Flashback Friday: Ollie The Goalie in 2006
Flashing back to March 4th in 2006, fan favorite Ollie Kolzig takes a break at the bench during an away game at the Atlanta Thrashers Phillips Arena.I personally loved his masks, but surprisingly some didn't.Check out more about Ollie here and about "Athletes Against Autism" which he founded with Scott Mellanby and Byron DeFoe.
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Memorabilia Collecting Experiences in Detroit during the 1950s
by Jack CrossRecently Rodger asked me if I still had any of my hockey autographs and pictures from my boyhood years and if so, would I copy and send them on to him for The Capital Power Play. He also asked if I would write a short piece about how he and I collected these items back in Detroit when we were youngsters living in the same neighborhood.Back in 1950 I began by at first collecting just baseball cards and later football cards. About 1953 Rodger introduced me to writing to the players to request their autographs either on gum cards or asking a player to send a signed postcard. After the football season had ended, we started writing to the hockey players (especially the Red Wings) to keep our interest going before baseball started back up in the spring. This is how I came to have these hockey players which are posted on the site. Jack Adams was then the GM of the Red Wings and he was very accommodating. I would send him a sheet of typing paper with the title of the RED WINGS at the top and he would get all the players to sign it. I would then paste as many pictures that I could find of the players whose signatures were on this sheet. We used to also get autographs of the players outside of their locker rooms when they would come out to board a team bus. It was great fun and I still enjoy looking through my collection today. I hope you might also find it a bit interesting to see these old time pictures yourself.I'll add a bit of an addendum here to explain my entire collection. In 1972 Rodger paid me a visit from his home in Sterling Virginia to my current home of Dallas. We talked about old times and he rekindled my interest in again collecting cards and autographs of the current players. I did this for about three or four years before I gave it up. Collecting became more of a business rather than a hobby and players started charging for their autographs. People were always asking what something was worth. The fun of collecting became less, so I just quit. I retired in 1999 and with the extra time I had, I started to organize my entire collection. I separated all the sports: baseball, football and hockey and within each sport I further separated each team in to albums. So, in hockey I separated the six NHL teams of that time: the Red Wings, the Bruins, the Blackhawks, the Rangers, the Maple Leafs and the Canadians. Since I didn't have that much hockey material, I could fit it all into one album Today I still get pleasure out of perusing through my collection and thinking back to all the fun we each had.
Flashback Friday: Caps Share Fallen Hero
By Rodger M. Wood
The Caps also have a fallen hero. Garnet Edward “Ace” Bailey, who died when United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City during the September 11 attacks, played left wing for the Caps from the 1974-1978.Ace tried calling his wife 4 times unsuccessfully on the Flight 175 from a phone in row 32 when he had been seated at takeoff in row 6.“Ace,” as he was fondly called by the Capital Centre fans, came over to the Caps from the St. Louis Blues 49 games into the Caps’ inaugural 1974-75 season and what turned out to be his best NHL scoring season with 19 goals, 39 assists, 52 points. In 22 games with the Caps that season, he scored 4 goals and 13 assists.The left winger quickly won fans over with his intense, determined style of play on the ice and his gracious, smiling and ready to sign autographs and pose for photos with fans style off. He was a very popular Capitals player right away.A team player, he usually helped his teammates win on or off the ice. As a junior hockey player, he won a Memorial Cup with the Edmonton Oil Kings in 1966, and later as a NHLer, Stanley Cups with teammates, Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and the Boston Bruins in 1970 and 1972.He also got his name on the Stanley Cup in 1985, 1987, and 1990 while a scout with the Edmonton Oilers.During the 1978-79 while a member of the WHA Edmonton Oilers, he mentored young Wayne Gretzky.In 568 games in 10 NHL seasons, he scored 107 goals, and 171 assists.Tragedy, however, followed in his footsteps as his father Irvine Bailey, star forward for Toronto in the 1920s and 1930s, was cross checked from behind, almost killed, and had his career ended by Eddie Shore when he was 30.Ace was Director of Pro Scouting for the Los Angeles Kings living in Lynnfield Massachusetts at the time of his death.
Flashback Friday: Former Cap Kelly Miller Calls Olympic Hero, Ryan Miller, “Cuz.”
By Rodger M. Wood
Former Caps forward, Kelly Miller, can call 2010 Olympic hero, and USA goalie Ryan Miller “cuz” and get away with it, even if he never had the chance to score a goal against him in the NHL.Kelly and Ryan are two of ten Millers, who played hockey at Michigan State, including Kelly’s brothers and former Caps, Kevin and Kip, and Ryan’s brother Drew, who is currently playing for the Anaheim Ducks.Kelly came over to the Capitals from the New York Rangers in a blockbuster trade on January 1, 1987, which sent a Caps #1 draft pick and 50 – goal scorer Bobby Carpenter to the Big Apple.A strong, two way forward and always a plus/minus leader in 13 seasons for the Capitals from 1986 to 1999, Miller was a key man on face-offs, penalty kill, a clutch scorer and set up man.He scored 24 goals and assisted on 26 for the Caps 1990 Wales Conference Finalist, but injured much of the season, scored only 2 goals and 5 assists on the Caps 1998 Stanley Cup Finalists.He was an iron man most of his Caps career, playing in 1,057 regular season and playoff games, while scoring a total 162 goals and 246 assists.Kelly Miller closed out his NHL career as an assistant coach for the 2001 -02, and 2002 -03 NY Islanders.Brother Kevin played 10 games for the Capitals the 1998-1999 season and Kip 138 games the 2002 - 03 and 2003-04 seasons.
Flashback Friday: Donald Brashear vs. Zedano Chara 2008
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Flashback Friday: Henri"The Pocket Rocket"Richard
By ThomAs we start getting our feet wet with this blogging thing, we thought we would add "Flashback Friday." Every Friday we will try to highlight a player from the past. Could be a former Capital as we slowly scan some of Rodger's film negatives or just a player we find interesting. Sometimes, it might just be some interesting memorabilia.
For the first Friday, we are going to start with an authentic autographed Henri "The Pocket Rocket" Richard postcard sent to us by a friend. Henri Richard finished his career the same year our Washington Capitals were born.Rodger grew up watching "The Pocket Rocket" play against his home town Red Wings and I may even have seen him play against the Caps as I attended several games with my father in 74. Not likely though as he only played 16 games that year.Watching the Capitals vs. Lightning tonight and another goal for Knuble! 18 goals in his last 22 games.