Hey Caps, there’s a game going on…

The Caps are about as consistent as my cooking skills, so not very. They looked like everything was going great and they were turning around their disappointing play of late,last game against the Jets.

Then the Caps decided playing well and winning was no fun, so they reverted to their old form. Old form meaning barely their defense, heart lacking more than the tin mans, and sloppy offense.

I don’t get what these guys are trying to do, or not do it seems. They have a star-studded offense (and defense) capable of putting up huge numbers, but they’re playing like they’re lost and don’t know what they’re doing. They certainly can’t be “saving themselves” for the Playoffs, because the way they’re playing, they might not make it.

I get that they just got a new Coach and are adjusting to a new style of play, but no Coach wants a little over 20 shots on goal in a game. Not to mention the frequent defensive lapses. If a player hardly ever makes a good play and is near invisible 90% of the time, shouldn’t you bench him instead of a guy who isn’t as much of a defensive liability? Take notes, Hammrlick.

I just don’t get it, they have the ability to be winning the majority of the games they lose, that’s no secret. What is would be how they’re playing, they just act like they don ‘t give a crap a majority of the time. Hopefully Hunter can figure it out and turn it around, they’re screwed if he doesn’t.

To quote the veteran winger Mike Knuble, “Playoffs? What Playoffs?”

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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.

Hey Caps, there’s a game going on…

I am absolutely disgusted by the Caps right now (now being the end of the second where the Jets scored 3 goals). I have never seen such a lack of effort, heart, or play by any team I have ever watched. Much less the so touted “best team in the NHL”. My PE floor hockey team play better than these guys and 3 of the players don’t even play!

How is it that we have some of  the, arguably, best players in the NHL but we fail to win game after game to easy opponent after easy opponent. And for chrissake, our defense isn’t even at the game! Did we lose them at the airport? If our defense is so lacking in depth that one player makes or breaks the team, then we need to reevaluate the players we have.

Last year we had our infamous eight game losing skid; something changed, the Caps finally got the message, playing Ottawa of all teams. This isn’t an eight game losing streak, yet. But with the way the Caps are playing, I wouldn’t be surprised if we finished at the bottom of the league.

Something has got to change. At this point, I don’t care if it’s players, coaches, or whatever. Some thing has got to get across to these 22 players that they have to play hard, every damn minute they are on the ice. I don’t care if we’re winning by 50 goals with 10 seconds left.

Someone has got to get the point across to them, you don’t win by standing around in your zone watching pucks fly into the net. are they going to get that message, for the 50th time? I damn sure hope so.

Incase you weren’t aware…

There are THREE count them THREE periods in a hockey game Caps! AND GUESS WHAT!? If you don’t play all three you get screwed and lose. ANOTHER THING rounding doesn’t work in the NHL, if you play 55 mins. you can still lose 3-1 to the Predators!

Also, just because you get the lead late in the game doesn’t mean you’re just automatically going to win taking the last few minutes off. The defense has to show up, and you know, PLAY! And the offense can’t skate in circles either, you have to be present and playing hard until that final buzzer goes off if you expect to win.

I am utterly disgusted with the Caps effort of late. It’s not Boudreau’s fault either, he tries everything under the gosh darn sun to get these guys to play! They’re the ones on the ice making the plays, not Boudreau. He can yell, gnash teeth, pull hair, and eat Hageen Daaz all he wants; but until the players show up it’s about as useful as doing the hula.

Ovie, Knuble, and the like can talk all they want tonight; calling their team various names. But until the attitude on the ice changes, it doesn’t matter anymore than what I ate for breakfast.

If we keep playing like this, with the amount of talent we have, we aren’t even a prayer to do well in the Playoffs. Hell! even make the Playoffs. Yes, it really does matter now, because this is when we really see what teams are made of. And I can tell you this much; the Caps are about as impressive as the Florida Panthers were last year.

The only redeemable thing tonight? Vokoun standing on his head and Troy Brouwer’s goal, at least two people showed up tonight.

The message is simple; show up to games and play hard for 60 minutes. Are the Caps receiving it?

It all started with the Saber tooth tigers…

Helmet? Check. Intense look? Check. Movember mustache? Double check!

That’s right folks! Onthe  first “real” road trip the Caps face the Predators. Sounds scary, right? Their 8th place in the Western conference? not so much. That’s not to say they aren’t a good team, they are 3rd in their division (that ain’t saying much) and have Defensive fire power Shea Weber.

That’s not to mention the suddenly Pekka Rinne who’s save percentage is an impressive .929%  and has 8 of their 16 wins under his belt. And last but not least, the Preds offense. Well, lack thereof… It seems the Caps have found the Preds kryptonite seeing as their offense (minus 3 players) has shown up about as much as the Caps defense. Yeah, not so hot.

Does this mean this game will be a piece of cake? not at all. With a hot goalie and equally hot defense, we’re going to have to stay on our offensive and defensive toes. you aren’t off the hook either Vokoun! If the Caps stick to their guns and just play good hockey, we should be fine. But without Green *gulp* things could get a little hairy from time to time. I’d also love for Brucie to get the memo his crazy line changes AREN’T working and just causing Caps fans minor heart attacks. Can we win this game? Yes. Will we? depends on who shows up and, most importantly, time.

“Paging the Caps defense, would you please come to the Verizon Center? the Ducks are kicking our asses!”

You know that thing of where players help protect their own end and prevent the goalie from having to play twister while standing on his head? yeah, that’s called DEFENSE. Something of which the Caps are significantly lacking!

Where can we check this out!?

Look, I know we won. Woohoo! pop the bubbly! But in reality, we have some major things to fix. You know, our weak as diarrhea defense and our inability to rush the net. If we don’t fix those things, we’re just where we were last year. Out far to early with far too much talent.

This isn’t a new problem either, this has been going on a LONG time. Think when I could quote Barbie out of Barbie Rapunzel. The issue isn’t that we   don’t have talented players, we do. But they just aren’t  playing smart defensive hockey.

I get we have some extremely talented offensive minded Defense guys, like Green and Carlson. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t responsible for their own zone. Their number one job is to protect their own zone, clear the puck, and help the goalie. Scoring goals and getting fancy comes afterwards. That’s how you win games. And THAT is how you win the Cup (See: Boston Bruins).

Ducklings vs. Caps…

Today’s game pretty special. Nope, not because it’s the first day of November. Or because it’s the first game back at home after our disastourous trip to Canada (yikes!), but because one very special Andrew Gordon will be playing against his former team. And a fan base that still very much loves him.

I refuse to post a picture of him as a Duck!

He’s just one of those players who you miss. Kinda like when you went on that really long road trip and lost your teddy bear, you missed him but there wasn’t anything you could do about it.

Of course, this doesn’t mean we’re going to go easy on these water fowl. Oh no, we’re about as pissed as a wasp who’s got his nest stepped on. All I can say is, we need tighter D.  How do you expect to play agianst offsense heavy teams when your back ends as weak as diarehea?

He had hair!?

And seriously Brucie, what’s with putting Knuble on fourth line. FOURTH [insert explicative here] LINE!! I hope you realize you put the guy who put up one of the very few tallies against the Canuckleheads! Ugh, go get a chemistry set. You’re killin’ me.

Tonights lines, as of now (aka when I should be doing Gov homework, oops…)

Forwards

 First line:

Ovie(8)- Backstrom(19)-Brouwer(20)

Second line:

 Eakin(!!?)50-Mojo(90)-Semin(28)

Third Line (aka Meat ‘n’ taters!):

Chimers( 25)- brooksie(21)-Wardo(42)

Fourth line (which has almost all of my fave players on it!):

Hendy( 26)-Matty P(85)- Knuble(!!?)22.

Defense

Brucie, I hate you.

First line:

Hebrew Hammer(44)- Wideman(6)

Second line:

Schultzy (55)-Alzy[the wondertwins are split up!!](27)

Third Line:

Erskine[glad to see him back!!] (4)- JCar [aaahhhh!! *still flipping out*](74)

 Goalie

Vokoun in net, go figure.

PS- Thanks for the shout outs! @thedugsmusic (capsbasketball.blogspot.com) and @PuckBuddys (Puckbuddys.com also on RMNB)

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…

 

My dog ate the Tv feed?

Dang, knew that wasn’t going to work! but sadly, again, I could not watch the Caps game. Why, you may ask? It was a little something to do with flooring…

As all of you know (or will now) I’m going to have a sis come November 9, whom I will enforce hockey upon the day she arrives in Cibly Hospital. THe only real issue is our little 500 sq ft one story was simply not big enough for three women, Mark, and Pepper (I’m exaggerating…a little). So contractors party crashed my summer, meaning I had to get up before mid day, and ripped our roof off adding a second story.

This Odyssey is coming to an end (points if you got that reference) and all they have left is he flooring. It takes two weeks to put flooring in and stain it, two weeks! So I’m laid up in Falls Church’s finest, Marriott: Towne Suites which decided to get every NFL channel under the sun but didn’t spring for the NHL Network.

But that was the least of my worries as my dad decided sharing a room with a 9 month pregnant lady and a teenage girl was a way better decision than springing for two rooms. That also means there s one, count them one Tv. And guess what was on last night? No, not a Caps game (which we LOST) but Greys Anatomy. Which is clearly way more earth shatteringly important than the Caps first West Coast road trip. Does this brilliant logic run in the family?

So no, I didn’t watch the game. I heard all about cracking someones chest open and clearing another persons arteries all the while the Caps chances of going 8-0 were dying. Do we call Dr McSteamy in on that one? So tomorrow, unless McSteamy does overtime…

The West Coast road trip, here we come Canada!

It’s that time of year again folks, When it gets all snowy in Edmonton! Wait, that’s all year. Nevermind…Anyway, it’s that time of year! When the Caps make their first (of many) to visit our lovely western hockey teams and hopefully kick their derrieres.

Our fist game on the West coast is against the Oilers. You know, the team Gretzky played for. Nope not LA, yup the one way up North. In a city where it never stops snowing (or at least that’s what I hear). Edmonton. The Oilers are long past their heyday. In fact, I think this is like a really (REALLY) bad hangover from their dynasty era (read more about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton_Oilers) So far their doing ok this season, mostly due to prodigies Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Taylor Hall. When playing against “serious” competition (see the Caps) we’ll have to see how well their young stars can do…

Back to the Caps, They’ve been hot lately. Like hot as my grandmamma’s biscuits right out of the oven, hot. Of course that’s dependent on two very important factors; Vokoun actually plays like his reputation credits him and the D is solid.

For the game in Edmonton, we’ll probably be without “young gun” Mike Green due to an injury in the Detroit game (the game I didn’t watch. See: Consequences, consequences, consequences…). But Vokoun is starting, which is good unless he reverts back to the Vokoun that played against Tampa *shudders*.

In the end, I predict the caps get the W. The Oilers will put the pressure on, but against a hot team and insatiable goalie, we’ll be too much to handle. My prediction? Caps win, with a 1-2 goal lead. Kinda tight, but I predict a low scoring game. Until the game starts, it’s any mans guess. Who knows? maybe tomorrow will be the night of an Ovie hat trick…