Last night the Capitals ECHL Affiliate South Carolina Stingrays bested their cross state rival Columbia Inferno 2-0 in regulation at the North Charleston Coliseum to stay alive in the Kelly Cup Playoffs. The Stingrays now play a 7 game series against the Cincinnati Cyclones who bested the Reading Royals 6-1 in their "rubber match" last night in Cincinnati. If the Stingrays beat the Cyclones they will then compete for the ECHL Championship (the Kelly Cup). LETS GO RAYS!!
In local high school sports Osborne Park beat Battlefield in Boy's Lacrosse last evening. This evening Battlefield completes their regular season home games boys lacrosse schedule against Loudoun Valley in a makeup game for a rain out. It's senior night at Battlefield as they take on a tough opponent and try to get their 10th win of the season. This evenings game is "at home" - Battlefield High School - in Haymarket, VA. LETS GO BOBCATS!!!!.
Finally, what about the weather today. This morning driving down the George Washington Parkway to work at 6:30AM I was really struck by how much I love this time of year here in DC. The only way it could be better would be if it was us instead of those blasted Flyers fans buying tickets to home playoff games against the Penguins. LETS GO CAPS!!! and what the heck - LETS GO .... SPRING !?!?!?!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
The Week Ahead - Into The Breach Without Caps Hockey for a Diversion
Well the week ahead looks pretty busy and hectic as usual. So even though the Caps have concluded their season, this week like last will probably just fly by.
On the professional front, it's another couple proposals, in process and looming. As we at ICx Technologies look toward our next couple of months we have several large US DoD Force Protection related procurements that are in process or looming that will keep us busy over the next couple of months. First on the horizon is a task order proposal related to a "Joint Capabilities Technologies Demonstration" or JCTD that needs to be completed this week. If I get that done early in the week then I can go out to the West Coast to look at some interesting technology the DoD is using to fuse CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives) sensor data with, if I don't get the proposal done early in the week, then that's what I'll be doing till its done. Hopefully, we'll also hear about the next steps in a program procurement the Army has in process for a proposal we submitted about 10 months ago, soon as well. The the Air Force has their next large Force Protection program procurement coming out later this month. All in all it should be a busy couple of months and with some good fortune it'll be a happy time for those of us who have been working these types of things. On the product side things also continue to move forward briskly and in a positive but busy fashion, we've started closing early sales of our CohesionIF(tm) - sensor integration software - and that too will mean we'll be increasing our capabilities in providing CBRNE and Advanced Wide Area Surveillance sensors for incorporation and integration to enterprise-wide security solutions. I'm very excited about our prospects in both areas as they are things I've been working towards since joining the ICx Team, 17 months ago.
On the personal front, we are getting prepared to be empty-nesters in Bristow when our son Chris enters the United States Merchant Marine Academy, in Kings Point, NY - he'll report for "Indoctrination" - sounds ominous doesn't it? - on July 10th. It's not that ominous, for the record, I reported to KP for Indoctrination on July 10, 1978, 30 years before my son enters to the day but I started on a Monday, he'll start on a Thursday. Indoctrination is a 2 1/2 week period prior to the start of classes where entering Freshman - Plebe Candidates in USMMA "speak" - receive their first taste of Academy life and their first "Indoctrination" to "Regimental Life" - it's basically the start of their military training prior to the start of the academic year. They "learn" the rules of the regiment as well as a significant amount of historical information about the Academy - "Plebe Knowledge" and start their PT (Physical Training) and learn to march, etc. While not all that ominous, it will be a large change for most Midshipman, including our son. However, yesterday, he told me he was looking forward to "finishing this stuff and starting the next thing in his life" - hopefully, he'll keep that attitude going forward, I believe he will.
On the "hockey diversion front" both the Caps and Hershey Bears are now out of their respective playoffs, however the South Carolina Stingrays will play a series ending (one way or the other) game 5 tonight to see if they or the Columbia Inferno continue on in the ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs. The winner of the Stingrays - Inferno series will play the winner of the Cincinnati Cyclones - Reading Royals series who also play their "rubber match" game on Monday evening in Cincinnati.
Washington DC Area Hockey fans continuing to follow the Stanley Cup playoffs know the Eastern Conference Championship series starts later this week in Pittsburgh when the Penguins face off against the Philadelphia Flyers. Meanwhile in the Western Conference the Detroit Red Wings will face off against the Dallas Stars. The Stars beat the San Jose Sharks with a 2-1 win in the fourth overtime last night in Dallas. Both NHL games contested yesterday were exciting to watch. An earlier post provides the highlights of the Penguins - Ranger finale. The Sharks - Stars game went into a fourth overtime and was an exciting, fun game to watch. Throughout the entire game, the goal tending was superb, but the stupendous saves that both Evgeni Nabakov and Marty Turco made in the first three overtime periods were pretty mind-boggling. Through 6 periods of hockey the Sharks had 61 shots and the Stars had 51, even more amazing than their respective save percentages of of 98.36% and 98.04%, was the nature of some of the saves made by Turco and Nabakov. There were numerous scoring chances where it seemed the Goalies were superhuman. Both played top notch hockey through 131 minutes of hockey, and they both amassed several games worth of highlight reel saves throughout the action. In reality, both goalies played to a 1-1 tie in the first "game 6", then to a 0-0, dual shutout, tie in the second "game 6". The game went on like this until in the seventh period/fourth overtime when, at 9:03, Brenden Morrow scored a power by deflecting a pass from Stephane Robidas as the Stars and eliminated the pesky San Jose Sharks 2-1 in a game that ended early Monday morning. It was the longest game in the NHL playoffs this season, and the longest in San Jose history. The sad thing is that by the end of this game, both teams deserved to win, as did both goaltenders, but in the end only one team could win and that was Dallas. So Dallas now faces the Detroit Red Wings to see who from the Western Division will play for the Cup.
On the professional front, it's another couple proposals, in process and looming. As we at ICx Technologies look toward our next couple of months we have several large US DoD Force Protection related procurements that are in process or looming that will keep us busy over the next couple of months. First on the horizon is a task order proposal related to a "Joint Capabilities Technologies Demonstration" or JCTD that needs to be completed this week. If I get that done early in the week then I can go out to the West Coast to look at some interesting technology the DoD is using to fuse CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives) sensor data with, if I don't get the proposal done early in the week, then that's what I'll be doing till its done. Hopefully, we'll also hear about the next steps in a program procurement the Army has in process for a proposal we submitted about 10 months ago, soon as well. The the Air Force has their next large Force Protection program procurement coming out later this month. All in all it should be a busy couple of months and with some good fortune it'll be a happy time for those of us who have been working these types of things. On the product side things also continue to move forward briskly and in a positive but busy fashion, we've started closing early sales of our CohesionIF(tm) - sensor integration software - and that too will mean we'll be increasing our capabilities in providing CBRNE and Advanced Wide Area Surveillance sensors for incorporation and integration to enterprise-wide security solutions. I'm very excited about our prospects in both areas as they are things I've been working towards since joining the ICx Team, 17 months ago.
On the personal front, we are getting prepared to be empty-nesters in Bristow when our son Chris enters the United States Merchant Marine Academy, in Kings Point, NY - he'll report for "Indoctrination" - sounds ominous doesn't it? - on July 10th. It's not that ominous, for the record, I reported to KP for Indoctrination on July 10, 1978, 30 years before my son enters to the day but I started on a Monday, he'll start on a Thursday. Indoctrination is a 2 1/2 week period prior to the start of classes where entering Freshman - Plebe Candidates in USMMA "speak" - receive their first taste of Academy life and their first "Indoctrination" to "Regimental Life" - it's basically the start of their military training prior to the start of the academic year. They "learn" the rules of the regiment as well as a significant amount of historical information about the Academy - "Plebe Knowledge" and start their PT (Physical Training) and learn to march, etc. While not all that ominous, it will be a large change for most Midshipman, including our son. However, yesterday, he told me he was looking forward to "finishing this stuff and starting the next thing in his life" - hopefully, he'll keep that attitude going forward, I believe he will.
On the "hockey diversion front" both the Caps and Hershey Bears are now out of their respective playoffs, however the South Carolina Stingrays will play a series ending (one way or the other) game 5 tonight to see if they or the Columbia Inferno continue on in the ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs. The winner of the Stingrays - Inferno series will play the winner of the Cincinnati Cyclones - Reading Royals series who also play their "rubber match" game on Monday evening in Cincinnati.
Washington DC Area Hockey fans continuing to follow the Stanley Cup playoffs know the Eastern Conference Championship series starts later this week in Pittsburgh when the Penguins face off against the Philadelphia Flyers. Meanwhile in the Western Conference the Detroit Red Wings will face off against the Dallas Stars. The Stars beat the San Jose Sharks with a 2-1 win in the fourth overtime last night in Dallas. Both NHL games contested yesterday were exciting to watch. An earlier post provides the highlights of the Penguins - Ranger finale. The Sharks - Stars game went into a fourth overtime and was an exciting, fun game to watch. Throughout the entire game, the goal tending was superb, but the stupendous saves that both Evgeni Nabakov and Marty Turco made in the first three overtime periods were pretty mind-boggling. Through 6 periods of hockey the Sharks had 61 shots and the Stars had 51, even more amazing than their respective save percentages of of 98.36% and 98.04%, was the nature of some of the saves made by Turco and Nabakov. There were numerous scoring chances where it seemed the Goalies were superhuman. Both played top notch hockey through 131 minutes of hockey, and they both amassed several games worth of highlight reel saves throughout the action. In reality, both goalies played to a 1-1 tie in the first "game 6", then to a 0-0, dual shutout, tie in the second "game 6". The game went on like this until in the seventh period/fourth overtime when, at 9:03, Brenden Morrow scored a power by deflecting a pass from Stephane Robidas as the Stars and eliminated the pesky San Jose Sharks 2-1 in a game that ended early Monday morning. It was the longest game in the NHL playoffs this season, and the longest in San Jose history. The sad thing is that by the end of this game, both teams deserved to win, as did both goaltenders, but in the end only one team could win and that was Dallas. So Dallas now faces the Detroit Red Wings to see who from the Western Division will play for the Cup.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
It's Penguins vs. Flyers for the Eastern Division Finals
It'll be a "Pennsylvania Battle Royale" to see who will be the Eastern Conference Champion and contest for Lord Stanley's Cup this year. This afternoon the New York Rangers fought valiantly, taking the game into overtime after coming back from a two goal deficit but in the end the Penguins proved too much. Trade deadline pickup Marian Hossa scored two goals this afternoon including the game winner in overtime, validating Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero's trade deadline deal making.
After a scoreless first period, Pittsburgh jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second on a power play goal by Marian Hossa at 8:45 and an even strength tally by Evgeni Malkin at 12:40. The Penguins truly dominated the second period outshooting the Rangers 17-4. However, during the third period the Rangers, aware they were facing elimination, fought back and scored two quick even strength goals - one at 2:02 by Lauri Korpiskowski and one at 3:25 by Nigel Dawes. Then the game settled into a give and take battle of nerves for the remaining 16 minutes, though the rangers did outshot the Pens 11-7 during the final stanza of regulation play. In overtime the Penguins seemed to generate a new sense of purpose and draw some energy from the Igloo home crowd outshooting the Rangers 5-0, before Hossa finished them off with the sixth shot of overtime at 7:10.
Throughout the series the Rangers played physical, tight games against the Penguins and Rangers' Goalie Henrik Lundqvist was a one man team at times, however it wasn't close to enough as the Penguins downed them 4 games to 1. A big part of the reason that Lundqvist's heroics weren't enough was that they were matched and at critical times surpassed at the other end of the ice by Marc-Andre Fleury. Despite involving two teams with names like Crosby, Malkin, Jagr, and Gomez on the roster, this series was more a goaltenders duel then anything else. Throughout the series the Pens got outstanding goal-tending from Marc-Andre Fleury, who was the #1 star of the game in game #2 (a 2-0 shutout victory for Penguins in which Lundqvist also stopped 24 of 26 shots and earned the games third star). Fluery was also the third star of the game in Game 3, a 5-3 Pittsburgh victory, where he stopped 23 of 26 shots while Lundqvist yielded 5 goals to the Pens on their 11 shots. In game 4, Fleury stopped 31 of the Rangers 34 shots however at the other end of the ice, Lundqvist was perfect stopping all 29 of the Penguins attempts and earning the first star of the game. In today's game Henrik Lundqvist stopped 37 of the Penguins 40 shots, a save percentage of 92.5% and earned the games third star, while Fluery stopped 20 of the Rangers 22 shots a save percentage of 90.90%. Now the Battle of the Keystone State will be waged to see who is the 2008 "Beast of the East". This two will be a physical series, featuring two hot goaltenders and two teams with great young teams, in two hockey-crazed cities Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. What are tickets going to go for on Broad Street for game 3 - any guesses?
After a scoreless first period, Pittsburgh jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second on a power play goal by Marian Hossa at 8:45 and an even strength tally by Evgeni Malkin at 12:40. The Penguins truly dominated the second period outshooting the Rangers 17-4. However, during the third period the Rangers, aware they were facing elimination, fought back and scored two quick even strength goals - one at 2:02 by Lauri Korpiskowski and one at 3:25 by Nigel Dawes. Then the game settled into a give and take battle of nerves for the remaining 16 minutes, though the rangers did outshot the Pens 11-7 during the final stanza of regulation play. In overtime the Penguins seemed to generate a new sense of purpose and draw some energy from the Igloo home crowd outshooting the Rangers 5-0, before Hossa finished them off with the sixth shot of overtime at 7:10.
Throughout the series the Rangers played physical, tight games against the Penguins and Rangers' Goalie Henrik Lundqvist was a one man team at times, however it wasn't close to enough as the Penguins downed them 4 games to 1. A big part of the reason that Lundqvist's heroics weren't enough was that they were matched and at critical times surpassed at the other end of the ice by Marc-Andre Fleury. Despite involving two teams with names like Crosby, Malkin, Jagr, and Gomez on the roster, this series was more a goaltenders duel then anything else. Throughout the series the Pens got outstanding goal-tending from Marc-Andre Fleury, who was the #1 star of the game in game #2 (a 2-0 shutout victory for Penguins in which Lundqvist also stopped 24 of 26 shots and earned the games third star). Fluery was also the third star of the game in Game 3, a 5-3 Pittsburgh victory, where he stopped 23 of 26 shots while Lundqvist yielded 5 goals to the Pens on their 11 shots. In game 4, Fleury stopped 31 of the Rangers 34 shots however at the other end of the ice, Lundqvist was perfect stopping all 29 of the Penguins attempts and earning the first star of the game. In today's game Henrik Lundqvist stopped 37 of the Penguins 40 shots, a save percentage of 92.5% and earned the games third star, while Fluery stopped 20 of the Rangers 22 shots a save percentage of 90.90%. Now the Battle of the Keystone State will be waged to see who is the 2008 "Beast of the East". This two will be a physical series, featuring two hot goaltenders and two teams with great young teams, in two hockey-crazed cities Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. What are tickets going to go for on Broad Street for game 3 - any guesses?
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Huet's Price Going Up? Flyers Down Habs 6 - 4 To Take Series
Well I was watching the Flyers-Canadeans Game 5 and the Flyers had just pulled ahead of the Habs 4-3 at the end of the 2nd period. Carey Price had just let two Flyers goals get past him that he'd probably like to have back and I can't help but wonder what this all is doing to the likely "price" it'll take for the Capitals to resign Christobel Huet. Throughout tonight's game Cary Price didn't get a lot of help in front but his glove side looked very vulnerable throughout the entire Flyers series. The other thing going against Price is that at the other end of the ice Martin Biron continued to play excellently throughout the series.
The Canadeans came out in the third period and tied the game before the Flyers took the lead again at 16:56 on a textbook tip-in by Scottie Upshall on a Jeff Carter shot from the point through a crowded slot. Mike Knuble "sealed the deal" with an empty net goal at 19:10. Overall tonight Carey Price stopped 31 shots. However the bigger story was that the Flyers scored 20 goals in 5 games on the Canadeans' 20 year old rookie goalie. The Flyers now await the outcome of the Penguins - Rangers series to see who they play for the Eastern Conference Championship. The Penguins currently lead that series 3 - 1 and could end the series tomorrow when they meet for game 5 in Pittsburgh. One thing is for sure, regardless of who the Flyers end up playing - Pittsburgh or the Rangers - it will be a physical series.
What do you think will Montreal try to resign Christobel Huet after Price's issues in the Flyers series?
The Canadeans came out in the third period and tied the game before the Flyers took the lead again at 16:56 on a textbook tip-in by Scottie Upshall on a Jeff Carter shot from the point through a crowded slot. Mike Knuble "sealed the deal" with an empty net goal at 19:10. Overall tonight Carey Price stopped 31 shots. However the bigger story was that the Flyers scored 20 goals in 5 games on the Canadeans' 20 year old rookie goalie. The Flyers now await the outcome of the Penguins - Rangers series to see who they play for the Eastern Conference Championship. The Penguins currently lead that series 3 - 1 and could end the series tomorrow when they meet for game 5 in Pittsburgh. One thing is for sure, regardless of who the Flyers end up playing - Pittsburgh or the Rangers - it will be a physical series.
What do you think will Montreal try to resign Christobel Huet after Price's issues in the Flyers series?
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