A Crazy Third Period in Leaf Nation...

Thankfully looks like Alex Semin and his other sick team mates got some chicken soup in them, as Sasha was on the ice in Toronto tonight. Facing the Maple Leafs (who are way out of playoff contention), this game was a pretty much a sleeper for much of the first period. That was until Alex Ovechkin's beauty of a goal in the second to tie it up. And a Hockey Mom high five to Ovie, who donned a Coach's Corner t-shirt before dressing, per Capitals Insider, a tilt of the hand to his loudest critic - Don Cherry.

Pavel Kubina took the lead for the lowly Leafs in the final period. Then mayhem ensued as the Cap's Brooks Laich poked the puck in well into Martin Gerber's crease to tie at 2 apiece. But Gerber argued the legality of the goal and proceeded to push two refs, earning himself a game misconduct and a seat back in the dressing room! What is it with goalies going nutso this week? First, Providence Bruins net minder Tuukka Rask and then tonight's eruption from the Leaf's Gerber.

After Gerber threw his hissy fit and left the ice, the Leafs had to pull Curtis Joseph (CuJo) off the bench with mere seconds left in the third period. Joseph stopped a barrage of shots by the Caps to the loud applause of the Toronto fans. As the wild OT ended with no score, this one went into the shoot out. Theo (who had some beast saves in the game) was unsuccessful in stopping John Hamilton's shoot out attempt. CuJo denied Nick Backstrom, Alex Semin and AO, giving the Leafs a 3 - 2 victory.

Even though a few of the guys were under the weather, once again this was a team that the Caps should have dominated. They stepped it up in the third period, but it seemed like they were sluggish and made too many mistakes during the other two.

HM almost wishes the boys had a tougher schedule down the stretch to get back in the swing of playing "playoff" hockey now. Which means playing a full three periods of hockey at 110% effort with minimal mistakes.

Next up, the Lightning - who as we've all heard, were not so happy with Ovie's display and will be coming into the Phone Booth on Friday with a big chip on their shoulders.

Ovie Still Heads the Pack in MVP Race

Alex Ovechkin still holds the lead for his second consecutive NHL MVP Award (edging out fellow Russian Evgeni Malkin) according to USA Today's Power Rankings. Let's hope the Great Eight keeps those goals coming as we head down the playoff stretch!

The Caps will definitely need his "hot stick" tonight against the Leafs as Alex Semin, Matt Bradley and possibly others are suffering from the flu bug (that seems to be ever present this season in that locker room)! As a single hockey mom, I can't afford to get sick (and rarely do) - guys, Purell works wonders. Put a gallon or two in those hockey bags. It kills germs and might do something about the smell too if you're lucky. No seriously, we all hope the guys get better soon - you'll be missed tonight for sure.

The last time the Caps faced Ron Wilson's team (minus AO) - it wasn't pretty. We need an all-out effort from everyone on the ice tonight in Leaf Nation...

And for all you new fans, if you wanted to see what playoff hockey is like, last night's game between the rapscallion Flyers and the New Jersey Devils was a good one! Plenty of scrapping, lots of hard hitting and of course, brilliant goaltending with Brodeur in the crease. The Devils played a good game but were without Patrick Elias and alas, those dratted Flyers took the win.

Hopefully HM will be back later discussing a win for the men in red. Til then...

Get Well Soon Quintin

Just as Hockey Mom praised the return of the work horse that is Quintin Lang, I heard the bad news that he suffered an injury to his spleen and will miss the rest of the season.

Get well soon Quintin!

Caps Zap the Lightning: Ovi Nets Goal Number 50

After a sluggish start, the Capitals zapped the Tampa Bay Lightning last night at the St. Pete Times Forum. With a final score of 5 - 2 (which would have been 6 - 2, had Eric Fehr's "no goal" goal counted), the Caps got another nice showing from rookie goaltender Simeon Varlamov, who held Vinny, Marty and the Bolts to a mere 2 tallies. HM was happy to see the call up of Quintin "The Human Shield" Lang to the Caps' bench - I was completely bummed when he was sent down to Hershey. That guy is a prime example of giving 100% on every shift and I frequently cite his efforts as an example to my own young hockey players.

Speaking of 100%, of course the highlight of the evening was Alex Ovechkin netting his 50th goal for the third time in four seasons! AO loves his props and he had his own unique celebratory "dance" to mark his tremendous feat - which didn't sit well with some folks, including Bolt's coach Rick Tocchet.

In case you missed it, check it out here:



Ovi's reaction reminded HM a little too much of TO and is sure to provide plenty of fodder for geezin' windbag Don Cherry on Hockey Night in Canada tomorrow. Nonetheless, AO has and always will be a passionate character (thank goodness) and team player (seen as he hugged Varlamov at game's end), and as far as I'm concerned he can celebrate however he likes as long as he keeps 'em coming!

Hugs and congrats to Ovi and to the Caps for another 2 points - jeez, is it almost playoff time yet?

Why Do They Fight in Hockey Anyway?

Once again, the annual meeting of NHL General Managers this month focused on a topic that’s been the source of much controversy over the years: fighting. Like it or leave it, fighting has (since the early origins of hockey back in 19th century Canada) and probably always will be a part of the professional game.

But one of the questions that’s sometimes posed by hockey fans is “why do they fight anyway”? As the mom of twin thirteen year-old hockey players, my first guess would be the testosterone. Some days we have enough roughhousing and tussling in my house, it’s like an Ultimate Cage Fighting (of which Mike Green is a big fan, by the way) marathon on the Versus network.

In all seriousness, that has very little to do with why players fight in hockey. The fact that you have very large guys speeding around and checking each other at speeds faster than I roll along on my daily commute sometimes adds fuel to the fire, but there are other reasons that result in fisticuffs on the ice.

I recently posed a few questions on fighting to one of the most feared enforcers in the game – the Capitals’ own Donald Brashear. Donald started playing hockey when he was eight years old and dropped the gloves for the first time at the age of 17 when he was playing Junior hockey in Quebec. Because of his size and very physical play, it was no surprise that he assumed the role of enforcer in his professional career early on. When asked why fighting exists in the game, Brashear gave several reasons: “Sometimes fights occur to give the team a little spark, to wake up the guys and energize them and of course, to defend your team mates.”

Brashear also gave some insight into how a fight evolves. “I don’t know why they keep trying to take fighting away because the two guys fighting are two guys that agree to fight together. If it happens between a guy who doesn’t fight much and a guy who fights, it’s because the other guy must have done something wrong and when that happens he gets penalized.”

We saw several examples of fighting to defend a team mate in the game against the Nashville Predators (Brashear hasn’t been on the ice since that game after hurting his knee after a fight). These days, the league is seeing too many fighting incidents resulting from clean hits to players that are perceived as “dirty” by the opposing team. The General Managers are proposing new rules to cut down on these occurrences as well.

Every now and then, you’ll see the two tough guys drop the gloves and duke it out right at the face off. The GMs look at many of these types of fights as “staged” and are considering stricter penalties for such incidents. Brashear agrees with his frequent sparring partner from the Philadelphia Flyers, Riley Cote, that it may be hard for referees to determine whether or not a fight is staged, as many times fights occurring at the faceoff are a result of an incident that took place in a previous shift or even in a previous game.

One of the main reasons you see fighting is an effort on the part of the big guys to protect the star players. Example, if Alex Ovechkin had to drop the gloves every time another player took a run or cheap shot at him, he wouldn’t get a whole lot of scoring done. Now when opposing player who takes out of bounds liberties with AO or Nick Backstrom during the course of a game knows that the tough guy on his team will have to pay the piper with the “Donald”, Matt Bradley or John Erskine – that guy might think twice about taking that course of action. I know I would….

As volatile and spur-of-the-moment as some of the on-ice “dances” may seem, there are actually age-old rules of etiquette that players engaging in fights are expected to adhere to. Brashear mentioned the level of respect that enforcers have for each other and that their team mates have for them. He said “We have respect for the guys doing it. It’s a tough job, a hard job and a dangerous job. It’s a role you play and not everyone can do it. Most of our team mates respect what we are doing and the guys who are doing it respect each other.”

If you want to gain a better understanding of fighting in hockey, pick up a copy of the book The Code: The Unwritten Rules of Fighting and Retaliation in the NHL by Ross Bernstein. Unfortunately I can’t lend out my copy as it’s already making the rounds of some of my fellow hockey moms at the rink. I can tell you that the book provides a really interesting glimpse into the world of hockey and features some quips from Brashear himself.

One thing’s for sure, the debate over fighting in hockey is sure to continue. It’s especially interesting to hear the female fans perspective on fighting as there seems to be two extremes – gals either love it as part of the game or hate it and want to see it banned. As for me, I’m okay with fighting – it’s part of the game. And I’d rather NOT see it in my living room boys!

Caps Answer the Cat Call: Caps 3 - Panthers 0

So after Tuesday night's debaucle against a much-lower ranked Thrashers team, the Capitals aimed to redeem themselves against a Florida Panthers team clawing for a playoff spot. Coach Boudreau was livid, as well he should be, by Tuesday's lack of effort, defensive breakdowns and unwillingness to crash the net.

While tonight's win wasn't perfect, the coach's message must have been heard loud and clear. Bolstered by the return of Sergei Fedorov and Mike Green, the boys looked like a different team from the one we saw in Atlanta (thank our lucky stars)! Brooks Laich spent a large part of the evening exactly where he should be - with his bad self parked in front of Tomas Vokoun's crease. Laich also netted the Cap's first tally (a shortie, no less) with an assist from tough guy John Erskine.

Big Viktor Kozlov got on the board for the second Capital's goal and the visitors held the Cats scoreless. Despite valiant efforts from former Cap Richard Zednik and friends, the Cap's "d" did not allow the Panthers a shot on goal during an entire third period! Mike Green made an empty-netter to finish this one up with a final score of 3 - 0. HM can almost hear the clinking of Guinness mugs as the Caps' faithful toast to St. Patrick's Day and a nicely done victory.

Speaking of St. Patrick (Patrick Roy that is), he no longer holds the title of NHL goalie with the most wins. I was flipping back and forth between the Caps/Panthers and New Jersey Devils/Chicago Blackhawks games to make sure I caught NHL history should it be made by Devils' goal tender Martin Brodeur this evening. As expected, Brodeur surpassed Roy's record by recording his 552nd NHL win tonight. A big Hockey Mom toast to Marty on this historic occasion as well as to his hockey mom and hockey dad (who was a former photographer for the Montreal Canadiens) who drove him back and forth from the rink all those years!

Next up, the Caps road trip continues with a vist to the not-so-hot Tampa Bay Lightning. But as we've learned the hard way, you can't take any team for granted in this push to the playoffs!

Caps May See the Return of D-Man Brian Pothier

It's been a long time coming but Caps fans may be soon cheering on defenseman Brian Pothier who's been recalled from the Hershey Bears. A fan favorite, Pothier has been out of commission since suffering a debilitating concussion on January 3, 2008, courtesy of the Boston Bruins' big boy Milan Lucic. It's been a long road to recovery for Brian and this is fabulous news for him, his family and the team.

From the team press release:

Pothier recently completed a four-game conditioning stint with the Bears and is available to make his season debut with the Capitals tomorrow night in Atlanta, the same city where he made his NHL debut nearly eight years ago (April 3, 2001, as a Thrasher).

The 6’0”, 200-pound native of New Bedford, Mass., is a veteran of seven NHL seasons and has compiled 100 points (20 goals, 80 assists) in 292 career games. In his only full season with the Capitals, 2006-07, he led all club defensemen in points (28) and assists (25) and led the team in ice time (23:59 per game) while appearing in 72 games.

Also recalled was young goalie phenom Simeon Varlamov.

Should Pothier see a return to action against the Thrashers tomorrow, I know HM along with Caps fans united will be cheering to see him healthy and for the boost he gives to the blueline!