Thursday Night Win -- 5-2

Yesterday was not a good day for me for more reasons than I can remember. But all was made better at 7:00 when the puck dropped. Even with the lackluster first period and sub-par goaltending from Michal Neuvirth, I still felt better than I had all day. I only saw the first two periods. Here's what I noticed.



*Ovechkin and Semin being used on the penalty kill. Semin is less known for his defensive play than Ovie but it was still surprising to see either of them out there. My guess is that Bruce is just trying utilize their speed to create more shorthanded breakaways, much like Tampa Bay does with Marty St. Louis. No better place to try it than the preseason.



*Michael Nylander was the only player to play in both games this week. There has been talk for months about the Caps possibly shopping him around. The usually reliable Bob McKenzie even mentioned it in a TSN article last week. My guess is that he won't go anywhere. But playing in both games only adds to the speculation.



*Alex Ovechkin was by far the best player on the ice last night. His presence lifted everyone on his team and he looked stronger and faster than I have ever seem him. I recall one shift in the second period where he threw three or four hits and hardly seemed out of breath. I have no doubt he was the hardest working player in the offseason.

Sorry I can't add more. I'm going home for the weekend and my ride is almost here. Hopefully I'll be able to make practice tomorrow morning. The Caps sent 20 players to Hershey this morning so tomorrow should be mainly the guys who will be there for the regular season with a few exceptions (Varlamov, Carlson, Perreault). I'll be back Sunday night.

Wednesday Night Win--4-1

The Caps are scheduled to play seven preseason games before opening night October 10. Tonight was the first of them in Raleigh. After listening to most of the first period, I was fortunate enough to find a live feed of the game through the Canes' website. Just in time too because Steve Kolbe's voice and awful name pronunciations were getting to me. I'm pretty sure it's not Var-LOM-ov.

I only saw the second period through the live feed, but that was enough to get a feel for how we were doing. As expected, neither team played many high profile players. Nylander, Kozlov, and Bradley were the three biggest names for the Caps. In fact Bradley was given the 'C' tonight, apparently after begging Boudreau to give it to him for the night. I've always liked Bradley's leadership and it wouldn't shock me if he continues to wear the 'A' this season.

I need to go to bed so here's what I noticed about the second period. As much as it pains me to say, Flash looked like one of the better skaters on the ice. He put in two powerplay goals, one of which I saw. That is the way he is supposed to play every night. Keep in mind that it was basically an AHL game tonight. We'll see what happens.

Simeon VARlamov got the start and played extremely well from what I saw. He stopped all 20 shots that he faced and got some praise from Gabby after the game. Darren Machesney, on the other hand, was not good. He only gave up one goal in his half of the game but looked like he was overwhelmed. He gave up the penalty that led to the Canes' only goal because he picked up the puck way out of his net. It was hard to tell exactly what happened without a replay. That's what preseason is for.

I need to sleep. That's all for now.

Caps 4 - 1 Canes

Flash v. Fehr

I came across an interesting debate on the message boards this morning. The topic was a poll of who was more valuable to the Caps, Tomas Fleischmann or Eric Fehr. The hundred or so voters were unsurprisingly biased toward Fehr. About 90 percent in fact. But after thinking about it a while, I think the two are closer than the boards make them appear.

We already know that Kozlov, Clark, Ovechkin, Semin, and Laich will be five of the top six wingers on the top three lines. I guess my internal debate is, in a system with three powerful scoring lines and one checking line, who do I want as my other third line winger? Lets look at the pros and cons of both guys.

Last season was Fleischmann's first full season as a professional. He came into camp without a contract or a roster spot. Given a chance, he managed to earn a roster spot with the big club. Throughout the season he was about the most inconsistant player on the team. He managed to put up 10 goals and 20 assists. Not bad for some, but Fleishmann's game offers little else to compensate for lackluster statistics. He is supposed to be a goal scorer and point producer. He's essentially worthless if he can't do that.

Flash played for Hershey under Boudreau for two seasons before making the Caps. He helped the Bears win the Calder Cup in 2006 where Boudreau said he was the Ovechkin of the AHL. No wonder Gabby has more confidence in him than most. Enough in fact to pencil him in on the opening night roster alongside Michael Nylander and Chris Clark.

This will be a make or break year for Flash. He put on some muscle in the offseason which should help his poor performance along the boards last season as well as his ability to drive the net. After seeing guys like Francois Bouchard compete at training camp, Fleischmann knows that he has guys breathing down his neck. You can expect his best stuff as he'll be looking to stick with the big club for good.

Now to the guy looking to take Flash's spot. Eric Fehr's career has been slowed signifcantly by back injuries. He was taken 18th overall in the 2003 draft in between Zach Parise and all-star Ryan Getzlaf. To this point, probably what Fehr is best known for. Obviously he has been a top prospect for a long time. He led the WHL in scoring a few years back and played alongside Flash on the '06 Bears team.

Last season was his first real opportunity with the Caps. Playing hurt for two games, three seasons ago doesn't count. Last year he played 28 games and putt up two goals (one playoff) and five assists. He didn't get any powerplay time and was mostly used on the third line.

Fehr has all the intangibles of a great player. He's finally grown into his 6'4" 212 frame and has a nose for the net. He's not afraid to get into the crease and score ugly goals Brooks Laich style. His back is also much better and no longer seems to be an issue. But does he have what it takes to play an 82 game season? I could see him being the 13th forward this year but he'll also get plenty of chances to play.

As of now, Flash is the man for the 3rd line job. But training camp isn't over and every day is a chance to either prove yourself or give it all away. My friends already know my feelings toward Flash. I personally think he's frustrating to watch. But I also think he has yet to meet his full potential. Last year was Flash's chance and he did just enough to stick. This year will be Fehr's. I really don't care which one it is. I just want one of them to break out this season and help us go deep into the playoffs.

Monday Monday

Sorry for not posting in a couple days. I'm afraid I just needed to enjoy the weekend. Saturday night was amazing. If I didn't mention it before, JMU played Appalachian State. It had been built up for weeks and it did not disappoint. I suppose a quick recap is necessary since its kind of a big deal.

The first half JMU got like two first downs. It was pretty pathetic on our part. App State went into halftime leading in pretty much every category including the big board. 21-0 to be specific. People all around us, who spent the first half standing in the stairs looking for seats, just gave up and left.

The second half was completly different. Scotty returned the second half kickoff for touchdown. After a defensive stop, Rodney Landers took draw up the middle for like 65 yards to draw the score to 21-14. Momentum is a funny thing. After we scored twice in the first four minutes of the second half, there was no stopping us.

Fast forward a bit. Less than a minute left, we led 35-32 ready to receive the App State onside kick. Students surrounding the fence ready to storm the field the second time expired. I actually think we went a little early. There should have been one more second left on the clock. But who cares? I kind of fell off the fence when I tried to climb it. I thought I had ripped the knees in my jeans open. It didn't matter, we won, and I'm sure I wasn't the only person to do that.

In other news. Training camp has officially begun. Apparently Bruce did the same conditioning test with the vets as he did with the rookies last week. No surprise was that Ovie finished first in every sprint. Thats what you get when you pay $124m.

Also, Gabby has started what will likely be a new tradition at Caps training camp for years to come. The "Gaetan Duchesne Cup" as it will be known, is a round robin of three teams who play each other once.

Per Tarik quoting Boudreau-- "Gaetan was an eighth round draft choice and made the team. The epitomy of training camp is about the guys trying their [butts] off to make the team," Boudreau said. "What better guy could we have than Gaetan?"

Team B (Fedorov, Semin, Laich, Theodore, etc.) has already beaten Team C (Nylander, Clark, Green, Bouchard, Perreault, Alzner) who will play Team A (Ovie, Backstrom, Kozlov, Varlomov). Hopefully the guys will take to it and will put forth the extra effort to win bragging rights for the rest of camp. My money is on Team A because Ovie doesn't like to lose at anything.

I apologize if the post wasn't great. I'm really tired and I wasn't really in the updating mood right now.

A Few Things I missed.

The Flyers named Mike Richards captain for the upcoming season. I feel this is a good decision on their part. The way he carried himself and his team in the playoffs was impressive. And with the twelve year contract he signed last year, you can bet he will be the face of the Flyers franchise for a long time. I look forward to watching the Ovechkin v. Richards rivalry grow. It's less talked about but much more fun to watch than the Crosby/Ovechkin rivalry.

Tampa Bay also named their new captain to replace the departed Tim Taylor. Vincent Lecavalier will wear the 'C' for the upcoming season. No surprise really. Vinny has basically been the Lightning's captain ever since Dave Andreychuk retired. He's the teams all time leading scorer and recently signed his own long term deal to stay with the club. And he too, is the face of his franchise.

Buffalo has signed Jason Pominville to a five year extension. The deal is worth $26.5m. Not bad for a guy whose put up point per game numbers his whole career. Good to see Buffalo finally resigning a few of their star UFAs. The other 29 teams definately won't get a chance at what would have been this year's Campbell, Briere, or Drury to come out of Buffalo.

Lastly, I won't go into too much detail because it would take way too long to explain. The NHL has announced that the 2010 Vancouver games will be the last international competition NHL players will participate in. I said all throughout this year's summer games that I like winter games a lot more than summer. Can you guess why? It's certainly not for the skiing. I think it's fun to watch players I recognize represent their countries In my opinion the olympics should have the best athletes at their event. NHL players are the best in the world.

The reason the NHL is taking this measure is because they can't afford to pay player insurance. Nor do they want to stop the regular season for a month for an event that does little for their revenue stream. I feel the NHL has gone too far on this one and I really hope the NHLPA fights this on behalf of the players.

I recall an interview I read with Alex Semin maybe a year ago where he said that his ultimate goal was to win gold for Russia at the World Championships. I remember this because I was baffeled that his goal wasn't to win the Stanley Cup. Nevertheless, you think he isn't upset about this? What about Ovie wearing his Sochi 2014 t-shirt during the Beijing games? I could easily see players moving to the KHL in order to play in the olympics.

It's interesting that the NBA can afford player insurance on Kobe Bryant and Lebron James but the NHL can't pay for players who make half of their salary. Olympic Basketball is entertaining because all the best players on the planet are playing. Olympic soccer, on the other hand, is a joke. No one cares about it. If the NHL actually forbids its players from playing, olympic hockey will be the same way, a joke. I think I have made my position clear. That's all for now.

Rookie Scrimmage with Philly

Ok, I was in class for the first 2 1/2 periods of the game. But from what I read (and watched briefly) we kicked the living crap out of the young Flyers. I also noticed quite a bit of red in the stands of KCI through the streaming feed on my computer (thank God it worked this time). Here are a few things I noticed in the last ten minutes I got to see:

Oskar Osala made a great play on the penalty kill. Clearing the puck to center from his knees without a stick. He's 6'4" 220 and is skilled with the puck for a player his size. Remind you of anyone whose name starts with a V(iktor)? Kozie's contract is up after this year and I don't see the Cap's hanging onto him. Not implying anything directly, but if Osala has a good season, most likely in Hershey, you never know where he could end up.

Mathieu Perreault models his game after his favorite player, Daniel Briere. From the camera angel at the other end of the ice he did a pretty good Briere impression, weaving his way through the Flyers defense and neatly finishing off the Caps final tally of the game. Apparently the Bouchard-Perreault-Pinizzotto line was great together and has been all camp.

The last thing I noticed was a little easier to see. John Carlson sticking up for his goalie, Michal Neuvirth after taking a late push after the whistle. I've read that Carlson has a lot of natural leadership. Good to see from the guy. I've heard nothing but positive stuff from him and Alzner all camp long.

Regardless of who makes the final roster out of training camp, Hershey will be stacked this season. Wouldn't it be cool to see deep playoff runs from both the Caps and Bears? It doesn't often work out that way. This win was a great way to end rookie camp. I hope all the participants learned a lot and will do what they need to do make it to the big club.

Lastly, it's very refreshing to have your NHL roster pretty much set and also have the luxury of an AHL team stocked with players who can come in and compete on any given night. The future certainly looks bright in Washington. Now for real training camp.

Wednesday

So today is Wednesday. I've been extremely busy recently so my apologies for not updating for a couple days. The more I update, the more sane you can assume my life is. This past week was not the ideal time to be so busy. Rookie camp started. If memory serves I've only commented on day 1 of that.

Of course I've been reading Tarik and Corey's blogs, as well as all my usual rounds. From what I gather from those is that the pace is very quick. Boudreau's short list, according to Tarik, are Alzner (no surprise) and John Carlson. I'm anxious to see how Carlson performs under Dale Hunter in London this season. You can never have enough good young defensemen.

Also from camp, Anton Gustuffson hasn't practiced since the "Miracle" like suicides after day 1 of camp. Doctors have said that the herniated disc in his back will take two full years to recover from. Why did we pick him again? My guess is that he is Eric Fehr in the making. Never getting to meet his full potential because of injuries all through juniors.

Good news away from camp. OFB had a post about tickets for the upcoming season. Individual gamers go on sale Sept. 20. Both Pittsburghs and Detroit are already sold out. That means the only way for Pen's fans to get tickets is to spend a fortune on tickets at Stubhub or Ebay. You can pretty much bank on adding about 4, 000 fans a night to what we had each game last year.

I'm extremely tired. I'll write a bit more when there's something worth writing about.