Give me time?

Apologies for the delay in writing. I'm in the middle of the biggest class I will ever take in the shortest possible time to take it. I'm beyond stressed out, but it will be over the middle of July.
My team finished somewhere in the middle of the pack in the fantasy league. Russia defeated Canada for the gold, with the "Capital Punishment" line of Ovie, Semin, and Feds dominating the tourney. Pens-Wings in the finals. Wings up 2-1, game 4 tomorrow in Pittsburgh. Rooting for the Wings, who gave Osgood two shutouts in the first two games. Pens' flightless wonderboy finally scored in game 3--first goal of the series for them (130+ minutes without a goal).
Brads is back in a Capitals jersey. Three years-$3 million. Karl Alzner signed his entry-level deal. It will be interesting to see where he ends up next season, Hershey or DC. Waiting for more signing news. Word on the street is that Feds wants to come back (per Ovie). How awesome would that be?!

Three Weeks Later

And so the long, boring off-season begins. Wait, did I say boring? Didn't mean that at all. Got a few updates that I'm behind on posting. The Caps are doing well at Worlds. Our Russians have been lighting it up, with the three forwards all scoring a goal today in Russia's 3-2 win over Nick's Sweden team. Nick is bringing some Washington style to the Swedish team, although they aren't doing as well as I would hope as a fantasy owner. Flash is chipping in every once in a while for the Czech team. Varlamov injured his ankle, so he's not playing for Russia. Lepisto was cut from the Finland team, but added after preliminaries. Green is definitely helping out Canada, scoring the first goal and getting an assist on the game-winner in their game the other day. One of the announcers called him "one of the premiere offensive defensemen in the world". I was so proud. He's a little bit older than me, but I get proud of him like I would a little brother. Huet did very well, backstopping France. However, France didn't do so well for him and they're finished for the tournament after beating Italy in relegation.
My fantasy team is suffering. My Russian players are dropping like flies. First Medvedev gets cut, then D. Markov gets hurt, now Morozov goes down when I get Markov back. I added Andrei Markov in the supplemental draft along with Swedish forward Warg. My Latvian goalie did very well for me the other day, stopping 62 shots to put me up in the middle of the pack. But Canada's 10-1 win over Germany and the subsequent points gained by my fellow GMs dropped me back down to my home at second-to-last.

Sadder news. Olie is officially gone. Not sure where he'll go or what he'll do, but I wish him the best and respect the hell out of him. I won't say much else, because everything's been said.

Off-season is here, but have no fear. The Caps will be very busy...

IIHF World Championships

Things are getting better every day. Eight Capitals and 1 prospect are playing for their home nations in the IIHF World Championships. Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, Sergei Fedorov, and Simeon Varlamov are all playing for Russia. Tomas Fleischmann is playing for the Czech Republic. Mike Green is playing for Team Canada. And Sami Lepisto is playing for Finland.
Some of the regulars over at WaPo C.I. are running a fantasy league surrounding the tournament. I entered, not quite realizing what I had gotten myself in to. I've gotten 12 hours of sleep in the past few days because I've been up all night researching. I had 7th overall pick out of 8 drafters with a serpentine draft style. I figured the other GMs would draft the good NHLers, which is all I know. So I went out and researched the other guys. Superleague, Latvia, Sweden, I looked at them all. We picked 2 national teams, 4 defensemen, 6 forwards, and 2 goalies. I've got 2 Russian forwards, 2 Russian defensemen, and a Russian goalie. I've obviously got a thing for Russians. I've got a Swedish defenseman, a Swiss forward, a Latvian goalie and a forward. Rounding out my team, a certain Czech forward with red hair, Slovakian defender, and a Canadian forward/captain. My two national teams are Sweden and Germany. Russia was taken...


More Caps news: Boudreau was nominated for the Jack Adams alongside Babcock and Carbonneau. Ovie was nominated for the Hart & Pearson. Iginla and Malkin are also up for both. Backs is up for Rookie of the Year. Laing was put up for the Masterton, although he hasn't been nominated yet.

I'll keep you posted on the fantasy league/IIHF results. Tune in June 12th to see the NHL Awards and watch our boys take home a ton of hardware.

Countdown until next season

Countdown...

Thanks mauree...

Hockey Hangover

When I woke up this morning, it was a beautiful day out. The sun was out, the birds were singing, everybody was cheerful. Except me, at least at first. I've been in a weird mood all day. I waver from really sad, to excited for next year. Then I just feel blah. I don't know what to do with myself. I checked blogs, listened to the Caps Report, watched the interviews of the guys on their last day at Kettler for the season. I went to class, stopped by work briefly. I'm still not sure what's going on. It'll hit me sooner or later. Until then, I'm in the middle of the final two weeks of class for the semester, so I'm going to pour my energy into papers, exams, etc. I'm on a self-imposed game exile for a week. I'll check on news, but no hockey games. Hopefully the time off will give me time to work on my grades and get my head screwed back on straight.

Until next week, readers...

PS...Cup Bracket is updated with the new matchups.

And this is how it ends....for now!

Joffrey Lupol scored in OT to carry the Flyers into the Eastern Conference semi-finals, eliminating the Caps from the playoffs. It makes me sad. Sure, I could whine about the officiating--God knows I hate Koharski. But I won't. Because that would cheapen what we have accomplished this season. This group of guys, most of them still kids, really, have gone from last in the conference to the Southeast Division champions and third in the conference. We've done so much. A recap:

Washington Capitals to-do list for the season:

Sign talent in the off-season...done!
Get a new head coach that may very well be a Jack Adams nominee...done!
Get Alex Ovechkin to have a record-breaking, Richard- & Ross-trophy winning season...done!
Get 4 players their 1st NHL goals...Stecks, Laing, Backs, Schultz, done!
Get Nick Backstrom to have a stellar rookie season...done!
Get Mike Green a lead goal-scoring defenseman title...done!
Get Semin back to top form...done!
Get Brooks Laich a career-best season...done!
Get scoring help for the Alexes...see above!
Get 300+ career wins for Kolzig...done!
Acquire talent through trade...Cooke, Fedorov, Huet, yeah, I think we're good on that!


What these guys have accomplished this season has been nothing short of miraculous. Making it to the playoffs was never beyond Boudreau's dreams. It never seemed beyond the guys' dreams, either. Beating Philly would have been sweet. Making it this far may be doubly so.
I am looking forward to next season. That was the only thing that kept me from bawling after the game. The future is so bright for this team and I look forward to what deals happen this summer, the rookie camp, everything.

The only dim spot for me is that Tarik el-Bashir of the Washington Post has reported that Olaf Kolzig, the man who gave 18+ years to this team, has removed his name plate from his locker that the Verizon Center. What does this mean? I think its a clear sign that Olie's future does not lie with the Washington Capitals. Where it does lay, only Olie knows. Maybe its selfish of me, but I'd rather see him retire from active play and become front office or coaching staff than play for another team. He's always been a Cap and I would like to see him retire a Cap. Olie was the backbone, the heart, and the soul of this team for such a long time. I may be a new fan, but even I can see that. He's been through everything awful with this team, and everything good. If this really is goodbye to Olie, then I wish him the best. But I also wish him to stay here, in DC.

So here's a cheer to the boys from the District! The boys who took everything we could give them and returned it with interest. The boys who fought tooth and nail for where they got. The boys who left it all on the ice. The boys that brought real hockey back to DC and fans back to the Phone Booth. The boys in the Red, White, and Blue. The boys who will be back next year!

Let's go Caps!!!!!

"Handshake Gate"

I've seen the video of what Sean Avery did. Maybe I have a thing for guys with issues. But I have no problem with what happened. Avery looked like a complete and utter dork. Did he defile the game? Hardly. Did he embarrass the league? I think I'm more embarrassed that it took Sean Avery to figure out that it might work. I thought it was a brilliant stroke of remembrance from playing pond hockey as a kid. Well, maybe brilliant is a bit strong, but honestly, I don't care. I thought it was funny as hell. And it seemed to work. Which is maybe why people are making such a big deal out of it. Just a few minutes after it happened, Avery got a shot past Brodeur. However, all the rule "clarification" nonsense is a tad bit ridiculous. Had the NHL not clarified, I feel like this would have happened a few more times before somebody got a wicked slapper to the back of the head and the nonsense would have stopped right then and there. It was funny verging on idiotic and I got a good laugh out of it.

I've seen Marty's "response." Personally, I think neither of them attempted to shake hands. Which makes them both a little class-less. If I was Marty, I would have at least held out my hand. Then, if Avery refused, he looks like a jackass, not me. Avery looks like he just kept his hand up and moved on to the next guy in line. Doesn't seem like a huge deal, but the fact that his hand was still up makes it seem like he might have tried and makes him look a little bit less like an idiot.


On Sean Avery in general: He's a talented player that contributes to his team's goal totals. He's a good looking guy. He seems to attract Hollywood "it-girls" like flies to honey. But honestly, he makes me laugh. Every time he pulls something, I just roll my eyes. Somewhere out there, there's a video of him in the most blatant of dives that its just funny. He's kind of like the class clown. Fun to have around, yet most of the time, nobody really likes him because he's such a douche. Its more of a pity-like than anything. Like how you're nice to the slow kids. I don't have feelings towards him either way right now. However, should he decide one day to play for the Capitals, I would probably be secretly thrilled. (I guess its not really secret anymore)

Playoffs thus far:
Eastern Conference: Penguins swept the Senators; Bruins and Habs going into Game 7 tonight; Caps are rolling to Philly for Game 6, trying to avoid elimination; and the Rangers beat the Devils in 5.
Western Conference: Sharks and Flames are going to Game 7, the Stars went hunting and bagged themselves the defending-champ-Ducks, Avalanche tamed the Wild, and Detroit took care of the Predators.


Looking for the second 3-1 comeback in Caps history against the Flyers. Let's go Caps!!