The highly-touted rookie defenseman, Victor Hedman, of the Tampa Bay Lightning, received a less than friendly welcome to the league via a brutal hit, courtesy of Ottawa Senator's bad boy Chris Neil. Now Hedman is no lightweight mind you, standing at 6'6" and weighing in at a solid 230 lbs. But yet again, when someone is coming at you at the speed of light, keep your head up for pete's sake!
Now Chris Neil had to dance with Lightning brawler Steve Downie to answer for what was deemed a clean hit and he proceeded to wallop the feisty former Flyer.
Speaking of dancing, HM has a great gift idea for all you foodies out there in hockeyland. Fellow Capitals blogger Rob Yunich of Storming the Crease fame and his wife have recently penned a very cool new cookbook titled The Kitchen Dance. This great cookbook features detailed shopping lists, tips to help you stock the pantry and ideas about entertaining in tight quarters -- along with plenty of healthy, quick (kosher) recipes such as stir-fries, pasta entrees, vegetarian main dishes, original quick-cooking chicken recipes and delicious desserts. Now with my harried hockey schedule, HM is all about quick and easy recipes so I encourage you all to check it out!
Finally, the boys face the Florida Panthers tonight, their second game sans Alex Ovechkin. Ovie says his injury is "getting better" but he is not expected to see any action this weekend. I think we'd all agree that it's better for him to make sure he's 100 percent rather than come back early (especially with the rough and tumble way he plays)!
The Cats are coming off a 3-0 win against the struggling Carolina Hurricanes and are still without David Booth. As you'll recall, Booth is still suffering from a wicked concussion following a controversial hit from Flyers' captain Mike Richards a few weeks ago. In his absence, the Panthers have won three straight, led by Nathan Horton (goal and six assists in last four games), d-man Jordan Leopold (goal and three assists in last four games) and d-man Dennis Seidenberg (goal and three assists in last three games). Minding the net for Florida is Tomas Vokoun, who currently has a .919 save percentage. And it will be a big night for Panther's captain Brian McCabe, as the 34-year old will be playing in his 1,000th NHL game tonight when the puck drops at Bank Atlantic Center.
The Capitals' keys to victory: We need to ramp up the secondary scoring, eliminate the defensive gaffes in our own zone that have become par for the course and stop giving the opposition power play opportunities due to silly penalties (that last one's for you Alex Semin). Puck drops at 7:30 p.m..
Friday, November 6, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Backstrom on Grate Patrol
Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom met with the homeless on one of the stops of The Salvation Army’s Grate Patrol program Monday evening.
As HM reported earlier, Capitals' center Nick Backstrom joined forces with Mix 107.3’s Chilli Amar, Gary Dexter with Tires Plus and Comcast SportsNet’s Lisa Hillary in The Salvation Army’s Grate Patrol program on Monday in an effort to help D.C.'s growing homeless population. The group delivered chicken noodle soup, bread, hot chocolate and cookies to the homeless in eight locations in Washington, D.C. With the temperature changing the Grate Patrol van also had sweatshirts to give the homeless to help with the cooler weather.
The Grate Patrol van started at The Salvation Army’s Harbor Light facility at 6:30 p.m. and stopped at eight locations in the northwest part of Washington, D.C. Backstrom and his fellow volunteers delivered the food and sweatshirts and talked to the homeless about their everyday struggles of living on the streets.
“This was a different experience for me, but the people were happy we were there,” said Backstrom, who is the spokesman for the Capitals’ canned food drive at their Nov. 20 game. “We weren’t just there to pass out food, we were there to talk to them and try to help any way we could.”
The Grate Patrol program started in 1985 and operates 365 days a year with service to more than 1,000 individuals each month. Originally the program offered meals alone, but today an outreach coordinator helps homeless get back on their feet. The Grate Patrol got its name from the homeless sleeping on grates to stay warm.
This is such a tremendous cause and unfortunately the ranks of the homeless are most likely growing due to the economic recession. Caps fans are encouraged to volunteer with the Grate Patrol program by either preparing or delivering meals any day of the week. Go to http://www.blogger.com/www.SalArmyDC.org, Facebook, or Twitter for more information.
Canuck Craziness and Other Mid-Week Musings
As you know, one of HM's other favorite teams (waaay behind my Washington Capitals of course) is the Vancouver Canucks (who just signed former Cap Matt Pettinger by the way). Well the boys found themselves in quite a bit of a melee last night when they faced off against the New York Rangers and uber-antagonist Sean Avery. I don't think I've seen an all-out scrum like this in quite awhile (yes, it's better than Sunday's bench brawl between the Blue Jackets and the Caps. Note to self: next time sometime challenges you Jason Chimera after you run the league's MVP, you may wanna man up and drop 'em). Check out the craziness that ensues between Sean Avery and Vancouver's Shane O'Brien on the bench, mere inches from TSN's Ray Ferraro's face. Wonder if Sean Avery was gabbing about O'Brien's weight or something, as he apparently did to Bruce Boudreau during last season's playoff series.
In other hockey happenings:
In other hockey happenings:
- Vincent Lecavalier scored his second (yes, second) goal in the Lightning's win over the Leafs. What in the sam-harry-hell is going on there?
- For anyone still wondering if D.C. qualifies as a true "hockey town", the D.C. City Council declared November 3 ‘Washington Capitals Day’ -so there!
- The Caps face the New Jersey Devils at the Rock this evening minus Alex Ovechkin. Time for Alex Semin, Brooks Laich, Tomas Fleischmann and the rest to get down and dirty and light up Marty's lamp. Hershey's Mathieu Perreault was called up yesterday so maybe he can get in on the action as well! HM has a previous engagement this evening so check out the fabulous writers in my blog roll tomorrow for complete coverage.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Capitals Raise Nearly $25,000 for Hockey Fights Cancer
A huge Hockey Mom high five to the Washington Capitals and especially their generous and fabulous fans for their efforts in raising nearly $25,000 for Hockey Fights Cancer! The organization raised the much-needed funds through their Hockey Fights Cancer Month initiatives in October to benefit ZERO – The Project to End Prostate Cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in America, affecting one of six men.
The Capitals hosted a practice jersey auction during the team’s Oct. 17 and 27 home games that raised $24,705 for ZERO. Nine jerseys went for $1,000 or more, with Brooks Laich’s jersey the top seller at $2,550. Other top bid recipients were jerseys worn and autographed by Nicklas Backstrom, Matt Bradley, Chris Clark, Mike Green, Milan Jurcina, Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Semyon Varlamov.
Before the Oct. 27 game against Philadelphia the Capitals hosted ZERO’s mobile screening vehicle at Verizon Center and provided free prostate cancer screenings. During that same game the Capitals also honored 25 season-ticket holders who have beaten, are battling, have treated or in some way been affected by prostate cancer. Caps right wing Matt Bradley and defenseman Shaone Morrisonn (both who've personally lost loved ones to cancer) greeted each participant on the ice and posed for a group photo.
Monday, November 2, 2009
MVP Ovechkin's Status Week to Week
Caps fans got some good news and some bad news today, all revolving around their shining star and the NHL's reigning MVP Alex Ovechkin.
So the good news is that Ovie was named one of the NHL's Stars of the Month for October, along with Phoenix netminder Ilya Bryzgalov and Craig Anderson, who has done a heck of a job minding the crease for the resurgent Colorado Avalanche.
Alex Ovechkin earned second star honors as he led the NHL in goals (14), points (23), shots (85) and tied for second place in plus-minus (+10) as the Capitals went 8-2-3 and opened a seven-point lead in the Southeast Division. Ovechkin matched Mario Lemieux’s NHL record for October with six two-goal games and his 14 goals matched the most he has scored in a calendar month (March, 2008). The reigning NHL MVP became the third player in NHL history to tally at least three points in each of his first three games of a season, joining Guy Lafleur with Montreal in 1975-76 and Peter Stastny with Quebec in 1982-83. Ovie had five goals and four assists in that span.
Now for that bad news - it was initially announced that the Great8 was suffering an undisclosed upper body injury and was listed as day to day. The latest update from the team now has him listed as week to week, which means that the boys are gonna have to step it way up in his absence for sure.
From the Capitals PR department (a special stick tap to Nate Ewell and his terrific team for always keeping us in the loop):
Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin suffered an upper-body strain in Sunday evening’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets and his status is week-to-week, the team determined Monday.
Ovechkin, the NHL leader in points (23) and goals (14) and the league’s Second Star of the Month for October, is expected to miss the fifth game of his five-year career on Wednesday at New Jersey. He has only missed two games due to injury in his first four seasons.
“We have to buckle down,” head coach Bruce Boudreau said earlier Monday. “A goal a game he scores, so we got to play better defense and cannot allow four or five goals a game. You have to win 3-1 and 2-1 and if you get lucky sometimes make it a 4-2 game. I think we have enough character players who understand what we will have to do without Alex.”
Ovechkin played just 7:43 of Sunday’s overtime loss to Columbus and was held without a point for just the third time this year. He was examined and treated by the team’s medical staff and underwent an MRI exam on Monday.
The two-time reigning most valuable player will travel with the Capitals this week to continue to receive medical treatment.
More from Boudreau today: http://tweetmic.com/p/ox100mp1a97
Needless to say, it's time for some secondary scoring boys - starting against Martin Brodeur on Wednesday. Get well soon Russian Machine!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Ovechkin Injury Update
No specfic details but the Capitals PR staff have released a statement on Ovechkin's injury during tonight's game against Columbus:
Alex Ovechkin suffered an upper-body injury in the 2nd period and is day-to-day. The Capitals have a day off tomorrow so the soonest we will have an update on his status is Tuesday.
Alex Ovechkin suffered an upper-body injury in the 2nd period and is day-to-day. The Capitals have a day off tomorrow so the soonest we will have an update on his status is Tuesday.
Caps Fall to Columbus Blue Jackets in OT
After two kids' games and a practice yesterday and two kids' games today, Hockey Mom finally settled down to watch the big boys welcome the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Phone Booth. The Caps started this game off on the right foot, with a very sweet goal from Nicklas Backstrom, assisted by Tomas Fleischmann and Alex Semin. The Caps led the Jackets 1-0 at the end of the opening period.
The second period started out with some fireworks as Ovechkin skated by the Blue Jackets' bench and got a few not so friendly jabs from Jared Boll and Jason Chimera. This altercation escalated into to an all-out scrum between both teams with the Great8 smack dab in the middle. HM was surprised to see such thuggery coming from a team not wearing orange and black.
At the 14-minute mark Columbus captain Rick Nash made some spectacular moves, drawing Theo out of the net and pretty much stopping Mike Green in his tracks as he put the Blue Jackets on the board to tie the game.
Midway through the second, Ovechkin took a tumble after hitting Raffe Torres and left the ice in obvious pain and favoring his left arm/shoulder, a huge cause for concern for the Caps faithful. Brooks Laich had a fabulous scoring chance on Steve Mason late in the period, but Mason stifled him in a fine imitation of a wall.
The Blue Jackets got on the board for their second tally in an odd chain of events as Jose Theodore was trying to play the puck which in turn took a random bounce and RJ Umberger took full advantage of the opportunity.
The third period started with no Ovie and Brooks Laich mentioned that in Ovechkin’s absence, the team had to step it up. And step it up they did. Now HM had a full weekend of referees who apparently slept through the Hockey Rules 101 section during a few of the twin’s games this weekend. Well, the stripes missed a call for the men in red as well as David Steckel got called for goalie interference while it should have been a hooking call on the Blue Jackets. That was after the first period missed call on a Kristian Huselius hook on Juice that left both the big men sprawled in pain against the boards.
But Laich made true on his word as he scored two goals in a span of about two minutes. The first was assisted by Tom Poti and Alex Semin, and the second was courtesy of Mike Green and Brendan Morrison. Green’s assist gives him points in 9 straight games. At the 13:36 marker, Raffe Torres tied it up again with a bad wrap around on Theo, who was minus his stick at that inopportune moment.
The grinder we all know and love, Quintin Laing, obviously has shaken off all symptoms of the swine flu and proceeded to give the Caps a late third period lead! But in what has become an unsettling trend, the Caps lost the lead in the final seconds as Raffe Torres scored to tie it and take it into OT (another edge of the seat, adult beverage mandatory-ending).
The bad blood continued to boil at the end of this one, with another scrum involving words exchanged between Jason Chimura and Shaone Morrison, among others. The Caps took a penalty call for interference by Brian Pothier during OT, giving the Blue Jackets a power play opportunity. And wouldn’t ya know, that pesky RJ Umberger took full advantage and blew one past Jose Theodore for the win.
Final Score: Columbus 5 – Capitals 4
So another frustrating loss and now we'll wait for news on the health of Alex Ovechkin. For now, Gabby is saying that AO is day-to-day with an upper body injury. The boys aren’t back in action until Wednesday, so let’s keep our collective fingers crossed that Ovie is back on the bench to face the New Jersey Devils. Stay tuned…
The second period started out with some fireworks as Ovechkin skated by the Blue Jackets' bench and got a few not so friendly jabs from Jared Boll and Jason Chimera. This altercation escalated into to an all-out scrum between both teams with the Great8 smack dab in the middle. HM was surprised to see such thuggery coming from a team not wearing orange and black.
At the 14-minute mark Columbus captain Rick Nash made some spectacular moves, drawing Theo out of the net and pretty much stopping Mike Green in his tracks as he put the Blue Jackets on the board to tie the game.
Midway through the second, Ovechkin took a tumble after hitting Raffe Torres and left the ice in obvious pain and favoring his left arm/shoulder, a huge cause for concern for the Caps faithful. Brooks Laich had a fabulous scoring chance on Steve Mason late in the period, but Mason stifled him in a fine imitation of a wall.
The Blue Jackets got on the board for their second tally in an odd chain of events as Jose Theodore was trying to play the puck which in turn took a random bounce and RJ Umberger took full advantage of the opportunity.
The third period started with no Ovie and Brooks Laich mentioned that in Ovechkin’s absence, the team had to step it up. And step it up they did. Now HM had a full weekend of referees who apparently slept through the Hockey Rules 101 section during a few of the twin’s games this weekend. Well, the stripes missed a call for the men in red as well as David Steckel got called for goalie interference while it should have been a hooking call on the Blue Jackets. That was after the first period missed call on a Kristian Huselius hook on Juice that left both the big men sprawled in pain against the boards.
But Laich made true on his word as he scored two goals in a span of about two minutes. The first was assisted by Tom Poti and Alex Semin, and the second was courtesy of Mike Green and Brendan Morrison. Green’s assist gives him points in 9 straight games. At the 13:36 marker, Raffe Torres tied it up again with a bad wrap around on Theo, who was minus his stick at that inopportune moment.
The grinder we all know and love, Quintin Laing, obviously has shaken off all symptoms of the swine flu and proceeded to give the Caps a late third period lead! But in what has become an unsettling trend, the Caps lost the lead in the final seconds as Raffe Torres scored to tie it and take it into OT (another edge of the seat, adult beverage mandatory-ending).
The bad blood continued to boil at the end of this one, with another scrum involving words exchanged between Jason Chimura and Shaone Morrison, among others. The Caps took a penalty call for interference by Brian Pothier during OT, giving the Blue Jackets a power play opportunity. And wouldn’t ya know, that pesky RJ Umberger took full advantage and blew one past Jose Theodore for the win.
Final Score: Columbus 5 – Capitals 4
So another frustrating loss and now we'll wait for news on the health of Alex Ovechkin. For now, Gabby is saying that AO is day-to-day with an upper body injury. The boys aren’t back in action until Wednesday, so let’s keep our collective fingers crossed that Ovie is back on the bench to face the New Jersey Devils. Stay tuned…
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