Archive for November, 2006

Late Changes

November 30, 2006

Dainius Zubrus is unable to go tonight; he is ill. Jakub Klepis will be in the lineup in his place. As reported earlier today on the Pre-Cap podcast, Matt Bradley has returned to Ontario for his grandfather’s funeral. Bradley will be replaced in tonight’s lineup by Donald Brashear, who returns to the lineup tonight after [...]

Full House

November 30, 2006

In poker and in pro sports, the full house is a good thing. But it’s much easier to do in the former than the latter.
How does a team fill up its building as close to capacity for as many dates as possible? There are gimmicks, schemes, promotions, and any number of other methods which have [...]

Johnny in Goal

November 24, 2006

Brent Johnson will be in goal for Washington against Toronto tonight, getting his first home start of the season. The Caps will go back to Olie Kolzig for Saturday’s game against the Islanders in New York. Although the standard practice is to give the starter the home game and the backup the road game of [...]

The Sutton Sheet

November 24, 2006

Okay, so Brashear will miss the next three games and Sutherby the next one. Eric Fehr is en route from Hershey and he will be in the lineup against Toronto on Friday.
Having a look at the rule book after last night’s Atlanta-Washington tilt, I figured that today’s suspensions might not be as cut and dried [...]

Brash Gets Three

November 23, 2006

I’ve just been informed that the events in last night’s Caps-Thrashers game have led to a three-game suspension for Washington’s Donald Brashear. No other suspensions are forthcoming for the Caps, and I don’t know whether Atlanta will incur any suspensions. Supposedly, some fines are also forthcoming, and more details on those will be made available [...]

Quarter Pole

November 21, 2006

Okay, so 20 games down and 62 to go. We’re basically a quarter of the way through this 82-chapter story that unfolds annually over a period of six months. What can we tell about these 20 games that will give us an indication of what lies ahead? I’m not sure, but I will toss a [...]

Monday Press Confluence

November 20, 2006

Monday morning made for a bit of a traffic jam in the parking garage beneath Verizon Center. Not only were the Washington Capitals practicing on the Phone Booth ice sheet, the team formerly known as the Bullets was also in the house and practicing behind closed doors (media is not permitted to watch these top [...]

Skeleton Crew

November 18, 2006

Not only are Chris Clark and Alexander Semin unable to go tonight in Boston, Dainius Zubrus is out of the lineup, too. Brent Johnson will be in goal. Teams are sometimes able to use situations such as these as a rallying point, but the Caps will be hard-pressed. They have had difficulty creating offense at [...]

Changing it Up

November 17, 2006

A few changes are afoot for tonight’s game between the Caps and Canes at Verizon Center. Kris Beech, Brooks Laich and Bryan Muir will all be back in the lineup tonight. Caps bench boss Glen Hanlon doesn’t want any of his players sitting idly for too long, and wants everyone to be involved and feel [...]

Russian Style

November 16, 2006

As the Caps and the various media types trickled out of Verizon Center after Thursday’s practice, it was impossible not to notice the irrepressible Alex Ovechkin. On the eve of playing in his 100th NHL game, Ovechkin was rattily attired in black track pants with side stripes as wide as F Street, fire engine red [...]