Alexander Ovechkin, one of the many reasons Caps fans can be thankful this year.
The bad news: With injuries Monday night to Boyd Gordon (back), John Erskine (undisclosed), and a broken finger that may keep Jeff Schultz out a while, the Caps more closely resemble a MASH unit then a hockey team.
That isn’t all, either. With Monday night’s 4-3 loss to the Wild in which the team played utterly disjointed for most of the game, the Caps currently have a three-game losing streak. Throughout the losses, the Caps have never looked particularly astute and composed. On Monday night the team did a number of unacceptable things, including playing horrible defense in front of the net, and giving up two goals to some guy named Cal Clutterbuck.
Key memo to the Caps: It is never good to get scored on twice by a guy who has never scored in his NHL career and who left his car in the airport parking lot of his minor league city because he expected to be back soon.
But hey, it’s the holidays and I do not intend to “Grinch” my way through this column. With all the injuries it is comforting to remember that this team is still at the top of the Southeast by one point. With Thanksgiving coming soon, here are three things Caps fans can thankful of.
- There is a team in Washington - Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks to the daily blessings in life that we often overlook so let’s toast hockey in Washington! By no means was hockey predetermined to come to here. Idiot odds-maker “Jimmy the Greek” put the odds of Washington landing an expansion NHL franchise at 500-1.
Undaunted by all the naysayers, Abe Pollin was able to land a team in 1974 that played at the old Capitals Centre in Landover. The 1974 team set modern records for futility and by the early '80s there was already a “save the Caps” campaign as crowds dwindled to just the hardcore faithful.
Today? Well, take a deep breath because the days of having to go to a cavernous arena in Landover to try to shout down busloads of opposing fans are over. Forget as well any thought of dwindling crowds. Today’s Caps are about as mainstream as “Dancing With the Stars,” and yet twice as cool. Not only does Alexander Ovechkin’s mug appear on buses for Hair Cuttery ads, but the team is now outdrawing even the Wizards.
That is a huge change from the late '90s. The team still had a solid fan base, but even hockey fans admitted that Peter Bondra would only have been recognized by a few people walking on Pennsylvania Avenue. I don’t believe that’s the case with Ovechkin. You just don’t stage a press conference to give a man the key to the city or put him on bus ads if the public can’t recognize him. By extension, the team is getting more recognition as well. You can hear it in the bars.
- Bruce Boudreau is our coach - If you look under the entry for Butch Cassidy and Glen Hanlon you read a lot about how one of them wrote plays out on napkins (it was Cassidy) and how at their very best both of them were decent tacticians of the game. What you won’t read is that either one of these two guys were “hockey guys.” I want to make this abundantly clear. For everything Boudreau is in addition to being a brilliant hockey coach, first and foremost he IS a hockey guy!
Fists up, Bruce! Now that's how a hockey coach celebrates!
You don’t suddenly become an extra on the Slapshot movie without being a hockey guy (click here for the YouTube clip of Boudreau's acting debut) and you certainly don’t become named to the American Hockey League Hall of Fame without being a hockey guy. Bruce has done both.
Being a hockey guy means not expecting the star treatment either. The NHL by all means is not a league of Terell “Owensesque” heightened expectation. Instead pro-hockey is a lunch pail league where hard work is done quietly and without expectation of praise. It’s the type of league and game where if you do something well like properly clear the puck or stand your ground in front of the net, your coach might just tell you earnestly “do it again” instead of fawning over the feat.
It’s also a league of guys like Boudreau who never complained once to the media that he should have been given the job earlier after compiling a great record coaching for seven minor-league teams in such illustrious cities as Manchester, New Hampshire and Lowell, Massachusetts. Instead Boudreau did just the opposite, telling the Hockey News, "I'm certainly not bitter. I love being part of the hockey world and I've loved everywhere I've been. But I have to say I was tickled pink when I got the call from Washington and sometimes still I've had to give my head a shake."
A shake is exactly what Boudreau has given this team what with his candor, his attacking style, and a demeanor that says I expect to win. It has only been just over a year since he took over as coach, but thankfully it seems much longer since we have had to deal with a pre-Boudreau hockey team. That the teams current three game losing streak is one of the longest of his N.H.L coaching career says a lot to that effect, and we should all be thankful about that.
- We have Russians! - America is now about change and bipartisanship, so what better partisanship could there be than a post-cold war one where we have thanks to two talented young Russians (you know who) and one wily veteran in Sergei Federov. All this has caused the Washington Capitals to be the unofficial team of Russia. Thanksgiving is a quintessential American holiday but with Semin signed at least through 2010 and Ovechkin signed for 12 more years lets all slip a little Stoli in our cider and give a toast to mother Russia!
For more info: With all the injuries the Caps will look a lot different against the Thrashers Wednesday night. Capitals Insider has the rundown for how the line-up may look. Key points, Karl Alzner and Chris Bourque called up!
Questions? Comments? Have something you want me to cover? Please send me your comments at michael.hoffman202@gmail.com
Comments