By Ben H. Rome
‘Iceburgh’, courtesy of ‘*36*’
All teasing aside, I thank the Washington Capitals for a tremendous season and an Eastern Conference Semis series for the ages. Don’t despair, Caps fans. The team’s solid; they’ll be back next year and for many more thereafter. There’s a Cup in their future – just not right now.
So yeah. Don’t you all hate it when I’m right?
By Ben H. Rome
‘Ovechkin and Malkin, Friends at Last, Friends at Last’ courtesy of ‘clydeorama’
I’m in hockey nirvana.
When the NHL playoffs were finally set, one of the first things many fans here and in Pennsylvania did was figure out when and if the Capitals would actually face the Pittsburgh Penguins during hockey’s “second season.” It was a bit convoluted to work around, since both teams were highly seeded, and it looked – for about a week – that this year wouldn’t see the match-up we all secretly wanted (and dreaded). But then the Caps figured out they were actually in the playoffs and executed a very stressful and tense comeback from a 3-1 series deficit to stuff the Rangers.
And when Carolina shocked New Jersey with two quick goals in the last two minutes of their own Game 7, it was as if the hockey planets aligned. The match-up the NHL slobbered for had arrived.
Penguins. Capitals. Eastern Conference Semifinals.
And it promises to be one extremely wild, crazy, emotional ride for both cities. Find out why after the jump. Continue reading
By Ben H. Rome
‘Semin Waits for Face Off’ courtesy of ‘clydeorama’
Seems the Caps showed up in New York ready to play Game 3 and along the way, found their on-fire goalie. And his name isn’t Jose.
Rookie netminder Simeon Varlamov blanked the Rangers with 33 saves – he’s only allowed one goal in two games now – as Alexander Semin netted two on his way to a three point night. Alex Ovechkin continued to remain goal-less, but assisted on both Semin goals. Result? Caps 4, Rangers 0.
The win guarantees a Game 5 here in DC and cuts the Rangers’ series lead down to 2-1. Game 4 is Wednesday in New York.
By Ben H. Rome
‘Ovechkin Waits For Puck’ courtesy of ‘clydeorama’
After one of their most successful regular seasons ever, the Washington Capitals are now ready to begin what many call the “real” hockey season: the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Tonight kicks off Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, with the second seed Caps holding home ice advantage in facing the seventh seed New York Rangers. So how does it all break down, and what do we think will happen?
The Rangers are coming in with a simplified game plan: attack, attack, attack – and hope that goalie Henrik Lundqvist can stop all the pucks flung his way. It’s not the most sure-fire strategy, but it’s kept the Rangers hanging on the last half of the season and slipping them into the playoffs with a decent 11-6-1 record after March 4. Continue reading
By Ben H. Rome
‘Ovechkin and Green Celebrate Again’
courtesy of ‘clydeorama’
Even though the Caps lost tonight against the still-alive Nashville Predators Buffalo Sabres, the loss came in overtime, which gave the Caps a much-needed point. That point clinched the Southeast Division for them; for the second year in a row, you can call the Caps “Division Champs.”
Congrats to Coach Bruce Boudreau and the entire squad for an amazing ride this year. Having garnered over 100 points in the standings and strongly holding the second playoff seed with a week remaining in regular season, the Capitals are gathering momentum at just the right time. Let’s just hope they keep lighting the lamp and push farther into the playoffs than last year.
Take a bow, boys. You deserve it.
By Ben H. Rome
Penguin!, courtesy of Teka England
Okay, in case you’re unaware, there’s a war scheduled for tonight at 7:30 pm. It’s set to rumble off up in Pittsburgh’s venerable Mellon Arena (hereafter called by its proper name, the Igloo) and features an interstate rivalry that dates back to at least the early nineties, depending on who you talk to.
Yes, I’m talking about tonight’s NHL hockey match-up, the Washington Capitals vs the Pittsburgh Penguins.
I bring it up because honestly, it’s a must-watch event in our household. More than American Idol and Top Chef – though the game should be over before Top Chef comes on – and usually warrants the phone being off the hook and ignoring any knocking at the door. (Though I dislike being forced to watch Comcast’s coverage due to Center Ice blackout restrictions – I cannot stand Craig Laughlin’s commentary. At all.) Continue reading
By Ben H. Rome
Boudreau and Capitals at Bench, courtesy of clydeorama
I recently had the pleasure of chatting about hockey with John Buccigross, ESPNEWS Anchor and SportsCenter host – and the former primary host of NHL 2Night when ESPN covered NHL games. Bucci’s (as many call him) columns on hockey on the ESPN website are often insightful, humorous and engaging. Just don’t call him ESPN’s “hockey guy.”
Since the Washington Capitals have hit the halfway point, I wanted to give a mid-season review, so why not Bucci?
Sum up the Caps season so far. At or above expectations?
[Bucci] Right about where I thought they would be. Maybe a little better. They are certainly among the NHL elite. Time will tell if they can win low scoring playoff games and if they have enough playoff defense and goaltending when they play a good team every night for two months.
Areas of improvement?
[Bucci] Team defense, blueline, a goaltender to trust to win for two months, and keeping their goals against lower.
Goaltending. Can they be successful with just Johnson and Theodore (and some solid minor-league backups), or is this where McPhee needs to pull a trade-trigger?
[Bucci] This where GM’s earn their money. They get paid to make tough decisions. They have to make a determination if they have the goaltending to win the Cup. I would think they don’t because they are not a great defensive team. But, if they can improve in that area and they keep scoring goals, they might have enough. Continue reading
By Ben H. Rome
Jose Theodore, courtesy of Ivan Makarov
I watch hockey. A lot. So when stuff happens that seems unusual, I’m not entirely phased. Tonight, however? Yeah, totally amusingly unusual and worth posting here.
My friends and I were engrossed in Boston’s ugly beat down of Atlanta tonight before we switched to Chicago’s eventual win over Colorado when we got wind of the ‘unusual’ over at the Caps game.
We’d heard that Theodore went down with a hip injury (or is that a “mid-body injury,” to use the NHL’s new method of reporting boo-boos?) earlier in the day and that Brent Johnson – he of the hot glove hand lately – would be in the net against the Senators. The NHL Network had been reporting Sergei Varlamov’s call-up to back up Johnson, so what was all the buzz about?
Lo and behold, Varlamov was going to be running late flying in from Houston where his other team – the Hershey Bears – was on the road and wouldn’t make the start of the game. Yeah, I know, it doesn’t sound unusual. Yet. Continue reading
By Ben H. Rome
Photo courtesy of Carrie Milbank
I’m an avid viewer of nhl.com’s The Hockey Show, co-hosted by Steven Lee and Carrie Milbank. I was surprised to find out Carrie had some roots in the DC area – specifically, during her initial foray into the broadcasting field – and on a whim, contacted her and asked if she’d like to do an interview for WeLoveDC.
I mean, we love finding out what others have to say about our city, right? So why not ask some of those in the spotlight? It doesn’t hurt that Carrie’s a big Ovechkin fan and did a few interviews for THS on coach Bruce Boudreau and Ovie.
Carrie was very gracious in accepting my request, so what follows is the Q&A session I had with her. We covered quite a bit, from her impressions and memories of DC to the Capitals and her career as a female sportscaster.
By Ben H. Rome
Another Celebration in the Spotlight
Originally uploaded by clydeorama
In case you were wondering, Alex Ovechkin is finally back on track with the Capitals. The Russian star and city favorite knocked in a power play goal and added three assists in last night’s 6-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks, bringing his points total to 14 on the season.
It’s about time. Alexander Semin is starting to cool a little after his red-hot start and was absent for the second game in a row, nursing an “undisclosed upper-body injury” (oh, come on!). Having the Caps captain superstar slip back into gear after such a rocky October has to be relieving to many Caps fans as well as Coach Boudreau.
Next game is tonight against the LA Kings, continuing the Caps’ West Coast swing.
By Ben H. Rome
Four Caps, No Waiting For Love, courtesy of clydeorama
Thank goodness, it’s almost Hockeytime.
No, seriously. I get the Redskins, people. Really. But I’m not a football fan. It’s all about sticks, pucks and skates – and the cool Zamboni ‘race’ between periods.
Hockey. Where the men have more gaps in their teeth than West Virginians. (I kid! Ok, not completely.)
And yes, Ovechkin, I’m lookin’ at you. Continue reading
By Ben H. Rome
Wow, busy week across the NHL. Lots of moves with the July 1 Free Agent Turkey Shoot, and the Washington Capitals are right in the thick of it.
McPhee managed to re-sign Mike Green on Monday, June 30, effectively sealing up a potential weak spot and relieving many diehard Caps fans. So one less headache to worry over when Tuesday hit.
And hit it did.
Biggest news? Smoking-hot goaltender Christobal Huet bolted for more money and a suddenly very dangerous team in the Chicagoland area. Can’t blame the Blackhawks there – missing the playoffs by three points with an average goalie squad made any potential FA goalies legitimate targets.
Unfortunately, it forced McPhee to take a Vegas-sized risk by approaching – and signing – Avalanche goalie Jose Theodore for a more-than-modest two year deal worth $9M. BIG risk. HUGE. Now, if this was 2003, then it wouldn’t be a big deal (ok, maybe it would be, considering his lackluster play the next few years) – but despite his sudden transformation from mediocre back to the old Hart and Vezina winner with the ‘lanche last season, it really remains to be seen which Theodore the Caps got on this deal.
The goalie situation really is crucial to the Caps’ success in the next year. With Huet bolting for more lucrative waters and Kolzig “bolting” to Tampa (for what will probably be his final year or two of his career) as a mentor for the Lightning’s fresh-faced netminders, the play of Theodore is going to either sink or rocket Capital play. All the offense in the world isn’t going to matter if the goalie position is leakier than Montgomery County’s water lines.
There’s still more signings and moves to be had, for sure, as McPhee is still faced with UFAs Cooke, Fedorov, Bournedienne, Arsene, Riazantsev, Stana, Morgan and Werner. It will definitely be an interesting summer on ice.
Green Winds Up, courtesy of clydeorama