Team Varly Time?

It seems there has been a lot of debate since the season started about which goalie the fans prefer. I think it’s time to address Team Varly, since I pretty much gushed over Neuvirth last weekend.



I haven't even had a chance to photograph Varly in his 1 sweater yet!



Here’s the thing, I kind of hope Varly is in net tonight. I am ready to see how he plays. Let’s be honest, debating between the two goalies at this moment is actually a moot point. We haven’t seen Varly in regular season action yet this year. Who’s to say which one is #1 without having that factored into the equation? And, at this point, why do we even have to designate either of them as #1 in the first place?

I actually think, as far as NHL teams go, the Caps are in an enviable position having these two 22 year old goalies on the roster. Both of these players bring different styles of net minding to the ice. What NHL team wouldn’t love to be able to pick their goalie based on their opponent on any given night?

Several quotes from Boudreau on the situation yesterday: “Whoever is playing better; for the most part; if they’re playing equal, we’ll split.” And- “They will both get chances to play and somebody always comes to the forefront.” And- “Whoever is playing great will play.” And- “They will indicate who will be the player, not me.” And, finally- “It might be late March before we decide on this.”

As Caps fans, let’s not pick sides. Let’s table the debate until both Varlamov and Neuvirth have had opportunities to show their stuff. Let’s enjoy the position our team is in. Our chant should be “Go Caps” no matter who is between the pipes...Any questions?

Team Neuvy: A Mood Ring Would be Wasted on Him

Last night, Michal Neuvirth reached another career milestone, his first NHL home opener. And what a game it was! Our baby Bear goalie is no longer, he is a sharp NHL goalie and I for one am damned proud of him.

After the game the night before, I think we all went into Verizon Center with very high hopes and very high expectations, and we were duly rewarded. But for me personally, I was most eager to see this:

And also get my first ever chance to watch another great goalie in action, (but sadly for him, it just wasn’t Mar-tay’s night; thank goodness):

You all should know by now, I am a fan of the man behind the mask, (yes, this applies to baseball catchers as well as hockey goalies). These are the guys who most often endure the entire game, getting 100 mph pucks bulleted at them, players crashing into them; often more than one at a time, taunts from the home crowd, and the agony of having a puck get past them and into the net. These are the players who have to shake off all of those things, keep their head together and in my book, they deserve one of the three stars of the game in any win.

I was extremely pleased to read Tracee Hamilton’s article in the Washington Post this morning about our Caps goalies. My favorite line from that article:

              Neuvirth is a technician in goal and a mood ring would be wasted on him.

 (I want a shirt made of this: Team Neuvy. A mood ring would be wasted on him. Who's up for it?
  10/10/10 7pm- Update- This is in the works, faithful readers, in the works. Will post link asap.)

Looking back at last night’s game, truer words were never spoken. Neuvy was composed, sharp and totally focused. He showed a new maturity that went above what he had displayed in the past. Nothing seemed to rattle him, even the fact that he had two goals scored against him and had a loss the night before. Going into this 2nd game in just 24 hours, he proved to the team and the fans that he had what it takes to be in that net. In that span of 24 hours, Neuvy played 119 minutes and stopped 64 shots on goal. And even though he had 6 goals against him overall, you should be impressed with his .906 save percentage. Not so bad for the start of his NHL career.

Two other goalie notes here: Please don’t think I am anti-Varly, I’m not. Hopefully, Varly is back on the ice and gets into the game soon, maybe by Wednesday? Since I love the fact that the Caps are going with both of these young netminders this year, they will both have my support 100%. I would like to post a Team Varly article soon. Secondly, even though Dany Sabourin didn’t do anything more then keep the bench warm last night, I would like to commend him on his choice of goalie mask. Nice, clean, classic Caps Weagle on a white background. Loved it for its simplicity of design:

Hopefully, I will have game pics posted to my Flickr account tonight, I'll update when they are done.
Game pics are now up on Flickr, see them here.

Hockey in BlondeSpeak - Waivers

Time for more hockey learning - the blonde way. So, you’ve heard of waivers, right? Want to know what they are? They are a couple of things you need to know in order to understand how waivers work. (By the way, this explanation refers to NHL players, waivers, and contracts. If I tried to add all the other leagues and their rules into this, your mind might be blown. Not the way I want to lose readers, so I’m gonna try to keep it simple.)

First, some people may throw the different types of contracts a player may have into explanations on waivers. So, let’s clear this up. Yes, there are 2 types of contracts, 1-way and 2-way. If an NHL player has a 1-way contract and his team wants to send him down to the minors, the player must clear waivers first. If an NHL player has a 2-way contract, he can usually be moved back and forth between the NHL and the minors without having to clear waivers. (There are exceptions, but for general purposes, that is how it works). 2-way contracts are what you want if you have an injured player so you can call up a guy with a 2-way contract to take his place while the injured player recovers. 1-way/2-way, like streets, get it? But do they really have anything to do with whether or not a player will be placed on waivers? Not really.

Ok, now, there are 2 types of waivers, unconditional and regular. These are the important things to keep in mind. If a team places a player on unconditional waivers, it means that the team has no intention of keeping the player, even in the minors, so his contract can be completely bought out; done deal/game over. If a team places a player on regular waivers, it means the team really wants to keep him, but by NHL rules, they can’t reassign him or recall him from the AHL for “re-entry” without placing him on waivers. Sounds pretty risky, right? There are several conditions about when you can place a player on waivers, such as age, length of contract or amount of games played, etc., etc. They are important but if your team puts someone on waivers, trust they have met those conditions and don’t get bogged down by those pesky details. The most important part is why that player was placed on waivers.

So, let’s look at what the internet says:

~ From WikiAnswers:

Waivers are when a team wants to send a player down to the minors or farm team and they have to "waive" the rights to that player before they can send him down. If another team claims that player he is now their property. If the player clears waivers (no one claims him), he remains the property of the original team and can be sent to the minors. The player may be released and can be a free agent.

~From James Mirtle

Essentially any player that has three professional seasons since signing his first contract, or who has played 180+ NHL games, must go through waivers before going to the AHL. The waiver system allows all 29 other NHL clubs to pick up that player, with teams lower down in the standings taking precedence over those at the top. Players are on waivers for two days, and if they go unclaimed, they're off to the minors.

If they go to the minors and then return to the NHL club, players don't have to pass through waivers again unless they've been with the big club for 10+ games or 30+ days.

Those are both pretty good examples of the waiver process but are they clear enough? Let’s break this down into BlondeSpeak:

Waivers are like eBay. Want to get rid of a player? If he is on unconditional waivers, you put him on eBay with a 2 day listing, because he just doesn’t suit your décor anymore. Let’s hope somebody bids and wins him. Bidders that have lower “ratings” get the pick over any competitive bidder who has higher “ratings”, just to keep things fair. Then you pack him up and ship him out, so long, nice knowing ya. If your bidder is nice, they might even give you a good review on their purchase, but you can bet fans of the player won’t be posting pleasant comments on your eBay listing!

If nobody buys him, you can just let him go, buhbye, see ya. (Kind of like sending him off to the charity bin at Salvation Army, because you certainly have no more use for him. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have listed him on eBay in the first place, right?)

If he is on regular waivers, you hope that nobody bids on him during that 2 day listing, so you can send him down to the AHL. The risk here is a bidder might come along and snatch his butt up and you’ve lost him. But what are you gonna do, you had to put him up for bid in order to send him down to the AHL, you know? That’s why people get so worried and stress out for 2 days during the time a player is placed on waivers. He might be gone by the time the whole listing period is over. If nobody bids on him, he has "cleared" waivers, WooHoo! Just what we wanted!

So, yeah, maybe I didn’t cover all the wherefores and how to’s, but if you want to know those, Google away. I just want to give you the overall simple description of waivers and how they work in essence. I’m a little worried that people are gonna want to get into all those details, but remember; I’m not an expert; I’m just a blonde girl who wants the simple things in life…Any questions?

The 3 C's (Caps-Columbus & Convention)

So I've been a bit of a blogger fail the last 10 days, new job responsibilities have taken a lot out of me, and the next thing I know, IT"S HOCKTOBER!!! (Not to be confused with Octoberfest, which is another reason this month is awesome, but today is all about hockey).

What better way to start celebrating than to go to a preseason game the very first day of the month.

Captain Ovechkin checking out the Blue Jackets during warm-ups

Our chance to watch Hendricks play was short-lived; he was outta the game early ine the first when he was the victim of a heavy check by Nate Guenin.

Come to find out, our own Nicky-Lars required 14 stitches on his leg after blocking a shot during this game. What a trooper! But, this is now old news.

So, what better way to continue Hocktober, then to attend the Caps Convention on Saturday, 10/2. This year I made sure I was going to some of the panels, since I totally missed out last year, due to poor planning. (And this also resulted in a lot lower number of player pictures, since I was happily sitting in adjacent rooms for half the day.

First up, Ask the GM, with GM George McPhee and Nate Ewell. Gotta say, I really appreciate McPhee even more after listening to him during the question and answer session here. While he didn't give any secrets away, I felt he was pretty upfront when he answered questions. Favorite response was to a question about the trade that involved Delle Rovere. Final answer, he has yet to have traded away a superstar. There was one lady who spent at least 5 minutes asking a question, which was actually a good one, but she went off track so many times, I be damned if I can remember what it was.

Next up was the Kids Press Conference. After missing it last year because the room was full by the time I found it, I made sure to be there yesterday. Ovi, Brads and Fehrsie really seemed to have a great time with the kid’s questions. I was pretty surprised how many kids asked questions about fighting and who the guys hated the most (opposing players and/or teams). And you could tell how many questions were actually from the parents. Two things that really stood out - Fehrsie and Brads singing Happy Birthday to one little girl, followed by Ovi singing it a cappella in Russian. Trust me on this, Ovi will most definitely not be making any music videos without some voice lessons. But, seriously, he has enough talent on the ice to make up for that. Second “Awwwww” moment, when another little girl asked Ovi to say something in Russian. His response “You’re beautiful” (not gonna trust free translation here and possibly botch the Russian spelling of that phrase. Who knows what I’d actually be typing!)

Next up, back to the main stage for Coach BB’s Who are the 2010-2011 Capitals? segment. Loved this last year and wasn’t disappointed this year. I especially enjoyed seeing the new jumbotron pictures of the players. As you can see below, a couple were big hits with me.

Next I got in line for my autograph sessions. First up, J-Car and Fehrsie. Congratulated Carlson on World Juniors and gave Fehrsie props on the game the night before.

From there, I went straight to the next line, and ended up with Gordicris and Chimmers. Yes, Chimmers signs as fast as he skates and talks. Gotta say, all the guys were as nice as could be.

Final panel discussion, Blogging the Caps. Couldn’t miss a chance to hear Nate Ewell, Eric McErlain, John Keeley, and Jon Press (otherwise known as @nateewell, @emcerlain, @JohnMKeeley, and @JapersRink). Although the crowd was a little thin, I did enjoy the discussions and questions. But, damned if the lady from GMGM’s panel earlier in the day, didn’t show up again with another very long drawn out “question” for the panel. Once again, I totally forget what her question was. Wanted to stop and say Hi to them all when it was over, but wouldn’t you know, they got fan mobbed when they left the stage. (Guys, I was the blonde in the front row on your far right).

Well, now that the last preseason game is out of the way, it's time for the offical beginning of the 2010-2011 hockey season. Let the hockey begin!

More pictures from the 10/1 game and Caps Convention can be found here.

Hockey in BlondeSpeak - Icing

Ok, I did say I would save this for a post on another day. Guess now is as good a time as any. Oh, and all of you readers that think I’m talking about the frosting that goes on top of cupcakes for the media at Kettler, get out of the kitchen and out to the rink, pronto!

Anyway, I have read everything I can find on the web about it and can see why some people may still be doing puppy dog head tilts when they try to understand what the heck icing is. So, here we go.

First, let’s look at what the NHL rules say:

Rule 81 - Icing

81.1 Icing – For the purpose of this rule, the center red line will divide the ice into halves. Should any player or goalkeeper of a team, equal or superior in numerical strength (power-play) to the opposing team, shoot, bat or deflect the puck from his own half of the ice beyond the goal line of the opposing team, play shall be stopped.

For the purpose of this rule, the point of last contact with the puck by the team in possession shall be used to determine whether icing has occurred or not. As such, the team in possession must “gain the line” in order for the icing to be nullified. “Gaining the line” shall mean that the puck (not the player’s skate) must make contact with the center red line in order to nullify a potential icing.

For the purpose of interpretation of the rule, “icing the puck” is completed the instant the puck is touched first by a defending player (other than the goalkeeper) after it has crossed the goal line and if in the action of so touching the puck, it is knocked or deflected into the net, it is no goal.

Any contact between opposing players while pursuing the puck on an icing must be for the sole purpose of playing the puck and not for eliminating the opponent from playing the puck. Unnecessary or dangerous contact could result in penalties being assessed to the offending player.

The puck striking or deflecting off an official does not automatically nullify a potential icing.

Yeah, that clears everything up! Are you just as confused as before you started reading? Of course you are, I would be too.

Now, let’s look at what about.com has to say:

Definition: Shooting the puck to the end of the ice from behind the center ice red line.

If the puck crosses the opposing goal line untouched, and is then retrieved by an opposing player, icing is called.

Considered a delaying tactic, it results in a stoppage in play and a faceoff in the offending team's defensive zone.

If, in the opinion of the linesman, any player of the opposing team is able to play the puck before it passes his goal line, but does not do so, the linesman can "wave off" icing, allowing play to continue.

The purpose of the rule is to encourage continuous action. Referees and Linesmen interpret and apply the rule to produce that result.

Well, that’s a little better, but let’s go "blonde":

When it comes to understanding icing, imagine this scenario: Caps and Pens are playing hot and heavy in front of the Pens’ net. The Penguins can’t get the puck away from the Caps and are getting frustrated. Finally one Penguin gets a hold of the puck and sends it flying down the ice away from his own goal because they just can’t finesse it away any other way. Now, everybody takes off down the ice towards the Caps net while the puck skids past the red center line, the next blue line, all the way down past the red goal line across the end of the rink and nobody has caught up with it yet. Now, if a Pens player reaches the puck first, the play continues. If a Caps player reaches it first, it’s an icing call against the Pens. The puck is returned for a face off back down at the other end of the rink, kinda back where they started.

A couple things to remember here:

If your team is tired and frustrated, icing the puck will not give you a chance to make a shift change, that’s a no-no per the NHL rules. Too bad, what a waste.

Secondly, if the Pens were playing shorthanded at the time, that desperate measure of whacking the puck down the rink is not icing. Well, they were already being penalized, right?

Finally, a ref can wave off the icing call if they feel the Caps players could have gotten the puck and simply opted not to do so. Total judgement call by the refs.

So, in brief, if your guy whacks the puck down the ice because his defense just can’t seem to get the job done, you better hope someone from your team gets down the ice and gets that sucker before the other team does. Otherwise, you’re screwed…Any questions?

What’s in a Name?

So, another hockey season is upon us. In anticipation of lots of tweeting about our guys, I felt it was time for an updated primer on who we all refer to when we use our own special nicknames for players on Twitter. I’d also like to thank The Hockey Chronicles and Japers’ Rink, who also posted similar lists in the past which contributed to my “research”. (Yes, I actually did research for this post…kinda-sorta). Think of this as a PSA for new Tweeps and Caps fans, cuz you need to know who we're talking about when you read our snark!

So without further ado and in alphabetical order, so no one thinks I’m playing favorites (kinda convenient that Ovi comes first alphabetically, isn’t it?), here we go:

Da Playas:

Alex Ovechkin: AO8, Ovi (Note: NOT Ovie –get it right, people!), Russian Machine, The Great 8, Alexander the Great

Alex Semin: Sasha, ummm and another one I don’t quite understand ;), Sam (Added by RussianMachine)

Brian Willsie: I don't remember any nicknames for Willsie, somebody remind me!

Boyd Gordon: Gordo, Gordicris, G-Unit (Added by WashCapsRock), Muffin (added by tons of people!)

Brooks Laich: BL21, Brooksie, Cougar Bait, HHBL21, AAA of the NHL, Ironman (Added by CamaroWRX)

David Steckel: Stecks

DJ King: King Kong, (are there any others we should know?)

Eric Fehr: Fehrsie, F-16/Falcon (Added by The PaulW), Uno Seis (Added because ngreenberg apparently uses it, not that I would know)

Jason Chimera: Chimmers, Chewie (Added by PKLords76), Chimmy (Added by YoCalleJ, RinkRebel, Scandalizi)

Jeff Schultz: Mr Nasty, Double Nickel, Schultzy, Sarge

John Carlson: J-Car, Real American Hero (RAHJC74), Captain America

Karl Alzner: King Karl, Alz (Added by RinkRebel), The Lumber Jack (Added by Green52fan)

Marcus Johansson: MoJo, JoJo

Matt Bradley: MB10, Brads, The Proffessor (misspelling is intentional)

Michal Neuvirth: Neuvi/Neuvy

Mike Green: MG52, Greenie, Greener, Game Over, Lamborgreenie

Mike Knuble: Knoobs, Grandpa Slippers, Papa or Pops Knoob (Added by AmazinglyMorgan & RinkRebel)

Nicklas Backstrom: NB19, Backy, Nicky-Lars, Super Swede, Backis (Added by YoCalleJo)

Semyon Varlamov: Varly, The Iron Curtain, Click on Me (Added by dorcaskd)

Tomas Fleischmann: Flash

Tyler Sloan: Sloaner, TyTy


Da Front Office:

Brett Leonhardt: Stretch

Bruce Boudreau: Gabby, BB

George McPhee: GMGM

Ted Leonsis: Uncle Ted

Mike Vogel: Vogs (Added by WashCapsRock)


Da Bears and Prospies:

Andrew Gordon: Gordo (not to be confused with Boyd Gordon-[“no relation”-Joe B.]!)

Anton Gustafsson: Baby Gus, AnGus (Added by maamfo)

Braden Holtby: Hot Stuff (Added for WashCapsRock), Holts (Added by maamfo)

Cody Eakin: Squeaks

Francois Bouchard: Bouch (Added by OSquirt26)

Grant McNeill: G-Mac (Added by YoCalleJo)

Jay Beagle: Beags

Joe Finley: Big Joe, Lawnmower Joe

Keith Aucoin: Coiner

Mathieu Perreault: Matty P, Perry, Pocket Ovi

Patrick McNeill: P-Mac, Patty Mac

Steve Pinizzotto: Pinner (Added by OSquirt26)

Trevor Bruess: Bruiser (Added by maamfo)

Zach Miskovic: Misky

Ok, I know I forgot some, so remind me in the comments, kthxbai!

Rookie Caps/Flyers Hit the Ice



I know what you're thinking, not another scrimmage blog post. Ok, ok, no stats, no analysis, just some guys who look like they are really happy and anxious to show their stuff to the big crowd at Kettler. All this while being watched by coaches, team big wigs, scouts, tons of fans and the intrepid Captain.

I don't think I've ever seen hockey players hit the ice quite like this.



Big Joe Finley



The Captain keeps an eye on his troops



Making sure Anderson is warmed up.



Grubauer being all intense protecting the net



Eakin gets an approving look from those guys over there on the left

And last but not least:



 Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

And a great time was had by all. Well, all except the Baby Flyers, that is.



Yeah, it's late and I'm tired.

More pics of the game can be found here.