes sure (when your team's star D-man fans two times a shot and critical pass it's hard not to notice and have that tinge of frustration but I'm sure the ice surface also contributed to things like that - sorry Tom Poti). Were there some general bad breaks for the Caps - like having two of last year's best scoring forwards out of action for an 11 shot shootout - sure; but the things I take heart in even though I saw that 5 minutes of less than the rest of the 55 minutes; it was clear this team wasn't giving up or going away. Call it struggling with a new system; call it struggling with a little fatigue because of a hectic recent schedule combined with skating in molasses instead of on ice; call it whatever you want they didn't give up, they just let the Panthers in their own end a little too much and didn't get quality shots for five minutes. Also, since the Panthers are an NHL team too, and have driven guys like Zednik and quality guys with fire in their belly guys like Jokinen, maybe it wasn't the Caps lesser play for those five minutes, maybe it was the Panther's greater play. If you watched the game, you know the Panthers earned the win, the Caps didn't give it to them. Hopefully, the Caps will use Wednsday nights OT loss as fuel to capture two points from the Panthers tonight at BankAtlantic Center, I believe they will. Yes my optimism persists.

Pet peeves, whines and kvetches will now begin.

I strongly believe the first star should have been Vokoun instead of Weiss. This is probably a petty pet peeve but it seems the shootout winner gets credited with a GWG and the first star of the game but the real game winner (if there is one since the "loser" still gets a point - and IMHO should do so) is the Goalie. In any OT or shootout loss the Goalie had to play well enough to keep his team in a tie (arguably at least as well as the other guy on the ice you'll compare him with - the opposing goalie) always a pressure situation in any sport with goalies, and then make one more save then the opposing team's goalie in a head to head competition with the opposing team's shooters. How does that mean Tomas Vokoun is the third star for the Panthers on Wednesday evening, Weiss only had 14:25 of playing time, was +/- 0 in regulation that ended in a 1-1 tie, and was not on the ice for the Zednick goal in regulation is the first star. I respectfully disagree - I know I'm partial to goalies everywhere - they're generally cool, eccentric, intense people - like my son, and I'm partial to cool, eccentric intense people.

I know I'm a Caps fan and biased. There's probably a Canes fan who was at last night's game at RBC and a Panthers fan who watched Wednesday game with the diametrically opposed feeling to what I will say next. I also know officiating professional sports can't be easy. (Disclaimers that I'm a rational, usually level headed guy out of the way). However, why is it in 3 out of 4 games I watch live (attend), I always feel the Caps get the worst of the missed or wrong calls. I don't consider that when watching games on TV since you have no chance of seeing the behind or ahead of the play moves and efforts by the folks outside the field of view of the camera so I can't comment on the whole of the possibilities for last night's game. Wednesday evening of course was no exception and others have discussed it in more length (in addition to their feelings about the officiating last night at RBC) but the missed/not made call at the back side of the OT was particularly disappointing - our Caps could have used that point and the unit on the ice was working very hard for it. Another man advantage would have been helpful.

I know that others are looking at things and making points that strongly support an opposing view to what I will say here next. I continue to believe the following the team is better served by NOT having Ovie and Nylander on the same line at even strength. My onion may change after Coach Boudreau's system is fully in place but so far here's what I see and why I say the prior statement. 1) Ovie and Nylander have different styles of play. Ovie doesn't need Nylander to carry the puck into the zone and make time for Ovie to get free, at least from what I see. So far it doesn't seem that opposing teams are having to play in a way that let's either of the two get open or better shooting lanes more often from my vantage point in Sec 103. Of course that's not a vantage point that in any way really qualifies me to make these judgements. 2) The Ovie-Kozlov combo has been working well and it let's the Caps first and second lines be on par with many team's first lines, as well as let's them play a different, and again from my vantage point (the love seat in our rec room for away games and a lower bowl corner seat at the VC) faster, tempo game thorough the periods two and three. 3) I continue to believe it's better to let Backstrom mature more before moving him to line one or two and he is the one bringing the secret sauce to lines 3 and 4 that has caused them to elevate their level of play lately as well (why is this pertinent - cause it's all interrelated in some way isn't it?) Oh and awesome move in the shootout on Wednesday Nicklas - thanks!

Verizon Center's ice surface quality hit a new low on Wed. evening and something needs to be done. No bones about IMHO it truly affected how the teams played the game, in a very adverse way. Having grown up in Philadelphia watching Wednesday evening's game reminded me of how much the poor playing surface at the Vet affected the Eagles - from how they and opponents played to being able to get quality free agents to sign. Even if the poor ice surface doesn't have quite as much impact re: injuries and potential for injuries as the Vet's poor surface did in the NFL, if this continues there will be no doubt in any players mind it slows the game down considerably. If you like slow, soft ice I guess you'd be more inclined to come play for the Caps but my guess is that most pros don't like it and prefer hard ice where they can adjust things to fit their style of play more effectively by the way they have their skates sharpened and the way they handle the puck. Even a lesser NHL'er has pretty quick hands. We need something to be done about this quickly. Hopefully, the landlord can be worked with to work this out and improve the surface and the ability for the folks at VC to make a better surface faster soon.

I've rambled a lot, so I'll wrap up quickly since most of the rest of the news from here in Bristow is either impressions of last night's game from my rec room love seat vantage point or of lesser interest, generally. Other goings on are.

The week was crazy but productive for me at ICx, a group of us met and clarified our team's product development plans and initiatives for 2008. Always a number of things it seems 1) intense and not allowing time to do much else since it somehow becomes an pretty all consuming effort when it pertains to intellectual capacity; 2) an exercise that really builds the team (if done even half right) and 3) one where everyone gets even more then they thought in the way of give and take communications when you have a group that truly respects each other's ability to contribute to the team (which I'm very happy to say we do).

Last night's game - what can I say the other reports and bloggers haven't already posted. The Canes won, we lost; it was another well played by both teams and another fair step back up to respectability for the Caps. Japer is: up on Poti (so am I); down on Pothier (I disagree); down on Nylander (for me the jury is still out some games he earns his 5.5 mil some games not so much so leaning the way Japer is now); still down on Jeff Shultz (me too but not as much, he's just a big kid after all but I miss Ben Clymer - anybody know what Coach Boudreau thinks about him?); way up on Mike Green (me up on him but not as much still gets a few questionable PIMs but he is quickly growing in to a top 2/3 D-Man); and really happy that the average SOG is up under Boudreau - ME TOO - kind of hard for the other guys to score on you when their goalie is blocking shots. CapsChick is: a little perplexed (me too always); amazed and happy about the consistently high level of Ovie's play these days (me too CC - it's gonna cost you chief - just sign him to the league CBA max deal now Ted/GMGM; no doubt someone else will offer it to him now); thought the Fleischmann-Backstrom-Semin line clicked (no opinion here on that one since I often get distracted when I'm in the rec room and my mind was still thinking about some of the discussions we had re: using WCF in a particular manner for internal messaging in our in-development products); Laing's debut was successful because of his PK efforts (again thinking more about messaging constructs to have a strong opinion); and finally Seidenberg is public enemy number 1 (ME TOO BIG TIME - and he didn't even get a penalty? Can you say slashing, how about intent to injure (please watch the replays Colin Campbell) - it was a "two hander" - I can but apparently the refs last night - not so much. dmg's thoughts are: all the breaks went the Canes way (everyone I really saw did but I maintain you make your own luck and the Canes did that too); the refs and officiating were poor and he was really nappy with the way they called the Green Hooking penalty - NOT (me too); makes a good point about overstating things by the Caps Broadcast team and misspelled intimidating (I think) (no comment other than Laughlin does say some pretty interesting bloviations from time to time but he was a great Cap so cut him some slack - the other half of the broadcast team (Joe B.) - please not so much); LaRose and Kolzig are both class acts (me too); Ovie should be a little more careful and tone done the celebrating lest he hurt himself (after last night's game ME TOO - we need you every game and fully healthy great 8, especially when other guys are going to two hand your Russian buddy's ankle and not even get a two minute penalty.)

If you got this far you must really appreciate my mediocre writing - thanks I'll try my best to do more frequent, therefore shorter posts the rest of this new month. Oh and LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!!!!

Busy Day Ahead - No Caps For Me Tonight

Well, another day - another dollar as they say. Too bad I'm busy tonight, I'll be with my son at his interview board to see if he can get one of our Congressman's (Tom Davis) nomination for admittance to my alma mater. I'll be pretty busy today with work things so don't have a lot of time to reflect on the Caps prospects tonight but I'll be rooting for them. That said if they keep playing like they have in the last too games I'm sure sorry I'll be missing their third win in a row. Anyway because of my schedule conflicts and late breaking changes I gave my tickets to....

In any case, in the words of my former high school pals - how 'bout them birds (of course I'm talking about the Eagles) okay so they didn't win last night but they sure put a scare into the NE Patriots and in NE's own house with a backup quarterback to boot. Also for those who don't see it the title this morning is meant to be a play on "No Soup for you!" from Seinfeld, of course if you needed this explanation my setup was really lacking.

Now it's back to the real world of chasing business and figuring out product plans here at ICx Technologies. I'd talk more about that part of my life, if I could because (to me) it's an amazingly cool place to work with lots of smart people but since we've recently gone public and are in a quiet period so there's not much I can say about it for a while, except for LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!