Stop Wearing Football Jerseys: Caps Beat Thrash 5-4

I'm growing a little tired of listing scores like 5-4, 6-5, 6-4, 4-3. This Caps team is so damn good, and so infuriating at the same time. I should have known better than to pack it in after Chris Clark's tally put DC up 5-2 in the second period. Between our erratic goaltender and our undisciplined play, there was no way that score would hold up. Shocker...it didn't. Here are my thoughts of the night:

• Ilya Kovalchuk is good. Really good. So when you feed him the puck (stares at Keith Aucoin) in the high slot, he's probably going to bury it. I bet he felt two feet tall after that giveaway...oh wait...


• He looked two feet tall standing up against Antropov after the big red diving machine gave him a little bit of a cheap shoulder in the third. I didn't mean to offend Aucoin with that little height joke, and I like his guts in standing up for himself. Nice pass on the Giroux goal too.


• Brendan Morrison continues to impress me with the little things he does. He had some nice backchecks last night, and really seems to be playing with some consistency, even when he doesn't show up on the scoresheet.


• Speaking of the scoresheet, where has Nicklas Backstrom been? The top line looked lame last night, so thank God for secondary scoring.


• The power play was garbage, and so was the ice. I agree with Boudreau, but I don't know that we have room to talk on the ice condition issue.

I think the penalties are maddening, and although you can yell at the refs for that slashing call on Knuble, it didn't surprise me. The Caps are not only shooting themselves in their proverbial foot at the end of games, but they're now maintaining a reputation for stupid, sloppy play in the third. I think that had a lot to do with the quick whistles down the stretch last night. I don't think a disciplined team doesn't get called for slashing or cross-checking in the same situations. That is the most concerning thing about this loss. Boudreau's run the boys down in practice Herb Brooks-style, and that obviously hasn't done the job. What can he do to alleviate the problem? I say fines. I don't know if that's possible, but fining a guy for a third-period penalty makes me think they would get the message quickly. But that's why I'm behind a computer and Boudreau gets to make ASC commercials, I guess. Get it fixed Gabby.

Kudos Go To:

Eric Fehr. Fehrsie has looked like a man trying to save his job, and it finally paid off last night. Sick hands on that goal. He's also been flying around the net a lot more lately, which I'm sure has a lot to do with #22. Secondary props to Double Nickel on the 3-spot (even if the goal wasn't his), and Clarkie for getting on the score sheet. Does Matt Bradley really have 3 goals already?

Nabby Dances, Caps Win: 4-1

What on God's green Earth was he attempting to do on that save? We'll probably never know, but man was it pretty. After Nabby thwarted an early shot by Ovechkin with his glove hand, he and Ovi seemed to exchange some playful words and a laugh. Then Ovi had fun the rest of the night. #20 for San Jose? Not so much. Here are a few of my observations from last night:

• I was really skeptical about the Ovechkin-Morrison-Knuble line, but man did they have a solid night. Knuble made the heady plays, Morrison moved the puck up ice quickly, and Ovi capitalized...it's all good.
• Brian Pothier hasn't looked as sharp these last few games.
• No bad penalties, and I thought Quintin Laing looked really solid last night.
• Alex Semin had a few really pretty takeaways, and I agree with Alan May that Sasha had an overall solid game last night. I also thought that Shaone Morrisonn continued to play physically strong and effective in his own zone.
• Varly's glove looked pretty solid last night, eh? It's a shame that seeing it had to be at the expense of Theo's back, considering that JT60 had played really well so far this season. Get better soon Theo.

Kudos Go To:

Brendan Morrison. The guy has just seemed like he's out to prove himself all over again, and he really seems like a quiet leader that the Caps need. Someone that plays with a lot of heart on the top two lines is a big plus right about now, and B-Mo fits in well with the team's attitude and chemistry. Let's hope this is only the beginning. That signing is looking like a pretty good bargain at this point...

Weekend Round-Up

Ok guys, I'm alive. Promise. It was tough to post during homecoming weekend because I: a. didn't bring my laptop with me, and b. was only able watch two of the four relevant games to this blog (way to be cheap and not have cable Jeremey/Stephen). However, the long weekend was nice, and I do have plenty to talk about, so strap in...we'll take this team-by-team (saving the best for last with regards to recent performance).

Redskins lose to Carolina 20-17:

Terrible. This was one I wasn't able to watch. Thanks to my trusty Blackberry (that I almost threw against the wall), I saw that we managed to play an ugly game, at least according to the ESPN gamecast. I saw lots of fumbles, lots of sacks, and no Chris Cooley. That is not a combination for winning. To make matters worse, Phillip Daniels and Chris Samuels both appear to have suffered reasonably significant injuries. Wonderful. Any momentum (and there wasn't much) coming out of the win against the Bucs is now gone, and we'll be lucky to compete against the lowly Chiefs this weeked. God help us all. Can we just take this season out back and shoot it already? We could put ourselves out of our own misery.

Caps fall in Detroit 3-2, then poop their pants in the third period for the fourth straight game and lose to the Devils in a shootout.

More terrible in some ways because unlike the Skins, they have no business playing this way. I wasn't able to watch the Detroit game, but I did watch last night. As much as I hate Nylander, maybe Boudreau needs to send a message to Boyd Gordon about late game penalties. The lacka of dissaprine is no good. We're tied with Tampa for the division lead for God's sake. Jose Theodore looks spectacular at times and overmatched at others, but the blueline is KILLING us. I don't know that I've seen such terrible play out of Tom Poti in his now 2+ years in Washington. We have no elite defensemen right now. Not good. I have confidence that they'll turn things around, as they've been in games despite their own stupidity, but Gabby's got to start preaching accountability to the boys in red.

And finally, Hokies take BC behind the woodshed instead of playing down to their opponent.

Maybe it was the three consecutive regular season losses to the Eagles. Maybe it was the fact that I radiate amazingness and was present in Lane Stadium for the dominance. Maybe Bryan Stinespring has finally decided to keep his head out of his butt and call a football game. Maybe Tyrod Taylor is a legit QB. I don't know that these are all the reasons why we won on Saturday, but I think they all made a difference (especially point #2). Now after seeing this team in person, I know that they have the ability to be special. N*%#$ C#*@#& special (yeah, I'm not saying those words)? I don't know...maybe. I don't think we'll win out. I've said it over and over, but we have the ABILITY to win out. Tyrod looks poised, accurate and confident under pressure, as evidenced by his touchdown pass to Danny Coale in the first quarter. Ryan Williams truly is a monster, and should be the '09 version of Bo Jackson in Tecmo. Coale and Boykin look legit, and Ed Wang even brocked werr on Saturday. He graded at 89 percent...wow. Guess those sumo lessons are paying off.

Bud Foster decided to go ahead and sacrifice that calf. His name was Dave Shinske. Master of Ceremonies for that ordeal was Nekos Brown, who was all over the place. Rashad Carmichael, like I've been saying all year is legit, and Kam Chancellor managed to not mess anything up either. Overall the defense looked great. If Tech plays with that sense of urgency for the rest of the season, the sky is the limit.

Overall, a so-so weekend for FFODC teams. The Caps can buy a break right now, but the Skins can't. The Hokies look really good, but must be consistent from week to week. I'll be back tonight with a Hokie surprise that I hope you guys will like. Until then, try not to burn all your Redskins' stuff.

Why Can't We Be Friends?

"It's a big tent, and we will embrace and love everyone. I'm a big Washington Redskins fan. I'm a big Nationals fan. And I do honestly believe that a rising tide raises all boats."

-Ted Leonsis (via The Bog)

Two of my teams are going in polar opposite directions today. As discussed here yesterday, the Redskins are in a complete nosedive, bound by salary-cap handcuffs and poor management, while the Capitals are one of the most promising young teams in the NHL. I find myself depressed in such a young NFL season, expecting the boys in burgundy drown at the bottom of the proverbial NFC East barrel. The team isn't built for the future, but the present, and the present isn't coming up roses. On the other hand, I'm filled with optimism, as the Capitals expect to challenge for the Stanley Cup for this year, as well as the foreseeable future due to wonderful roster management and scouting. "Why is this so hard?" you might ask. The intelligent 'fan move' would be to put my efforts into the Capitals and their success rather than wallow in the filthy bed that Dan Snyder made.

I consider myself to be an equal fan to both organizations. I grew up idolizing Peter Bondra, Dale Hunter and Olie Kolzig. My wife still wears my old blue jersey to games (circa 1995ish), and I'll always have fond memories of going up to games in Landover with friends and family as a kid. I was as excited as anyone with the arrival of the MCI center and a pretty new sheet of ice for my favorite team, along with a Stanley Cup finals birth shortly thereafter. Capitals Nation was strong on the momentum from that 1997-1998 squad, and it carried into the early part of this decade. However, the wheels fell off. Management looked toward big free agent signings to put the Capitals over the top, and they found themselves with a mediocre squad as a result. Attendance dipped and enthusiasm waned. Then came the rebuild. Verizon was empty as I watched games from my apartment down in Blacksburg. I hated hearing the cheers of Pens fans in the stands, knowing that I couldn't make a 4 hour drive up for a game. The Caps got no love from the mainstream media, and from that neglect, wonderful blogs like On Frozen Blog and Japer's Rink were born. I've been a regular reader of OFB for over two years, and I absolutely admire their work. However, now that the Capitals are tasting consistent success, Caps-only fans (as I like to call them) are taking time away from covering their all-world team to kick the Redskins while they're down.

Don't get me wrong...the Captials have had the short end of the hockey stick for the better part of the last two decades, and these blogs were created with good reason, and blossomed due to hard work and quality reporting. But I have to argue that many of their readers, like myself, care a great deal about all of the district's franchises, and that includes (and started with) the Washington Redskins. For the better part of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, the Redskins justified their press coverage. But after developing such a rabid fan base from kids that were either born or grew up during their heyday, they began to falter. Those fans (now aged 22-35ish) stuck with the Skins through the lean years of the 90s, and continue to stick around through mismanagement and mediocrity. Championships will do that to people. If the Patriots fall off their perch in the coming decade, you can bet they will still pack Gillette Stadium with people that loved Tom Brady and Teddy Bruschi. That's what championships do. Unfortunately for the Caps, they haven't achieved that level of greatness yet, even if they've been on the doorstep and could kick the door in over the next few seasons.

All of the MSM love that the Redskins have received as a result of their fan base has caused Capitals-only fans to have an inferiority complex of sorts. They love to see their team get the coverage they deserve (which is slowly starting to come to fruition), but they also have a little too much fun at the expense of the big boy in town when they're hurting. Capitals fans, OFB, whoever holds this opinion...you should be better than that. You should eat up these years of success...of championship hockey, and deservedly so. I know I will. But in the process, I implore you not to alienate a good chunk of your fellow fans by spitting on the Redskins as you pass them on the way to glory and DC Sports legend. You know how it feels to be stuck in neutral with bad signings and bad drafting. You know how it feels to be pissed off at management for throwing away thousands of dollars of YOUR MONEY at a questionable character free agent (staring at YOU Jaromir). You know how it feels to have a team take your time and devotion and only give you heartbreak. Take a second before the puck drops on Thursday to put yourselves in some burgundy and gold shoes, and maybe you'll realize that they feel a little too familiar. We Redskins fans are not in a comfortable position right now, and the Caps are our ray of hope. Don't darken it with the shadow of your schadenfreude.

Thank God For the Caps: 2009-2010 Predictions

Between the infinite sadness that is the Redskins offense and the enigma that is the Hokies offense, I say a little prayer everyday thanking God for my Washington Capitals. If I had to run through hockey season with a Minnesota Wild-type offense, I think my eyes would start to bleed and I would give up on sports altogether. Ok, maybe that last part isn't so true, but life would be a lot tougher without the boys in red. I've been spending quite a bit of time concentrating on the now #6 Hokies, and the miserable Skins, so I haven't put nearly enough effort into a full Caps preview. I'll leave that stuff up to the professionals like JP and Stephen Pepper. Over here at FFODC, I'll just make my asenine, bold, an extremely homer-esque predictions for the upcoming season.

Offense:

Obviously the Capitals biggest strength, and it only got stronger in the offseason. Mike Knuble has already proven that he's the glue that Ovechkin has needed to take the first-line game to the next level. If Boudreau can avoid keeping the carebears together too much this season, the Caps should be in good shape. Alex Semin and Brendan Morrsion showed some pretty solid chemistry when they got to play together, and I think you'll see a little more of the Vancouver edition of Mo this season. I also expect to see more improvement from Brooks Laich, and hopefully from David Steckel. Don't be shocked to see Stecks learn how to score on teams other than Tampa this season. The only problem here is if the team leans too hard on Knuble for their offensive grit and otherwise try to be too fancy. That was the top problem last year, but it should be corrected.

Defense:

Tyler Sloan has officially earned a spot with the big boys (as of today) and should help bolster the defensive corps with some depth. Guys like Jurcina, Morrisonn and Schultz must keep their play to a high level if they expect to see the type of ice time they saw last season. Brian Pothier came on very strong at the end of the playoffs, and should be able to shoulder a little bit of the load from Mike Green on the power play. This group is much maligned, but I think you have to put a great deal of pressure on Tom Poti this season. If the Poti of 2007-2008 shows up, the Caps should be a little more stout, but if the oft-injured edition from last year makes too many appearances, we could see a lot of 5-4 games. I think we'll see improvement to somewhere in the middle of the defensive rankings this season, but don't expect much better than that. Ideally, you'd like to see a Karl Alzner or John Carlson develop enough early in the season to squeeze a veterean out come the trading deadline.

Goaltending:

I expect, like most, for Semyon Varlamov to start the season on the bench and wrestle the job away from Jose Theodore by Thanksgiving. People forget how poorly Theo played in the early goings last season, and he's prone to very slow starts. He can't afford to pull that stuff this year or he'll be riding the pine. I think the best case scenario is for Theo to have a strong enough season to go around 50-50 with Varlamov, keeping Varly fresh enough to take his game to another level in the postseason.

Schedule:

It starts out like a bear, tapers off, then has a major break for the Olympics. Those are the things to watch. Don't be shocked if this team comes out hard early, but doesn't have a great record to show for it. The schedule is frontloaded with the likes of Boston, Philly and San Jose, but they don't play Pittsburgh until 2010. How will the team handle the long break? How will Ovechkin, Semin and the other Olympic participants fare at the end of the season. It should be interesting.

Coaching:

Does Gabby get them motivated every night? Does he resort to "pretty play" with Semin and Ovi or does he crack down on them and ask from more grit. Will he be able to push the right buttons down the stretch? How does he handle an inept Michael Nylander on the roster. These are all huge questions.

Overall Impressions:

I think the Caps will be a better team this season. They're one year older and two playoff series wiser. It might not reflect in the points standings, but they will be a bigger force come playoff time. However, injuries could be the great equalizer. Last season, we seemed to have the injury bug throughout the season and into the playoffs. It could be the same with so many guys playing in Vancouver. That's something to watch for. Overall I look for an equally potent (but grittier) offense, a little more balanced defense, and up-and-down goaltending, hopefully settling by February or March. I think the Caps will have a tougher time with Carolina this season, but the win the Southeast. They'll take it a step further and lose to Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals this season. Here's hoping they go further.

Final Prediction:

Eastern Conference Runner-Up, 48-27-7, 103 points

The Value of Mike Knuble

Let's get the hell away from football a second because, well I'm sick of talking about Miami, and I'm sure your sick of reading about them, not only here but all over ESPN's jock. I have to admit that I haven't had the evening downtime, nor the weekend downtime to enjoy seeing the Caps much since camp opened. I've been relying on the likes of JP and pucksandbooks to keep me informed about the goings on over at Kettler. On Wednesday night, with a needed break from the marching band schedule, I took advantage and watched the live stream of the Caps 6-2 thrashing of the Chicago Blackhawks. I'm not going to get too much into the ins and outs of what I saw (since it was just the jumbotron feed), but I just have to say how much Mike Knuble is going to make this team better come playoff time. The guy might not put up his usual thirty goals this season, but his grittiness in the lineup has proven to be infectious.

The closest we've come to a gritty winger (that can score) lately has been Brooks Laich or Chris Clark (which has been a stretch in the last two years). Knuble automatically makes those two guys better by being in the lineup, and he provides a great example for Laich and Eric Fehr to emulate in front of the net. While Knuble did have a pretty high-slot tally the other night, he also had his butt in Corey Crawford's face quite a bit (helping his case on one goal). I don't mean to overreact to a preseason win, but it's just nice to see a guy get his nose a little dirty like Knuble did, and to see guys like 21 and 17 follow suit. As you noticed from last night's showing without 22 in the lineup, the power play dipped to 0 for 5. They were 3 for 6 on Tuesday with him.

Boudreau insists on keeping the carebear (8-19-28) line together, despite the fact that he has to make a "they were too cute" comment EVERY TIME THEY PLAY TOGETHER. He knows that Knuble makes things happen in front of the net, and that should be enough to earn him a spot on Backstrom's right flank during the season. I think Knuble has workmanlike attitude towards the game, and that's one characteristic that a guy like Kozlov didn't bring to the table. Knuble is easily one of the most underrated but necessary upgrades we've made in quite some time. Let's just hope we'll get to see him hoist a cup as a result.

I know none of this is groundbreaking by any stretch, I just had to put it out there that I'm very excited about the prospects of having #22 in the lineup.

Uhh...What? Anton Gustafsson is Pumped for the Season

Per Japers’ Rink (and via his blog), Anton Gustafsson shows us how he’s been prepping for the upcoming season. Crazy Swedes…

Theodore Family, You're In Our Prayers

This afternoon, Capitals’ GM George McPhee confirmed rumors that Jose Theodore’s two-month-old son has passed away, but would not disclose details in order to respect the family’s privacy. According to a close family friend, the child suffered from respiratory issues and had been sick since birth. I, like many Capitals fans dogged Theodore last season despite his efforts in leading us to a second consecutive Southeast division title. However, I did have the opportunity to meet Jose in February, and found him to be one of the most personable and genuine professional athlete’s I’ve ever met. I remember a little girl that was literally crying with excitement to meet him that day, and he patiently pulled her aside, took several pictures with her and her family, along with signing her jersey, hat and pictures. I sincerely hope that the Theodore family can recover from such a devastating loss, but we all know that no one should ever have to bury their own child. Jose, I will keep you in my prayers, and I hope all you readers do the same.

EA Canada Can Go Straight to Hell

Image Courtesy of PGH

Things like this don’t usually make me too mad, because video game ratings don’t really matter, but after some stats from EA’s NHL 2010 leaked (HT PGH via JapersRink) I felt like I had to chime in. According to their screenshots from this year’s installment, Mike Green, Norris Trophy runner-up was rated an 84 Overall. This isn’t completely unheard of considering that EA’s NHL ratings are far stricter than their other professional sports titles. For example, Madden regularly has a few 98s and 99s overall, while the top three forwards in hockey (Crosby, Malkin and Ovi) received a 94, 93, and 92 overall rating respectively. I’m not even going to rant about the fact that the two-time reigning MVP doesn’t at least match the ratings of his Steel City Counterparts (because according to burghers, he doesn’t play any defense, pass, or look like a guy that could win homecoming king). The reality is that Malkin and Crosby are great players and deserve the credit they receive. However, Greenie was absolutely robbed by the game designers. Green was CONSISTENTLY the highest rated player among all NHL defenders according to TSN.ca, and had a record-breaking season in 2008-2009. Green is not the most defensively responsible blueliner, but he’s one of, if not the league’s biggest gamebreaker at the position. Let’s compare Mike to two of the Pittsburgh defenders that were also leaked.

Player	Age	Overall	Off. Awareness	Def. Awareness	Speed	Agility	Discipline
Mike Green	23	84	89	80	84	83	78
Sergei Gonchar	35	87	95	82	85	84	79
Alex Goligoski	24	79	84	75	84	84	84

No one can question the value that Sarge had to the Penguins down the stretch last season. The guy will always be one of my favorite Caps, and it’s hard to get down on him. He’s been one of the most consistent offensive defensemen in the league for many years now, and he still has a few good ones left in him if he can stay healthy. I would say that 87 is a pretty fair assessment of where he falls overall. Goligoski is a guy that hasn’t been able to crack the Pens roster full time but is very highly regarded by the organization. His Overall is also fairly accurate considering his potential. However, when you throw Green into the mix, how do you give him an offensive awareness rating that is closer to GoGo’s than Gonchar’s? I can’t deny the impact Gonch can have on offense, but he’s never had the kind of impact that Greenie did this past season. Green has proven himself to be a more swift and maneuverable skater in only two seasons in a starring role, so I also don’t feel as though he doesn’t deserve to be placed below both or tied with them in speed and agility. I also find it pretty questionable that two veterans have a significantly lower discipline rating than a guy that only has 48 games of NHL experience. Anyway, what I think I’m getting at is that Mike Green was completely short-changed by EA, and I certainly hope that he proves them wrong this year with an even better campaign than his last. Get ‘em Greenie.