Archive for October, 2009

At long last, fans of the Washington Capitals have reading material about someone from their favorite team. I’m not too sure if anyone else in Caps history wrote a book. Sure, Bruce “Gabby” Boudreau has only been around for two seasons, but hey, he’s the guy who we believe will get it done, right? So here it is, Gabby: Confessions of a Hockey Lifer, available here on Amazon. Something to do in between watching the Caps games. By the way, the forward is written by Don Cherry, who is disliked in D.C. because of comments about Alex Ovechkin.

Sure, Halloween isn’t until Saturday, but that didn’t stop the Caps faithful from dressing up Friday night as Washington squared off against the Islanders. Let’s take a look:

When one Giroux just isn’t enough!

Sidney Crosby scored two regulation goals, then notched another in the shootout to give the Penguins a 3-2 win against the Panthers on Friday. But any Washington fan who was watching may have noticed that the Pittsburgh faithful did not throw their hats onto the rink for Crosby’s goal. This is in contrast to the Capitals fans, who littered the ice with their hats after Alex Ovechkin also had two goals and a shootout tally last weekend. The point? Apparently, Pittsburgh fans know what a hat-trick is. However, Capitals fans are not too worried as they know they will have [...]

With a goal and two assists, Capitals defenseman Jeff Schultz outscored teammate Alex Ovechkin (who was held without a point) as the Capitals beat the Thrashers, 5-4. In the first period, Schultz had a beautiful head-man pass to Eric Fehr, who scored on a breakaway. In the second period, Schultz dumped the puck from the Caps’ zone, it went the length of the ice and bounced over Atlanta goaltender Ondrej Pavelec’s stick. Schultz also assisted on Matt Bradley’s goal a little more than a minute later. It was Schultz’s first three point game in his NHL career. Caps goaltender Semyon [...]

Alex Ovechkin scored his third goal of the game against Nashville on Saturday and naturally, the fans threw their hats onto the ice. Only, it wasn’t a hat-trick. It was a shootout goal, which doesn’t count toward players’ goal stats. “I don’t think it’s ever been done in the history of hockey. That’s a Washington original,” Coach Bruce Boudreau said in the press conference, as the journalists erupted in laughter. Play was halted for a few minutes to clean up the hats. “Find out if anyone has ever thrown hats for a goal that doesn’t count as a hat-trick,” Boudreau [...]

Shortly after games end, the Capitals locker room is a media circus surrounding Ovechkin and a few other players (not all) who do notable things in the game. The cameramen film as Lisa Hillary and other on-air talent ask questions, while the print folks squeeze together and hold up their recorders. The Russian press is usually there as well. While the same holds true after Thursday’s 4-1 victory over San Jose, there was another recognizable face asking questions – Redskins all-star tight end Chris Cooley (along with backup tight end Todd Yoder and Chris’s brother, Tanner). “Don’t touch me, Ovie!” [...]

It’s not often that the Sharks come to D.C., and it’s even rarer for the Capitals to beat San Jose. The last time the Caps beat the guys in aqua blue: Feb. 20, 1999. The Sharkies have won all 11 matches since. But this is the year, right? The streak ends. Caps win. Here’s another nugget of info: The Sharks are the only team that Alex Ovechkin has not scored against. That all changed quickly in the second period as Ovie netted two goals in 28 seconds.