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.

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On the third day of Christmas, a true Caps fan said to me…

Flyers suck! Is what you were thinking, right?

Tonight marks the second time these two clubs meet, out of the four times total this season. The last time the Caps and Flyers met, things were going great. The Caps were undefeated and were on an 7 game winning streak with no clouds in view.

Fast forward to now; the Caps 17th in the league, with Philly 3rd. While those stats are pretty bad, the Caps are on the turn around having won their last two games and ready to make it a full-fledged winning streak by adding one against a bitter rival.

This game isn’t going to be a piece of cake for either team. Both want to win, to beat a rival and to improve their standings. The Caps are also still transitioning into the new system Coach Dale Hunter has set out for them, although things did seem to finally click the other night when the Caps played Toronto, beating the Leafs 4-2.

The Flyers are also battling injuries with Chris Pronger out due to an eye injury, which follows his reoccurring knee injuries. The Flyers are on a winning streak as well, which makes this game even bigger. No predictions from me tonight, but expect an intense game, as usual when playing a rival.

That’s all for tonight folks! I have a Caps game to watch and some Government to  do.

Canada 3, Caps 0

Canada pulled another win on the Caps yet again. But I must note, and to quote the great Holden Caufield, Semin played like a “sexy bastard” during the first period. And he wasn’t the only one, if hockey games were only 20 minutes long we would have so had that one in the bag! (or at least a pity point).

It doesn’t work that way, though. Sadly. you know, I could just go on and on about the Caps defense and how they were left in Nashville,scratch that, first round against the Rangers in the Playoffs last year. But I’m not, it was so blatantly obvious the players might have well just not been on the ice.

what I’m going to address is effort and accountability. Those are two things the Caps are severely lacking in, which they really shouldn’t be.

It’s one thing to be playing good, smart,a nd hard hockey and lose. No one’s going to be extremely pleased about it, except the opposing team, but no one’s going to pitch a temper tantrum and throw their shoes at the wall.

It’s a completely different matter if you’re playing like a bunch of girl scouts, standing there looking like an idiot watching a guy go one-on-one with your goalie and score.

I’ll give you one guess to figure out what way the Caps played last night, and if you watched the game, I don’t really think you need to guess. The Caps played pitifully last night, I’m honestly shocked every player on the Jets roster didn’t score a goal! We had absolutely no presence in that game. Effort? unheard of.

If the Caps just played like the team they’re capable of playing like, our losses would be less frequent (I know we’d still lose games) and a little bit more close. Unlike a 4-1 loss that wasn’t even a game after the Jets scored their third goal. It was a game we could have easily won! but maybe that’s the problem, we get cocky with a lead and blow it. But I would think after dancing around this barn, game after game and Playoff crap out after Playoff crap out, they’d figure it out! Clearly not.

That leads to my next point, accountability. No one can make the Caps play, no matter how many times Boudreau goes on a F-bomb laden rant until his face goes blue, no matter how many bag skates he makes them do, and no matter how many wackadoo line combinations he makes.

It’s not going to do a damn thing unless the players themselves commit to playing every game like it’s their last and just playing with heart and grit. Honestly, Ovechkin has never been the kind of player to be a Captain and never will be. He’s a fantastic player, but he isn’t Captain material. I don’t care that he’s the “face of the Caps franchise”. The Caps need a real leader who’s going to actually motivate them, because that’s what’s going to motivate them.

Until we have a real leader who makes his players accountable for their actions and makes them go out and play like a respectable hockey team, they aren’t going to play any harder or any better.

DJ King on waivers…again

Oh DJ, where would our fourth line be without you? Well actually, they wouldn’t be any different…That’s the problem. As much as I love grinders (grinders gal for life!) and as much as we need grinders (come on, you know we do), they have to be able to do more than just get into scraps.

DJ, I love you to death, but the point of a succesful goon is to be able to play hockey as well as tear it up. And by play I mean score around 5 goals and, ya know, not turn the puck over.

If you look at our beloved goons stats, you’ll see he doesn’t really accomplish either of those things. To sum up his stats this season (he’s only played 1 game) is, well, zip. Zero. Nada. He has nothing across the board. Granted, he has only played one game and he is a goon. But if you look at his stats from last season, well, let’s just say they aren’t anymore impressive.

DJ isn’t a bad guy, and he isn’t a bad player. But the way he plays and his position on the team, so to speak,  isn’t speaking to the type of team the Caps are. Yes he is one player, and yes he doesn’t play every game looking for fights. But playing him against a team sends a real message. And is that the kind of message we want to send?

The whole reason I ask this is because that’s what DJ is asking himself. Being in the NHL means something, something important. It means you are an elite player, a player capable of playing above hundreds of thousands of other hockey players.

DJ is playing in the elite league of the NHL. Or at least he’s supposed to be. He’s a healthy scratch game after game, day after day, week after week. Until maybe, just maybe the Caps decide a goon might actually be a good idea. He just waits, for the opportunity to do what he loves.

Wouldn’t you want to have the chance and ability to do what you love? Of course that’s a yes! So why wouldn’t DJ King want to be put on waivers? being put on waivers is essentially letting all other 29 teams know he wants something different. The ability to actually play more than 10-20 games a year. Would you hold that against him?

While no one picked DJ up while on waivers this time, the message was sent. He wants to play. Whether or not the Capitals organization listens to that or keeps him as a healthy scratch game after game. The answer to this question will be answered in the up coming days and weeks. Until then, we’ll just have to see if his message was picked up. Or if he was left hanging.

You can’t come to Canada, eh? Canada comes to you!

It’s snowing. Not only is it snowing, it’s October in Falls Church. That’s like DJ King scoring a hat trick on Henrik Lundvquist. It, just-no. That being said, the Caps are on their first road trip of the season in Canada. And Canada was so kind to send some of their weather our way, sadly they forgot the moosehats and maple syrup. 

No mooses were killed in the production of this hat

 So far the Caps have had their tushes handed to them by the Oilers, in true Canadian fashion, eh? But the Caps hope to change that line tonight against the Canuckleheads (my adoring nickname).

It wouldn’t be a Caps game without a little drama, so let’s  throw in Greeners twisted ankle and an incorrigible defense. Is the popcorn ready yet?

If our teams drama wasn’t enough to earn itself a spot on SoapTv, Vancouver is overflowing with Jersey Shore rejects. Well not overflowing…

“It’s called GTL…”

All greasy hair jokes aside (there are a lot), Luongo will either be a brick wall or a fluttery tarp. I’m rooting for LOLongo, personally…

Let’s not forget tweedle dee and tweedle dumb Henrik and Daniel Sedin. Pretty much, the Canuckleheads only offensive power

houses (minus helmet hair Kesler). I won’t bore you with the rest of the roster, their all your typical American/Canadian chokers…(sound familiar, Caps fans?)

 

Well, that’s all for now folks! It’s time for college football as the October blizzard of 2011 continues…

 

Matt Bradley: the Spark Plug

As all Caps fans know, our trusty fourth liner has gone to a sunnier place, literally he was traded to the Flordia Panthers, it’s time to pay homage to our “Spark plug” as The Express put it.
Not only did he bring game changing energy to the game, he was just a great guy on and off the ice.
As The Express puts it “Need a momentum changing hit? Bradley’s your guy.” Bradley was the momentum changer, every game I watched that needed some changing around he always went out, guns a blazing to get the momentum going our way.
Of course, he wasn’t just a steller guy on the ice. He helped out in the community, like one Christmas he went (with his wife) to give presents to a poor family and spend the day with them. Just being a good guy and helping his community. A spark plug.
While Caps fan my not be able to tweet his montra anymore (#NEEDSMOREBRADLEY anyone?) I’m sure Panthers fans will carry on the tradition of our lovable spark plug, better yet great player.
We’ll miss ya Brads, I’ll always cheer you on (unless you’re playing the Caps, I have a sworn duty). Have a kickass season and be the best spark plug out there.