Capitals Outsider » 2011 » October

Washington Capitals Zombie Cards

Philip Van der Vossen — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:41:46 +0000

Capitals Outsider is proud to present the Washington Capitals Zombie Card Set, just in time for Halloween. Luckily the sparkling vampire thing is fading out, and Zombies are all the rage right now thanks to The Walking Dead. So we’ve created this trading card set (after the jump) of your favorite Capitals, zombified. Feel free to collect these images and trade them with your friends, but please leave our logo on the bottom, so everyone will know how awesome we are.
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Hershey Goes Pink, with Surprisingly Good Taste

M. Richter — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 22:16:37 +0000

Whenever the words “Hershey Bears” and “Specialty Jersey” are used in the same sentence, I cringe. To be honest, whenever I hear “specialty jerseys” in general, some small piece of my soul dies (the rest cackles in unrestrained, if childish, glee). The Bears, though, they tend to have a flare for the unfortunate. This may be due in part to the fact that Hershey has an incredibly strong fanbase that is willing to spend money on any and every object-of-interest that the team is willing to put on the market.

For example, this summer their 2010 Holiday Jersey made the Bleacher Report list of 30 Ugliest Special Uniforms in Sports. This season is off to a somewhat more sedate start:

Braden Holtby stretches during warm-ups wearing this year's Pink in the Rink jersey.

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Fast Ice and Hooking Calls in Edmonton

Ben Sumner — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 05:02:42 +0000

Let’s forget about last night’s 7-4 debacle. I couldn’t help but wonder how a team like the Capitals – the least penalized in the league – took so many penalties against the Oilers the other night. The obvious answer is that the ice in Edmonton is much better, which means players skate faster, which means players who aren’t used to that ice may have trouble adjusting and use more desperate measures to slow down opponents. Then they’ll sit after being whistled for hooking, tripping or holding. So while it’s still relatively fresh, we’ll look at the data from the season so far to see if this indeed is the case.

Let’s start with Edmonton:

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The First True Test of the Season

Jeff K — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 23:49:36 +0000

The Capitals suffered their first loss of the season on Thursday, a 2-1 decision to the Oilers in Edmonton. Some fans may point out that the loss of Mike Green contributed. Some will point to the way that the game was officiated – in Edmonton’s favor. No matter how it gets spun, the fact remains that the Capitals lost and are no longer undefeated. However, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Ask any Caps fan, player, or member of the front office if they would take a 7-1-0 record after the first eight games, and they would jump all over it. No team has ever, nor will ever, record 164 points in a season. While most people will point to other games thus far and say that they were the biggest games of the year (Detroit or Pittsburgh to name a few), Saturday’s game in Vancouver is truly the most important game of the Capitals season to date, because it will so far be the only example of how the Capitals respond to a loss. This game will also be the biggest measuring stick to compare the Capitals to being a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

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Capitals Pumpkin Carvings

Philip Van der Vossen — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:28:10 +0000

This time of year brings out the creativity in many Sports fans, and Washington Capitals fans are no different. So in honor of Halloween, we’ve gathered a collection of Capitals themed Pumpkins from around the Internet. As you can see, many find the … [visit site to read more]

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Hockey ‘N Heels: Hottest Ticket in Town

M. Richter — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:44:09 +0000

An attendee receives shooting instruction from Peter Bondra at the November, 2010 Hockey 'N Heels (Photo Credit: Katherine Eickhoff)

Here’s a little-known secret for the 70+ % of DC hockey fans who are of the masculine variety:

There’s a Caps event that’s harder to get tickets to than the Winter Classic or the Stanley Cup Final, and it’s just for us girls.

I’m talking, of course, about Hockey ‘N Heels. It’s an evening of instruction about the basics of hockey, hosted by 3-4 players and a few of the team coaches and alumni. Normally, it’s a form of rookie hazing – last year’s “hosts” included Marcus Johansson, Braden Holtby, DJ King, and Matthieu Perrault, though familiar faces Semyon Varlamov and Tyler Sloan were also in attendance. The concept is getting to be more widespread event as it’s proven successful, as well – the Pens host one, and there are similar events scattered around the NHL.

That being said, it’s almost impossible to get tickets. I don’t mean “Stanley Cup Final, tickets start at $500 on Stubhub” impossible, I mean “Nothing on the resale market and only 200 to start” impossible. While the number of attendees for Hockey ‘N Heels has been kept reasonable static for the last few years, interest amongst the female fanbase has exploded in reaction to increasing popularity and visibility of hockey in the region. Tickets have been selling out online in under five minutes for the last two years, and it’s gotten to the point where it’s a roll of the dice whether one will even receive an option to purchase at all – yesterday morning the Ticketmaster sub-site that handles the sales was overloaded before the tickets were released, and the problem wasn’t resolved until after the event had sold out.

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Hockey ‘N Heels: Hottest Ticket in Town - Capitals Outsider - Capitals Outsider - A Washington Capitals blog

Alex Ovechkin Portrait Unveiled

Philip Van der Vossen — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:22:54 +0000

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Silent Auction for Flashes of Hope a Huge Success

Nicole Weissman — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:57:28 +0000

Photos by Nicole Weissman

When Caps fans gave a loud standing ovation during 12-year-old cancer survivor Anthony Holley’s ceremonial puck drop at the start of Saturday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings, it was the beginning of a night that would end with fans donating $28,225 through a silent auction benefiting Flashes of Hope.

During warm-ups, the Caps wore special jerseys with their names and numbers outlined in purple, the signature color for cancer advocacy. Each player signed his one-of-a-kind jersey, and the pieces went up for auction on the lower level of Verizon Center.

The table was crowded during both intermissions, and the jerseys quickly climbed in value, with some topping the $1,000 mark by the beginning of the second period.

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Silent Auction for Flashes of Hope a Huge Success - Capitals Outsider - Capitals Outsider - A Washington Capitals blog

The Interview We’ve Been Waiting For: Jay Beagle

Ben Sumner — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:15:10 +0000

Photo by Alena Schwarz

The Caps’ win streak? We’ve read about that already. Now let’s get back to the only player on the team with a fighting major this season: Jay Beagle.

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Beags. He’s been ‘injured’ (not a concussion) since the Oct. 13th fight against Arron Asham of the Penguins, and the team hasn’t said much else. Other than Karl Alzner tweeting about him, there hasn’t been much to add.

Until today, when Mike Vogel caught up with him.

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Remember the Rivals: Hershey Edition

M. Richter — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 20:29:54 +0000

If you ask a random hockey fan on the streets of the DC metro area if the Caps have a rival, you are likely to get one of three answers:

The fan in question will launch into an explanation of how evil Pittsburgh is for existing/drafting Sidney Crosby/daring to win a Stanley Cup (estimated at 50%).
The fan in question will tell you that they’re pretty sure that the Penguins are our rival, but they’re not entirely sure why that is (estimated at 25%).
Or the fan will admit that they’re primarily a fan of whichever team they supported before work moved them to Washington, and that whatever rivalry Caps fans think they have can’t possibly compare to [insert home team here]‘s burning hatred of [insert rival team here] (estimated at 25%).

Wherever you fall in the above spectrum, there’s no arguing that Washington likes to get itself hot and bothered every time the Penguins come to town. In Hershey, they feel the same way about the Baby Penguins (technically, they’re the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, but for the sake of clarity they will henceforth be known as the Baby Pens on this blog).

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