TJ's Shutout at Verizon Center
IMG_2098.jpg
Grandson TJ Wood made his debut in the nets at the Verizon Center January 24, 2013 between the second and third periods of the Montreal Canadiens/Washington Capitals game.
Representing the State of Virginia in the 8 - year division, young TJ shut out the opposing Maryland shooter in three shootout attempts while the Virginia shooter rallied to beat the Maryland goaltender three times for a 3-0 win.
Good job, TJ!
Should the Caps Be Buyers or Sellers
By Rodger M. Wood
After losing to Tampa in overtime and Florida in regulation last Tuesday and Wednesday, and falling out of first place in the Southeast Division into 9th place in Eastern Conference playoff hunt, Caps management faces the dilemma of should they become buyers or sellers before the NHL February 28th trade deadline.At the end of the first half, Caps’ balanced play was getting playoff worthy. Before the losses in Florida, they won 5 of their last eight games with one loss in overtime against Pittsburgh. In their last game of the first half, they beat last season’s champ Boston in a dramatic 5-3 win. Centering a line of wingers Alexander Semin and Marcus Johansen, Caps second year center Mathieu Perreault scored a hat trick and started making the fans forget they were missing three of their four top scorers on the ice.The bottom line is Niklaus Backstrom is still out with concussion symptoms, which if as bad as Sydney Crosby’s condition, could keep him out the rest of this season. His blatant elbow in the head nemesis Rene Bourque should have been suspended for as many games as Backstrom was hurt, but the Brandon Shanahan system does not consider injury to a player in its award of punishment as his 3 game suspension of Ovie for a non-injury check demonstrated.Until banished for three games for his hit on Penguins’ defenseman Zbynek Michalek , Ovie was scoring and hitting like the “Great One” of olden days. While not penalized in the game by the referees, he was cited by NHL disciplinarian, Brandon Shanahan for rising up on his skates and targeting Micalek’s head with a hit. The three game suspension is negligible as long as the punishment does not make Ovie a pansy on the ice again.After Ovie returns against Montreal Saturday, the Caps will still be missing Backstrom and defenseman Mike Green’s potent offense. While Green is starting to skate again after his operation, hope is eternal, and fans should remember Caps Tom Poti, who has been out the better part of three seasons with a groin injury.In the next week or so, Caps Vice President General Manager will have has to bite the bullet to decide whether Perreault will do the offensive job long term or should he buy another center and defenseman to replace the injured players before the 2012 playoffs or just chalk everything off and sell off some core players for prospects, who they believe can help win all the marbles next season.If you’re into fantasy hockey, maybe the lowly Islanders would be interested in giving up center John Tavares for defenseman Jeff Schultz, forwards, Alexander Semin, Joel Ward, and a prospect or draft pick, or fighting for a playoff position, maybe Western Conference Nashville Predators would be willing to give up All Star defenseman Ryan Suter, who is a free agent this summer, for a package of players, which gives them more offensive punch in the playoffs.With a tough schedule coming up in the home stretch, the Caps need to do something. They can’t rely on Backstrom and Green coming back to get them out of trouble.They face off against Montreal away Saturday and come back home to face Boston in a matinee game Sunday at the Verizon Center..
Maybe Boudreau Should Sit Down Ovechkin or Semin!
By Rodger M. Wood
Although the Caps are 1-4-1 in the past six games, not all is bleak with the Capitals nowadays.They started the season off with 7 straight wins, have won 10 games of 17 for the season, and are tied with the lowly Florida Panthers for the Southeast Division lead with 21 points.Forwards Mike Knuble, Troy Brouwer, Matt Hendricks, Brooks Laich, Jason Chimera, Joel Ward, defenseman John Erskine plus goalie Tomas Vokoun are playing hockey and earning their keep.But at the game last night, I could hear the lowly 6-9-3 W-L –OL Winnipeg fans sarcastically jeering Ovie and Coach Boudreau after the home team Jets took a 4-1 lead at 10:54 of the second period.Indeed, the Caps looked like a joke. Coach Boudreau wasn’ t getting 100% effort from his stars, they weren’t forechecking, chasing down the puck, or crashing the net, were taking more foolish penalties, and getting weak goaltending, while Jets goalie Ondrej Pavalec did acobats, stopped shot after shot at the other end of the ice and Jets second year pro Evander Kane, scoring two goals, almost had a hat trick.Awhile back In the Pittsburgh game, which the Caps won 3-2 in OT, it was embarrassing when Penguins tough guy Arron Asham, former Capitals forward Dale Hunter’s lookalike, mocked the Capitals manliness after he decked Caps forward Jay Beagle, effectively putting him out of the lineup with a concussion the last nine games, and in return, was not pummeled by a single Caps teammate’s blows.Except for fluky wins against the Red Wings away and the Ducks at home, the Caps have also been embarrassed in successive losses to the Oilers, Canucks, Predators, Stars, and the other physically tough Western Conference foes they have faced this season.If the stars are not scoring goals, and shying away from the toughness of the game, what would be the loss in keeping one of them off the ice watching the game from the stands?After the Jets loss, the Caps were tied with the rejuvenated Florida Panthers for the Southeast Division lead and 6th place in the Eastern Conference playoff race, only a point ahead of defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins and division rival Tampa Bay Lightning. If they don’t start winning again soon, the Caps will fall out of the 8-team conference Stanley Cup playoff contention.Resting Ovechkin and Semin during game critical situations, Boudreau is desperately trying to awaken his fading star power. So far unsuccessful, maybe instead, he needs to sit one of his super stars down in the stands for a game or two, while other Capitals restore Capitals’ self - respect.
The Caps Need Heart To Win The Stanley Cup
By Rodger M. WoodLike the Marines, our theme for the Caps’ 2011-2012 season will be “acta non verba,” or “actions not words.” We’re tired of getting all fired up at the beginning of a season, only to be let down with the team’s early departure from the Stanley Cup playoffs.After the Capitals hockey season started the season off with an overtime 4-3 win over Carolina Saturday night, Caps fans are hearing the same old song and song, “The Caps will win the Stanley Cup this season.”The sage editors of the Hockey News are singing the same song predicting, “This will be the season the Capitals bring home the Stanley Cup.” However, without showing the heart, or mental and physical toughness the Boston Bruins did last spring while winning the prized trophy, I think we’ll be in for another long hot summer, our 36th in a row, since the Caps came into being the 1974/1975 season.We can only hope Caps VP and GM George McPhee watched how the Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens up in seven games last spring, the Philadelphia Flyers in four, Tampa Bay Lightning in seven, and the Vancouver Canucks in seven.Goalie Tim Thomas, forwards Patrice Bergeron, Nathan Horton, David Krejic, Milan Lucic, Shawn Thornton, defensemen Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg, and Johnny Boychuk and the rest of the Bruins were talented, but more importantly, demonstrated they had the courage, grit, durability, mental and physical toughness to beat tough opponents.Our Caps were more talented than the Bruins, and displayed star power during the regular season, but core stars, captain Alex Ovechkin, Nicklaus Backstrom, Alexander Semin, and Mike Green failed to show the internal fortitude necessary to win in the playoffs.You can’t measure the heart of a hockey player or team until they are in the thick of the playoffs. During the summer, McPhee acquired some free agents, Troy Brouwer, Joel Ward, Roman Hamrlik, Jeff Halpern, and Tomas Vokoun , who look good on paper and may perform well in the regular season, but without Ovie and the core stars setting the example in the playoffs, our Cup efforts will still be futile.Novice Caps fans, I hate to dampen your enthusiasm, but we’ve heard the same old story many times before, and won’t believe it until our Cap stars bring us home the Stanley Cup.Winning the Stanley Cup will speak louder than any words used to drum up season ticket sales or fill up the Verizon Center stands.
Capitals Must Change Their Ways
By Rodger M. Wood
Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon with their proposals for ending the Caps bad play of the past two weeks.They’re on a six game losing streak, looking a lot like the 1974 Caps team that won 8 games the entire 1974-75 season.They’re playing so bad, their last loss was a 7-0 wipe out by the dismal New York Rangers at Madison Square Gardens, where the NY fans actually cheered for their own team again.Our Alex the Great and other Caps snipers have been blanked 4 times in the last 10 games.You can comfortably blame our woes on the flu and injuries and anything else, but I was told a long time ago by a wise man,“ it’s not the size of the dog in a fight, but the size of the bite in the dog that counts.” And right now, Capitals, I don’t think the bite is very big.I can remember seeing Dale Hunter sitting outside the Capitals dressing room on a bench all by himself, steam coming out of his eyes and ears, getting ready for a game and coming out on the ice with fire in his eyes. You didn’t dare to get near him before or during a game if you were in the enemy’s jersey.
I can remember Ivan Labre getting his butt kicked every night because he was proud of a team that lost most every night.We’re well past that point in Caps history and I love the Caps more than anyone knows, but, unlike a father making excuses, pampering and spoiling his child, I have to call it as I see it. They’ve enjoyed lots of success in regular seasons with the way they played, but now it’s time to peak in the playoffs rather than the regular season. To do that they need to make some changes now.The Caps are being out-coached. Opposing teams are stacking the deck with four players playing back in the offensive zone, they’re blocking shots, and making their goaltenders look like superstars on mostly harmless perimeter shots. Boudreau has to come up with the strategy, motivation and the players to beat this defense.Forwards Ovechkin, Backstrom, Laich, Knuble, and Semin are not scoring and have lost the fire in their game. Alex O. fought Dubinsky the other night, but he’d better expend that energy on hard checks and leave the fighting to D.J. and others. Boudreau should bench these players if they continue underperforming or McPhee should send them on their way to Hershey or trade them to another team.We have our stay at home defenseman in Scott Hannan and when he learns the system, he should be exactly what the Caps need on the blue line, but when is Mike Green going to take his tough pills, and check someone without getting shoulder injuries every time somebody blinks at him.
Rookie Defensemen John Carlson is going to be a great one someday but I’m getting tired of seeing him faked out his jock on 1 on 1s. Maybe, he should be put out there with Jeff Schultz or another veteran defensemen, who can help protect him from this embarrassment.I think we need also need a veteran goaltender; one who stays healthy and can stand on his head in the playoffs. Varlamov and Neuvirth are good young goaltenders, but I don’t want to see them destroyed in the playoffs again.Our guys will come out of their funk, and make the playoffs but they will not go anywhere until they regain the fire in their eyes, make some changes, and get more bite in their play than the opponents. Then they’ll win the Cup.
Capitalpowerplay.com images by PhotoByThom.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
2011 Winter Classic Simulation: 2K Sports NHL 2K11
Hockey news is slow, but the puck has started rolling and will be gaining momentum soon to the point that most of us may struggle to keep up. My primary news gathering device is an Apple iPhone and recently, while looking for something interesting related to hockey, I started to search the iPhone App store. A simple search for the "NHL" brought up 2K Sports NHL 2K11.
Hmmm... it sounded interesting and it was on sale for $1.99 (normally $6.99). There is even a Lite version for free if you care enough to give it a try. Good enough, I bought it and began my first game, a 2011 Winter Classic simulation.Now I am an occasional gamer and had played similar games on the Playstation nearly a decade ago. The controls were similar to the old controls and the old muscle memory allowed me to catch on fairly quick. Advantage was still in the hands of the computer controlled Penguins though.Game Summary:The Pens were all over the ice and maintained a solid puck control. Crosby weaved in and out of the Caps defense and fired multiple shots to challenge Varly, but he stood tall. Probably because I was not controlling him. As the bench boss and virtual player control, I had my gloves full.
By the second period, the Caps had played well enough for a 0-0 tie. Not too exciting for a Winter Classic, but hey we weren't losing, so we had that going for us. This was especially good since the Caps defense was slow and often at the wrong end of the ice. That is when I was controlling them. They somehow followed the game plan better when I wasn't controlling them. Go figure.
Through the third period it was much of the same until this virtual Bruce Boudreau finally put the puck on Ovi's stick. The clock was ticking down... 10 seconds, 9, 8, 7 and at 6.6 seconds, it was if Ovi took the controls and worked his magic. Down the boards he skated with a weave and his signature shot right past the defender. Caps beat the Pens! Caps win! Final score: 1-0.Now, a 0-0 game might not do well for the Winter Classic ratings, but a game winner with under 10 seconds left would be golden.
As for the game, it was entertaining and offers the option to play the 2010-11 NHL schedule. At $1.99 it was an easy buy. At $6.99 a maybe. For kicks, I may play each virtual matchup just before the real Caps matchup and see how how the genie in the iPhone does.
A Dream Within A Dream
As if still in a dream, the slowly building tempo of Dick Dale and his Del Tones' Peter Gunn coaxed me into the early hours of the morning. I rose into the darkness and staggered out of bed to begin the day searching through my mind fog when it hit me like Alex Ovechkin on Jaromir Jagr. From above the shower came a glimmer of morning light. The light that signals a new day and all that comes with it, but with this morning came the reminder of the crushing defeat I witnessed last night as our Washington Capitals unceremoniously exited the playoffs.I had planned on penning the "And We Squeaked By" article, but was left speechless as time evaporated and the Habs rose from the bench in jubilation. Instead, I am left with a "Didn't See That One Coming" headline. People will talk about this as an epic failure and choke. For a moment, I even though about the cruel irony of this blog's title, "The Capital Power Play." Before I found my way out of the morning fog, I reluctantly tuned the radio to sports talk and so it began.Fire the coach! The minor league coach will never win a cup! Mark my words!""Trade Ovi, he will never lead this team to a championship!""Green for the Norris, you must be kidding!""Semin is useless!"It went on and on for 15 minutes until I was blessed by a commercial. The multitude of articles were in some ways harsh, but for the most part fair. Hockey blogs from all over the country were making the inevitable Ovechkin - Crosby comparison and a Rangers blog had a single image of Ovi as he left the ice with the word "Elimin8ed" in bold. Opposing team fans will revel in our loss while Caps fans will continue to look for the answers. Some will be back in their seats next season and likely some will not. The fans in this town can be tough and rightfully so in many cases. From all the analysis, anger and discontent, rose one comparison that stood tall. Tracee Hamilton of the Washington Post made the comparison that allows me to keep the faith in this young Capitals team. Yes, this is still a young team and yes, young teams have won the cup, but most teams pay their dues well before the cup comes to town. So the comparison of the Ovi era Caps to the Yzerman era Red Wings may have fruit to bear. Read it here. It is relevant as Detroit was ready to run everyone including Yzerman out of town during that era and yet if they had, they would have lost the opportunity to see themselves in the reflection of the Stanley Cup not once, but three times. Four if you want to count Yzerman's time in the Wings front office and maybe five if they can maintain the momentum from their game seven win against the formidable Desert Dogs.No matter what you think about the Capitals, the Canadians exceeded expectations and played well out of their league. They ran a stifling defense, and had goal tending that would have made Stonewall Jackson proud. Coaching made all the necessary changes and they deserved to move on.Another irony in this saga is also in the fact that I am currently reading "The Business of Happiness" by Capitals owner, Ted Leonsis. It may be tough to be happy with the Capitals business at the moment, but one of Ted's tenets of happiness is gratitude, so I will take a shot at it here with my final season thoughts.*Through over 30 years of Capitals fandom, I have never experienced a more exciting regular season.*The President's Trophy as it hung over the backs of the Caps like and albatross has never been seen in this town before and hey, the Sharks dropped the first series last year and are now moving on a year later.*At least the old media knows that we have a hockey team now.*The fans of this team have grown in epic proportions and though we may lose some, I can now say, most people don't look at me with a blank stare when I mention Capitals hockey.*We had our own Caps TV show!*We have dozens of new media blogs to keep the faith and keep us up to date on the Caps news.*We have ownership that is committed to winning the Cup. We may not have it yet, but there is always hope when people are committed.*My children's preschool had a "Rock the Red" day!*And best of all, my three year old Brendan thinks Brendan Morrison is the greatest hockey player ever! My 5 year old built a Caps shrine of hockey beanie bears and my 7 year old, made posters throughout the season to cheer the team on.Let some time pass, keep the faith and the Cup will come... even if it takes 37 or 38 or 39 years.
Do The Caps Have A Goalie Controversy?
By ThomJust eight minutes into game, the Capitals found themselves dominating the Canadians, but strangely with a two goal deficit on two Habs shots. Both shots went glove side with nary a reaction from Caps goalie Jose Theodore. Fraught with the risk of losing the teams motivation and confidence, coach Boudreau made the change and in went Semyon Varlamov in a delayed repeat of last season's first round against the New York Rangers. The move last year sparked the Caps and allowed a hard fought series win, but will Boudreau mirror last year's change and keep Varly in the crease for the duration of the playoffs or was yesterday's move only temporary? Are this years circumstances different?
Clearly, something was afoul for Jose Theodore in last nights first eight minutes. In game one, he appeared to be right on with fluid saves and a resilience or groove that had thrilled the Capitals fans throughout the regular season. That is up until the overtime game winner by Tomas Plekanec. Last nights game made it three goals in the last three shots against Theo and arguably three that could have been stoppers. Was it nerves? Who knows, but Theo's season may give him a pass for last night and see him in the nets again tomorrow night. Varley was good last night, but still hasn't blossomed into last seasons playoff form. What do you think? A goalie controversy or a temporary setback for Theo?Capitalpowerplay.com images by PhotoByThom.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Don’t Take The Montreal Canadiens Lightly! (or Better Yet, Don’t Count Your Chickens Until They Hatch)
By Rodger Wood
I don’t want to jinx our Capitals but they’re heavy favorites going into their first preliminary Stanley Cup playoff series against the eight seeded Montreal Canadiens tomorrow at the Verizon Center.Why not? They won the President’s Trophy with the best overall record in the NHL this season, finishing 33 points ahead of the Canadiens in the final standings.They scored 103 more goals than the Canadiens and lost only 15 games in regulation during the regular season.The Caps had an awesome offense and balanced scoring getting 20-goals from 8 different forwards and a good share more from their defense too.During the regular season series, the Caps beat the Canadiens twice, lost a game in regulation and won one in overtime.
But anything can happen in the Stanley Cups Playoffs. There is always an upset in the first series. Montreal is a hellacious place to try to win a hockey game and the home team has the 2nd best power play (next to Washington) in the league.The Caps cannot take any stupid penalties, need strong goaltending from Jose Theodore and/or Semyon Varlamov, and need to come out of the gate the first period on the run. They must finish their checks and Alex O. must continue to play the game with abandon.While the Washington Post, and USA Today and other hockey soothsayers predict a Capitals series win in 5 or 6 games, I think you have to take one game at a time and think about the next series, only after you have won four games.As an old hockey philosopher once said, “You don’t pack the equipment bag before the game is over and you don’t start celebrating until the buzzer rings and your team is ahead. And as his contemporary, the old farmer said, “You don’t count your chickens until they hatch!