Ovechkin vs. Crosby, just stop already

While enjoying the absolute blowout by the Caps (they’ve finally found their groove this season) I saw some “Crosby>>>Ovi” business. This has been going on sense they both came into the league and I’m sick of it. Yes, they are two of the most elite players in the league. Is Crosby more so than Ovechkin? That’s up to you to decide, I’m not getting into that. What I am going to get into is the fact these players play two different positions, play on two different teams, and have two different systems. They are therefore not comparable to one another and their individual talent should be respected.

First off, Ovechkin is a winger. He’s played both left and right wing with varying success. Crosby is a center. Yes they’re both top notch scorers but they have different positions thus different jobs. Centers tend to be players who create plays and set up goals while wingers tend to score the goals (some hockey 101 for ya). Is this always the case? Absolutely not. But Crosby is also well known for impressive point streaks, not just goal streaks.

Last I checked, but I may be wrong, Ovechkin plays for the Washington Capitals and Crosby plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Another fun tidbit; they play in different divisions and therefore, against different opponants. Do they play some of the same teams? Yes, they do. But the frequency is completely different. The different division they’re in as well as their team mates can influence goals scored as well as points. A team playing the Panthers, per say, is going to have more scoring opportunities and goals scored than a team playing the Chicago Blackhawks. You feel me?

Finally, the systems are different. This is SO SO SO important and I feel like some nitwits out there don’t get the relation. Let’s take a trip back in time, shall we? Remember Hunters infamous defense first system, the one where games were decided by one goal and those goals were few and far between? Yeah, kinda hard to score 50 goals when the emphasize is on dump’n’chase and defense. Bylsma’s system is completely different and focused on the strengths of the team, which is obviously scoring. While Oates is the Caps head coach now, and he does support a more offense system, I think you see what I’m getting at. When Ovi played under Boudreau, for the most part, his goal tallies were higher than under the more defensive Hunter system.

All I’m getting at is that Ovechkin and Crosby are two completely different players and should be respected as such. So please, for the love of all things hockey, put this stupid “rivalry” aside. It’s pointless and is as useful as comparing apples and oranges.

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WANTED: A coach. Preferably hockey oriented and sassy

When I actually hauled my sick butt out of bed this morning to walk the two feet to my desk (two very long feet, let me tell you), I got on the Twitter machine to the newa that, low and behold, Coach Dale Hunter is now EX-Cach Dale Hunter.  He said a lot of sappy stuff about family first and how he’s a dad, husband and son first, yadda yadda he’s going back to coach the London Knights. Well, ok then. I’m not really surprised, honestly, he just didn’t seem like the kinda Coach for the Caps long term.

Now that the most unsurprising breaking news ever has been delivered, the Caps have a mission. Whether they choose to accept it or not (they’d better, buster!), to get a Coach. Preferably hockey oriented and sassy.If worse comes to worse, I can see Ovie doing a Reggie Dunlap. But come on now, people, we need someone with a big sass factor who can do commercials and is no stranger to giant cup holders.

Now, I personally have no idea who’s going to be the Caps next Coach or who is being considered, but his qualifications should include;

-Fluent in english and sass

-Knows how to work a ref. Screaming is optional, but welcome.

-Good facial expressions, has to be able to sell it.

-Gives great sound bites during pressers and sasses the press (sass is mandatory)

-Partakes in so bad they’re good commercials (I need Hadeed!)

-Owns more than one suit. And tie.

Can GMGM fulfill these hefty guidlines? We shall have to wait and see. Until then, let us reminace the awkward half season of Dale Hunter era hockey and prepare ourselves with open arms for our next (opefully longer term) Head Coach!

It ain’t over ’til it’s over…it’s over

For someone with usually so much to say. I’m speechless. Did that really just happen? Did the Caps really just lose in the second round? I just…don’t know what to say. I “should” be used to this bull crap. But I’m not. Who could be? It’s your team that you watched the entire year (except the games you missed because you were throwing your shoes at walls, but still) and now…they’re out.

The game. What is there to say? we lost 2-1 because the guys just couldn’t get the puck on net and the goalie who shall not be made was apparently mad eof steel. Caps, you played hard. I know you guys really worked your tushies off and I’m not angry. Just sad. Thanks for all your hard work this Playoff series. It was a tough loss, but I’ll always rock the red.

To all the people who read this (all less than 10 of you!) thanks for reading and all the support, you’re really helping me realize my dream of (hopefully) becoming a sports journalist one day. Thanks a lot and I hope you come back next season.

Au revoir.

CAN YOU HEAR US?! Oh, wait…that was last season

The Caps are actually playing…well. In the second round. Yes, this is for realz. Crazy business, I tell you! Even though I’m not Hunters biggest fan (he takes a bit to warm up to), he has really proven his style of play in the post season. And I must say, I’m most impressed.

If you’ll remember last year during the playoffs, game 4 ended in tears #IsItOctoberYet? hashtags, and much gnashing of teeth from Caps fans as the Lightning, of all teams, very well butchered the Caps in 4 games.

A memory the Caps hoped to erase today winning game 4 against the Broadway Blueshirts tying the series at 2 a piece. Considering New York got 1st in the East this season and the Caps got 7th (talk about role reversals, eh?), this has been a good series.

There have been some ups and downs, game 1 was a bit of a bummer, late nights, I’ll take a 3 OT and a Pepsi, please. These teams seem to favor multi-OT games, remember the “Chimeracle on 34th St.”? And, of course, some awesomesocks goalie matchups. Can you believe the Caps “rookie” goalie is the only goalie in the Eastern Conferance Playoffs to have not lost two games in a row? Yeah,  me either.

It isn’t just Braden “brick wall” Holtby leading the Caps to victory, but the other players have really stepped up. The defense is more present and in the zone helping ward off goal-hungry Rangers with the puck and the offense has done a great job of pressing the attack and putting shots on net, which lead to goals.

Good win today boys (and thank the hockey gods you guys kept in regulation), just keep doing what you’re doing and you never know, you could be invited to the White House this summer.

PS- Go check out @TheDugsSports blog (http://capsbasketball.blogspot.com/)It’s a great Caps blog and I write pregames for him.

Leave my Kitties alone!

I have a confession to make, guys. My love for the Caps and only the Caps isn’t pure, it is tainted by the Florida Panthers. How I fell in love with this hidiously uniformed team, I cannot say. All I know is, it started with a man.

This man’s name is Matt Bradley. No, it’s not the fan girl “I want to so smutty, smutty things to you covered in sweat” love, but true admiration of his skills, dedication, and hard work on the ice. Not to mention he’s a bad ass brussel sprout.

If Brads wasn’t enough to make me fall in love, adding Theo and Flash jsut tied the satchel. The Kitties (Panthers) are my second favorite team. Can you really yell at me for cheering for them when they won the Division? Or when they clinched a Playoff spot?

I’m still a hard core, Caps are my life Caps fan, I just enjoy seeing my Kitties play and wish them well. When they aren’t playing the Caps, of course. Why don’t y’all just get your knickers out of a twist, calm down, and enjoy the fact the Caps are in the Playoffs instead of bashing a team theat worked really hard to get where they are.

IT’S PLAYOFF TIME!!

THE PLAYOFFS ARE HERE PEOPLE!! THE CAPS ARE FACING THE BROADWAY BLUESHIRTS IN HOPES OF A RE-Wait, what? The Caps are playing the Bruins? Mushrooms…*gulp* well, as I was saying, the Caps are in the Playoffs! The day I never thought would happen is! *happy dance* Ok, let’s get down to business, folks.

The question is; who are these skating bumble bees and what do they want from us?

These bumblers go by the name of the Boston Bruins, residing in a place they call TD Garden named after the bank promoted by that really annoying guy. They dress in gold and black, bearing the resemblance of bumble bees. But they’re named after bears (wait,what?).

I is bumble bee and bear!

They have the likes of Chara, Marchand, Seguin, Lucic, and Thomas in between the pipes heading their tough as nails ’11 Cup champs. Am I the only one who’s afeared of these skating fashion disasters? (granted, not as bad as Philly or Nashville, but still)

Let us have faith, red nation, the Caps won their series against Boston in the regular season. Granted, the Caps are notorious for kicking ass in the regular season and rolling over dead in the Playoffs, but maybe going backwards (kinda) will result in a shiny, silver thing.

What can we expect Thursday? I have no freaking idea. I’m not a psychic, I can’t even remember tomorrow’s forecast. Let’s just hope it involves some major Bruins tushy kicking.

 

Caps on the road, in Boston, with four goals…

Means a matinée win! In a victory over the Bruins at TD Garden.

This game was very significant for the Chinatown heroes (totally copy righting that, btw) seeing as they’ve been on a downward spiral which would effectively kill any chance of them making the Playoffs. Considering the same basic team ont he Presidents Trophy two years ago, that’s pretty bad.

Luckily, the Caps were able to do the seeming impossible and beat the defending Stanley Cup champions 4-3 in regulation. On the road, I might add. Not that a win on the road against such a good team wasn’t a big enough feat, but the Caps PP and PK looked sharper than the Yoshi blade this afternoon.

Four goals is a pretty astonishing for this struggling team, but what was even more astonishing were the people who scored. Semin got his 18th career goal this fine afternoon along with Hendricks netting his fourth, in the first. Beagle came out strong tickling the twine for the second time this season and Laich tipping in his 13th of the season.

Crossing my fingers here, but a two game baby streak is a good start for a turn around for this Washington team that will lead, hopefully, to the Playoffs and Beyond!

Troy Brouwer the Power Ranger strikes

The first 20 minutes of this game has been the fast passed, high shots game Caps fans are used to. Not only did the Caps strike first, via a Brouwer backhand at 13:59, but they were able to hold a lead going into the locker room, which is a pretty big deal for a team struggling with scoring this season.

Hunters messages about shots and nets and defense finally seemed to click tonight, at least so far. the Caps have outshot the Canes 13-10, which is a positive sign in hopes of them coming back from their recent losing streak and getting back on track for a Playoff spot.

So far, so good for the Caps. Let’s hope thier momentum from the first leads throughout the game and helps them secure a win over a division rival which will hopefully get them two points closer to winning their division and securing their Playoff spot.

Caps drop a bomb…again

Sunday was Part II of my dad’s “Caps Christmas package”. To say the very least, it wasn’t what we bargained for.

We took our character building seats in the rafters, Hendy signs in tow (well, I drug my signs out), ready to view the Caps mighty comeback from their pitiful 5-0 loss to the Devils. Well, the whole comeback thing didn’t exactly work out as planned seeing as Philly scored the only goal of the game on a questionable turnover by Ovechkin.

Ovechkin’s turnover lead to a non-benching where he sat their, looked pretty and took two shifts, Hunter was solving the universe with his line matching the rest of the second and third, apparently, because Ovechkin was definitely not bench. Nope.

While the game, you know, what you pay an arm and a leg for, was going on, Paps and I were thoroughly entertained by the delightful Flyers fans sitting in front of us. Not only were they drunk off their ass, but they were loud and drunk off their ass. A lovely combination, let me tell you.

While he Flyers fans were annoying, but not unexpected (sadly), what I was really irked by was Rihana being played. Everyone has their own music taste, that’s great, but it’s hockey. Not a preteens birthday party. Just stick with rock, guys. Pop isn’t for hockey and never will be.

Even though the game was a bit of a bummer because the Caps lost, all was not in vain seeing as I did see a fight. Granted, it wasn’t Hendy doing the ass kicking, but Brouwer showed the Flyers what’s what. He was even polite in letting Hartnell fix his hair so he’d look pretty getting thrown down.

The trade-less deadline

Yeah, yeah the deadline was monday of what week I don’t recall (umm, last week?). Regardless, the Caps did diddly squat. Which, frankly, surprised me. The Caps are a team with a good core of young, talented players so they don’t really need to do an overhaul (well, yet anyways). I get that, but getting rid of players who haven’t really contributed much so far this season in terms of scoring or defense (ahem, you know who I’m looking at) for guys who actually play worth half a twinkie would’ve been a smart move.

Who is worth it?

I know McPhee said he didn’t want any “rentals”, but rentals can turn into buys if you like the way the guy plays and what he contributes. Not to mention guys who are usually rentals ask for much less (Scott Hannan, anyone?) and are usually pretty solid (See; pretty much anyone we got before the deadline last year).

As far as the right deal not being out there, to put this nicely, Roman Hamrlik for anyone (or anything) would’ve been a great deal. And I’m pretty sure Ward for a few picks or grinders would’ve worked (considering that seems to be the style of play Hunter’s enacting).

Over all, I’m not bemused. Backstrom probably won’t be back in time for a lasting impact trying to get in the Playoffs or, if they’re lucky enough to get in, actually make it past the first round. Center depth isn’t their only problem either.

As I’ve been saying all year, the Caps need stronger defense. I was really hoping the deadline would bear some fruit in form of competent defensive defensemen. Sadly, Mcphee didn’t see the need to pounce on any of the eligible dfefensemen.

In the end, though, GMGM is the General Manager for a reason. He knows what he’s doing, well, I hope so at any rate, and hopefully his caution bears fruit in form of a Playoff appearance this season. Until then, we’ll just have to play the waiting game.