Signs that hockey season is coming:
Hockey season, here we come!
We call this the roadmap to unexcused absences from the office — it’s the full schedule of training camp activity out at Kettler Capitals, and the first official practice commences exactly two weeks from today, with rookies arriving in just seven days.
There should be good fun during all of it, and we plan on covering it copiously. As you could probably deduce from our countdown clocks running the past few months, we’ve been awaiting the return of Capitals hockey with inordinate excitement. See you at the rink!
2008 Washington Capitals Rookie Camp and Training Camp Schedule
| Date | Time | Event |
| Sat., Sept. 13 | Rookies report | |
| Sun., Sept. 14 | 10:30 a.m. | Rookie Camp practice (Capitals Rink) |
| Mon., Sept. 15 | 10:30 a.m. | Rookie Camp practice (Capitals Rink) |
| Tues., Sept. 16 | 10:30 a.m. | Rookie Camp practice (Capitals Rink) |
| Wed., Sept. 17 | 10:30 a.m. | Rookie Camp practice (Capitals Rink) |
| 11:30 a.m. | Rookie Camp scrimmage (Capitals Rink) | |
| Thurs., Sept. 18 | 3 p.m. | Rookie game vs. Philadelphia (Capitals Rink) |
| Fri., Sept. 19 | Veterans report | |
| 9 a.m. | Off-ice testing and media availability (closed to the public) | |
| Sat., Sept. 20 | 10 a.m. | Group A practice (Capitals Rink) |
| 11:15 a.m. | Group B practice (Public Rink) | |
| 12:30 a.m. | Group C practice (Capitals Rink) | |
| Sun., Sept 21 | 10 a.m. | Group A practice (Public Rink) |
| 11 a.m. | Group B vs. Group C scrimmage (Capitals Rink) | |
| Mon., Sept. 22 | 10 a.m. | Group B practice (Public Rink) |
| 11 a.m. | Group A vs. Group C scrimmage (Capitals Rink) | |
| Tues., Sept. 23 | 10 a.m. | Group C practice (Public Rink) |
| 11 a.m. | Group A vs. Group B scrimmage (Capitals Rink) | |
| Wed., Sept. 24 | 10 a.m. | Morning skate (Capitals Rink) |
| 11:15 a.m. | Practice (Capitals Rink) | |
| 12:30 p.m. | Practice (Capitals Rink) | |
| 7 p.m. | at Carolina, Raleigh, N.C. | |
| Thurs., Sept. 25 | 10 a.m. | Morning skate (Capitals Rink) |
| 11:15 a.m. | Practice (Capitals Rink) | |
| 12:30 p.m. | Practice (Capitals Rink) | |
| 7 p.m. | vs. Carolina, Verizon Center | |
| Fri., Sept 26 | 12 p.m. | Group A practice (Capitals Rink) |
| 1:45 p.m. | Group B practice (Capitals Rink) | |
| Sat., Sept. 27 | 10:30 a.m. | Practice (Capitals Rink) |
| 4 p.m. | at Boston, Boston, Mass. | |
| Sun., Sept. 28 | 10:30 a.m. | Practice (Capitals Rink) |
| Mon., Sept. 29 | 10 a.m. | Morning skate (Capitals Rink) |
| 7 p.m. | at New Jersey, Newark, N.J. | |
| Tues., Sept. 30 | 10:30 a.m. | Practice (Capitals Rink) |
Henderson, NY
The Washington Capitals’ Chris Clark is helping Henderson, New York, get a new playground for local children. Henderson, where the the Clarks have a summer home, is just a stone’s throw across Lake Ontario from Canada. Clark is raffling a deluxe weekend of Capitals fun for one lucky winner:
The package includes a two-night stay at the Westin Arlington Gateway Hotel and two tickets to the winner’s choice of three games: Nov. 8 against the N.Y. Rangers, Jan. 3 against the N.Y. Rangers or Jan. 17 against Boston. After the game the winner and their guest will be escorted to Verizon Center’s event level to meet Chris and get autographs from the Capitals’ captain and his teammates.
Read more about it on the Caps’ site here, or go directly to A Place to Play to purchase raffle tickets.
I had objectives to meet on business in Minneapolis-St. Paul this week, but the one I coveted most was meeting a local who could happy hour chat me through a bit of the State of Hockey’s passion for puck. I’d read a lot about it over the years, but I wanted a real live, first-hand testimonial of it, unhurried, over a couple of beers. Minneapolis native Paul Wallerius, in his youth an accomplished local scholastic hockey player, and today a successful businessman and the youth hockey coach to a team that includes his 10-year-old son (”been in skates for seven of his ten years,” he told me), gave me just that this week.
The first important Minnesota hockey history lesson Wallerius imparted to me was an appreciation for the rivalry that Minneapolis has with twin town St. Paul. St. Paul, he told me, has purposely and strategically used hockey to better its prestige in the rivalry. Minneapolis is home to the Twins, Vikings, and Timberwolves. It’s fairly horded the pro sports teams over the years. But the North Stars, Wallerius pointed out, left the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, and since 2000, St. Paul has been home to the Wild, where every game they’ve ever played has been sold out at the Xcel Energy Center. St. Paul and Xcel are also home to the state’s famous high school hockey tournament. St. Paul made an aggressive attempt to lure the Twins out of Minneapolis and into a new outdoor baseball stadium slated to open in 2010, but ultimately Minneapolis won the siting.
Minnesota I learned is home to some fifteen thousand lakes. Glaciers which visited the upper Midwest region tens of thousand of years ago are responsible for many of them. It seems fitting that an Ice Age would prove to be the wellspring of the terrain for the State of Hockey.
Wallerius wanted me to make a stop at Tom Reid’s Hockey City Pub, also in St. Paul. Just two blocks from the Xcel Center, it’s a modest museum for Minnesota hockey. On the day I walked over to it from the arena the high temperature in the two cities was 67 degrees, under an indigo blue sky. Very hockey weather for early September. Tom Reid was a defenseman for the North Stars back in the day. He also works radio broadcasts for Wild games. His hockey pub is home to fairly forgettable pub food but worth the visit just to admire the breadth of memorabilia smartly scattered over the pub’s brick walls.
About Xcel Center: it’s a world-class hockey venue, but it’s also home to its own museum celebrating Minnesota hockey. Its most distinctive feature for me was the Jersey Wall: the sweaters of nearly 200 Minnesota high school teams showcased on a club level. They are like individual flags forming a very United Hockey Nation. They are beautiful to behold — the moreso as no Reebok uniform systems are found among them. The arena also showcases exhibits from the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, and high-profile hockey headlines published decades ago in the St. Paul Pioneer Press are plastered on arena pillars.
A fairly significant moment occurred late last year when Sports Illustrated conferred the title of ‘Hockeytown’ on St. Paul, in response to Detroit’s tepid attendance at games for a great Wings’ team. The Minneapolis Star Tribune, in covering the development, noted that while St. Paul’s claims to the title are impressive, it may only be the second-best Minnesota community for the designation. Warroad, Minnesota, 400 miles to the north, is another well-credentialed claimant. Still, the major magazine’s designation of St. Paul is no trivial matter in the State of Hockey. Hockeytown, State of Hockey, would be a very cool postal address to have. I could retire there.
I pointed out to my new hockey friend that I was greatly anticipating the screening of ‘Pond Hockey,’ the new documentary crafted by Minnesotans Tommy Haines and Andrew Sherbrune. He hadn’t seen it, but he wasn’t surprised by its production by two Hockey Staters.
‘Pond Hockey’ chronicles the formation of the first annual U.S. Pond Hockey Championships, and while set in Minneapolis, it has fast become a state-wide source of enormous pride, Wallerius told me. “It’s only a couple of years old,” he noted, “but it draws teams literally from around the world.”
My new hockey friend asked me what likelihood there was that I could make a return visit to his city for the big party on the big frozen lake.
“Strong,” I replied.
He smiled. He wants to host me for it. I can’t wait for the season’s ice age to return.
Last Saturday I authored a file whose spirit was meant to celebrate the rise to prominence of hockey in 2008’s political discourse. A segment of OFB readers, seemingly wired for partisanship, took it the wrong way. Early on in her address to the Republican National Convention Wednesday night in Minnesota, VP nominee Sarah Palin, specifically addressing America’s hockey moms (no small number of whom were in St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center bearing hockey mom signs), said, “The difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.”
It brought down the house. [fast forward to 2:50 in the video below]
I reference the moment now, and this year’s political season again, for its elevation of our game on the world-watched stage that is our presidential nominating process. It doesn’t matter what you think of Sarah, Democrats, Republicans, or American politics. If you love hockey, how can you not like how hockey is being celebrated (associated with perserverance and toughness) in the rhetoric of 2008’s political debates?
I hope they don
Certain members of OFB are thrilled that the Capitals are starting auditions for the Spirit Squad today. My only hope is that the Spirit Squad has a blog, similar to the Nashville Predators Dancers and Goal Girls, or the Blue Crew’s audition blog. Where else could we gain insight into the challenging world of fan experience enhancement? Cue Christina from the Blue Crew, who speaks to the skating portion of their auditions:
One of the drills was a familiar but dreaded hockey drill called Mountains; although, some hockey players refer to them as Suicides. It consists of hard skating back and fourth, stopping at each line, and always returning to the goal line without resting. I heard some girls breathing heavily and fatigue was setting it but I took it as an opportunity to finally regain some body heat that was lost due to our attire.
A guy would read this and see nothing wrong with it, but women would easily read between the lines for what she’s really saying: she’s in great shape, too bad for the losers who can’t handle a little exercise.
On to the trivia portion of the competition:
Some of the questions ranged from naming some of the newly signed players to explaining the physics behind laying ice.
Now I’m impressed: Blue Crew members have to know the physics of laying ice? Does that question come up a lot?
On to some role-playing exercises:
After dancing, we moved onto the improv portion. We all partnered up (a veteran with a new girl) and drew a strip of paper out of a hat. On the strips of paper were different scenarios that can possibly happen during a Thrashers game and we would have to act out a scene. One girl would have to act it out the wrong way and the other girl would act it out the right way…My strip of paper said, “You accidentally spilled a Thrashers fan’s drink,” while some other strips said, “You threw a t-shirt out in the stands and it hits a fan in the eye.”
In Washington, the answer to either of these hard-hitting social issues is simple: you immediately hire a lawyer, because you’re going to get sued for damages.
As for the Preds Dancers and Goal Girls, after seeing some of the pics of their photo shoot on the blog, I’d like to know how they define a “healthy breakfast.” I just don’t see those ladies chowing down on a stack of pancakes.
H/t to Canucks and Beyond and Puck Daddy.
Something felt very very right about the Capitals retiring Dale Hunter’s number back in March 2000, and my hunch is that a similar sense of appropriateness will accompany the retiring of Mike Gartner’s no. 11 this December. The Caps announced yesterday that they would be retiring Mike Gartner’s sweater then.
Huntsy was the greatest captain in Capitals’ history (and still is), and his was a career iconic in its emblem of old time hockey. Garts is bettered as the most prolific right wing in Caps’ history only by Peter Bondra, he is already a member of the pro hockey Hall of Fame, and he was a star hockey player in red, white, and blue at a time when Washington really didn’t know how to acknowledge stars in hockey. He will receive his just star status here on December 28.
I forget who said it — it may have been Ken Dryden — that great skaters aren’t developed, they’re born. You couldn’t have watched Mike Gartner without noticing how extraordinary a skater he was. Beyond his blinding speed — and for my money, he was faster than Peter Bondra — there was an effortless but nonetheless technical brilliance to his skating, one that certainly seemed genetic. When I authored a series of critiques of the NHL’s decision last summer to jettison the traditional hockey sweater in favor of its present Amish-confining look, it was with a profound and lasting association of watching Mike Gartner’s three Caps’ colors flutter like a flag in a coastline gale as he power-glided past well-positioned defenders, for 10 years here in D.C. It’s sad for me to think that until the present fashion fad fades contemporary youths won’t have that special association.
When a hockey player skates as Mike Gartner did, in his uniform he ought to look distinctive out on the sheet from his peers.
Mike Gartner scored 708 goals in his NHL career, and nearly 400 of them here in Washington. You’re damned right he deserves what’s coming to him December 28.
Still, there are those in hockey who would dispute both Gartner’s number retiring by the Caps and his Hall of Fame selection. To them I would address this question: if on the day of Gartner’s drafting by the Caps in 1979 — on that very day — you could have accurately crystal balled no. 11’s playing 19 seasons and scoring more than 700 goals in the NHL, what would you have said about his career that day? That it was . . . alright?
Garts played seven of his 19 seasons in All Star fashion, but he along with Larry Murphy was especially associated with the Caps’ ’80s playoff failures. He played on six Caps’ clubs that ever seemed doomed come springtime. And so along with Murphy he was dealt by the Caps for Dino Ciccarelli and Bob Rouse in 1989.
It was one of the more intriguing trades in Caps’ history. With the benefit of hindsight it looks like a no-brainer loser for the Caps — two Hall of Famers dealt away in the prime of their careers for two very nice hockey players. And were David Poile awarded a do-over of that deal, the wager here is that he’d keep his two Hall of Famers. But in the maddening moments of the Caps’ ’80s playoff collapses, some shakeup was deemed necessary. In pro sports, perception is often reality, and in the heartbreak of the postseason moment circa 1989, it just seemed like Garts would light the lamp October through March just fine, then pepper Billy Smith’s pads when it counted most.
In a very real sense Gartner and Murphy were scapegoated for Caps’ team failures two decades ago. This December 28 is partly about reconciling that unfairness.
Just as important as Gartner’s sweater retiring is the accompanying sense that stability and order are arriving to the totality of the Capitals’ operations. Loose ends are getting tied up. Greats from the past who’ve gone under-mentioned or altogether forgotten are being brought back into the fold. It was magnificent to see Bengt Gustafsson in Verizon Center last season. It’s been cathartic to see Rod Langway involved again in team functions. This season Garts is at long last getting his much deserved due. That gorgeous new center-ice video screen at Verizon Center is sure to show highlights of no. 11’s magnificent career here on December 28; newer Caps’ fans in attendance then are in for a treat.
HockeyWashington has greatness in its present and rafter-raising heroism in its past. The two are converging magnificently these days.
We haven’t heard much since the flurry of activity in the middle of July and it’s hard to find a link on the Caps web site, but today is the start of a new era for the Washington Capitals. Registration and auditions for the Washington Capitals Ice Girls Spirit Squad begins this evening.
The squad has experienced quite a transformation before even one girl (or guy) survived the cuts and earned their, um, pom-poms? What started as a group of “ladies who can represent The Washington Capitals and be the face of the organization” is now “people who will represent the Washington Capitals in a fun, high-spirited manner”. The uniforms have changed as well as the half tops, skirts, shorts and pants gave way to professionally designed long-sleeve shirts and pants.
We are also reminded of the statement made by majority owner Ted Leonsis:
I am hopeful that people will give [the Spirit Squad] a chance but we are moving forward with this effort. I am a family man with a wife and a daughter. I promise we will not offend anyone with the Capital Spirit team.
Here’s the audition schedule per the web site:
Auditions: September 3-5, 2008
Day 1: Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Registration/On Ice Day
Registration 5:30-6:30pm
Day 2: Interview and Physical Fitness Test 5:00pm
Day 3: Dance and Improv 6:00pm
Those who wish to audition can still sign up at the registration table with their resumes and headshots. It has also been noted that the auditions are not open for viewing by the public.
Mike Gartner - photo from HHOF.com
The Southeast Division Champion banner will not be the only Washington Capitals branded item to be raised to the rafters this hockey season. The Capitals announced today that Mike Gartner’s number 11 will be retired during a pregame ceremony before the game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, December 28th. Gartner currently ranks second in goals (397), assists (392) and points (789) and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
From the Capitals press release:
“Capitals fans have fond memories of Mike Gartner flying down the right wing and scoring goals at the Capital Centre,” said Capitals chairman and majority owner Ted Leonsis. “This is a fitting tribute to one of the elite offensive players in the history of the game who was a crucial member of the first Capitals playoff teams.”
“It is a tremendous honor to be recognized by the Washington Capitals and to join the distinguished company of my fellow teammates Yvon Labre, Rod Langway and Dale Hunter,” Gartner said. “I look forward to the upcoming evening in December and sharing those fond memories with my family and those fans in attendance.”
Single game tickets for the game will be on sale later in September. There will also be a commemorative Mike Gartner giveaway.
This will be the fourth number retired by the Capitals — Yvon Labre #7, Rod Langway #5, and Dale Hunter #32 are the others.
Joe Pelletier at Greatest Hockey Legends is up to #3 in his 20 Greatest Photos In Hockey History series. While some might debate the rankings, the photos are undoubtedly are terrific representations of the sport we love and its incredible history. Check them out here, and be sure to scroll down for the whole list (note #19 features a newly-minted Washington Capital).
In the spirit of Joe’s idea, I’d posit that this photo — while nowhere near the grand scope of the photos in Joe’s history-spanning effort — is a great photo in the Washington Capitals’ history. The joyous celebration capping the team’s incredible run to the playoffs last season . . . Alex Ovechkin realizing he’s about to get his first taste of the NHL postseason . . . and a hungry, high-energy team rallying around its leader. It’s a recent photo of recent history, but hopefully this moment will one day be considered the genesis of the team’s journey to the Cup.
The Playoffs, At Last (photo courtesy of the Washington Capitals)
Nobody summarizes hockey’s rules better than Denis Lemieux in ‘Slap Shot’:
I don’t know about you, but I’m both startled and delighted at the frequency with which we’re seeing hockey included in American’s contemporary political dialogue. Up until the very end of the veep selection process, there was a widespread belief that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty could get the nod from nominee McCain. Ultimately, he chose a governor from another hockey-mad state, Sarah Palin of Alaska.
Back in 2004, presidential candidate John Kerry carried off a photo-op at a rink, but it didn’t carry the impact that hockey has in this election year. Kerry’s embrace of hockey then, much like that of his wind surfing voyage that campaign season, I think struck voters as something half-hearted and politically opportunistic.
But in 2008, we’ve seen political candidates in full-on and long-standing embraces of Bauers. What if during the vice presidential debates this autumn, when national political newcomer Palin is asked to relate some biography to American television viewers, she identifies ‘Mystery, Alaska’ as her favorite movie?
It’s a shame that Vice Presidents can’t issue Executive Orders, because Governor Palin might, like Pawlenty, be inclined in office to proclaim some hockey-related initiatives human rights and high priorities in her first 100 days as veep! The right to bear Bauers . . . floor hockey in all public school phys-ed programs . . . cabinet meetings conducted within shinny skated on the Reflecting Pool (with under-performing department heads placed in goal) (Accountability in government!).
Notice the subtitle of her biography: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down.
Pawlenty of course could still serve in a McCain administration (Secretary of the Frozen Interior). According to the New Republic, Pawlenty “plays lots of hockey.” According to Newsweek, the Minnesota governor “has been known to use his reception-room fireplace as a hockey goal.” (Can you see yet why we love him?) On the Minnesota governor’s own web site, visitors are informed that he still finds time to play the occasional game of pickup hockey.
Were it constitutionally permissible, Pawlenty-Gretzky would be the hockey fan’s dream ticket. Or perhaps in 2012, or 2016, we’ll see the first-ever All-Shinny ticket: Palin and Pawlenty.
At the onset of Labor Day weekend, it was most encouraging to see Capitals’ right wing Chris Clark in his training clothes, fresh from rigorous labor out on the Caps’ Kettler ice sheet earlier today.
Word broke about two weeks ago that the team captain had made a significant recovery from the debilitating groin injury that all but shelved his 2007-08 season. Today, I wanted a progress report from him with an eye toward his fitness after a couple of weeks of daily skating at Kettler and with an eye toward the start of training camp in three weeks.
“I have to ask you the obligatory question — you are X percent recovered today, and you believe you’ll be X percent recovered come the start of camp?” I asked.
“One hundred and one hundred,” Clark replied, with a broad smile.
Credit for Clark’s full recovery goes to Vancouver physiotherapist Rick Celebrini, who also supervised ex-Cap Brian Sutherby and his struggles with a nagging groin injury a couple of years ago. Clark will return to Vancouver this weekend, flying out Sunday and spending a couple of days with Celebrini for a final “peace of mind” checkup. But it’s already ’all systems go’ for the former 30-goaler — he has no restrictions in his August training at Kettler.
I asked Clark if he’d wished he’d gone to see Celebrini back in November, just as his injury hit, with the hopes that the celebrated specialist’s treatment might have taken hold and allowed him to return last season, most particularly for the playoff series with the Flyers.
“I thought about that, but the injury wasn’t serious, it was just slow to heal,” he said. In other words, there just wasn’t any urgency to pursue specialized treatment during the first half of the season. Clark’s injury just didn’t mend as such setbacks usually do, and the arrival of the offseason, joined by the prolonged lack of healing, dictated his traveling across the country to see the renowned physiotherapist.
This week also brought news about foreign language and pro sports — the LPGA Tour this week announced that proficiency with English would be mandatory beginning in 2009. It’s an issue that affects the NHL; in the New York Times’ account of the new ladies’ tour policy, it noted that a handful of NHL clubs had a similar requirement in their rooms. I wanted the Caps’ captain’s vantage in the matter – specifically, is English proficiency an issue in the Caps’ room? Has he as captain initiated and promulgated such a policy?
Turns out, even with a handful of English-speaking-challenged players on the Caps’ roster, there are no communications issues. Everyone on the team, Clark noted, recognizes that for the purpose of communications unity, of getting on the same page, the team has to communicate in English.
“I played in Europe, and I gravitated to guys [who spoke English],” Clark told me. “That’s always going to be the case.”
An issue could arise, Clark conceded, if the number of non-English-speaking players reached something akin to a critical mass, but the Caps now don’t have anything close to that challenge, so there is no explicit language policy, dicated by the captain or team management. Even with Alexander Semin, he noted, “he understands English well . . . once in a while, if there’s some confusion, Sergei [Fedorov] or Alex [Ovechkin] will explain something to him.”
Here’s a sure sign that hockey season is close: Thousands of fans came home from work and were greeted by a special delivery of their Washington Capitals 2008-09 Season Tickets.
Below is a scan of the Home Opener ticket — a replica of the Southeastern Division Championship Banner in a hard plastic material. There is a perforation between the “banner” and the picture, but it’s still a sizable ticket. And yes, the Caps were kind enough to include Capitals-branded lanyards to wear said ticket around your neck.
Caps Home Opener Ticket
Caps’ fans wanting to get into Kettler Capitals Iceplex for the September 18 scrimmage between the Caps’ and Flyers’ prospects that day will need to be online and at the Caps’ Web site next Thursday, September 4, when the team will issue free tickets required for admission. Per the team press release today on the event:
“The Washington Capitals’ 2008 rookie camp begins Sept. 14 and culminates with a game against the Philadelphia Flyers rookies on Thursday, Sept. 18, at 3 p.m. at Kettler Capitals Iceplex.
“Every on-ice session during rookie camp is free and open to the public to attend. The game against Philadelphia is also free, but a ticket will be needed to gain admission. To secure a ticket, fans will need to RSVP at WashingtonCaps.com. Since seating at Kettler Capitals Iceplex is limited there is a maximum of two tickets per person, and tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. A ticket will gain fans admission to the game, but because of seating limitations it does not necessarily guarantee a seat.
“Fans can begin to RSVP online on Thursday, Sept. 4, and will need to bring their printed confirmation with them to gain admission to the game. Fans will need to enter through the main entrance of Kettler Capitals Iceplex, which is on the eighth floor of the Ballston Common Mall parking garage. No copies or duplicate confirmation sheets will be permitted.
This will be a first-of-its-kind event at the facility, and given the opponent, not one to be missed.
My Friends at Comcast SportsNet:
On behalf of the entire OFB team, I want to express appreciation for your enthusiastic support of OFB and Washington’s hockey blogs, and convey my team’s anticipation for your coverage of the Caps in 2008-09. It’s our view that on a number of fronts SportsNet markedly upgraded the breadth and caliber of broadcast coverage of the Caps and hockey for the region last season, and we anticipate bigger and better things from you this season, during what may well be the most anticipated Caps’ season in team history.
Today, however, I’d like to share my concern with the thorough dropoff in hockey coverage on Comcast this summer. Please regard my reflections as aiming at strengthening an already strong broadcast product; Comcast SportsNet is home to knowledgeable and devoted hockey experts, and the outlet’s in-season coverage of the Caps is something the area’s hockey fans ought to take pride in. Your Caps’ page is terrific looking and deserves more credit for the quality of its content as well.
Around the time that SportsNet signed off from the NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa in June it more or less seemed to sign off on covering hockey for the summer, save for a brief blip (Day 1) from Capitals’ Development Camp in mid-July. Of course it’s not that there’s a frenzy of activity in hockey in July and August generally (the region’s hockey blogs slow considerably then as well); I guess my hope was to see, amid the predictable and necessary local media Redskin frenzy, very brief, very modest remembrances of last hockey season wedded with high-octane marketing messages for the new one. A few mere broadcast morsels might have gone a long way to carrying over the feel-good vibe for hockey that SportsNet so successfully cultivated last spring.
Specifically, I wonder if something more might not have been achieved with the novelty of Anton Gustafsson’s selection by the Caps at the June Entry Draft. We in Washington following the draft on TV caught one or two engaging interviews with father and son in Ottawa, but nothing substantive followed. The Gustafsson family charm — to make no mention of the novelty of the moment — seemed to beg for more broadcast product.
The younger Gustafsson’s selection really is an amazing moment in Capitals’ hisory, when you think about it. His father Bengt of course ranks among the most accomplished players in team history. He’s also one of the most accomplished coaches in international hockey, having won gold at both the Olympics and World Championships — in the same year (2006)! In June he watched his son become a first-round NHL draft pick — picked by the same club with which he fashioned a distinguished NHL career.
This very special hockey family easily could have been the subject of a special, in-depth Comcast feature. I’m imagining something like a 30-minute program — much like the one you guys produced for the Capitals’ 2006 Entry Draft — Capitals Under Construction. This time, however, the feature’s focus could have been on one draft pick and his family’s distinctive link to Washington’s hockey team.
How remarkable such a feature could have been had it melded footage of father dangling and dazzling in his classic old Caps’ sweater in the NHL’s ’80s brand of firewagon hockey with contemporary footage of son Anton just emerging as a world-class talent in Sweden’s professional ranks. The feature might also have offered the reflections of one or two or three long-time NHL scouts (European ones, perhaps) offering their comparative assessments of the games of father and son. It might not have been a bad idea, either, to solicit the views of long-standing Caps’ season ticket holders, who could have shared their reflections on father while also expressing their eagerness to see the son in action in a Caps’ sweater.
Now imagine if you’d produced such a program and aired it the night before the start of training camp next month, immediately followed by a broadcast of father Gustafsson’s 5-goal game (on five shots!) against the Flyers in 1984. What a welcome to Washington to the Gustafsson family that would have been. The feature program could have aired at least a handful of times during hockey’s quiet months of July and August, and served as a novel bit of nourishment for the region’s hungry hockey fans.
You may realize that beginning this summer many of those fans began tuning in to the NHL Network, now offered on select cable systems about the region, to satisfy their puck-lust. I think it should be Comcast’s aim to retain them all 12 months on the calendar.
Another idea for a fan-friendly feature in summer might have been to sit down with Head Coach Bruce Boudreau not long after his Jack Adams win and explore in depth — again in feature-length fashion — his extraordinary run in Washington last season. You already know how accomplished a story-teller he is; so why not roll the cameras and allow him, removed from the soundbite setting of the in-season arena, to tell his insider’s tale? My prediction is that the editing on your end would have been distinctly minimal. Washington this summer is home to the greatest coach in hockey — but who visiting our city this summer would have learned that while here?
Washington this summer is also home to the greatest player in all of hockey. Beyond Comcast’s producing something substantive such as a feature-length profiles, I also wonder at the absence this summer of quick-hitting broadcast blurbs related to Alexander Ovechkin’s remarkable rise to the very top of his sport. When he had all that hardware surrounding him in his stylish tuxedo up in Toronto in June, you guys asked us for some photos we published of it. Those stills in some fashion should have been aired on Comcast every day this summer, just for mere seconds, so that the tens of thousands of tourists in our town could have been reminded that they were visiting a city home to hockey royalty.
Earlier today, Gustafsson wrote about Michelle (CapsCrazy) and Dave (Flipper) and their epic wedding cake. CapsCrazy was kind enough to share some of the reception photos with me. It looked like quite a party- Goat, the Horn Guy (complete with horn), and frequent commenter Grooven were in attendance, among others. Even Wes Johnson, the voice of the Capitals, was there.
Guests wore their hockey sweaters to the reception, so there was a colorful display of jerseys from all over. The Caps were well-represented, of course, but there were also Boston and Florida jerseys in the crowd. There was even a wee Leafs fan.
The Capitals’ film crew interviewed the happy couple during the reception, so don’t be surprised to see some of the footage at a game this season.
Congrats, CapsCrazy and Flipper!
Looks almost like the real thing
The aftermath
Flipper and CapsCrazy with Wes Johnson
Duff Goldman - Ace of Cakes
I guess the title is a bit misleading as Lord Stanley’s visit was brief and it was a few months ago, but you still have a chance to see it. Perhaps I should explain.
Turn back the clocks to August of last year where Dan Stienberg introduced us to Michelle and Dave, better known on the Caps’ official boards as capscrazy and Flipper. They began dating when the lockout started and Dave popped the question in June of last year. When Dan met the happy couple, they were taking pictures at Kettler for their “save the date” cards.
And so there’s the rehearsal dinner at Kettler, and the hockey puck favors, and the introduction, during which the wedding party will wear jerseys and the priest will be dressed as a referee and they’ll all pass underneath an arch made of raised hockey sticks.
The cake, naturally, will be shaped like the Stanley Cup, provided the bakery–Charm City Cakes in Baltimore–can pull it off.
If you don’t know, Charm City Cakes is the home to one of the Food Network’s most popular shows, Ace of Cakes. Owner Duff Goldman and his staff make “out-of-the-ordinary” cakes from exact replicas of acoustic guitars to life-like basket of flowers and everything in between.
To make sure Michelle and Dave’s Stanley Cup looked just right, Duff enlisted the help of the NHL and the Hockey Hall of Fame. Lord Stanley made the trip to Baltimore’s Charm City Cakes to pose as model for the wedding cake. Duff is a hockey fan and a hockey player, so why not try to pull some network television strings to work along side hockey’s holy grail. Yes, the cameras were rolling and Lord Stanley’s appearance on Ace of Cakes debuts on the Food Network this Thursday night at 10pm.
Here’s a sample of Ace of Cakes:
Perhaps Charm City Cakes will be commisioned to bake a cake for this season’s Winter Classic, they’ve already done Wrigley Field once.
OFB reader Kathleen today gave us an encouraging heads-up from a recent shopping trip in the area:
“In the check-out line at Shopper’s [Food Warehouse] I was drooling looking over the candy to my right and I looked up to the generic Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, and Old Navy $25 gift cards that are always there. But this time was different. What did I see? A $25 gift card to NHL.com, that’s what. Almost bought it too, just for kicks. Wanted to share my hockey moment, in hopes that maybe . . . just maybe . . . hockey truly is catching on in this town.”
Have you noticed similarly unusual bursts of pro hockey enthusiasm among area merchants this summer? Or just unexpected brushes with our game, in unexpected places? Share them with us if so.
Why hasn’t the Colorado College hockey team won a National Championship since 1957? Well the folks at LetsGoDU have compiled some impressive and entertaining information, and their deeply-dug research suggests that CC may be cursed. Click here for the full story, and kudos to LetsGoDU for providing a welcome hockey diversion this summer.
We’re all waiting, patiently but impatiently, for the start of rookie camp in less than three weeks. NHL.com whets our appetites with these profiles of the Washington Capitals‘ impressive stable of youngsters chomping at the proverbial bit, including Karl Alzner (perhaps the most likely addition to the October roster), Semen Varlamov, and Oskar Osala:
Osala, who signed a three-year entry level contract with the Capitals in June, played for the Espoo Blues in Finland last year, scoring 18 goals and 17 assists in 53 games, while earning 62 penalty minutes and was named Finland’s Rookie of the Year. He finished second on the team in goals, fifth in assists and points and was tied for third in penalty minutes.
The Vaasa, Finland, native was the Capitals’ fourth-round choice (No. 97 ) in 2006. From 2005 through 2007, he played with the Mississauga Ice Dogs of the Ontario Hockey League, collecting 87 points (39 goals) in 122 games over two seasons. Osala shared the tournament lead with four other players after notching five goals for Finland at the 2007 IIHF World Junior Championships.
“(Coach) Bruce Boudreau really liked him in training camp last season and was very impressed and wanted to make sure we got him signed, so he got his wish,” McPhee said.
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