Wow - Cool Hockey Weekend Even If It Is Summertime....

Okay, since you probably read this and other blogs you know that The Washington Capitals' ECHL affiliate South Carolina Stingrays captured the Kelly Cup - the ECHL Championship in Anchorage on Friday Night. It took 23 playoff games for the Rays to get 16 wins, but with a 4-2 victory in game seven, the South Carolina Stingrays knocked off the Alaska Aces and clinched their third Kelly Cup Championship!! Congratulations to the Rays Organization. The winning goaltender Friday Night, and the ECHL Playoff MVP, was James Reimer who stopped 26 of the 28 shots he faced. The XX year old Reimer was a 4th Round, 99th overall pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2006 NHL entry draft, and as per Hockey's Future is part of the Leafs system, this season he played in Reading for the ECHL Royals, Toronto for the AHL Marlies, and South Carolina. He was a great pickup for the Stingrays by their coach/gm - Jared Bednar. Also on the winning team were Capitals prospects: Center & Team Captain Travis Morin, and Left Winger Maxime Lacroix.

The Capitals AHL affiliate Hershey Bears took a 2-1 Series lead in the AHL's Calder Cup finals with a 3-0 win in Hershey yesterday over the Vancouver Canucks' affiliate Manitoba Moose. The Bears try and make the series 3-1 this evening in Hershey with a 5:00PM faceoff while the Moose try and even the series up. Both Hershey and Manitoba are filling their buildings and the series is filled with solid hockey. Yesterday, The Bears found the back of the goal first, as Graham Mink netted his sixth of the postseason at 6:22 of the first period. Michal Neuvirth earned his fourth postseason shutout, turning aside all 28 Moose shots. The Hershey power play went 2-for-3, and the penalty kill silenced Manitoba on all five attempts. The three stars of the Game: 1. Michal Neuvirth (4th postseason shutout) 2. Alexandre Giroux (league-leading 14th playoff goal) 3. Staffan Kronwall (two assists, on ice for all three goals).

Good luck to the Bears today; hopefully next year at this juncture all three teams in the Capitals Organization, including those who regularly play at the Verizon Center will still be competing. Speaking of NHL Hockey how about those Red Wings? Last night's game was truly a lesson in puck control and self control by the Red Wings. Pavel Datsyuk notched two assists and almost had a third in his return to the ice after 18 days on IR. Chris Osgood turned away all 22 shots by the Penguins and the Red Wings as a whole totally frustrated both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Marc-Andre Fluery had his "human game" letting 5 of 21 shots by for a save percentage of just 0.762 before being pulled in the second period. By that point it was basically all over "except for the crying" as they say. The way this series has been nothing is for sure but there was no doubt who the better team on the ice last night was. Clearly Pittsburgh has a lot of adjustments to make over the next couple of days while Detroit seems to determined to try and repeat and not give the young talented Pittsburgh team anything to motivate themselves with. Lots of physical play and some of it marginal ensued last night, but in the post-game comments and Q&A, the Red Wings were clearly not biting on any leading questions and seem determined to let their play on the ice do their talking next game as well as this one. So Pittsburgh now has their backs against the wall and Detroit appears determined to try and win their 12 Cup overall and 2nd in a row in Pittsburgh. It should be a great game - I have a new poll - who do you think will win on Tuesday and who will win the Cup? I'm thinking Detroit holds it together and once again wins the Cup in Pittsburgh on Tuesday; I'm not making any predictions on scores, etc. though. I do predict that Franzen and Malkin will go at it before the end of the second period though.

Five more weeks till the Capitals Development Camp Opens ... in the meantime

LETS GO BEARS!!!! and once again
CONGRATULATIONS STINGRAYS!!!

In Atlanta - Probably Won't See Much of Tonight's Hockey Game But ...

Well today it is very likely "the day job" will get in the way of me seeing much of tonight's "Game 3 in Pittsburgh" since my flight back to DC is at 4:20PM and from my window at the hotel it already looks like we'll have thunderstorms later. Travel this time of year is always subject to delays up & down the East Coast and cross country because of storms. On a more sober note, my heart and prayers are with the crew and passengers of that Air France plane that is lost, that doesn't look like it will have any happy endings. Things like that sure keep missing watching a hockey game in perspective pretty easy, eh?

Any regrets I have about missing any of tonight's game will also be shortly overtaken by the fact I really like my "day job" here at ICx Technologies and today we'll be doing a few aspects of it that I also really enjoy as well. My boss and I are here in Atlanta meeting with the folks who lead Surveillance Team and make our integrated platforms (Cerberus(tm) and SkyWatch(tm)) and exploring and planning how we can better help them in their growth and strategic business capture efforts as well as making sure we also better understand their capabilities and business so we can do that effectively. It's a quick trip, basically a day. However, given the fact they are such a great team themselves and they have a lot of targets that are right in the sweet spot of what we do, I know it will be a productive, rewarding and interesting day and that in the end we'll be able to find ways we can help each other and accelerate our mutual effort to grow our business. Not as whimsical or fun as watching a hockey game but a lot more directly related to making sure I keep a roof over my head and also actually fun for me as well.

My prediction for tonight: 4-3 OT win by Penguins. That's my thought, unless Chris Osgood keeps his amazing string of excellent (better than 0.950 SV% games) going. If that happens, the Penguins will not score 4 or more goals in a game and if they don't do that it's hard to see how they win since right now it's hard to see Detroit scoring less than 3 goals a game. And ... once again I hope I'm wrong since when it comes to Pro Hockey Teams, I'm kind of pretty "anti-flightless bird."

Last Poll Results and New Poll Up - Get Your Vote In and Share Your Comments Please

Well the results from my last poll were basically all over the map. The question: What would the results be from this past weekends games?" Of course I only had 5 respondents and two got it right (40%) - they said the Red Wings would win both games. Obviously two of the other three respondents (myself) included) got the answer wrong by varying degrees and one Caps fan doesn't care who wins... umm .. maybe that was the safe answer. In any case the new poll asks who you think the series winner will be and how many games will it go?



So get your predictions in as you only have three and a half more days to make your prediction and please share your comments and musings as well.

For Caps fans here's some thoughts to muse on:

1) Just a little more than 6 weeks till Development Camp opens.
2) How hot do you think the women that Ovie and Semin are hanging with on the beach in Turkey are?
3) The South Carolina Singrays, the Caps ECHL affiliate, will be back in action on Thursday night from back in Anchorage, AK to play game six of this best-of-seven game series. The Rays lead the series 3 games to 2 and will try for the second time to knock off the Aces and raise the Kelly Cup. Game time will be at 11:15 eastern time.
4) In the AHL Championship (Calder Cup) Series, the Caps AHL Affiliate Hershey Bears stunned the Manitoba Moose in Winnipeg on Saturday night, defeating the Vancouver Canucks' AHL affiliate 5-4 in overtime in Game 1 and taking a 1-0 series lead. The Bears and Moose will be back in action tomorrow night in Winnipeg for game 2.

So think the Caps have a pretty good player development pipeline or what?

Wow - Another 3-1 Win By The Red Wings and They Lead the Finals 2 - 0

Well the Stanley Cup Finals head to Pittsburgh and will resume on Tuesday Night with the Detroit Red Wings leading the series 2 games to nil. Pittsburgh has to really go back and figure out how the Wings are neutralizing their keys to victory, and they have to hope that somehow between now and Tuesday evening Chris Osgood gets back to earth. Osgood was the #1 star of the game again tonight with a Save % of 0.969.

Both the #1 star and the Save % are duplicate images of Osgood's performance in game 1, so who's leading the Conn Smyth voting if it's held tomorrow? Probably not Sidney Crosby who was once again held off the scorecard.

Oh and in a totally weird motion that clearly sends the signal that discipline in the NHL is nothing but arbitrary and capricious, Evgeni Malkin will not be suspended despite getting an instigator penalty in the last five minutes of the game. Here what was in the game recap up on NHL.COM: "Malkin received an instigator penalty for a fight with Detroit’s Henrik Zetternberg at 19:41, but will not be suspended.NHL Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell issued the following statement regarding the instigator penalty:Rule 47.22 states: "A player who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation in the final five minutes or at any time in overtime shall be suspended for one game, pending a review of the incident. The director of hockey operations will review every such incident and may rescind the suspension based on a number of criteria. The criteria for the review shall include, but not be limited to, the score, previous incidents, etc..." Following that review, Campbell said: "None of the criteria in this rule applied in this situation. Suspensions are applied under this rule when a team attempts to send a message in the last five minutes by having a player instigate a fight. A suspension could also be applied when a player seeks retribution for a prior incident. Neither was the case here and therefore the one game suspension is rescinded."

Well it's over to the Igloo now and according to the crack broadcast team at NBC it will be a totally different story there because the Penguins will have the last line change. I don't know about that, it sure seemed like Detroit had four lines that could skate with any combos Pittsburgh was throwing out there in the final two periods tonight. In any case, we are defiantly seeing some good hockey being played and I have to believe that either Osgood is human or Fluery steals at least one of the next two games and this is at least a five game series no matter what. Oh well of even more interest to me is whether either Datsyuk or Draper play in game 3 after everyone has an off day. Oh and once again - how about that Justin Abdelkader kid - he scored another goal tonight...

Tonight - Game 2 - Will Crosby & Maltby Go At It "Mano e' Mano?" and Other Musings

Well the blogsphere and the main stream media are storming to find something to stir interest and even more hype in tonight's Red Wings - Penguins game 2; as if a rematch of last year's finals between two teams loaded with talent isn't enough. Greg Wyshynski aka "Puck Daddy" over at Yahoo Sports and a bevy of commenters over at TSN.com's story on the game were suitably unimpressed by Sidney the wonderful Crosby's moves and post games comments to post a lot on the matter. Of course the Penguin's faithful just shrugged it off by the rest of hockey fandom for either a) being jealous at not having Mr. Wonderful on their team, b) being jealous that they are not as talented or wonderful as young Mr. Crosby or c) part of the grand conspiracy against the Penguins and a diversion from the fact the biased, poor officiating cost them the game because they didn't get a penalty shot when Henrik Zetterberg almost closed his hand on a puck that was sitting atop Chris Osgood's back in the crease. But the real story is as Red Wing's coach Mike Babcock is noted to point out over at NHL.Com - the battle, the game within the game between Zetterberg and Crosby or at least the game between them last evening.

Interestingly, even NHL.com can't avoid mentioning that some noted hockey people, including Babcock, aren't too thrilled with Crosby's behaviour and style of play of late. The story over at NHL.com includes the following verbiage: "And what of Babcock's statement that Crosby was head hunting on his hit on Zetterberg? ... He can say whatever he wants," Crosby said. "I don't think I've been known as a head hunter throughout my career. He's the first one to ever say that, so it's pretty interesting stuff." Well perhaps Crosby's defense is true enough he only had 80 hits this regular season despite his earlier claim that he finishes every check so maybe he's not a head hunter. I sort of think more about his nut seeking fisticuffs moves when I think of Mr. Wonderful and his quest for the Lady Byng Trophy. So when the Penguins fans talk about a conspiracy against their team and Captain, please pardon my rant on their hypocrisy. How can you just shrug off stories and stuff like the ones after his nut punch in the national media just 6 short months ago and make like Sid the Kid is the role model you want every Canadian hockey player to emulate because Ovie did a really silly post #50 goal celebration?

I do confess though I have less an issue with Crosby then the disrespect that Christobel Huet showed the Caps Organization and fan base after we all embraced him last season - that said I am so much happier the Caps have Jose Theodore in the goal tending mix than Huet right now. In fact I can easily think of like 1 million reasons why I feel that way right now and 5.5 million I'll feel that way in 2010, but I digress. Back to Sidney Crosby the fifth or sixth best guy on the ice last night for the Penguins vs. Henrik Zetterberg the Red Wings No. 1 forward. Yes, that should be quite a battle. Latest out of Detroit is that Pavel Datsyuk and Kris Draper will again be scratched tonight due to injury. Instead the Wings will dress Ville Leino and Justin Abdelkader. The urgency for Datsyuk to get back was alleviated somewhat by the effectiveness of Detroit's fourth line, a unit featuring Kirk Maltby, Leino and Abdelkader. If Crosby's poor form move did anything real last evening it was to add emphasis to the effectiveness on Detroit's fourth line last night, of course so too did the fact Abdelkader got his first playoff goal.

Bottom line is tonight's game should be a great one. Key players for each team's success will be: for Pittsburgh Marc-Andre Fluery; for Detroit whoever Coach Mike Babcock has shadow Sidney Crosby - I don't think that will be Zetterberg, at least not during the first period, I'm thinking it actually might be Maltby. As for other key match ups/players I'm looking for Brian Rafaleski to be on the ice a lot of the time when Malkin is out there. For Pittsburgh Bill Guerin, Maxine Talbot, or Ruslan Fedotenko could be the key "second tier" guy to make or break the game. For Detroit in addition to Rafalski, watch Franzen, Cleary and Helm, as well as Marian Hossa of course, any one of those guys had chances to notch a few more tallies last night and could do so tonight.

Well it's not watching the Capitals but at least it's very, very good ice hockey and the best we're going to see until next October.

LETS GO WINGS - LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Musings During Stanley Cup Finals Game 1

Well I started to watch the beginning of the Red Wings - Penguins game but then NBC started their usual stuff and Doc Emmrich and others started with the Crosby man-love crap in the pregame so I switched over and watched NUMBERS for an hour. So I missed the first period and came back in time for the 1st intermission, and even though the score is tied 1-1 the Crosby coronation/man-love continues. This is just getting sooooo old. I sooo hope that Detroit tunes these guys up so we don't have to continue to listen to how wonderful Crosby is for another year. I really don't have that much against Crosby personally, he seems like a decent guy, but come on he's not the only great player on the ice, especially in this series.

Mike Milbury just said it looks like Evgeni Malkin is following Sidney Crosby's lead and that's why he's getting better. Come on, these guys can't even give Malkin his full due without getting into the Sidney Man-Crush/Love thing. So with less than 30 seconds down in the second period we have excerpts from an interview with Mario the Great who is singing the praises of Sidney the Great. Then we have highlights where they are talking about how great Crosby is on a scoring chance from the first period and instead what they should be talking about with this highlight is the great save by Osgood who denies the Penguins. Next we have a scoring chance by Malkin on a breakaway with ~16:20 left to play in the second period that Osgood denies, and of course the replay shows it was preceded by Malkin tripping up Kronwall and it should have been a penalty. Of course a minute later Brett Ledba slashes Maxime Talbot breaking his stick and giving the Pittsburgh holy Penguins a power play. Wait we'll see how much these NBC commentators can say something great about the Penguins while Marian Hossa does a great job killing the penalty. So as great as Crosby and Malkin are on the power play, Pittsburgh ends up with an icing call against them while they have the man advantage - yet the NBC broadcast team is still talking about the great Penguins - and I am thinking kill me now, I've got to get a big dish so I can get the Canadian feed but wait that might be worse since the Red Wings are "A European Team".

Since Pittsburgh didn't score the referees call a tripping penalty as Stall gets tripped - why is it a trip on Staal but not on Kronwall? At this point of the game, I'm starting to think "I hope the Red Wings score a shortie" and Dan Cleary gets a great scoring chance. So what do the NBC guys start to talk about - how that's only the second shot by the Wings this period - think these guys are a little biased maybe? Nahhh no way, that wouldn't be responsible sports journalism would it now? I mean why would the Wings be a little short on shots on goal now, they've only been short handed ~ 40% of the second period so far. Dan Cleary takes the puck away from Sidney the Great and gets a good shot off but no one points that out for 2 more minutes until Pierre flipping Maguire mentions it in passing as they show the replay. How does a mere mortal like Cleary take the puck away from Crosby - isn't he suppossed to be like a hockey god? Why isn't that a storyline that gets talked about for at least a minute during this 180 minute scheduled Crosby lovefest?

So after the Red Wings successfully killed the second penalty without letting Pittsburgh get too much offense, Dan Bylsma puts out a mixed line of Crosby-Malkin-Cooke and Detroit dominates that shift. Seriously, if not for great back checking by Malkin would have scored. Yet the fact that Crosby didn't look too wonderful that shift seems to pass without much notice, even though Henrik Zetterberg made him look foolish. Maguire asks Bylsma about the mixed lines and Bylsma comes up with the lamest lie in the business indicating he did it to get some guys ice time who didn't get ice time due to the power play. So I'm wondering what are you talking about Coach didn't I just see Crosby and Malkin out for over half the power play that ended, and weren't they only on the bench for one shift before you put them on the ice together at 5 0n 5?.

Next, Detroit blows a line change and Rafalski and Osgood pull Detroit's bacon out of the fire. Rafalski ties up Crosby and what do we talk about. Can you guess - if you said what a great play Rafalski just made, nahhh we'll mention that in passing. Instead we'll talk about how great Sid looked right up till the time Rafelski and Osgood shut him down. Finally the Wings get a power play and I have to admit they don't look too, too great but you have to wonder how Matt Cooke doesn't get a penalty with a very late high hit at the end of that power play. What game were the TWO referees watching on that one? Not the game I was seeing on NBC obviously, I mean Cooke could have gotten 4 minutes for that move and he gets away with a non-call.

So with less than 2 minutes left in the second period, Detroit starts to dominate a shift with Crosby out there. Sidney tries to pull a dive, it doesn't work, the Wings get off three shots before Pittsburgh needs to ice the puck, with a tired team on the ice and less than 1:20 left in the period Pittsburgh calls a timeout. However, Sidney the Great loses the face off and Detroit wins the battle for the puck and scores their second of the night as Johan Franzen does a great play and "buries the biscuit in the basket." The second period ends with Detroit having the momentum and the lead 2-1, I'm left to wonder just how Milbury and Maguire will get their man-love in for Crosby and the Penguins now. Oh wait I'll bet they'll talk about how Pittsburgh out shot the Wings by so much that period. Somehow, they'll rationalize that Sidney the Greats team really should be winning and it's only a matter of time till the scoreboard reflects that reality. [ed note: Let's see how good my prediction on this one is after the commercial break is over.] Well, they started the intermission commentary by showing how great Detroit is playing but wait Milbury just started to talk about how Pittsburgh had chances this period and could be winning. Oh now we have a commercial break again - when they come back how much you want to bet Maguire and Milbury are going to go through it. Maguire is Bylsma and he's talking about that Pittsburgh is down and they need to shoot more and get the puck in deep more. Milbury is saying Detroit has to keep putting thing on net and not let up at all. So I guess I'll relax a little about bias but I still have the feeling they really like Pittsburgh and can't wait to crown Sidney and the Penguins as "hockey gods" - call me jaded. On to period three, LETS GO WINGS!

So the third period starts and Pittsburgh has the momentum for at least the first minute, minute twenty until Marian Hossa puts a nifty outlet pass to Darren Helm who is actually well defended by a great recovery by Hal Gill. However, the next shift Justin Abdelkader has a beautiful move pulling the puck out of the air and puts it into the net top shelf by a stunned Marc-Andre Fluery. Detroit is now up 3-1. At the 15:30 mark, I have to admit the Wings dodged a bullet when the puck somehow ends up right on top of Osgood's back and man is Crosby pissed and lobbying for Zetterberg to get a penalty for closing his hand on the puck. However, the replay seems to show he didn't close his hand on it so that was probably the right call. So somehow I'm not even hearing too much of what Emmrich is saying and even less of what Maguire is saying and I'm thinking: "Thank you, God." Darren Helm just puts in a great shift at ~9:30 left in the period laying out two hits that really get the crowd going. The NBC team is now pointing out how much ice time Detroit's fourth line is getting this period, so maybe before the end of the series they'll realize and acknowledge how deep Detroit is - what do you think? will it happen? So for this period it looks like for the rest of the period it's Zetterberg's job to shut down Crosby and I'm trying to figure out who is being matched up against Malkin. So now with 7:38 left in the period the shifts are getting long for Crosby, Malkin and Guerin and Detroit has to take a timeout because of a nice shift and an icing. Now we're down to ~5:30 left and the clock is definitely NOT Pittsburgh's friend - the NBC broadcast team doesn't mention it though of course instead focusing on what exactly Crosby is doing at this minute - just once I'd like to see this guy pick his nose on national TV wouldn't you.

Now coming off a TV timeout we see Malkin and Crosby out together and "Sid the Great" looses the face off - the broadcast team points out that's bad for the Penguins - finally some objective coverage? Why not it was such an obvious comment I could have made it. At the 3:45 mark Fluery has to come all the way out of the net to break up a break away and the Red Wings almost score again if not for some really nifty acrobatics by the Pens goaltender. With 1:40 left Hossa misses an empty net and somehow the Wings don't score even though they have the puck in the Penguins zone and an empty net for what seemed like an eternity.

It's over. Final score Red Wings 3 - Penguins 1. So now we'll hear how great the Penguins were despite loosing the game. Wow - I hope I'm wrong about tomorrow night and the Red Wings win and end up going to Pittsburgh with a 2-0 lead. It's just so easy to dislike the Penguins since the NBC guys so obviously love them. That said I still think the Penguins will come back, I just hope I'm not right. Finally some love for Osgood - I mean 35 of 36 (a 0.972 Save Percentage). Holy cow - Milbury just said "it wasn't a great day at the office for Sidney Crosby" and now they actually acknowledged he had a dismal 30% win percentage on face offs tonight. Now we even have some love for Darren Helm, wait till next game if Detroit wins, might the NBC guys actually start to root for the Wings?

And So The End (of the NHL season) Begins ...

Tonight the Stanley Cup Finals begin in Detroit, at "The Joe". The Detroit Red Wings, as close to a dynasty that has been recently fielded in professional sports, take on the Pittsburgh Penguins for their league's championship, for the second time in as many years. This should be a great series but it sure seems that Detroit is coming into this series a little more "banged up" than Pittsburgh; and the Penguins are coming into the series with a lot of quiet determination and confidence. Penguins star center Sydney Crosby has been very low key and carefully making sure to acknowledge the fact that while the Penguins are comfortable in their role as challengers and prepared for the finals, they realize they have not yet won Hockey's Greatest Prize as a team yet. That's making for some pretty boring interviews but it is "the smart course of action" by the Commissioner's favorite pet.

There's a lot of great hockey in store before the Cup is raised by it's eventual winner. This weekend they'll play back to back games in Detroit to open the series and then the action will move to the Igloo in Pittsburgh. Personally I don't see Pittsburgh winning more than one game this weekend in Detroit, even considering the injuries to the Red Wings and the roll the Penguins have been on - Detroit just has too many weapons, too much experience and too much pride to let that happen. However, Pittsburgh is too hungry not to win at least one, unless Chris Osgood steals at least one of the two games from them. So I'm thinking Detroit takes tonight's opener and Pittsburgh comes back and takes tomorrow's, especially if the Detroit blue-lines corps continues to be forced to play without or short shift Captain, Nicklas Lidstrom.

The latest news is that Pavel Datsyuk and Kris Draper will miss game one, if Lidstrom is slowed as well, that will be an impact that even the experienced, talent rich, Red Wings will feel. Given all that is going on the Wings players to watch have to be Johan Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg and Chris Osgood; if they open the series by making a statement, even with Datsyuk and Draper out and Lidstrom slowed, a failure by the Penguins to provide a commensurate response will mean a long night for Pittsburgh fans. For Pittsburgh the keys are pretty straightforward: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar, and perhaps most of all Marc-Andre Fluery. Truth be told both these teams are so broad and deep the three stars at the end of each game could end up being 21 unique different guys names and you would still have guys on each bench that folks might be arguing should get recognized. That said here's my predictions for the weekend and the series:

Tonight, Detroit wins 4-2 in regulation, the fourth goal is an empty netter. Detroit has 40 or more shots on goal, tonight.

This weekend ends with the series tied 1-1. Pittsburgh makes all the right adjustments and wins game 2 outright 5-2 in regulation. The fifth goal is an empty netter. Detroit has less than 30 shots on goal in game 2.

The series ends with Pittsburgh taking it in six games. Detroit wins games 1 and 5. The Pens win games 2, 3, 4, and 6. At least 2 games go to OT in games 2-6.

Okay hows that for a set of prognostications? I wonder what Peerless thinks. Oh and let me say making these predictions really hurts since as a Caps fan, I'd rather see Detroit win. Historically Detroit has won back to back Cups three times before so I'm kind of bucking history and a trend with my predictions. Please vote in the Poll on what you think will happen this weekend...

Thanks for reading! I'll post my next in the series "Were They Worth It?" later this weekend or Monday morning.

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

Time Flies...Busy, Busy, Busy ... Penguins-Wings Redaux, etc...

Wow, it's been 12 days since my last blog entry, lots going on at home and work, and with no Caps games to anchor me and my blog entries, the blogging side of life has been aimlessly moving around. This past week's hockey games have prompted me to muse on hockey again though. Last night's Wings-Hawks series closeout was a good game, eh? Though how Puckdaddy can list Christobel Huet at the number one star, I can't fathom. Yes he was solid, very solid in last night's game, but the game before that he was chased out of the net. True it wouldn't have mattered who was in the net given the way the Red Wings were playing, but please stopping 42 of 44 for a 0.954 save percentage is awesome, but to call the stop on Franzen in the final minute of the third as anything but a desperate, lucky save is, to me, a stretch. Yes I'm biased - I hold a grudge from last off-season - but I say if the Blackhawks didn't have Khabibuhlen in the net much of the season and most of the playoffs, they wouldn't have made it to the Conference finals. In any case, by taking the Blackhawks down in 5 games, the Red Wings proved they remain the team to beat in the West. To be sure the Blackhawks gamely made a series of it taking three of the five games to overtime, but in the end Detroit once again proved too much for a playoff opponent. With the Blackhawks young core remaining intact next season, you can be sure they'll be making another run next spring as well.

The Penguins-Hurricane's series you ask - well though it pains me, a Caps Fan, to say it - there sure seemed little doubt about that one, eh? The four game sweep by the Penguins clearly demonstrated, they remain an elite team and probably the elite team in the East. The Caps have something to shoot at next season and it's Pittsburgh. Further, only the first game in Pittsburgh was all that tight, ending with a 3-2 regulation win by Pittsburgh. The other three games saw the Penguins dispatch the Hurricanes by 3, 4, and 3 goal margins.

Now hockey fans can get ready for back to back games this weekend in Detroit before the Stanley Cup Finals move to Pittsburgh next week for games 4 and 5. Back to back games for the finals is drawing lots, and lots of criticism - count me among the fans who think this is a bad idea too. Who will win? The wily Red Wings from Motor City or those pesky flightless birds from Steeltown? Based on how they looked in their conference finals, i wouldn't bet against the Penguins. However, the Red Wings have a history of winning back to back Stanley Cups so i guess we'll have to let the teams play the games on the ice.

I'll resume my recap of the season relative to "Were They Worth It?" soon but work is getting in the way of blogging and that's not a bad thing in this economy, etc. I haven't blogged here about my thoughts on the Kozlov Russia signing or the talk about Federov though i have posted comments to some of the threads on Japer's Rink, etc. I'll just sum it up here re: Federov - I want him back and think for $2.5 or less and a one year deal, it's not much to debate, especially since Kozlov's return to Russia frees up $2.5 and we'd be trading Kozlov at 2.5 for Federov at 2.5 and freeing up $4M of salary cap space which assuming Morisson isn't resigned turns into $5.9M....for that GMGM could sign either an impact RW or a Superstopper DMan or perhaps both...

Well back to work... think 2009-2010 season - LETS GO CAPS!!!

Conference Finals Start Today In Detroit - It's The Final Four Showdown

Well the NHL season is roaring to a great finish. To follow up on the "epic" confrontation between Ovechkin and Crosby in the Conference finals, we'll have an epic confrontation between two "Original Six" rivals. To make matters more interesting these two Central Division rivals each went 2-2-2 in their regular season series this year and Detroit is the oldest team in the final four while Chicago is the youngest.

There is also a lot of grist for the league's marketing department to evoke sentiments of a long-standing rivalry. Talk about the Red Wings and you can recall names like Ted Lindsey, Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman, and many, many others. Detroit calls itself "Hockeytown" and has won 11 Stanley Cups including last year's. The Red Wings clearly would like a chance to repeat with back to back Championships, like they've done three (3) times before. Chicago hockey fans can recall names like Bobby Hull, Tony Esposito, and Stan Makita. The Blackhawks are an Original Six team but they have only won three Stanley Cups the last in 1961. The last time they made it to the finals was 1991-92 against the Pittsburgh Penguins - I'm sure they wouldn't mind a rematch.

The other series has the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Carolina Hurricanes. The two Eastern Conference teams who've played the hottest and often best hockey since the All-Star break. Pittsburgh is looking to finish what they started last season when they lost in the finals to Detroit. Pittsburghers would like to see the Pens capture their third Stanley Cup and their first in the post-Lemiux (on the ice) era. Carolina is looking to prove to the world that they, not the Washington Capitals, are still the best team in the Southeast Division AND if they win they will have captured their second Stanley Cup in the 36 years of their existence and the 12 years since they moved to Carolina.

The Capitals have cleaned out their lockers at Kettler and are in their off season but their is still a lot of good hockey to be played before someone drinks from"The Cup", today's game in Detroit should be the first of a number of intense games between the best teams in the NHL. It should be fun, although not as much fun as it could be for Caps fans.

Okay kids, get out there, play hard, have fun and take no prisoners....

A Less Than Auspicious, But Classy End to A Great Season

I'm not here making any excuses, looking for reasons yes, making excuses no. That part of my core values won’t go away but it’s not making excuses so I have to say this next statement first and get it out of the way. No doubt about it - last night the Pens did and the Caps didn’t. The result hurt if you're a Caps fan - when since Boudreau took over as coach have we been down 4-0 let alone in a game that mattered so much? The Caps season is over and I won't go check on what I just stated so it could be wrong, but I can't recall the last time I saw any team score 4 let alone 5 goals before the Caps scored their first.

I also can't recall when the Caps failed to adjust as well to differences and changes between periods at least as well or better since Boudreau arrived. Last night it happened in the second period. The period started with the Caps needing a goal to get things moving, instead the Pens scored two quick ones to go up by four. How they and we as a crowd managed to keep it together and with a little class given the fact that up till then this last series was "nip and tuck" every minute of pretty much every game - before i get a ton of comments I know there were lulls and lapses, the Caps more then the Pens - but it was the first time in the series one team dominated the other for an extended period. However that's the way last night went. If you were a Cap or a Cap fan it wasn't your night, the clock had run out. To make matters worse, Pittsburgh, knowing what was at stake knew they could show no mercy. Until first five minutes of the third period had been played they kept the pedal to the medal and for the subsequent thirteen minutes they kept the pressure full bore on the Caps. The Caps never got going last night and that was the really sad part. I've been a Caps STH for 5 years now and a hockey player and fan for 40 years, it was clear the Pens, Sidney Crosby and ALL the Pens had no intention of letting the Caps recover or get any momentum. They played well, our Caps for whatever reason last night did not.

However, maybe not from last night's game but from these two playoff series several more good things came to light when you look ahead. Dave Steckel came of age. Sergei Federov, showed he's 39 years old but he's still got it if he wants to come back again - I hope he does. John Erskine, totally validated the contract extension he received. Mike Green proved that a hurt Mike Green is still an asset we are more than happy to have around. The "Alexes" awoke this AM tied for 1st and in 9th in playoff scoring so far, unfortunately given they also awoke with their seasons ended they won't be in the lead when the Cup get's raised - not this year, it wasn't to be.

Look I really don’t like Crosby’s style - it’s too … well Canadian for my taste - I’m a brash American… I like Ovie, I think Malkin is as important to the Pens as Crosby, maybe Gonchar and Fluery are too … the only Pen I really don’t like is Orprick - I was also surprised Blysma played Crosby and Malkin till less than 2:30 left - doesn’t that say that maybe for all the trash talk the Pens, including their coach respect the Caps just a little? I mean they were up by four goals, the ice was clearly soft and chippy. Mike Green didn’t take a shift in the third period, yet the Pens felt they needed to keep their bootheel on the Caps neck until the 2:00 mark.
I’m not dissing the Pens, I’m just saying it was a great series between two great teams. The Caps are in pretty good shape re the salary cap and free agency this summer. Our Caps will be back, no doubt from what they showed last night the Pens will be.

I won’t wish them luck, no malice I’m just “adopting” the Blackhawks this next round and hopefully the rest of the way. I feel they are the underdogs, or the biggest underdogs since I can’t bring myself to root for the ‘Canes even though they just knocked the Bruins out of the playoffs in a game 7 OT ... and what was that about the Southeast Division being the weakest in the NHL again?

Oh no... with the quote below from OV last night there could once again be rumours about OV wanting to play in Montreal: "Our fans, right now I think they're better than Montreal. They're just awesome." -- Alex Ovechkin

Just kidding I'll be back intermittently between now and training camp - hopefully between now and then someone will tell me how I get my Federov Jersey autographed so I can place it above the bar in the basement....especially if he decides he doesn't want to come back or for some reason GMGM decides he can't afford him...

Final note - 99.9% of the Caps fans at the game were very classy and the ovation at the end of the game as well as the reaction to the few Penguin fans in attendance seemed very good. Still very, very proud to be a Caps fan...

LETS GO CAPS!!!! 2010 is the year!!!!

Wow, I Guess I Can Breathe Now - Another Awesome Game, This One Ends Caps 5 - Pens 4 in OT

Wow, I Guess I Can Breathe Now -
Another Awesome Game, This One Ends Caps 5 - Pens 4 in OT

Wow! Finally, the streak of playoff overtime losses is broken. Now it's back to Verizon Center here in DC for ANOTHER game 7. Guess I better hyperventilate so I have a lot of oxygen in my system when I still holding my breath at 7 PM on Wednesday.

What can you say about tonight, it had everything though the Caps did have to dodge a bit of a bullet with a slow start again. The two goals in 29 seconds in the third period to take the lead 4-3 was pretty cool if you are a Caps fan, especially considering both goals were the result of some pretty intense play and the Caps fourth goal was Viktor Kozlov's second of the night. The Caps got solid contributions from pretty much everyone in Red, White and Blue tonight though Chris Clarke and Jay Beagle's skates barely touched the ice (each had four shifts and less than three minutes ice time). The rest of the team all contributed, Boyd Gordon didn't get the ice time he had the prior games this series skating only 18 shifts for 11:10 TOI, however he won 7 of 8 faceoffs including the critical last one in regulation. Everyone else had 20 or more shifts; the Caps also four even strength goals to the Penguins two; and by the end of the night the Caps had won 58% of the faceoffs. Four Capitals scored the five goals none of them with a last name of Ovechkin; though "The Great Eight" was clearly a factor in this game on the scoreboard he had 3 assists (2 primary and 1 secondary) was +3, and won the one faceoff he he took. Additionally, OV made 2 hits, had 5 SOG, had one attempt blocked and one missed shot. Kozlov had two goals, and was +2 on the night. Nicklas Backstrom had one point - a primary assist - and he was + 2 on the night. Alexander Semin may have played his best game of the playoffs, he had a goal on the powerplay, using his wicked fast release and deadly accurate wrist shot, a secondary assist, drew a penalty, and never lost his cool, despite several clearly frustrating situations. Mike Green played a solid game and perhaps to answer all the recent questions led the team, along with Steckel, Morrison, Jurcina, and Bradley, with four (4) hits. Dave Steckel was the Capitals Player of the Game - he scored the game winner in OT, making amends for a slashing penalty he took early in the third period, during which the Pens took a 3-2 lead. He also cleared out any "demons" from his psyche, missing the OT game winner during a scoring chance he had on Saturday evening. The other Caps goal scorer was Tomas Fleischmann who netted a power play goal to put the Caps up 2-1 in the second period.

The Caps finally found a way to win on a night when both Crosby and Malkin had solid outings and the Pens outshot them 42 - 24. The win was a result of excellent goalkeeping by Simeon Varlamov and good team play. The Penguins had a broader distribution of ice time then the Capitals did but the Caps managed to keep up, if not accelerate the pace of play on a "wet track."

No predictions or analysis right now in anticipation of Wednesday night other than to predict another great, Nail-biting game.

I can't wait - I'll be rocking the read in Section 103 - it'll be game 7 - as we all know that means anything can happen.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

One Down! - Three To Go ...

WOW - that was the only word I could think to express my feelings as a walked down "E" Street last night to get back to where I parked my car - WOW...

Last night's game was joyful, if you were and/or are a Washington Capitals fan. Unless for some odd, unfathomable reason reading this blog is your only connectivity to the outside world, you already know the Washington Capitals completed a comeback from a 3-1 best of seven series deficit against the NY Rangers last night. If you didn't watch the game at all you only know the final score was 2-1, you might not know the Rangers played an excellent game, executing the "dreaded" 4-1 trap flawlessly for the first two periods and fairly well for the final period of the game. If you didn't watch the game in person at DC's Verizon Center, you might not have any idea or appreciation just how fantastic a celebration of world class NHL playoff hockey the game was, or how loud and enthusiastic the sellout crowd was either.

Thanks to an early goal by the Rangers' Nik Antropov, setup by that pesky, nuisance Sean Avery drawing multiple Washington Capitals into a shoving match in the corner, the Rangers led or were tied in this game for all but the final 4:59. Thankfully for the Capitals, if your only going to lead a hockey game for less than 5 minutes, the last 4:59 of the third period of game 7 of a playoff series is the right time to do it though. So even though, by my estimation, Sean Avery had finally made a real impact on the Rangers - Capitals Series where it counts, on the scoreboard, the Caps comeback was completed. Interestingly from a scoresheet perspective 4 of the 5 biggest names on last night's scoresheet were Russians and the fifth was also a European. I am speaking of the 3 goal scorers and the two goaltenders. As already mentioned, Nik Atropov scored the Rangers only tally, while Alexander Semin and Sergei Federov socred the two goals necessary for the Capitals to advance to Round 2. In net for the Capitals Simeon Varlamov (pronounced var-LAM-ov) aka CZAR-lamov, made the victory possible with several excellent saves, including two at the end of the second period that were crucial. Rangers netminder Henriq Lundqvist stopped 22 of 24 shots, a save percentage of 0.917 last night and didn't give the Caps much to shoot at all night.

The Rangers executed the 4-1 trap flawlessly during the first period, limiting the Caps to just two shots on goal, fortunately one was a great one by Alexander Semin that found the back of the net at 15:34 of the first period to tie the game at 1-1. The rest of the first and remainder of the second periods were tough minutes for the Capitals, New York played measured, patient team hockey and executed a stifling trap. The Blueshirts play limited the Caps scoring chances but they did get a few. Howver, either good recoveries by relentless backchacking or "King Henriq" kept the few Caps scoring chances out of the Rangers net at their end of the ice. While at the Caps end of the rink, they too had tightend things up after giving up that first goal to Antropov at the 5:35 mark of the first period. Finally at about the 15 minute mark of the third period, veteran and future Hall of Famer Sergei Federov, playing in the 8th game seven of his illustrious NHL career, got his chance for glory on a breakaway after an outlet pass from Matt Bradley. The 39 year old from Pskov, Russia did not flinch or miss, after streaking down the right side of the ice, he saw his opening. The Swedish Monarch in the net for the Rangers moved quickly to the left side of the net, however, Federov must have sensed Lundqvist moving too far or too fast and he pulled up instantly putting the puck past him into the upper left side of net past the Ranger goalies' right shoulder. Fedorov is now tied with Hockey Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux for 15th place on the league’s all-time playoff scoring list. Fedorov now has 12 game-winning goals in Stanley Cup playoff competition, tied for 17th on the NHL’s all-time list in that department. To put Fedrov's career playoff accomplishments in perspective, last night was his 176th NHL playoff game, that's almost 3 full regular seasons without missing a game's worth of playoff experience and accomplishments. He is now one game shy of matching Hockey Hall of Famer Al MacInnis for 25th on the league’s all-time list in that department. How's that for WOW!

The moment when Federov scored is when an already loud Verizon Center crowd erupted and stayed so "rumbling the rafters" for the remainder of the game. To be sure, the Caps played excellent, dominating hockey for those last 5 minutes of play and the Rangers only managed to get Lundqvist to the bench for just two seconds as the puck was in their zone for much of the final minutes of play. The crowd noise was the loudest I have ever heard it during ANY professional sporting event of my life. However, from where I could see it the crowd was always in control, to be sure some additional precautions were taken in and around the Rangers bench and they seemed well thought out and advisable to keep in place for pretty much all games.

As for crowd behaviour, you can only pretty much speak knowledgeably about the conduct in and around your own seat. But I can tell you from my discussions with my seatmates, it seems my friend Gary brought a group with him and they managed to get a fair number of seats in and around section 103 for game 5. Per the folks who usually sit around me there were no untoward incidents then and it was clear the usual good natured chat between hockey fans of rival teams was all conducted in a civil manner. Last night two Rangers fans, a husband and wife, sat in front of Tom and I, we had several good conversations at breaks in the action, like the prolonged delay when the glass needed to be repaired and between periods. They were nice folks and I believe they would say the same about us. The only thing they probably didn't like about the game was the outcome but I'm not going to work to change that anytime soon.

Another big - WOW - story of the game and series was now just turned 21 year old Simeon Varlamov. He took over for Jose Theodore after game one and through the last six games of the series he's compiled a 4-2 record with a SV% of 0.952 and a GAA of 1.17 - WOW! CZARlamov's athleticism and flexibility proved to be a deadly combination to the Rangers 2009 playoff objectives. Other pleasant developments that are notable so far from this series - the elevated level of play of the entire Capitals line up and the mature, patient adjustments being made to the games by the Caps young stars to playoff hockey. You can't write about this series without mentioning the improved level of focus and play by the blueline corps, notably Erskine, Jurcina, and Poti. Sure Green, ShaMo and Pothier are all also playing excellent hockey as well but most pleasantly surprising to me has been the play of John Erskine. Once again another move by Caps GM George McPhee, the Erskine contract extension this season, looks prescient. The return to the lineup by Brian Pothier has also helped but right now the amazing thing to me last night was it seemed like during the third period almost any of the six blueliners could play together without miscommunication, miscues or hesitation of any sort. Tom Poti had a great, not good, but great series against the Rangers and you can't not mention that. Up front, "the grinders" especially Matt Bradley, Dave Steckel and Boyd Gordon seemed to be pushing for folks to stand up and take notice of them so here it is - great series guys - WOW!

Okay like for the Caps no time to wallow in self-aggrandizement, thanks to a third period comeback by Carolina last night, the Caps will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the next round. WOW! That one should be a barn-burner. Pittsburgh bested the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 in their opening round series. Now the Caps have to put this one behind them and understand as great as last night's victory felt, it was just one down, three to go.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Washington Capitals VS NY Rangers Series Schedule

Here it is Caps Fans - the schedule for the Caps first round playoff series versus the NY "Ice Hockey" Rangers (All times are EDT):

Wednesday, April 15 7 p.m. NY Rangers at Washington TSN
Saturday, April 18 1 p.m. NY Rangers at Washington NBC, TSN
Monday, April 20 7 p.m. Washington at NY Rangers VERSUS, TSN
Wednesday, April 22 7 p.m. Washington at NY Rangers VERSUS, TSN
Friday, April 24 7 p.m. NY Rangers at Washington VERSUS, TSN, RDS
Sunday, April 26 2 p.m. Washington at NY Rangers NBC, TSN, RDS
Tuesday, April 28 TBD NY Rangers at Washington VERSUS, TSN, RDS.

NHL Playoff Updates

Okay so first off - still no official announcements on this week's playoff series schedule the Capitals - Rangers Series probably opens on Wednesday at Verizon Center, but how that will work with NBC announcing a Caps-Rangers game on tap for next Saturday during their Game of the Week this afternoon remains to be seen.

Second, I blew the match ups this afternoon....

The Match ups are as follow:

EASTERN CONFERENCE -
#1 Boston Bruins vs. #8 Montreal Canadiens
#2 Washington Capitals vs. #7 New York Rangers
#3 New Jersey Devils vs. #6 Carolina Hurricanes
#4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. #5 Philadelphia Flyers.

WESTERN CONFERENCE -
#1 San Jose Sharks vs. #8 Anaheim Ducks
#2 Detroit Red Wings vs. #7 Columbus Blue Jackets
#3 Vancouver Canucks vs. #6 St. Louis Blues
#4 Chicago Blackhawks vs. #5 Calgary Flames.

Also apologies to any Saint Louis Blues backers out there for my oversight this morning when I failed to recognize with a win today the Blues could overtake the Blue Jackets for 6th place in the Western Conference, also congratulations to the Blues on doing so.

Does It Really Matter?

The Likely Difference Between Finishing Third and Second In the Eastern Conference

Sunday was a two point afternoon for the Washington Capitals, and with those two point the Capitals moved one game closer to finishing the season in second place in the Eastern Conference. On Friday night the Capitals managed to garner a single point and ensure they would win the Southeast Division. Next, on Saturday the results by Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Carolina made it a virtual certainty the Caps would finish with no less than a third seed throughout the Eastern Conference playoff rounds. So you have to be wondering does it really matter - third versus second seed through the conference playoffs and the answer is most probably - YES. A second seed guarantees home ice advantage through the first two rounds and the only way the Caps don't have home ice for the Conference Finals is if they face Boston. That may indeed be the case - however, the Capitals record against the Bruins this regular season has been 3-0-1 so that would seem to indicate the Caps match up pretty well with the "B"s, especially given the season the Bruins have put together. To be sure a Conference Final between Washington and Boston would be exciting, physical hockey, BUT the Caps have to get there first. If the season ended tomorrow the Caps would be the second seed and would face the seven seed Montreal Canadiens. However, if the Caps dropped to third and everything else remained the same they would face the six seed Pittsburgh Penguins. The Caps are3-1-0 against the Canadiens and 3-0-1 against the Pens, however the Caps have seemed to match up better against the Canadiens and control the pace of play better. Also right now the Canadiens are struggling for Wins while the Pens are cruising into the playoffs with a great record over their last month and a hot goaltender. Also given the rivalry and the size of the rosters, the Caps are likely to come out of a series against the Canadiens with less injuries.

Assuming the Caps finish in second and win their first round and all four top seeds win their first round, finishing second would make the second round series a Caps - Devils series and the Caps would have home ice if a game seven were necessary. The Caps are 2-0-2 versus the Devils but both wins came against Scott Clemmensen, the only game this season the Caps played the Devils and faced Martin Broudeaur was on October 18th and resulted in a 4-3 shootout loss. The Caps and Devils have slugged it out in 3 out of 4 meetings this regular season and both Marty Brodeaur's return from surgery and home ice advantage will likely play a part in who would take away the win in a series between the two. If the Devils don't get through round 1, home ice could be even bigger for the Caps as that would mean they would likely face either Philadelphia or Carolina with home ice advantage while Boston takes on Pittsburgh.

If the Caps finish third they will likely face the Penguins who look on course to finish sixth. A Pittsburgh - Washington series will be fun to watch but it will likely beat up both teams. Assuming the Caps win a 3-6 matchup they would then face either the Devils, Flyers or Hurricanes in the second round, However if they face the Devils in this instance they would not have a home ice advantage.

The Caps are 0.744 at home and will finish with an away record of between 0.524 and 0.598 - that's not an insignificant difference. Home ice, if it makes any difference, will be a good thing for the Capitals. Finishing second in the conference greatly increases the chances the Capitals will have home ice advantage through the Conference Playoffs. That's something worth working towards, besides I want to watch as much live playoff hockey as I can this spring.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!