Tuesday, March 25, 2008

How Rules are Changed in the NHL

James Mirtle recently granted me a few minutes of his time to answer an email I sent him regarding how rules are changed in the NHL. Thanks James!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Look Out Flyers; Here Comes the Capitals!

Although my blog has more of a pro-enforcers feel to it rather than an affiliation with a team, believe it or not, I am a [Washington Capitals] fan. Last week, I had the pleasure of making it to two Capitals games, the first against the Pens on Sunday, and the second against the Flames on Wednesday.

Good story with the Penguins game. For the past year plus, I have been serving as an unofficial tour guide to an ESPN writer (that shall remain nameless) as he does some research for a story he will be writing before the end of the season. The writer (that shall remain nameless) wanted to attend the Penguins game with my brother and I (and have ESPN pony up for the tickets!), but found out that the game was sold out. He emailed me to let me know. One word… bummer! Who in their right mind, wouldn't want to see Sid the Kid and Gino take on Washington Capitals' Young Guns?

Well the tiny cylinders started spinning in my head and I went out on a limb and Cc’d a one Ted Leonsis on my reply and asked him if maybe he could help out with a set of tickets (being that the Caps would be getting some pub in the story). Hours later, a one sentence response comes back from the Caps’ owner… “It will be taken care of.” A Caps ticket rep steps in shortly thereafter and Sunday we are sitting seven rows behind the net… a perfect view to see Backstrom tap home the game winner for the Pens! So it goes.

And while I thought our playoff hopes were dashed at that very moment, it appears that the Philly Flyers are trying their very hardest to not make the playoffs. Derian Hatcher is out… although I wouldn't mind him in the way he has been playing this year. R.J. "Step Right Up and Concuss Me" Umberger decided to join him yesterday as well. Danny “Ball Spearer” Briere and Chris "Little League Champ" Drury aren’t living up to expectations. And the Caps just reeled off two consecutive wins to pull within two points of the black and orange. Nine games to go each for Philly, the Buffaslugs, and Washington. Game on!

Washington has to keep up the intensity for these next nine games. If there has been any one area that the club has been weak in, it’s playing a full 60 minutes. Late game losses to the Bruins (a Brashear triple minor didn’t help) and Pens (the Caps did play the day before!) have called into question their ability to close a game strongly. Alexander Semin continues to sleep in my dog house. The Russian Gun Slinger has been coughing the puck up way to much for anyone’s liking. One highlight reel goal is followed by what seems like ten turnovers and general lack of interest to make effective passes to teammates. Someone please let him know that the entire league is well aware of his desire to go to the curl-and-drag five times a game.

Alexander Ovechkin sits at 99 points with 57 goals. And while he is easily projected to join the 60 goal club, you can see the phenom pressing a little as he has been forcing shots and cherry picking a bit too much for my taste. By the way Alex, please hold off until the third period against the Panthers to score that goal… if you could do that, I win a nice AO jersey. That would mean a full six games for Alex to score three goals. On second thought, go ahead and press some more OV.

And before I step out, a warm salute to the Washington Capitals message boards. Please keep in mind that you represent the virtual Washington Capitals. Your behavior recently has been extremely questionable.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Wake Up Colin Campbell!!!

Chris Pronger 100% INTENTIONALLY STOMPED on Kesler!!!!! When you do NOTHING about this, you are discrediting the NHL. Keep up the good work.

New, up-close, YouTube footage:



Update - Collie decided to wake up. Eight games for the Anaheim Captain. Not surprising that he took the suspension like a man. While I regularly question Pronger's testosterone levels, Brian Burke probably sat him down before his post-suspension press conference and gave him some tips on acting manly.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Whine Tasting On Caps' Message Boards

whine
v. whined, whin·ing, whines
v.intr.
1. To utter a plaintive, high-pitched, protracted sound, as in pain, fear, supplication, or complaint.
2. To complain or protest in a childish fashion.
3. To produce a sustained noise of relatively high pitch: jet engines whining.

While I can only read the words on the Caps' message boards, they do indeed come off as high-pitched, protracted sounds that are painful to my ears.

Is this what Ted Leonis was hoping for when he set out to make the Washington Capitals the most virtually accessible team in sports?

As if it wasn't painful and embarrassing enough to lose two crucial games in the final minutes/seconds of both games, the latter game coming in our own barn against the Penguins who trucked down a ton of fans to fill at least 1/4 of our barn and then promptly have their superstar get the best of our superstar yet again (gasping for air), Caps' message boarders have to go and validate that they are indeed the absolute whiniest fans on the net?

Message to the Caps' message board... stop. Create a game day thread for the Flames game and move on.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

All Things Avs Says Smack [the Ducks] in the Mouth!

Easier said than done. But Adrian certainly has caught my curiousity for tonight's game. Will Lappy, Scott Parker, and the rest of the Avs bring the pain?

From All Things Avs:

When the bully comes your way and tries to do his thing, you smack him in the mouth. And when he doesn’t like it, you smack him in the mouth again. And when he doesn’t like it still, you smack him in the mouth.

What am I talking about? In the immediate sense, I’m talking about an Avalanche team that is having the bully, the Anaheim Ducks, come to town tomorrow. My story in the print edition of tomorrow’s Post is the PC version of what I was trying to get across: the Avs have a choice, and that is to be bullied or stand up and smack the bully in the mouth.
Now maybe it's just me, but that is quite a bit of smacking Adrian has planned for tonight. Maybe they should sign Ric Flair to PTO??? Wooooooooooooooooo!!!!!