Army's intermission interview; Photos; Sucks to be a goalie in DC

Army's intermission interview by SportSouth during his first game as a Thrasher.

The photos are all from Presswire. Thus, small.

Perrsy gets tripped on a clear breakaway...

... and then he makes them pay.

Blocker save.

Dipi demonstrates good post hugging, with only minor 5- and 7-hole openings.

If only it'd stopped there...

Little turns the back of the cage while Dipi plays the post tight and deep.
I'm pretty sure this was a goal, too.

Captain Clutch riding hard on some guy from the Island.

Crusher.

..... Aaaand, game over.

Those are great, but strictly for the amusement factor, this one's full of win!


REMINDER: Saturday's game in Boston is at 1:00PM EST.

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It must suck being a goalie in DC right now. If you're too lazy to click that, let me give you the high(low?)lights:

For the past decade, in good and bad times, there's been one constant for the Washington Capitals: Olie Kolzig, the team's unquestioned No. 1 goaltender. Kolzig's reign, however, could be ending......

All three goalies have measured their words carefully since Huet's unanticipated addition....

Johnson said he won't travel to New Jersey and isn't sure how much, if any, playing time he can expect over the season's final six weeks....

But the focus tonight at Prudential Center, and possibly for the remainder of the season and perhaps into the offseason, will be on Washington's starting goaltender. Huet and Kolzig are unrestricted free agents in July; Johnson has one year remaining on his contract.....

Kolzig said, "There's things in life and in the game of hockey that are out of your control. It's how you deal with that separates you from other people. I'm just going to continue to do my work. And like I said the other day, if it's not good enough, then there's somebody else here to do it."

Kolzig's agent, Art Breeze, said he was disappointed and confused by the Capitals' decision to bring in Huet.

"I have no idea why the Capitals chose to do what they did," Breeze said. "You will have to ask that of Capitals ownership and management. The temptation to comment further is overwhelming. I am constrained, however, from additional comments from my client's professionalism. I sincerely wish I weren't.

"Olie clearly has been, and certainly continues to be, the heart and soul of the Washington Capitals. Almost single-handedly he has carried that franchise on his broad shoulders for many years. And he has many more years playing at the highest possible level ahead of him."

Whether that will be in Washington remains to be seen.

Thanks to the generosity of Sara in the Caps' ticket office, I will be lucky enough to watch this battle of goalies Monday night when the Caps take on the Bruins. Would I go to hockey hell if I wore my PJ Stock shirt? Hmm.

The Caps have fans - who knew? With photos!

I will add a caveat to the post title... I am not sure if it looked like this because it was Ovechkin Potato Head giveaway night / Kids Night, or because they actually do have fans now. But I have been to probably 200 games in this arena and never seen it as packed as it was Saturday night. Big T, this is for you, buddy.


Hm. You kind of can't tell, but there was not an empty seat in the upper bowl that I could see. Amazing.

Normally this is where the rest of my photos would go, but I'm hella disappointed in how grainy they turned out. It's a new camera so I don't know if I had it on the wrong setting or what, but no one needs to see rainbow grained photos. I don't even like looking at them.

Oh wait! I'll put up just one other. Here's OHMUHGUH SUPERAWESOME DEFENCEMAN Mike Green. On his butt. Creating a giveaway. I'm pretty sure this led to the Thrashers' first goal, but can't remember for sure. Although there's Whitey right there, so... way to be, Mikey.

To be fair, I heard later that the ice was shit - very watery (probably due to all the people in the arena, cause it wasn't warm here), but nonetheless.


Oh COME ON! Did you really think I would do a post of the (CRAPPY) photos I took and not put up one of Kari and his enormous five hole? I love when he's wedged in like that.

Rangers win. Snoop gets schooled. Caps in 2nd.

2-1
(S/O)
That might have been the most boring game I ever forced myself to sit through. The highlight for me was Mike Richter being mic'd up for the ceremony (I got the NYR feed, having been a New Yorker in their heyday, I was a huge Rangers fan back when they weren't FULL OF SUCK (Read: Avery, Gomez, Puffnuts)).

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Hip hop superstar Snoop Dogg, his children and a few friends head down to Honda Center to receive a hockey lesson from the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks on this Sunday's episode of "Snoop Dogg's Father Hood," entitled "Snow in da Hood," airing on E! at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.

Ducks captain Chris Pronger, All-Star center Ryan Getzlaf and right wing George Parros take Snoop and his sons Spank and Rook out on the ice or what Snoop calls "the snow." Snoop quickly learns that skating on the ice isn't quite as easy as his roller derby days.

In the episode, the group returns to Honda Center to cheer on the Ducks against the Vancouver Canucks, where Snoop meets up with hockey legend Willie O'Ree. O'Ree, who became the first black player in the NHL 50 years ago this January, chats with Snoop about exposing the sport of hockey to young players of diverse backgrounds. The two discuss starting a youth hockey league modeled after Snoop's youth football league.


The episode featuring the Ducks and O'Ree will premiere on Sunday, Jan. 27 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT and will re-air on Monday, Jan. 28 at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. ET/PT; Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 2:00 a.m. ET/PT; Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT; and Thursday, Jan. 31 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT.

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The Caps are 1 point out of 1st place in the division going into the break. We're 1 point behind them, the Panthers are 1 point behind us, and Tampa seems to have given up. Or become epic fail. Whichev.

SOUTHEAST	GP	W	L		OT	Pts	GF	GA
Carolina Hurricanes	52	24	24		4	52	158	170
Washington Capitals	50	23	22		5	51	147	156
Atlanta Thrashers	52	23	25		4	50	141	175
Florida Panthers	51	22	24		5	49	130	147
Tampa Bay Lightning	50	20	25		5	45	145	168

As low as the points are in this division, unless we come out and win a metric assload of games after the break, or unless we win the division, we won't make playoffs. Period.

Not a sermon, just a thought.

[RUMOR] Ovechkin and Kolzig on the block | Eminger Watch '08

I live in the DC area, and any hockey talk around town is about the Caps, the FBI, CIA or Secret Service hockey teams. I'm digressing, back to the Caps... the Caps community is pretty close-knit, around here and most of the retired Caps decide to stay around town (unless they're Randy Carlyle or Ron Wilson, and then they go to the West Coast and do things like winning Stanley Cups, or at least trying), coach pee-wee, run charter fishing, whatever.

Well one of the former Caps, to save my LIFE I can not remember his name right now because there was a lot of other talk at the time, (but he played with Langway, and was a smaller-name player - Todd Krygier maybe?) is coaching pee-wee. Well, talks during a pee-wee practice session led to talks of trades, and he claims that both Ovechkin and Kolzig are going to be involved in a huge trade with an unnamed team[s], due to their salary requirements for next season. It seems Olie wants $9-10mUS (what's that, like $1m Canadian?! haha, I've been dying to make that joke!), and Sasha is looking for the max raise under the CBA. Were that to come to fruition, the team would have little money to play with to bring in new players.

Let me be the first to say that if Ovechkin left DC, not only would the 9 Caps fans in the area revolt, rise up as one, and slay GMGM, but Sasha Semin would also want out. Viktor Kozlov is not enough reason for him to want to stay in the area, and despite the Caps' +.500 play since Boudreau took over as head coach, last I knew, Semin didn't want to play here - Ovechkin is his main tie to the city.

So are you thinking what I'm thinking? Ovechkin to Atlanta? Waddell has said publicly that we have a huuuuuge chunk of our cap left, which is why he's hoping other teams will make offers to Kari so he can just counter. OMG it's like a Thrashers fan's wet dream, Kovy and Ovie. Guh!

And hey, while we're on the subject of the Caps, STEVE EMINGER PLAYED AGAIN LAST NIGHT!!!!! No, I'm serious! He DID! 10:00+! And he had 4 hits! It's like... it's like... he's trying to prove something. Whether to GMGM or to other GMs is unknown, but I still stand by my Steve-for-Steve trade. Waddell, are you listening? Do it, brother!

Look! See! There he is! He was even +1 for Steck's goal! Hi Emmy!!

OK. Game day preview up later, I promise! Oooh and we're playing the Panthers! C'mon, say the motto with me! Panthers "hockey" LOL!

Photo evidence of Eminger in Caps jersey found!

GameChewedGum did it! They found a picture of Eminger on teh webs!!! OK, OK, he's not actually PLAYING. But he's dressed! And on the bench! And it's blurry, but it's definitely Stevie (I know my Emmy). Chewed Gum might now be my new bestest friend!

Why the Caps are full of WIN!

God I love my Caps.

When're the Thrash doing this???

and

Talking shit, Thrash talk later today

Triz is once again gracing us with a little commentary on the Florida Panthers - because there's nothing we love more than making fun of the Florida Kitty Cats. Except shopping, chocolate, and sex. But we're digressing.

From the Miami Herald:

It does not appear that the struggling Florida Panthers are going to turn things around by making deals. Coach and general manager Jacques Martin said he believes in his team, but they need to start playing as a unit before they dig themselves in too deep.

No of course they aren't. Why would it even be inferred that the Panthers would do something intelligent like trade away dead weight *coughgregorycampbellcoughcough* and get a few more players that actually, you know, know how to play professional hockey. As opposed to what the Panthers are currently playing, which is a game I believe is called "Everyone Stand Around Looking Panic Stricken Like It's Our First Time On A Sheet of Ice Until Jokinen Bails Us Out." Occasionally, they will get a little wild and play a couple periods of "Holy Shit Why I Do I Have This Stick In My Hand? Let Me Recklessly Flail It About In Hopes I Do Something Good," and on occasions rarer still, they play a few rounds of "Let's See Who Can Take The Stupider More Ill-Timed Penalty This Period?" which is a game admittedly dominated by, sadly, my beloved Bryan Allen and, of course, Greg Campbell. However, my favorite game by far is a little something they've been playing A LOT of recently, which we like to call, "How Many Creative Ways Can We Come Up With To Completely Implode And Blow This Lead With Mere Minutes Left?" I think when it comes to completely Forrest Gumping your way through a tight thrid period, no one does it in such a spectacularly inept fashion as the Florida Panthers. They are the Old Masters of Failure. In fact, if Failure was an art form, Jacques Martin might very well be its Renoir. It's with an almost balletic grace that his players manage to step on skates and shoot pucks directly into their own net. It's a Opera of Faux Pas, a symphony of inadequacy and he is its maestro. Why they would they want to bring a player in who might actually NOT be a liability every time he jumps over the boards? It would only mess things up.

To all this, honestly, we say bollocks! Mostly because we love saying it. Go on. Say it. We'll wait.

See? Fun, ain't it? Anyhoo. We say bollocks. Or "that's a steamin' crock a'shit," if y'uns is from the south, like we'ns is. Because seriously, I think we all know that if there is any team in this league that is master at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, it is SE division bedfellow, the Washington Capitals. We have an odd love-hate relationship with the Caps. We love them as individual people, we hate them as a team. We love them on paper, hate them on the ice. However, we will concede to How You Do that no one takes a lazy penalty, or displays magnificent ineptitude, like one Gregory "Yay neoptism!" Campbell.

Further proving our point is the Caps' loss to the Kittens last night. Because, really? Seriously? Ouch. If I was a Caps fan, I'd be sounding the death knell right now. Brian Sutherby was the first casualty of this trainwreck of a season. Many Caps fans are saying, so long and good riddance. We'll admit we haven't really followed the Caps lately, but slamming the door on the ass of the only MVP of the Young Stars game you've ever had, maybe not the wisest plan, particularly when you need a good, strong centre for the two Sashas. But hey, this is why we're not the GM and are just bloggers, right? Those who can do, those who can't play for the Panthers GM the Capitals write.

But on the plus side, we won 3,000 bones last night thanks to Todd White's OT GWG. We may not know much, but we can pick winners. And probably guys to centre hall-of-fame wingers. Just sayin' though.

Game day preview, stuff from around the league

From the AJC:

"Yesterday I didn't feel good at all," Kovalchuck said. "It was a little bit scary actually; I couldn't even go in the bathroom. Those doctors and trainers are unbelievable. I think I'm going to be ready to go tomorrow."

Does it scare the crap out of anyone else that he'll be playing tonight? Back = core. If you fuck that up, you could prematurely end your season. We'd rather risk losing the games and let Kovy take the time to be absolutely certain he is at 100%, rather than saying "I can play" because we all know hockey players are like the dude in Monty Python who kept saying "It's just a flesh wound!" Even we have been guilty of saying, we need points in October and November so we don't have to fight in April. But you know what? We'd like Kovy to be active in April just in case we do have to fight for those points.

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Pavelec will get the start tonight against the Kittens. Reading NHL.com's preview, they don't really know what to say about it, so someone slapped a whole bunch of stats together. Here's the thing. The Panthers suck. Sorry if you like them, but they're a joke of a team. The only things they've got going for them are Jay Bouwmeester on D, Vokoun in net, and Jokinen up front. (coincidentally, we just went to check something on their site and see that those three are also nominated for the All-Star balloting... coincidence?) Not even the great Roberto Luongo could make this team look good, and Todd Bertuzzi (who, we won't lie, we hoped would've gotten lost in Alligator Alley and eaten) opted to spend most of his season there injured/healing rather than put on that sweater. Vokoun is the only reason they've won any games at all. Against the Thrashers, he's 1-3-1-0 lifetime. He hasn't really seen this team much having just come over from the Western Conference.

We're sure some uppity Panthers fan (do the Panthers HAVE fans?) will find this and post some snotty comment, so go ahead. We throw down the gauntlet and welcome it. Prove to us how the Panthers are anything resembling competent without those three guys, and we'll show you a pee-wee team that'll hand them their asses after putting on a clinic.

If the boys bring their A-game, and play like they can, then we'll pick the Thrash by 2.

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30 Games in 30 Nights. Go check him out. How jealous are you of this guy? Probably about as jealous as we are. This might be the coolest NHL journey in the history of evar. Steve will be in Atlanta on 19 December for the game against his beloved Bolts. Drop him a line to welcome him to A-town, and hey, if you've got an extra ticket, why not offer it up?

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Love him or hate him, you have to give big ups to Eric "The Big E" Lindros. Yesterday during his retirement announcement, he made a $5m (what's that, like a buck eight-two American?) donation to the London Health Sciences Foundation. It is the largest single donation by any professional Canadian athlete in history. Big, big ups, Big E. We here at FWH followed your career from the beginning. We've always rooted for you, even if we were quietly laughing along with the jokes. We hope you are at least nominated for the Hall of Fame, if not inducted, but realise that chances are slim-to-none on you being awarded entry. Best of luck in all your future endeavors, Mr. Lindros.

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Did you hear the one about the Caps beating the Sens 4-1?

No, that's it. It's not a joke. We're not sure what got into who, but wow. No really, wow. The Sens lost Anton "I stop pucks" Volchenkov early in the 1st, and perhaps that was as big a blow to the team's collective psyche as it was to Ray Emery. But the old adage that even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while still holds true. The Sens were due for their 2nd (!!!) loss of the season, and it was the Caps that handed it to them. Props to the Caps, hallelujah, holy shit, where's the Tylenol?

While we're on subject of the Caps, here's an english translation* of an interview Alexander Ovechkin gave to Sovetskiy Sport after the loss to the Thrasher on Tuesday:

What do you think of Kovalchuk's play in the last few games?
Yeah, I heard about his two hat tricks in a row. Congratulations, Ilya, you're great. I never even doubted that he could score four [in a row].

Statistically, Ovechkin has scored more points against Atlanta, and Kovalchuk has the most points against Washington. Why? Do the Thrashers not cover you enough?
Come on, they don't give me that much space. But today Atlanta's goaltender, Pavelec, had a great game. He was stopping incredible shots.

If you ever, and we mean ever, have the opportunity to sit down and talk to this guy, take it. He is all around class, and one of the nicest athletes we've ever had the pleasure to meet.

* We did not do this translation ourselves, and can not be held responsible for its accuracy. Apologies in advance if the translation is incorrect, but we are currently unable to provide a translation of our own.

Prospect Update: Rylan Kaip

The guys over at Illegal Curve did a nice write up on Thrash prospect Rylan Kaip. Since we don't know much about him, we're pasting their write up, but please go visit them. They run a great blog, with a daily aggregate of everything hockey that you need to know!

Kaip, a 9th round selection of the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, will never be a Calder candidate nor will he be found at the top of the league scoring race. In any league. However, this is the type of player every team needs to win.

A product of Saskatchewan who played junior hockey with the Hounds of Notre Dame, Kaip is now entering his senior year with the University of North Dakota. The 3rd line center on a deep team, Kaip is the captain this year and plays a very strong defensive game with a knack for scoring goals when the team needs it most.

Kaip is a high energy player that can shut down other team's top lines, create chances off the forecheck and provide up tempo shifts. He can and will play a physical game and is adept at blocking shots. As such, he sees a lot of time on the penalty kill, where his skill in the face-0ff circle is evident.

If Kaip can add a little more offense to his game, he could very well turn out to be a serviceable NHL player in the Marty Reasoner/Jim Dowd type of role.

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The Caps are 3-0 to start the season, the first time since 02-03, which was also the last time they made playoffs. And we all remember how that worked out. If you don't, in game ... we forget which game, but it was 1st round against Tampa. Actually we don't remember most of the details, but Jagr got nailed for retaliation in OT when he shouldn't have, and a Tampa player was not penalized, and we lost the game and series as a result, and the ice at (then) MCI Center was littered with any and everything that could be thrown over the nets, and the people of the lower bowl had to dodge detrius like they were in a warzone. Later the Caps received a letter of apology from the NHL for the bad calls, but the damage was done, and Tampa went on to win the Cup. Now we're not saying the Caps would have won the Cup had the proper calls been made, but would Tampa? It's a question for the ages. At any rate, the Caps are still undefeated, and Sasha Vanilla (Alexander Semin) has only played one game due to an ankle injury. Once he's at full strength, it'll be fun to see what the team can do.

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Our thoughts go out to Jason Blake and his family. If you live under a rock and have not yet heard, the Toronto forward was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), which is a cancer of the white blood cells. In laymen's terms, it causes your body to go into overproduction of white blood cells. It seems Blake's case was caught quickly, and in the early stages, which bodes extremely well for him. After 5 years of treatment (via oral medication), there is an 89% survival rate. If you know anything about cancer, you know that is an unbelievable number. While no one ever wishes to have cancer, if you have to have it, this is one of the kinds you hope for, as it's extremely treatable and manageable, and despite being a rare type of the disease, the survival rates are outstanding.

Blake will play tonight against the Canes, and is apparently prepared to stay on a full schedule with the Leafs. Does anyone else see the irony of this occurring during all the hype for the the 10 year anniversary of Hockey Fights Cancer?

Learn more about CML here.

Recapping the first full weekend of hockey

2 - 5

Probably one of my two regular readers here was expecting a recap of the Tampa game. But you know what? I'm not recapping poop. And that's how the Thrash played. Like poop. You can't polish a turd.

Where is the defence? Is Zhitnik really the only capable D-man we have? What the hell is going on with Exelby? He looks like Steve Eminger out there. Someone tell him to unglue his ass from the goalpost so Kari and Johan can make a few more saves. Also, forechecking would be nice. Just sayin'.

Team's off til Wednesday, which, thank god. Maybe Hartley will work them all to death with mountains and suicides - we can only hope. I know it's early, blahblah, still working on chemistry, blahblah, but hey - the October points are just as important, if not moreso, than the April points. If we put up the points in October and November, we're not going to be facing 20 consecutive MUST WIN games in the Spring.

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From the AJC, on subject of the new jerseys:

THEY MAKE KARI LEHTONEN LOOK FAT

"They're tight at the top and get looser as they get closer to the waist," said Lehtonen, and that isn't flattering. "I saw one picture on the Internet, I think they make me look fat," Lehtonen explained. Jim Slater, the club's player representative on the competition committee, refused to blame the new jerseys for that. "I don't know of many things that don't make [Lehtonen] look fat," Slater said. "He's a big boy no matter what — he's got the butt on him, the legs — all that stuff."

Awesome, Slats! Way to chirp your own teammate!

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In other team news, Jason Smith made his return to Edmonton Saturday night with the Flyers. They lost. There's nothing I can say about that game, and a picture says a thousand words, so I'll let Gator sum up everything I've got:


We love you, Gator, wherever you may play.

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What's up with the Caps winning 2 in a row, and looking good while doing it? We may have to reluctantly slink back to the fandom of this team that we abandoned mid-season 2 seasons ago. Or was it last season? Time flies. At any rate, perhaps it will be a seamless transition. We're friendly with both Sashas on the team, and it's a thrill to see them play together any day of the week, especially with ... that Swedish kid between them. I keep thinking Enstrom, but he's on the Thrash. The other one! Anyway, they've got a 2pm matinee today against the Isles (and will be facing old friends Witter, Si and Zubie!), which we're recording at home since our company doesn't believe Columbus Day is actually a holiday worthy of celebrating. No spoilers please! Although we'll probably listen online. But our prediction is Caps by 2.