Archive for December, 2007

Captain Karl

December 14, 2007

Congrats to Caps defense prospect Karl Alzner, Washington’s first choice (fifth overall) in the 2007 NHL E.try Draft, who today was named as captain of the Canadian National Junior Team. Alzner and his teammates fly off to Europe today in pursuit of Team Canada’s fourth consecutive gold medal at the World Junior Championships in the [...]

Junior Achievement

December 14, 2007

Congratulations to Caps defense prospects Karl Alzner and Josh Godfrey who were named to the Team Canada roster for the upcoming World Junior Championship in the Czech Republic. Alzner was a member of last year’s gold medalist Canadian team; he and forward Brad Marchand are the only two returnees from last year’s championship team.
Sixteen members [...]

What’s the Over/Under …

December 13, 2007

On how long it takes Larry Brooks to pen a piece declaring that Mike Green should be awarded to the Rangers because they’re the center of the global universe world?

Lineup Tweak

December 12, 2007

The starting line for tonight’s tilt between the caps and Rangers is Donald Brashear (who took the warm-up wearing one of the red mullet wigs) on the left side of a line with Brooks Laich and Joe Motkzo. That puts Tomas Fleischmann back up with Viktor Kozlov and Alexander Semin. As expected, Brian Pothier is [...]

The Hurting Game

December 12, 2007

As expected, Steve Eminger and Milan Jurcina will be the healthy blueline scratches tonight against the Rangers. Injured forwards Chris Clark, Boyd Gordon and Michael Nylander all skated today.
From time to time I’m asked why NHL teams guard injury information so closely. People wonder about undisclosed injuries, uppper body/lower body injuries, and why NHL teams [...]

Back to Saturday

December 11, 2007

I mentioned that I would transcribe Bruce Boudreau’s pre-game quotes from Saturday night when I got a chance. I finally got a chance, and a lot of it winds up being pertinent even a few days later. So here’s what was said, along with some introductory comments.
Boudreau was asked what prompted the shuffling of [...]

Lineup Shakeup

December 8, 2007

First and foremost, defenseman Brian Pothier will sit out tonight, and John Erskine will take his spot in the lineup.
The forward lines will also undergo a noteworthy shake-up:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Pettinger
Brashear-Kozlov-Semin
Laing-Steckel-Bradley
Fleischmann-Laich-Motzko
Caps coach Bruce Boudreau had some strong comments prior to the game. He stated that Pothier needs to play better, and thet since Brashear and Bradley always seem [...]

Pollock off to Russia

December 6, 2007

Hershey Bears defenseman Jame Pollock has decided to leave the team and has signed a contract with CSKA Moscow (the team formerly known as the “Red Army” team) in the Russian Super League. The team is coached by Vyachaslav Bykov, the Russian National Team coach at last spring’s IIHF World Championships in Moscow.
The Caps will [...]

Ice Not so Nice

December 5, 2007

In researching a story for the 10th anniversary of MCI Center/Verizon Center, I came across a lot of quotes from players at the time of the move. To a man, they were excited about going into the new and modern facility, and the main reason was because they believed the quality of the ice would [...]

Not the Same Old, Same Old

December 4, 2007

The Caps have just finished a stretch of six games in nine nights that coincided with the first six games of interim head coach Bruce Boudreau’s NHL coaching career.
I don’t have any insight into the organization’s thinking here as far as its plans behind the bench going forward. But since this is when we’re all [...]