Summer In Bristow...Not So Lazy, But Often Hazy Days...

Well summer goes on here in scenic Bristow, VA.... Wingman was home for a while after his school year ended until last week, actually Friday, the 17th when he left for Long Beach, CA - he caught his first ship for his sea year. He's now on his way to Honolulu which he should arrive at this afternoon our time and this morning his time by my best guess. That is of course, a more educated guess thanks to technology - http://www.sailwx.info/. We haven't heard from him since he left Cali on Wednesday afternoon, I guess his Internet access on the ship while underway is limited if not non-existent due to the high cost of connectivity and that's something that hasn't changed much since I was last at sea 18 years ago. In any case tracking his progress and hoping he's enjoying this aspect of his training at "Kings Point" aka the United States Merchant Marine Academy (see http://www.usmma.edu/) is something I've been doing daily, like the parents of the other ~220 KP Cadets/Midshipmen who have children at sea. It sure beats the daylights out of what he was doing last year this time - "Indoc" - Indoctrination/Regimental Orientation. I'm quite, quite sure working on a ship beats the daylights out of doing push ups, running and getting yelled at by Mids 1, 2, and 3 years your senior for 14+ days, but then again perhaps Wingman is a closet masochist, or not nearly as bright as we two proud parents always think he is - but I'm probably right. I'm hoping to hear from him later today as I know he'll have cell phone service in HI. For us (his mother and I) this sure beats what we'd be worried about if he was returning to the Academy this week or had been an A-Split who was a Drill Instructor at Indoc. It seems there has been a few cases of confirmed Type A Influenza and that of course is just what anyone needed to increase the stress on a situation where elevated stress is always present by design - Indoctrination - NOT.

I think about those parents of this year's Plebe Candidates - most of whom are relatively unfamiliar with the Academy and many of whom live much farther away then we do so they will be feeling more helpless, detached and as such worried then we were last year about our son and wonder about what I might be able to do, say or write to ease those parts of that concern that might be unfounded and find myself with - nothing, nada, nichts, nutin' sorry. All I can say is the USMMA Medical Staff and the professionals from North Shore-LIJ got me through my four years (1979-1982) in fine form and my son seemed well cared for last year. Now I'll go back to being self-centered and hoping the phone rings and it's "our mid" from HI later today. In the meantime, there's been work and searching for news about "my Washington Capitals".

Last Saturday, since Wingman wasn't around ZI went to the last scrimmage of Development Camp at KCI (Kettler Center Iceplex). It was - well great for an Ice Hockey fan such as me and since it was packed I didn't feel like a jerk for going to KCI to see a bunch of prospects, also since the Caps have one of the better talent pipelines in the NHL and these guys were good and admission was free I didn't feel dumb either. Several guys stood out - one of whom was Joe Finely because as I arrived a little late - about midway through the first period - he laid a monster check on someone (I think it was Andrew Gordon but I'm not sure as I was still looking through the crowd for a good place to watch the rest of the game at the time). At 6-7 Finley is hard to miss, he made a few other good plays and a couple of missteps - again hard to miss; I was excited about him until this past week when he was busted in ND for basically being 22 and well stupid, as well as I suspect a little inebriated. Hopefully he'll quickly grow out of that and continue to develop this season in either SC or Hershey and we'll see if he has what it takes to play in the NHL. Others were really all four goaltenders, John Carlson, Dmitri Orlov, and Gordon and in general about five other forwards who made some pretty good plays. Fortunately we aren't far from the start of training camp, it's been a quite week for Caps news. The big news on the blogs is that Ovie started his summer training routine back in Russia and he still wants to meet Maria Sharapova. See the gratuitous picture of the stunning, blond Russian tennis star to the right if you can't figure out why. Personally. I'd have thought the Bondarenko sisters more AO's type - they have more of that "worldly look" while Maria is more "good girl next door" - with AO's scruffy bad boy look I'd think Alona Bondarenko's tattoo would be somewhat intriguing and seductive to AO. Of course perhaps it's the height that has AO wondering.

" Wait, stop get back to hockey butthead! Oh yeah forgot, lazy, hazy Sunday and all..."

Coming up this week we have Milan Jurcina's arbitration hearing or whatever other resolution that gets reached in that piece of the roster puzzle. That could make for a few days discussion, banter, etc.

Consensus around the hockey blogsphere is that Florida will have a hard time staying even close to the level they had last season given their moves, or lack there-of this off season and that Carolina is probably well poised to make a battle of it for the SE division for the Capitals. Many also agree that after last summers disastrous moves during the short "Melrose Era" Tampa Bay also have had a very good off season and Atlanta is making good, steady progress with their rebuild. On Long Island besides Swine Flue and Indoc at KP, the NY Islanders seem to be collecting goaltenders to compliment their first round pick of John Tavares - interesting moves and a commentary on the likely health of Rick DiPietro for the start of the season at least. In Chicago - could these guys in the front office have made any more bonehead mistakes, this off-season - maybe, but they would have had to really, really work hard at it - amazingly it's clear the ripple of their mistakes will haunt them for at least another year, if not longer and they are still likely to be a solid playoff team - that's how good Toews, Kane and Campbell are (IMHO).

Well I don't know about you but I just can't wait for the season, or at least Camp to start. When do you think Caps GM, George McPhee should start talking to Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom about their contract extensions? How about right after the Jurcina arbitration is settled? I say no later than Thanksgiving to start talks and have them inked no later than February. Come on, let's talk about that with some comments here boys, we need some grist for the mill. Talking about Finely throwing a kitchen table out in the street in ND doesn't cut it for me.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Caps Hockey What Is Has Meant and Continues To Mean to Me

Caps Hockey What Is Has Meant and Continues To Mean to Me

Thank You Ted Leonsis & Lincoln Holdings, LLC


[ed note] As regular readers of this blog know of late my postings have been spotty, with the end of Caps hockey for this season and an increased pace at "my day job" - one which I like and tend to work on and think A LOT more than most folks, a con to being a workaholic - that will no doubt continue through the remainder of the playoffs and the NHL off-season. That said these next two series for their respective Conference Championships are fuel to some musings as are several things that occurred to me during the last three games of the Caps - Pens "epic series." As such through the Conference finals I'll probably post those musings as well as my thoughts about the games and series in progress on a relatively regular basis. To spare regular readers from too large of a dose of my own, possibly less interesting musings, I'll not post those sort of things back to back. Today's post might be "a bit sappy" for some, it certainly isn't about old tyme hockey per say - not about how fun watching a Craig MacTavish - Dave "The Hammer" Schultz hockey fight was or anything like that. It's a plain and simple thank you to the ownership of the Caps for providing a vehicle and a forum for a father and teenage son to spend time together and connect better. Something I hope is not unique and in fact know is not so based on some of the other regular STH who co-reside during Capitals games with us in Section 103 of Verizon Center. As always comments and feedback are welcome and encouraged and I hope you don't find my musings too pedantic or even worse mindless drivel, of course if you do that often then I'm probably just "talking/typing into the ether".]


Well Caps Hockey is over for this season, hockey isn't over but since becoming a "real" Caps fan in 2005 and even more so a full season ticket holder in 2006, the emotional investment I make for NHL games wanes when it's not the Washington Capitals versus anybody else. I've loved hockey for 39 plus years. Growing up in Philadelphia, I became a rabid Flyers fan as an adolescent. I played regularly - street, roller and ice - in the "Joe & Mary Six-Pack" Northeast Philly neighborhood I grew up in. I was fortunate to grow up on a block with two other boys who loved hockey and who were only a month older and a month younger than me respectively. We had through our early teenage years we had a bond that was almost that of triplets and a rivalry that was almost as intense as three brothers each a year a part. The end result is we played A LOT of hockey. I was the only defenseman, my idol was Barry Ashbee. Rick was the best athlete and skater of the three of us; his real idol and model was Jean Rattelle, but being from Philadelphia his number was 12 and his overtly professed playing model was Gary Dornhofer. Truth be known, remember that rivalry, Rick was never as "scrappy" or "gritty" as Dorny. Walt was a rebel, he was a power forward, and his playing idol both in reality and self professed overtly was Vic Hadfield - gasp - a New York Ranger. None of us, least of all me, had the innate skills to ever even really think about hockey as a career. That became crystal clear to us at a couple of clinics the Flyers held at the Philadelphia Department of Recreation run Tarken Rec Center Ice Rink we played at. At least it surely did to me when I saw and realized just how awesome the skill level of two of the Broad Street Bullies, who always gave their time to community pursuits and causes - Don Saleski and Bob Kelly, was. My point being I've loved hockey for a long time and have had the pleasure of seeing and supporting two well run NHL organizations - first Ed Snider's Philadelphia Flyers and now Ted Leonsis' Washington Capitals.



Even being a huge hockey fan from way back though is not what drew me to the Washington Capitals or pushed me to become a Caps season ticket holder. What did that is that from July 2005 until the end of September 2006 I basically lived during the week in New York City while my family (wife and then 15/16 year old son) remained here in Bristow, VA. That wasn't the first time I spent a lot of time away from home for work, for most of 2 years from mid-1998 through mid-2000 I spent about 50% of my time in Ankara, Turkey. Both of those stints were very interesting and rewarding professionally, but as the New York stint ended I realized two things: A) I have a great and supportive spouse and B) I wanted/needed to spend more time with my son before his life changed and he went off to college. I needed a bridge to reconnect after being away from home most of his 15th year on this planet. During the prior two years and my year in New York I would take my son to games pretty often. We went to about 20 Caps games and 10 Wizards games in the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 seasons. Even when I was commuting to NY, when I would come home I'd often buy either Wizard or Caps tickets. When you are 14 or older you need a reason to spend time with your dad instead of your friends. Realizing this, going to pro sports became that excuse for me/us.



As the summer of 2006 wound down and I knew I'd be home more, I struck up a conversation with my son while we were at the beach in New Jersey for our annual August trip to my sister's, formerly my parent's bungalow and he made it clear he strongly preferred Caps games to Wizard games and like his father he was an Eagles fan and had no desire whatsoever to see a season of Redskin's games. I guess I should have figured as much given my son much prefers playing sports to watching them, played roller hockey and at the time he was playing goalie on his high school lacrosse team. So after I was done with my stint in New York I called the Caps ticket office and it being in the middle of the "so called" rebuild, we were able to get two season tickets in a great location. So began our relationship with the Washington Capitals on a more than casual basis.



That first season, especially the first half of the first season was perfect for what my son and I needed and wanted. Ironically, transition of loyalties from the Flyers to the Capitals was pretty easy for me. As you may recall the Flyers finished 30th in the league standings and the Caps finished 27th. The quality of hockey either team played wasn't as bad as their finishes and records might have otherwise indicated. For my son, a goalie, there was "Olie the Goalie" so we promptly procured a black and gold "#37" jersey for him. For me, the decision as to a number was harder and I opt'ed for a #11 Halpren sweater even though he had gone to Dallas, he was an American, a local guy who got to Captain the NHL team he followed and rooted for as a kid - seemed like a good story to me. We went to 90+% of the remaining games that first season together.



The events were a great catalyst for us to reconnect - it was perfect. What made it so was a lot of things. Not the least of which is/was despite those struggles and the rebuild, the Caps were and are "a classy organization." The NHL doesn't have some of the over the top, poor, or totally unacceptable role models other pro sports who I won't call out here have as marquee stars. The Caps organization and it's players from Olie the Goalie to Alexander Ovechkin to "the grinders" were and remain fairly accessible. Even better is the fact you realize these are good and nice people who just happen to be world-class professional athletes. It's an easy thing to support and celebrate.



Caps fans at the time and for the most part remain folks you don't mind associating with or exposing your kids to. Sure of late with the larger crowds and the specter of more success we've all gotten more "passionate" and shouted the occasional less than totally clean response to something we didn't agree with. However, I've never seen things at Verizon Center like I've seen a lot of other pro sports events like the Redskins game years ago when my son was seven and a group of three drunks shouted for Norv Turner to attempt to do so many anatomically impossible things for over 10 minutes I felt the need to leave. Worse yet was trying to not answer the subsequent questions from a relentlessly inquisitive and persistent seven year old as to what the statements meant. By and large over the past 5 years of going to Caps games I've rarely seen or heard such things. I know when I've slipped the folks around me will politely but disapprovingly point out nearby children in our section, just as I do to others when they slip. For whatever reason, one of those quiet, polite admonitions tends to do the trick and keep us all on levels of acceptable behaviour and decorum. It's something I think most Caps fans want to take pride in - not being jerks - no matter how persecuted and long-suffering we feel we are. That too is certainly a lesson that I never minded my son taking away for our attendance at games.



Our second year as STH's was a little less intense for my son, he was a senior in high school, much more focused on in no particular order: girls, working (having his own money), lacrosse, doing reasonably well in his senior year, and finalizing his college selection and plans. I on the other hand was pretty hooked and had also found several folks who were generally willing to go to Caps games with me when he was working or begged off - which was generally weekend games when he was working or playing Lax and about 1/2 the weeknight games. The result was I traded in a number of games which gave me two weeknight games, one where I took a bunch of guys I went to college with, and a second where I took several guys from the neighborhood for a "guys night out." They were two awesome nights and a lot of fun. I'd love to do this more but two things have happened which are positive that make doing that like I did both those first two seasons unlikely: a) I now have a partner for our tickets so we miss fewer games and b) there aren't as many good seats available when you trade tickets in. In any case more importantly, that second season solidified going to Caps games as a reason to spend time together as father and son. In addition during the 2007 - 2008 season so much happened to be storybook. First and foremost, my son made his college selection and gained admittance to my alma mater - The United States Merchant Marine Academy. (Gotcha didn't I you thought I was going to lapse into the great comeback the Caps made last year to make the playoffs - that was awesome too - but nothing compared to the pride a father feels when the former occurs.) The Caps made the playoffs and won the Southeast Division. Bruce Boudreau won the Jack Adams. Alexander Ovechkin won just about every other possible individual honer available and it became clear the Caps were a talented and deep hockey club ready to take the next step. Also very importantly they were awesomely fun to watch.



When I renewed my seats this season I delayed however because I knew my main reason for going to hockey games was going to be living and going to school on Long Island, New York and since I tend to bellow "LETS GO CAPS" very loudly at least five to ten times a period, my wife prefers other things to going to Caps games with me. Then however, one of my classmates who had been to the game with us the prior February indicated he wanted to split the tickets. We did that, of course being slow to renew I lost my aisle seats in section 103 and had to move to interior seats in the section. Though I'm now on folding seats in the corner, if anything our sight lines are better since we are three rows higher. I'd still like our aisle stadium folding seats back, but I doubt that is going to happen, I noted the young couple who picked them up were at A LOT of games together, at least those seats went to folks who seem to be "real fans". On the plus side, my son and I went to a number of games together over Christmas Break and one during spring break - that was a lot of fun. Tom, my classmate and I had a great time at some of the playoffs together and Capitals Hockey continues to be a catalyst for me to escape from the cares and pressures of everyday life. The Capitals continue to be an organization I feel very, very comfortable supporting top to bottom and a fan base I'm more than happy to be counted among.



So for all those things, as much or more than for the obvious things like putting a world class hockey team on the ice, to Ted Leonsis, the other partners in Lincoln Holdings, LLC, the management, and the players of the Washington Capitals, I just wanted to publicly say -



THANK YOU.

Looking Ahead to Tonight's Caps-Sabres Game

I won't be at tonight's game as I'll be a Congressman Frank Wolf's Academy Night in Chantilly telling interested prospective students about my Alma Mater the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. However I should be home in time to see the third period on Comcast SportsNet. The Caps will be working to stay ahead of the NJ Devils in second in the conference standings and will be playing for their 102nd and 103rd standings points for the year. The Buffalo Sabres will be fighting for what is left of their playoff "lives" - the Sabres are currently in 10th place, 6 points and 2 games behind the 8th place NY Rangers (the Sabres have 2 games in hand on the Rangers and 1 game in hand on the 9th place Florida Panthers.)

The Caps are 7-2-1 in their last ten games and have won their last two games. Tonight's game will the second to the last game of this regular season at home for the Capitals, who have been very tough at Verizon Center achieving a home record so far of 28-9-2 for the season. Overall the Caps are 47-23-7 this year and have a very real chance of a 50 win season and a chance to exceed the best record in their history and gather more than 107 points. What concerns their have been about their recent motivations are rooted in what have been slow starts by them in their last several games. However, those concerns have been modulated by their seeming ability to catch themselves and find ways to win.

The Sabres are 4-4-2 in their last ten games and lost their last game 3-2 in overtime in Atlanta against the Thrashers on Wednesday night. On the road this year the Sabres have compiled a 15-17-6 record thus far this season, against the Caps to date they are 1-2 having lost their last two meetings in December on the 26th and 30th. All three games between the Caps and Sabres so far this season have been completed in regulation including a highlight reel game winner by Alex Ovechkin in the third period of the December 26th game for the game winner in a game that ended 3-2. So far this season the Sabres' sharpshooter Thomas Vanek and Caps ace Ovechkin have done well in the series. It seems likely that once again during tonight's game they will be key players to watch. Also key to tonight will be goaltending and it seems likely the starters will be both team's number one goaltenders Ryan Miller and Jose Theodore. So far this season Miller has a 19-10-4 record in 34 games played with a 2.49 GAA and 0.917 SV%. Theodore is now 28-16-5 in 50 starts with a 2.80 GAA and 0.9-2 SV%. Since December 23rd, Theodore is 21-10-4 with a 2.57 GAA and a 0.911 SV%. The other player to watch for the Caps seems to me to be either Tomas Fleischmann or Alexander Semin, both seem due to come alive. Flash's March "drought" has been pretty well chronicled elsewhere and #28 was the only "Young Gun" not to score in the last game against the Islanders.

Assuming both teams show up focused and ready to play hockey this game should be a good one. Here's to hoping the evening ends with our Washington Capitals in possession of victory #48 and point 103 for the season.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!

A Kings Point Retrospective - KPWDC Holiday Gala

Last evening we, the entire clan (Cindy, myself, our son Chris and my father in law Howard), attended the Kings Point Club of Washington, DC Annual Holiday Gala, at the Army Navy Country Club in Fairfax, VA. It was a nice, enjoyable (as always), well attended event. Our son Chris, Class of 2012, along with two other midshipman, Kaitlyn, Class of 2011, and Charles, Class of 2009 all spoke briefly of what being at the Academy today was like for them. Otherwise, the entertainment consisted of a broad age range of graduates (1951 through 2007) socializing and singing a short list of Christmas Carols that included, dutifully for us Kings Pointers - the Kings Point Alma Mater.

The high point of the evening, for me, was when I made another Kings Pointer from my era's evening - Vic, Class of 1984 - when I found out he and his 16 year old son are Caps fans. Vic and his son Patrick are now speeding up I-95 on their way to the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, clad in their Red Capitals Home Sweaters to watch today's game (a 1PM start) and hopefully see the Capitals extend their winning streak to 6 games in a row. I hate to see good hockey tickets go to waste, the fact that Vic paid me for them this morning before leaving the DC Metro area is truly "just gravy".

Last night's events were a testament to both the Kings Point experience and the surging appeal of the Washington Capitals and NHL Hockey. Last night, the Kings Point experience and its enduring traditions enable communication and socialization across at least 4 generations of USMMA graduates and their families. Watching 20 something Kings Pointers socialize and related to 70 something Kings Pointers and all clearly enjoying the company of one and other always amazes and delights me. It's a big reason, I am so pleased to see my own son on a path to join the "fraternity." The fact that on short notice, actually no notice, the Capitals fan base now includes so many people in the region who can't wait to see them play is a testament to the great effort that the entire Capitals organization has made and the success they have achieved.

To Kings Pointers everywhere - Happy Holidays - Fair Winds and Following Seas - and "Acta Non Verba" always.

...and of course .... 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!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DC Area Maritime Industry Professionals - Hold The Date: 11/13

On November 13th, the Kings Point Club of Washington DC (the local USMMA Alumni) and the Propeller Club of Washington DC will co-host a luncheon featuring a panel of four distinguished speakers on the topic: "The Impact of Oil Price Volitility on the Maritime Industry". The event will be from 11:30AM until 1:30PM at the Tivoli Restaurant in Rosslyn, VA. The location is conveniently located directly above the Rosslyn Metro stop. This will be a great event for local Maritime Professionals and USMMA, Kings Point Alumni to gather, reconnect, network and hear some great thoughts on a very timely topic. The cost is $30.00 for current KPWDC members and $35.00 for non-members. Space is limited so RSVP is strongly recommended as walk-ins will be handled on a space available basis.

Please RSVP by Monday November 10th to Mr. Tom Gough, of the KPWDC at tom.gough@navy.mil

The confirmed speakers are:

Mark Mills: Co-founding Partner, Digital Power Capital; Author, Forbes Energy Intelligence column. Mark P. Mills is a Cofounder of ICx Technologies Inc as well as a co-founding partner in the tech venture fund Digital Power Capital, a Wexford Capital fund. He has been published in various professional and popular publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the New York Times. He is co-author of The Bottomless Well: The Twilight of Fuel, the Virtue of Waste, and Why We Will Never Run Out of Energy. Before founding Digital Power Capital, Mark was a technology advisor to Banc of America Securities, and co-author of the Huber-Mills Digital Power Report, published by Forbes. Earlier, Mark founded and ran an energy technology consulting business for 17 years. Previously, he served as a staff consultant to The White House Science Office (under President Reagan). Mark holds a degree in physics from Queen’s University, Canada, holds several patents and is a member of numerous professional societies

Stephen M. Carmel: is currently Senior Vice President, Maritime Services, Maersk Line, Limited. Previously, he has held various positions in operations and finance for U.S. Marine Management, Inc. and Maersk Line, Limited. Steve began his career sailing as a deck officer and Master primarily on tankers for Maritime Overseas Corporation and Military Sealift Command. His first command was a 40,000 ton clean product tanker, which he attained at age 26. Steve graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 1979. He also holds an M.A. in Economics and an M.B.A. in International Finance from Old Dominion University and is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) and is certified in Financial Management (CFM).

Thomas Rasmussen, Chief, Market Research Division, Defense Energy Support Center, Defense Logistics Agency

Janice G. Weaver: currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Maritime Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, and as the Director of the Agency’s Office of Policy and Plans.Ms. Weaver is responsible for the conduct of the Agency’s economic and policy analyses. A key function of her role is the development and assessment of broad, long-range United States policies and programs impacting the maritime sector and the national and global transportation system. Ms. Weaver also leads the Agency’s statistical and economic development programs, and spearheads strategic planning in the Maritime Administration. Ms. Weaver has acquired over twenty-five years experience in maritime policy development. Ms. Weaver holds a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from the University of Illinois, and a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in Washington, the District of Columbia.

Another Busy Week @ ICx Topped Off By a Return to Capitals Hockey and a Resumption of a Personal Life

Well, last week other than Tuesday's blacked out 5-4 shootout victory against the Nashville Predators at the VC that was my ST partners game there was no other Caps hockey to watch or report on. Suffice it to say I was pretty darn busy, didn't listen to the game first hand and like the folks reading this blog, caught up on the results by studying the stats and reading other blogs. That was fine since for me it was a busy week at work and I was actually okay with the limited availability of access to the diversion that Caps hockey provides from life's pressures, since there just wasn't much time for it in my life last week. The week is over and I'm back to 2 1/2 "jobs"/concurrent focus items for ICx Technologies, a very manageable amount. The week also ended with our son Chris coming home from the USMMA, for his between trimesters' break. Now tonight, the Capitals 15 game November schedule kicks off at 7PM EDT, against the Buffallo Sabres at HSBC Arena. Of course, once again the Caps will be without the services of Alexander Ovechkin, 2007-2008 MVP, but it will still be a Rockin' Red game.


Over the course of this past week, a lot is starting to be made of Alexander Semin's interview over at Puckdaddy last week. Me? I thought is was/is awesome! As are the other blog-posts indicating that the time has come to announce the full fledged arrival of "SEH - man" on the scene and the retirement of the moniker: "the other Alex." I concur here too also, so nevermore on this blog will there be a reference to "Number 28" as "the Other Alex." Of course, the main issue now is what should Alexander Semin's moniker be? After all his friend and teammate Ovechkin has so many good ones: "The Great 8"; "Alexander the Great"; etc. What is a fitting set of primary monikers for Aleaxander Semin, one reflective of the singular, unique skill mix he is bringing to the Capital's offense this season and his own exciting style of play? Now about that Puckdaddy interview, Semin's comments about Sidney Crosby and his basic approach of talking some smack or perhaps just offering his own unbridled opinion on some of the other great players in the NHL today. Unlike the Toronto Sun, I thought it was great and he was right on target. As somebody else once said: "I don't know. But, this is just my opinion."


Now on to tonight's game and a look ahead to the faceoff that is just a short hour away. I really think it'll be a great game but the Caps should come out on top. Looking at the match-ups and factors, to me the game looks like this. 1) Intangibles: the Caps are generally on the upswing and positive; and the Sabres are a little flat after a blistering start. 2) Forward Lines: even without the likes of Ovechkin in the lineup, Washington matches up favorably with the Sabres. Add to that the fact that after their last two games, Buffalo Coach Lindsey Rupp felt the need to shake up the Sabres lines and the Caps have once again found their scoring touch after relatively lackluster scoring during their West Coast/National Horse Show Road Trip and it seems the Caps have the edge in this category. 3) Defense: tonight will likely have Tom Poti back in the Caps lineup, a definite positive for the Caps, but in this category, you still have to give the edge to the Sabres with Lydman, Tallinder, Paetsch, Numminen, Spacek, and Sekara. While there may not be a superstar among them, there are also no "weak links" either. Finally 4) Goaltending: conventional wisdom would give the edge to Buffalo's Ryan Miller over Washington's Jose Theodore. However, over the past three games for each, they are comparatively similar. Miller is 0-2-1 with a GAA of 4.00 and a Save Percentage of 87.63%. Theodore is 2-1-0 with a GAA of 3.33 and a Save Percentage of 89.25%. In fact JT60 and Brent Johnson's efforts since a shaky start in Atlanta have not been responsible for any of the Caps losses so far this season, and more often then not, when the Caps have been a little flat goaltending has kept them in the game. So I call this one at worst a draw and actually give a slight edge to what should be a confident, well rested Theodore. So overall, I'm looking for the Caps to leave Buffalo with two points. Also, in case you didn't notice the winning goaltender in Tampa Bay's 5-2 defeat of the Sabres earlier this week, it was none other than Olie Kolzig who stopped 29 of 31 shots and had a save percentage of 0.9354. Not bad, not bad at all.

Well on with the game. LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Caps 4 - Blackhawks 2; Home Opener Recap & Summary

Last night was a 2 point night for the Capitals, they beat Chicago 4-2, so for the season opening weekend they are 1-1-0. Before getting into the recap and game summary three other items are worth mentioning over and above the Caps own excellent play. Number one, the atmosphere and attitude of the sellout crowd of Caps fans at the Verizon Center. Simply put, it was awesome!!!! The "Phone Booth" was alive with energy and, from what I could see from my vantage point in section 103, the sellout crowd of 18,277 was truly Rockin' The Red. The Caps Fans and Faithful clearly are determined to continue to make Washington DC a Number One Hockey Town. Number two, NHL hockey fans and players everywhere should not expect officiating this year to be any different, i.e. better, than it has been the past several seasons. Last night the officiating was just as bad as on any other night; however, the Caps didn't let it get them down and played hard through the bad calls, most of which, though not all, last night favored the Blackhawks. The Capitals will need to continue to react the way they did last night to bad calls, that is ignore them and play hard "Caps Hockey" throughout the game, regardless of the officiating, if they are to go as far as they are capable of, into this year's playoffs. Number three, thirty-five year old Nickolai Khabibuhlen is a very good goaltender, without whom the game could have been very ugly for the Blackhawks.

That's right last night the Caps faced the Nickolai Khabibuhlen NOT the Christobel Huet led Chicago Blackhawks at Verizon Center in front of an energized, sellout crowd, some of whom were just waiting for the opportunity to get down on Huet. Apparently after losing their season opener Friday night at Madison Square Garden, Christobel Huet now has his tail between his legs; or the Blackhawks management has seen an error in their ways and decided to give the veteran Khabibuhlen, consistently one of the worlds best goaltenders, and a 2004 Stanley Cup winner, back the job of leading Chicago to the promised land. Chicago currently is slated to spend over $12,000,000 of Salary Cap room on goaltenders. Prior to the season start they had tried unsuccessfully to get someone else to pick up Khabibuhlen's salary. The 35 year old Russian born veteran of 12 NHL seasons, 637 NHL regular season games, and 57 NHL playoff games sports a career GAA of under 2.68 and a save percentage of over .908 when you add in his excellent playoff stats; the only strike against him is his 6.75M salary. Khabibuhlen's only NHL seasons with a save percentage under 90% were his rookie year (.895) in Winnipeg (1994-1995) and his first year in Chicago, (.886) with a new, shakey team in front of him (2005-2006). He has been as consistent as the 33 year old Christobel Huet (salary $5.625M) has been during his 5 NHL seasons, and Nickolai has 44 more games of playoff experience under his belt, as well a Stanley Cup that Huet lacks. Why all the buzz and pixels on an opposing goaltender (Khabibuhlen) on a blog devoted primarily to the Washington Capitals? Simply because he played an excellent game last night. He stopped 30 of 34 shots from the Capitals including several awesome scoring chances from some of the best sharpshooters in the world - "the Alexes" or in Russian "the Sashas" (Ovechkin and Semin), as well as a group of very strong secondary scoring threats including Nylander, Federov, Clark, Steckel, Backstrom, Fleischmann, and Kozlov. Kahbibuhlen basically robbed Oveckin (3 times), Semin (2 times), Clark (1 time), as well as Fleischmann (2 shots, 1 a great one), and Federov (2 shots, both good to great saves). One was only left to wonder what the score would have been if a shakey Huet was in the net for the Blackhawks instead of a well playing, unflappable Khabibuhlen.
[ed note: Please forgive the Christobel Huet bashing, the author is still trying to get over the lack of opportunity to boo and otherwise cackle at the former darling of Capital fans everywhere. This was an especially painful realization, since with the departure of Jaromir Jagr from the North American hockey scene, Mr. Huet, has become in the author's eyes the poster child for what is wrong with free agency in sports in general and hockey in particular. After this posting, the next time Caps fans will read anything about Christobel Huet is when there is something truly newsworthy to comment on and it will likely be of a far less partisan and more objective tone.]

Highlights, there are many, though the first minute of play was not one of them for Caps fans. Twenty six (00:26) seconds into the game Kris Versteeg , the lowest paid forward on the talented, young Blackhawks' roster, came down the right side and let loose a fair, but clearly stoppable shot from 20 feet out, from a very playable angle in the middle of the face off circle and found "pay dirt" through Jose Theodore's "five-hole" (assists to Toews and Havlat). After the goal, Nicklas Backstrom skated over tapped Theodore on the pads and said something that must have been encouraging because that was the last "softie" that the 32 year old French Canadian net minder let by. At 1:44 Caps D-Man Milan Jurcina was whistled off for a two minute "Boarding" call, that was a tribute to the Gary Bettman led NHL. The hit was clean, Jurcina coasted into the hit for a good ten plus feet, and the only reason boarding was called was because, despite Jurcina playing solid, clean hockey, he delivered a crushing, great check. The Caps killed of that penalty and Theodore really settled down and made a couple of very nice saves. Even though later in the first period, at 11:41, Jack Skille put the Blackhawks up 2-0 with a nice wrist shot from 18 feet out in the right center of the slot, by that time, the Caps and Theodore were settled down and beginning to play like the team from last spring. Just under two minutes after Skille's tally, the Caps "checking line" of Bradley-Steckel-Brashear narrowed the Blackhawks lead to 2-1 on a nice, gritty goal by Matt Bradley (assists to both Steckel & Brashear). My section-mates and I, in section 103 were treated to a great vantage point for this one as we got to watch the whole play develop and it was a beauty by a group of gritty, solid hockey players. At 19:08, the Caps got what might have been the make-up call for Jurcina's earlier boarding penalty or for several earlier missed calls on Brent Seabrook, when Seabrook was sent to the sin bin for hooking. The first period ended with the score 2-1 in favor of the Blackhawks, the Blackhawks had out shot the Caps 10-6 as well, but it did seem the momentum had turned and was in the Caps favor. The crowd was clearly and happily behind the Caps and there were no concerns with the capabilities of new number one net minder Jose Theodore.

The second period started with the Caps on the Power Play for the first 1:08; though the Blackhawks held them and killed off the penalty pretty well. At 5:08 into the period the Great Eight took an outlet pass from Tom Poti, sped down the left side, and let loose [ed note: in Boston terminology & accent please] a "wicked fast" wrist shot from 46 feet out that found the back of the net to tie the game at 2-2. At 6:15, the Blackhawks got a bench minor for too many men on the ice and despite the Capitals powerplay swarming and peppering Khabibuhlen with shots, the 35 year old Blackhawks goaltender turned them back and the boys from Chicago killed off the penalty. Starting around the 8:00 minute mark of the period, the "physicality" of the game begin to escalate even more. Lots of checking and "old time hockey" began to bubble up and since both Chicago and Washington boast rosters full of big, young, strong players there was a lot of exciting hockey played for the last 12:00 minutes of the second period. As often seen last year, when the tempo of a game picks up and the checking starts to rattle the boards more often, 2008 MVP Alex Ovechkin and Washington's "other Alex", Alexander Semin, along with 2008 21 goal scorer Brooks Laich, all raised their games a few notches. Chicago responded by trying to up the physical nature of the game even more at the other end when at 16:41 Adam Burish went to the net and pushed in on Jose Theodore for the third or fourth time of the night and Shoane Morrisonn and David Steckel decided that was just one time too many for the night. The end result was Burish and Morrisonn went off with coincidental minors for roughing and Steckel also found himself in the box for two minutes for tripping. The Caps stayed perfect on penalty killing for the night and staved off this Chicago man advantage. The physical play continued throughout the period and the second stanza ended with the game in a 2-2 tie with Mike Green in the penalty box for tripping.

The Caps started the third period like the Blackhawks started the second, successfully killing of a penalty for just under 1:30. The game continued to be played at a fast and furious pace, though in the third period Theodore, like Kahbibuhlen at the other end, began to freeze the puck more and enable the Caps to stay slightly more disciplined. The Caps were clearly playing with the confidence they exuded during the end of last season, something that was not present on Friday night in Atlanta. They were flying, swarming and routinely muscling their way to the net. After having outshot the Blackhawks 12-6 in the second period, they continued to dominate with "the best defense is a relentlessly checking and shotting offense" in the third period. The result was that at 15:33 with Laich and Semin swarming around the Chicago net like the two men with a purpose they were, Brooks Laich scored his first goal of the season after Semin bulled his way to the goal and around the net and fed the puck to Laich who was "waiting" on a very crowded doorstep. Then at 18:34 Alexander Ovechkin scored his second of the night in classic Ovechkin fashion. Goaltender Jose Theodore cleared the puck out to defensemen Jeff Schultz who found the Ovechkin streaking out through the neutral zone between two Blackhawks. Ovie did a toe drag and a head fake, then unleashed a [ed note: once again Boston accent please] "wicked, sick, fast, awesome" snapshot that found "nothin' but net" from 39 feet out. The crowd respond with a standing ovation and about a minute long chant of "M.V.P.; M.V.P.; M.V.P." With the Caps up by two, the Blackhawks pulled Khabibuhlen with just under two minutes remaining and the Blackhawks started doing some swarming of their own. Jose Theodore responded with a couple of good saves and then the Caps got a little out of synch. When they did Alexander Ovechkin tried to make a play that even he, the greatest player on the planet today couldn't quite make without a little "help", and was sent to the penalty box at 19:34 for tripping. While this was a "good penalty" it gave the Blackhawks a two man advantage and meant that Ovechkin wasn't going to have a chance at getting his first hat trick of the season on an empty-netter. For the last 26 seconds of the game the Capitals kept things solidly under control and Theodore made two more good saves to ice the home opener victory.

The three stars announced for the game were: 3: David Steckel; 2: Brooks Laich and 1: Alexander Ovechkin. As readers can tell from this posting the author felt that despite having only a .882 save percentage Blackhawks goaltender Nickolai Khabibulen played a game and was the best player on the ice last night for Chicago. That is not to say that others on the Blackhawks had a bad game, the Blackhawks definitely did not loose this game, they played well, though despite that the Capitals managed to get off 34 shots on goal and kill off 5 penalties where Chicago had a man advantage. Other Capitals playing good games, in addition to the three stars of the game, to note: Jose Theodore; John Erskine; Alexander Semin; Matt Bradley, Donald Brashear, Tom Poti, Mike Green, Chris Clark, Nicklas Backstrom, Sergei Federov, and Shoanne Morrisonn. [ed note: This is probably a longer list than is prudent, but there really wasn't anybody on the Caps roster who had a bad game last night.]
Jose Theodore, despite letting in an "oh nooo softie" in the first minute of the game came back and had a save percentage of .905, coming up big a couple of times and helping the Caps dictate the pace of the crucial third period. If Theodore plays the way he did last night for 55-60 of the remaining regular season games; and Caps solid backup Brent Johnson delivers 15-20 games, playing like he did for the first 25 minutes he played last night, the Caps will easily finish with over 100 points and there will be no reason to rush any of the three good prospects the Caps have in the system to the NHL level.
John Erskine has looked more mobile in the first two games of the season than at any time in his career to dat, and has played solidly. Right now he probably should be considered number 4 or 5 on the Caps depth chart. Last night he had 16:00 of ice time, including 0:53 of penalty kill, 2 hits, a blocked shot and 2 attempts blocked. He even raced back and caught speedy Patrick Kane on one shift that had he not done so would have resulted in an excellent scoring chance for Kane. Not bad for a guy, who along with David Steckel is one of the two lowest paid guys on the team.
Alexander Semin had another good game, Friday night he was one of the few Caps to deliver a good game. Last night despite not scoring he was a force to be reckoned with all night long. The Caps second line of Semin-Federov-Laich was really fun to watch play hockey last night. They have skill along with size and when necessary deliver either really awesome flair/playmaking or really rougish, bullish grit. They can skate with anybody or they can play "old time hockey" with anybody. All three, 38 year old Sergei Federov, 24 year old Alexander Semin, and 25 year old Brooks Laich will have great years this year, if they continue to play the remaining games this season, the way they started out of the gates in the first two of this year. The "second line" finished last night with the game winning goal and with all three members doing a great job on "special teams" especially the Penalty Kill.
The checking line of Matt Bradley-David Steckel-Donald Brashear all had banner nights as well. Bradley had a goal, a takeaway and was +2 in 12:05 TOI. Steckel, the number three star of the night, had an assist, 2 shots, a blocked shot and was +1 in 13:41 of TOI. "Brash" had an assist, one shot, one hit and three takeaways and was +1 in 8:56 of TOI.
Mr. "Steady Eddy" - Tom Poti - had another solid game, bringing discipline and leadership through example, on the ice. Poti, in 22:05 of TOI, got an assist, was +1, and had 1 takeaway and 1 blocked shot. He was on the ice for 6:22 of the penalty kill time.
Despite not scoring a goal last night while scoring two power play goals Friday night, Mike Green had a much better night. Green was solid, and the clear number 1 on the defense depth chart with 25:50 TOI and +2 on the night.
Shoanne Morrisonn had a very solid night and was clearly, after Green and Poti, the best defenseman on the ice for the Caps. Morrisonn logged 16:20 TOI, two blocked shots, two hits and was +1 on the night.
While statisticly last night wasn't either Nicklas Backstrom or Chris Clark's best game, they both made their presence known in other more subtle ways. While "Captain Chris" only had one shot, it was a beauty of a one timer on the Caps powerplay, that had Khabibulen not been having a sensational night, would have been a goal. [ed note: in a Brooklyn accent please] In other words "Dat captain guy, he was robbed, robbed dats what I says." Backstrom's night, though unexceptional, was a solid one with 14:44 TOI and ended with him collecting a takeaway and +1; but perhaps more importantly it was clear that opponents will find a bigger stronger Nicklas Backstrom as the pivot between Ovechkin and Kozlov. This dynamic gives the Caps first line an even more imposing presence for opponents to consider.
As far as Alexander Ovechkin's perfromance last night, one could write a book on it's awesomeness but it speaks for itself, so if there is a replay of the game watch it. Suffice it to say both his goals last night were/are on the highlight NHL Network today.

Things to work on for the Capitals. Despite the 4-2 victory, the Caps are now only 0.500 and there are obviously things for them to work on. One would suspect that two of the areas/things Caps coach Bruce Boudreau is pondering are 1) how to get the Caps to improve their Faceoff won percentage and 2) how he might get Milan Jurcina to learn and play position like and have the wrist shot and passing touch of Jeff Schultz; as well as how he might get Jeff Schultz to learn how he might play more physically and use his 6-6, 215# body like Jurcina uses his 6-4 223# body to check, clear the crease and launch his strong, solid slapshot from the point. The Caps faceoff perfromance last night was less than "all star" - overall it was 50% but when you scratch the surface you note the only two guys who could and did consistantly win faceoffs were Michael Nylander (3 of 4 - 75%) and Sergei Federov (13 of 17 - 76%). For some reason, David Steckel, whose faceoff won percentage last year was respectable, is routinely getting beat these first two games in the face off circle. That said as long as the team that played the Blackhawks last night is the one the Caps bring to their games the rest of this season, instead of the one that played Atlanta on Friday night, all the issues are things the Caps can and will improve on throughout the season.

Next up the Vancouver Canaucks at Verizon tomarrow night. As I'm splitting my tickets this year, if anyone has a load of grain they need to charter a ship for stop by Section 103 tommarrow night and look for my classmate Tom and his friends from Phoenix Chartering and they'll hook you up. Even though things continue at a hectic pace for me over at ICx Technologies and we are busy with program startup for the JNBCRS2 program as well as several other major program pursuits, I expect I'll somehow find the time to watch both the Canaucks Devils and Preditors games either on TV or over the net. Tom has those games since I'll be busy and not readily able to see them in person. My next live Caps game will be the one against the Carolina Hurricanes after we've all voted for our next President on November 6th. Hopefully by then, I'll have the stuff I need to do for work well under control or, like our JNBCRS Start of Work meeting the end of October, totally finished.

Can't wait to watch tomarrow's game against the Roberto Luongo led Vancouver Canaucks -

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Busy Week - No Real Hockey News = No Blog Updates

It's been another very busy week for me - both on the personal front and at work. Lots going on at ICx Technologies these days - growing is hard work!

On a personal front, my wife & I took the day off on Wednesday and went up to NYC where we got to see our son while the USMMA Class of 2012 went to the Mets - Padres game at Shea Stadium. We hit the road at 6:00AM and headed to the city where I had a meeting for work with our ICx Transportation folks (yes, I did say I was on vacation, but what's a 2 hour diversion from fun with work anyway?). We then headed out to Kings Point to drop off our son's Lacrosse Equipment - we left it off at the Asst. Coach's office and still had not seen him for three weeks till we got to the game. We (my wife & I) had the best seats I've ever had to a baseball game - field box seats - on the corner of the Visiting Team's dugout 6 rows from the field! Of course we only sat in them till the middle of the first inning when we went to seek out the location where the midshipman were sitting up on the mezzanine level. This brought back lots of fun memories as these were the same sort of seats the Mets used to let us Middies sit in for free "back in the day" when I was at Kings Point. It was great seeing our son and his classmates, they all look great and have now completed indoctrination. They started academic classes on July 29th and their next big event will be acceptance into the regiment of midshipman the Saturday after Labor Day. That will also be the next time we see our son. In any case it was a good but long day that came to an end when we got home at ~3:00AM Thursday.

On the hockey news front, there hasn't been much news regarding the Caps these days in fact other than the whole Brett Farve thing, not much seems to be getting a lot of sports coverage in general. Hopefully the U.S. Open and the Olympics will change that this weekend. Of course all that doesn't matter because I still can't wait for the the 2008-2009 NHL season to start.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!

Another busy week down and how about those Caps?

So We had a busy week at ICx Technologies; we had a lot of activity going on five major pursuits - four that I'm working on and another that has a real good team chasing it. All in all, for what used to be a really quiet time in past years this summer is just full of activity and surprises. Of course as I say that beats the daylights out of the alternative, and the days are flying by.

Up in Kings Point, NY on Long Island at the USMMA, the Class of 2012 completed "Indoc" and classes started on Wednesday for the entire Regiment of Midshipman. Our son has the same professor I had for Calculus I, I suspect he'll do better than I did. When we hear from him, it's clear that Indoctrination and the transition to the fast paced academic calender Kings Point maintains has NOT gotten any easier in 30 years. I now get to see the Academy from 3 perspectives - my own two - Alumni and Parent and our son's student - it's weird on many levels. To make matters more confusing, on Tuesday Evening, I went to the Nationals - Phillies Game with 14 of my USMMA Class of 1982 Classmates. We had a great time, the furthest travellers came from Virginia Beach, Williamsburg and Chester , PA. We believe the 15 of us were the largest gathering of classmates since graduating, other than at Homecoming every five years at the Academy. If you haven't been out to Nationals Park, when you go you're in for a treat - the sight lines are "all good"; the stadium is just so well setup it's hard to describe. Now the Nats just need to get a good product on the field and it'll all come together for them like it did last season for the - you probably saw this one coming - Washington Capitals. Also it's great to see the redevelopment that the Ballpark and the relocation of the Department of Transportation Headquarters are having on that section of DC. As they used to say on the features pages of The Prelate at Cardinal Dougherty RC High School in Philadelphia "back in the day" - a good time was had by all. Chris's classmates in the USMMA Class of 2012 have great futures to look forward to judging by the conversations and catching up the 15 of us did while the Nats and Phillies played to a 2-0 victory by the boys from the City of Brotherly Love.

Well I can't go more than a week without thinking about how much I'm looking forward to the next season by the Caps. The real issue between now and the start of the next NHL Season for the Great Number 8 and his teammates is that the Capitals are very tight on Salary Cap space. In fact with their desired group of top seven defenseman they are likely $2M over the salary cap. of course currently Brian Pothier is projected to be on LTIR but even without his salary, if Karl Alzner were to start the season in a Capitals "sweater" and Jeff Schultz is the number 4/5 defenseman the Caps will be ~984K K over the salary cap; if the Caps leave Alzner in Hershey and have Sami Lepeisto and John Erskine in the line-up the Capitals will still be pretty much right up on top of the Salary Cap and Alzner will get some time to grow into the Caps systems in Hershey. Personally I'm rooting for Patrick McNeill as much as anybody and let's not forget Quintin Laing - I'm rooting for both Laing & McNeill when Training Camp opens at Kettler on September 20th, 2008.

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

Day 3 of the Empty Nest In Bristow

[ED NOTE] This post is a ramble, hopefully not an unorganized stream of consciousness, but at the least a bit of a ramble through all my musings, there isn't any real single defining, centering activity going on here in Bristow this morning and if I wasn't writing this posting I'd be cleaning up the garage and washing a car or two. I'll do both those two tasks after finishing this posting and watching another couple of Sunday Morning news shows. So if you're looking for erudite thoughts on the end of the Washington Caps Development Camp, they aren't here though over at the Red Skate and other blogs there is plenty of that, most of which I agree with - I didn't make it to the last scrimmage yesterday so don't have any original thoughts that are new on that. If you're looking for insightful or humorous commentary on the usual subjects of my musings - well we'll have to see how I do.

It's a lovely day here in Northern Virginia though our house has been much quieter than I thought it would be. I guess that's probably not overly surprising to most people though it is to me. I thought I wanted to get over to see the final scrimmage of Caps Development Camp, however I didn't get much sleep on Friday night so I woke up too late. I was really glad to see the turnout and the excitement only built in the Caps fan base from the couple hundred I saw on Day One to the reported ~2,000 yesterday. I was also happy to see that many folks, who are more knowledgeable than me, felt Karl Alzner was the consensus standout, and that Phil DiSimone had great and good showings, respectively. The Caps need another good D-Man in the pipeline, especially since it appears Brian Pothier will probably be out for most, if not all this coming season. No, I don't have any more insight than any other fan on that matter, I just do the math relative to the Salary Cap and note that it's clear that George McPhee is certainly moving forward in a deliberate manner that treats Pothier as on Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR).

Karl Alzner's rapid rise, along with the continued improvement and development of Jeff Schultz, are something the Capitals will need and welcome in their quest to go deeper into the playoffs in 2009 and beyond. Don't get me wrong, I love John Erskine's grit and watching Milan Jurcina lay board rattling hits on opponents. However, as has been well chronicled elsewhere this past season, Erskine and Jurcina's potential at cracking into the Top 4 of any NHL Team's depth chart is limited by their skating ability. A top six blue line depth chart for Defensemen that looks like this: 1) Green; 2) Poti; 3) Morrisson; 4) Schultz; 5) Alzner; 6) Jurcina; and 7) Erskine with Pothier on LTIR might work, assuming Schultz, Alzner and Jurcina all continue to rise to the occassion. The selection of who plays the 5th, and 6th position and who sits will no doubt be situational and based on injury status. This all also depends on Schultz continuing to develop. While "Sarge" takes a lot of heat here in the "blogsphere", and even I routinely shake my head while watching him NOT play physical hockey (how can a guy who is 6'6" and 221# not want to just use that size to crush guys in the corner?), his numbers are pretty good and he doesn't get burned even strength often. I trust his development and confidence will continue and hope that next season we have an entire season of the kind of play he showed fans last December/January. If that occurs the Caps top two defensive pairings (Green/Morrisson & Poti/Schultz or Poti/Alzner) will be the equal or better of any of their opponents in the league. If a third pairing can be grounded by either Schultz, Jurcina or Alzner as a solid defenseman capable of logging ~13 - 15 minutes of ice time a game with respectable, hopefully positive, +/- ratings, then the Caps will indeed be able to go far. With Erskine in DC as the seventh man and Sami Lepisto, Josh Godfrey and Patrick McNeill in Hershey as well as Joe Finley, Eric Mestery, and John Carlson in the pipeline, it's easier too see why the Caps traded Steve Eminger to the Flyers even after the series he had against them. The Caps have a solid young defense and a solid development pipeline at the position.

As for the rest of the team, there may still need to be one more move made among the forwards to deal with the salary cap, depending on what comes out of the Shaone Morrisson arbitration/negotiations between now and the end of the month. That said as has been pointed out by others it sure seems that the Caps will have a solid roster coming into camp in several weeks. it also seems like this team will be well suited to play the game using the system that Jack Adams trophy winner, Coach Bruce Boudreau, put in place when he took the reigns last December. Question marks still center around the health status of Team Captain Chris Clark, as well as the fit and line pairings for Center Michael Nylander. Clark seems committed to doing what it takes to get back into shape and if his 32 year old body cooperates and heals, he will likely again be a key part of the Caps at both even strength and on special teams. Nylander's injuries from last season appear to also be behind him, however whether he will center the first, second, or third line is clearly open to discussion. This situation has NOT been caused by any of the wrong reasons, before his injury, the 35 year old Swede was playing his best hockey of the season. Once Nylander was out for the season, Caps general manager George McPhee (GMGM) went out at the trade deadline and brought in 38 year old center/play maker/3 time Stanley Cup winner, Russian Superstar, Sergei Federov. Federov filled a couple of late season needs the Caps had for a seasoned, star and play maker AND he had excellent chemistry, almost immediately on and off the ice with younger countrymen Alexander Semin and Alex Ovechkin. The acquisition and retention of Federov, along with the faster than hoped for development of rookie Swede center, Nicklas Backstrom, as well as solid seasons by Brooks Laich, Boyd Gordon and David Steckel, mean the Caps have a minor "embarrassment of riches" at center. This situation, as well as the tightness the Caps find themselves against the $56M 2008-2009 salary cap, and the fact that management, coaching staff and the fan base are all talking about how far the Caps might advance into the 2009 playoffs, instead of if they will even make the playoffs, are the real signs the "rebuild" ended at the middle of last season.

It may be local phenomenon fueled by the recent comments by the Caps new goaltender Jose Theodore and the re-signing of Sergei Federov for a fair value contract of $4M, even though he no doubt could have made a lot more in Russia, but it's really nice to think of and hear Washington is becoming a good hockey town. Getting a standing room only crowd of a couple thousand fans to watch a scrimmage at the end of development camp continues to show and fuel the excitement of the fan base here in the DC Metro Area. The next event is an Open House and Autograph session with Caps Defenseman Mike Green on July 24th. Finally even the local mainstream media (MSM) are getting on board with the idea the Caps are worthy of solid coverage both in season and during the off season. While the front pages of today's sports section have little on the Caps, the online edition of the Washington Post's section/web page on the Caps has a lot of excellent coverage; and the Washington Times has a similar set of good articles in it's online edition. As they say, it's all good, hopefully the spirit and sentiment builds as we go through next season and the Caps get a larger, just as dedicated, and knowledgeable fan base as the long term core has been. Can't wait till next season.

What has occupied most of my time these past three days has been work, busy time at ICx Technologies continue, and looking at the USMMA parents page to catch glimpses into what our son Chris is doing , via online postings of pictures of the Class of 2012's "Indoctrination". The four large program pursuits I'm personally involved with all continue to move forward and we are getting going on three more opportunities so my days have been pretty interrupt and event driven these past two weeks. Those things along with the trip to Long island to drop off Chris as well as just getting settled in this next phase of our life as an empty nest couple have been and continue to be the real grounding items in my life. I'm also starting to really try and figure out what I should be thinking about when picking who I'll vote for in November. I watched a few news shows this morning, they were less than helpful, but I am very biased against the media and how they cover politics, nobody is without an agenda - I know "duh".... I want to find a moderate who is fiscally conservative and socially liberal and will have the ability to make a budget and policy that is both effective and reflective of those desires and values. i guess that means I'm living in fantasy land - here I sit approaching 50 years old and still somewhat of an idealist, I don't think that's too, too terrible a thing. It's also probably very reflective of the great life we have and the great country we live in. Sue me - I'm a relatively happy and sentimental, patriotic guy. It's hard not to have those feelings stirred when you've just seen 307 great young men and woman begin their journey through life by joining a group and ideal that they all know is something bigger then themselves - even when they don't fully understand what it all is or will be.

ACTA NON VERBA

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

Acta Non Verba Tour - Installment 2

[ED NOTE] This article contains only information and subject matter on two topics - the United States Merchant Marine Academy and Life Approaching 50. For those looking for the latest musings related to the Washington Capitals please scroll down if these two subjects are of no interest to yo.

Day 2 of our journey to drop Chris off started with me waking up first and getting ready, then I got Cindy up, then Chris. It was Thursday morning and he needed to report for the start of indoctrination no later than 8:30 am.... so we started this evolution at 6AM and headed down to "The Giraffe Room" for breakfast at 6:45 but the place was packed so we opted out of breakfast. At this point Chris realized we needed to make a detour to get a permanent marker so he could put his name on his bags, once that was accomplished we headed to the USMMA and got into the queue to drop him off. He got in line at about 8:15 and we saw him come out of in processing and head to the barracks at about 09:30. This whole evolution was very different from when I started at the Academy 30 years ago. On that day I recall my parents dropping me off and me seeing them one last time about 45 minutes later when we and our luggage marched off Barney Square (now called "the grinder") about an hour later. Now parents spend most of the entire morning and you see them march into lunch after they literally wave goodbye to you. There are pictures posted on the Academy's Parents Page often during this period though we won't actually talk to him for 10 days when he'll get 5 minutes to call, again this is slightly different then when I started though not much.

The military/regimental aspect does complicate some things though it simplifies others. For our part the complication is Chris forgot to pack the new pair of glasses into his suitcase and halfway back down the Jersey Turnpike we noticed them in the backseat of the car. Luckily we had an option and we fed ex'ed them overnight to the lacrosse coach's office - hopefully he got them today and gave them to our son; we might not know for sure until not this Sunday but the next one. It does simplify things, we know he is safe and not getting into any mischief nor will he have much of a chance to until we see him next time which we be the weekend of September 5th.

On the life approaching 50 part, I do find myself looking at the few pictures of him on the website more than I thought I would and I have replaced the screen background that was from my last fishing trip with the boys with one of him when he first reported to the Academy inside on the basketball court in O'Hara Hall. I also met two of my classmates who have kids (one a son, the other a daughter) in the Class of 2012 and we talked a little. We all are proud but don't feel at all like we thought we would when we were younger and contemplated future events like this. Oh well next I'll post a few of the pics I took but right now I'm still catching back up for the days off.

ACTA NON VERBA

Acta Non Verba Tour Installment #1

[ED NOTE] No Caps thoughts or information in this post; no ICx Technologies related musings either - just USMMA and Life Approaching 50 thoughts in this article.

A nice relaxing day in scenic Long Island. I awoke before the crowd here in Room 316 at the Inn at Great Neck so I took a trip up to the Academy and down "memory lane" for an hour and a half so as not to raise the ire of my son (for whom today will be the last in a while where he can sleep in) and my wife, who also rarely gets the chance to do so. I got to the Campus at about 9AM and took a leisurely stroll around ending my walk up by the Chapel where Cindy and I were married 20 years ago (2/21/1988), then I stopped at the Academy's 9-11 memorial for a short stop, watching several local children using the outdoor pool down by the Waterfront. i then stopped by to say hello to Capt. Eric Wallischeck (Class of 1983) who is now the Asst. Superintendent for Strategic Planning. Eric had a busy day today, since he is the POC for the press release that announced the current Superintendent's Retirement. Eric and I were on the Offshore Sailing Team together and we caught up for a little over a half an hour before I headed back to the hotel.

I dutifully stopped at The Bagel Hut on Middle Neck Road in Great Neck and got us each two bagels and a drink. Nothing can beat freshly made (as in still hot!) New York Bagels, though we are now dyed in the wool very happy Northern Virginians as far as where we want to live. We enjoyed our breakfast and then decided to take a short drive out to Huntington and drive by our old house on Juniper Place, which we moved from in 1996 when we first came to NOVA. One of our old neighbors is still there and we saw them though were very distressed to learn their 26 yo son had contracted brain cancer and passed away in April. Once again I just can't really imagine how bad I would feel and how sad this whole thing is. The young man was a great person if anything that just makes it all hurt even more. We then bade them farewell and went to a brief get together at the Lacrosse Coach's house in Levittown for all the incoming plebes/freshman on the team.

The get together at the Lacrosse Coaches house was great. One of my classmates who had a son that graduated in 2007 and has a son in the Class of 2011 is running the Lacrosse Parents Club so we caught up for a few minutes. Chris met several of his new Classmates and they all seemed like great guys. After leaving there we had a great "last family supper" at Benihana's in Manhassett. Upon our return to the Inn at Great Neck, Cindy and I retired to our room and their is a gaggle of aspiring plebes/class of 2012 down in the lobby getting to know each other which is where our #1 son is. I expect tomorrow will bring another great day, though with a much earlier start since we have to have dropped him off by 0830 as they say in the military. All I can think about is the first time I took Chris to a football game - he was 4 and his Mother was working, it was a nice but cool fall day so rather than do our ritual breakfast at TK's in Huntington then home, we traveled from Huntington after breakfast to Kings Point and caught the first half of a Division III Football Game at the Academy - where did the years go? Acta Non Verba - I'm glad for all the good times the three of us have spent together over the last 18 years. It makes you really thankful for the good things in life, when you realize that for some folks the time you have to share with them is more limited than you might otherwise think. Well that's it for the "chick flick type of post" for today.

Federov Rumours Still Just All That - Drats...

Eleven deals today but not the one I got my hopes up for based on this post at On Frozen Blog. Rumours out of the KHL is that Sergei Federov is close to a deal with the Capitals - we'll see but here's hoping.

On a personal front we're on vacation today through Thursday. We'll drop our son off at the USMMA on Thursday morning. We had an uneventful drive up Route 95 this afternoon and checked into a nice local hotel - The Inn at Great Neck - this evening.

[ED NOTE] I'll be keeping up on the news at other blogs, etc. like the rest of the Caps Universe, hopefully the good news will keep going on. Peerless has some nice shots from today's development camp workouts and some good discussion on the free agency changes in the Southeast Division.

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

Some Hockey News But The Big Sports Stories Yesterday Was In Omaha, NE

Torres Surpirses At Omaha Swimming Trials; Phelps Could Break Spitz's Record In Beijing

The really big news in sports yesterday happened at the Olympic Trials, sure Tyson Gay falling and getting hurt in the 200M track race in Eugene, OR was news but since it looks like all will be well for him in the 100M for Beijing, the real news was in the swimming trials in Omaha, NE. Whether you think the big story is Michael Phelps winning five individual events at the trials, setting two world records and going for 8 medals at the Olympics, Katie Hoff qualifying for 5 individual events and competing for 6 medals at the Olympics, or 41 Dara Torres winning two qualifying events and going for two medals at her 5th Olympics, you have to believe the top sports news story of the week occurred in a pool at Omaha, NE. Since both Phelps and Hoff are local heroes (Baltimore), DC area sports fans can take comfort in knowing they're rooting for locals to make history in China this summer. As for Torres' performance and achievement, it does indeed transcend her sport and, almost regardless of how she finishes in the Olympics, there is no doubt she has already become an icon and celebrity that draws universal praise. The sight of a 41 year old mother with her 2 year old on the pool deck after winning the Olympic trials for the 50M freestyle in American Record time, is something that won't soon be seen again. The Olympic Swimming events are sure to be well watched and exciting looking at the team the US has going to the event. Just 5 weeks till opening ceremonies - the US has a lot of solid athletes going to these games in lots of different events. Go red, white & blue!

On the local hockey news front both Tarik and Corey have blog entries and stories about the recent filings by Brooks Laich and Shaone Morrisonn for arbitration and the signing of Matt Cooke by the Pittsburgh Penguins. At this point that means that Laich and Morrisonn are out of the RFA eligible for offer sheet pools and that if they don't reach mutual deals with the Caps in the next two weeks the arbitration process starts. If they go to arbitration, they'll then get one year deals with the Caps as decided by those proceedings. RW Eric Fehr is expected to accept his qualifying offer and C Boyd Gordon could do the same. These events are all probably good news for the Caps and could mean there will be enough room under the salary cap left to bring back veteran superstar Sergei Federov like young gun, fellow countrymen Ovechkin and Semin would like to see. While it "ain't over till its over" so far this off season seems very well played by the entire Capitals front office.

[Ed Note] Looking ahead to this coming week is exciting for us here in Bristow. On the professional front events keep moving forward at ICx Technologies and reasons to be optimistic about continued excellent growth despite a trying economy continue to emerge and mature. No looming proposal submission deadlines this week, though there is still lots to do on four projects we continue to pursue, so just the usual hectic pace. Our son Chris reports to the US Merchant Marine Academy on July 10. That's first thing Thursday morning so we'll spend Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday in New York before dropping him off at Kings Point to start his four years there. This is just all so weird, I've pondered all this before but I sure don't feel like I thought I'd feel about this sort of stuff 20 years ago. Perhaps 48 is the new 28? I'll try and stop by Kettler for the afternoon session of development camp tom arrow before we head up to NY on Tuesday. If I do I'll try and take a few pics of the Caps prospects and post them Monday evening. I don't expect much news from the Caps on Laich, Gordon, Morrisonn, Fehr or Federov this week and I'm just not into following the "What will Mats Sundin do?" rumours and news so postings here for the next couple of days will likely be more about Life Approaching 50 and the USMMA then about the Washington Capitals or even ICx Technologies.

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