Russia's Late Effort Wins Them Gold

As an American, I have two favorite teams: Team USA, and anyone who beats Canada. So even if I did not already have a mild obsession with Russia, I would be a Team Russia fan today. The young team played the come-back game of their lives, rallying from a 3-0 deficit to score 5 unanswered goals in the third period. They beat the stunned Canadians with a final score of 5-3. (Just a side note: The pre-game broadcast reminded me of the 2010 Olympics, not because it was a Gold Medal game, but because everything was so Canadian, especially the crowd. Making their 7th championship game debut in the past 7 years, Team Canada wore the home jerseys, decked out in red.)

Three players watch in the game: Cody Eakin #25, Canada, Evgeni Kuznetsov #25, Russia and Dmitri Orlov #9, Russia. All are Washington Capitals draft picks. And my, oh my, what games they had.

Team Canada came crashing out of the gates to get it started early, much like they did on Monday, when they demolished the United States 4-1. The best power play unit in the tournament made short work of an early man advantage, resulting in a quick 1-0 lead. Capitals prospect Cody Eakin was all over Russian goalie Shikin in the first, but could not get anything past him. Russia applied pressure late in the period with a break away, however, Evgeni Kuznetsov had the puck poke-checked away from him by a diving defenseman. Dmitri Orlov, was incredibly involved in the offense, leading rushes and creating scoring opportunities, something that we have not often seen out of him. The game equaled in intensity and physicality. Forechecks were forcibly established, and goal celebrations rivaled those of some overtime victories. Canada scored with 47 seconds left in the first to go to intermission with a 2 goal lead.

It was a slow second period until 13:33, when Canada made the lead 3-0. A goalie change for Russia promptly followed and Igor Bobkov took over for Dmitri Shikin. The third goal seemed to electrify Canada. However, that electricity certainly faded away in the locker room. The third period belonged to Russia. In what was a display of effort and creativity, Russia scored twice three minutes into the third, only 11 seconds apart, putting themselves back into the game. Russia played like a team with nothing to lose. Their attitude helped them to be more creative with the puck, when they might have otherwise been more reserved. Spinning passes from the circles, shots from the point, and pressure in the slot all stemmed from Russia's creativity and played a part in each of the five goals.

Never surrender. That seemed to be the theme for Team Russia in all of their games. This was their ultimate come-back of the WJC tournament, despite each of the come-from-behind wins they accomplished as they made their way to the championship. It is Russia's first Gold since they defeated Canada in 2003, and the looks of incredulity and pure joy on the faces of the young Russians was definitely the heartwarming moment of the tournament.

Team USA Takes The Bronze in IIHF World Junior Championship

"It's a mans game," said USA forward Chris Kreider. And finally, Team USA is once again playing like men. They broke the trend of sloppy hockey against Sweden, playing for the bronze medal in the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship.

The United States started off strong in a scoreless first period. In Mondays game against Canada, the team looked exhausted at the end of every shift, and by the end of the first period they looked completely out of gas. This was not the case in today's game. Team USA looked refreshed from their day off, intent on forgetting Monday's embarrassment against the Canadians. From the drop of the puck USA finished shifts with energy, and controlled the puck much better than they had in their previous game. Several opportunities were stolen from the United States as Sweden's goalie did everything but stand on his head to make saves.

The second period was played much the same as the first, and at about the 10 minute mark Sweden scored on USA goalie Jack Campbell. The Swedes played an aggressive game, looking more like a North American team, than a typical European team. (An interesting side-note mentioned during the broadcast: almost every player on Sweden's WJC roster is an NHL draft pick. Impressive numbers Team Sweden.) Team USA also put up a goal, scored by Chris Kreider. Though they maintained pace and pressure, they did not manage to keep the shots up.

Correcting their mistakes, Team USA got an early goal and took the lead for the first time in the game. With the United States in control, an aggressive power play pushed the pace of the game, but did not result in a third goal. A fault of the offense throughout the game, and the tournament was the failure to get the puck in the air on their shots. At 8:20 Nick Bjugstad made it 3-1 USA. Sweden was not rattled, and responded with a goal 2 minutes later, making it 3-2. A two on one opportunity created a fourth goal for USA, second of the night from Kreider.

A schizophrenic two final minutes led to Team USA taking the bronze. This is a huge opportunity for USA Hockey. Following last year's Gold Medal victory, this is the second consecutive year that the USA has medaled, a first for the program. As NHLers in international competition (aka the Olympics) is a hot-topic, hopefully this will not be the last international competition that these young men (who are mostly comprised of NHL draft picks) are eligible to compete in.

Caps Look To Take Back The Southeast Division

Fresh off their Winter Classic win against Pittsburgh, the Capitals dropped the puck against the Tampa Bay Lightning in what was perhaps an even more important game. The Lightning seemed anxious to display their new, old goalie. Dwyane Roloson was acquired from the New York Islanders last Saturday. The 41-year-old goaltender, whose win/loss records could really use some work, was the unofficial starter. Rick DiPietro (the Islanders starter on paper only) is one of those players who makes the news for actually being healthy.

The division rivals entered the game both tied for first in the Southeast Division with 51 points, Tampa with a game in hand. Despite the importance of the game, the Capitals were slow to get it started. Even Varlamov's three sprawling saves were less than fabulous. With just 5 shots in the first, Washington both burned a late power play and killed one off. The penalty kill was the highlight of the period as they shut down the Lightning's top two scorers Steven Stamkos and Vincent Lecavlier, and their top play maker Martin St. Louis.

The Capitals had more energy coming out of the first period intermission, however, instead of playing like themselves, it was a rather conservative period. Two minutes in, Alex Ovechkin sped down the ice using the defenseman as a shield, forcing Roloson to go post-to-post. A hooking call on Matthieu Perreault as he went hard to the net resulted in the Caps second power play of the night. The power play, which has been the Capitals Achilles tendon this season, managed to produce a few quality shots before St. Louis and Ryan Malone made a short handed rush down the ice and crashed into the waiting Varlamov. Matt Hendricks and Steve Downie dropped the gloves and exchanged a few choice words, yelling to one another through the penalty box glass. Backstrom created the best chance of the period, wrapping the puck around the net, but Roloson came up with his fifth big save of the game, which is undoubtedly why Tampa traded for the 41-year-old. He made Tampa's GM, Steve Yzerman, look like a genius. With 2:28 left in the second period, the Lightning announced that they signed Boston's Marc-Andre Bergeron.

Tampa came out ready in the third, piling shots on goal in the first three minutes. The score, however, remained 0-0. The third period was the best for both teams, as though it took them both 40 minutes to realize that the winner of this game would take back control of the Southeast division. Eventually the teams took it to overtime, whihc was much quicker paced than the entire game. With 2:43 off the clock, Martin St. Louis put it past Varlamov, putting the Caps two points behind the Lightning, #2 in the Southeast Division. Washington is going to have to play much better if they expect to win their division again. This was an over all underwhelming game.

Here's an article on the Winter Classic I thought you all would enjoy per my cousin Jillian Gardiner. On Frozen Blog happens to be one of the best Capitals blogs around. I'm working on posting my own--it's written, but Blogger wont publish it.

Anyways, enjoy.

http://www.onfrozenblog.com/2011/02/01/plundering-western-pa-with-a-reversal-invasion.html

USA Flops in Semi-Finals

It's been quite a 10-day span for hockey. The World Junior Championships are in town, the Winter Classic was a success (well it was for Washington fans), and the IIHF got their dream match-up. Team USA and Team Canada have a deep-seeded rivalry like none other, and now they get a chance to face off, albeit, in the semi-finals. The winner of this game will get a chance to play Russia for the glory and the gold, the loser playing Sweden for the bronze. Though it cannot hope to match the significance of the last three North American games (USA/Canada Olympic bracket game, Olympic Gold Medal game and last year's WJC Championship game), it had intensity in its own right. Despite having the international tournament in Buffalo, New York, the game got under way in a mostly red building.
Team Canada got it started early with a goal from Curtis Hamilton. Storming the slot, Hamilton easily put the puck past USA goalie Jack Campbell who was far too aggressive on the play. Drawn out of his crease, he left the net wide open. Canada's Quinton Howden scored again with 6 minutes left in the first period on a nice tic-tac-toe play. Though physical, Team USA looked jittery and unsure of themselves, especially after the second goal. Campbell played at the top of his crease for much of the period, and was slow from post to post.
The United States got a chance to try out their second ranked power play at the start of the second period, but scoring no goals. With one second left on the penalty kill, Canada was given a chance to test out their power play, with a 5 on 3 for two minutes. With 35 seconds left, Canada scored a third goal. Jack Campbell made a few big saves, but often enough it looked as though he was out there playing alone. The last half of the period, Team USA began to get a few quality shots, however none went in.
The third period brought a breakout goal from Zach Kassian, making it 4-0 Canada. It took Team USA nearly 50 minutes to get a goal. Forward Chris Brown went upstairs on the Canadian goalie, giving Team USA a glimer of hope.
Sadly enough, USA wasn't able to pull through. Look for them to play Team Sweden on Wednesday at 330 on NHL Network. Team Canada (oh what a bitter taste that leaves in my mouth) will be playing Team Russia the same day at 730. Who besides me is hoping for a Russian victory?

The Winter Classic: A New Year Miracle

Large and imposing, bright lights lit up the sky as I caught my first glance of Heinz Field, looming high above the mouth of the three rivers from which it gets its nickname. A little voice, which I had been suppressing all week broke through--this is it, I thought. The months, weeks, and days of waiting were over; only a few short hours separated me from what might be the most intense game the Washington Capitals have possibly ever played in.

Walking the short half mile from the parking garage to the stadium, I passed thousands of tailgaters sporting jerseys from both teams. The air was filled with the smell of hot dogs, coca-cola and mustard, and the sounds of small children running in between cars playing street hockey and corn-hole. The sun was setting, turning the overcast sky seven different shades of pink and purple. Joining the crowd, I was swept along Art Roony Boulevard toward the front entrance of Heinz Field. A police motorcade drove down the street, flashing their lights. A bus rolled to a stop behind them. Suddenly everyone wearing blue or black started to sprint toward the bus, while the people in red continued walking at a normal pace. Shouts of "It's them! It's them!" added to the already noisy street. I reached the bus in time to see the back of the last Penguin disappear into the stadium.

Being two hours early, I walked around to see what all the NHL event had to offer. There were large blow up jerseys representing each team, and a colossal hockey player whose face was so gruesome that it could only be a rather large, inflatable, cartoon Ovechkin. There was a small rink set up, complete with boards, glass and penalty boxes, behind large merchandise tents. The whole street was blocked off, and with all the tents and food booths, it had all the appeals of a carnival.

Walking into the stadium was a jaw dropping experience. As we climbed to the upper decks, the rink came into view for the first time. The untouched ice glimmering under the lights had a mesmerizing effect. It added a whole another level of intensity to an already intense game.

My worst fear was that we would emerge from the escalators and find our seats close enough to touch the sign saying section 526. Thank God we weren't that high up; our seats were perfect. The ice had been built on a platform, leaving those in the 100 level sections unable to actually see onto the ice. Though we were probably sitting as close to heaven as you could get in the stadium, we could see onto the ice as well as everything else going on on the field. Blue and red melted together as everyone stood to sing the national anthems in an Olympic-like opening ceremony. Flashes of cameras other than my own shone like flashing stars throughout the stadium. Excitement and tension built up in the stadium, encouraging every fan in the stands to hoot, holler, and cheer for their team. The noise rose to a peak, and then the puck dropped and the game got underway.

The first period was gut-wrenching. The 0-0 tie was enough to send the butterflies in my stomach into a frenzy. Erskine's fight with Rupp halfway through the period sent energy through the stands, even though it was a pretty even draw.

Evgeni Malkin's goal in the second period was perhaps inevitable. It came off of a bad line change by the Capitals. Pittsburgh fans stood and pointed in our faces and laughed. But about five minutes later we got to jump up and cheer and laugh at them as Mike Knuble put the puck past Fluery. Discernable groans came from the Pens fans as 8 minutes later Eric Fehr scored, and the Caps left the ice a goal ahead. There was a hit behind the play at the end of the period, and Dave Steckel ran into Sidney Crosby, who was according to the Pittsburgh press, "seriously injured". It began raining half way through the second period, and continued throughout the game.

Eric Fehr put another one on the board before the game was over. The atmosphere had an electric feel as the clock winded down. The caps started celebrating with .6 seconds left in the game. Caps fans all over the stadium exploded in chants and applause, and it was really amazing to see how many of them had actually come to the game.

With all of the hype surrounding the Winter Classic, I feel like there should have been a trophy awarded after the game. The NHL did its best to turn this into a "Superbowl-esque" event. And let me tell you, it had all of the components of a big league championship game. To me, this felt like more of a play off game than many that I've been to.

I thought that Pittsburgh's reaction to the loss was completely classless. The pens skated off the rink, ignoring Washington lined up at center ice. As I mentioned in my short post last night, I was completely outraged, as were many other Washington fans I spoke to. Again, I place the blame on the coach, and the Captain Sidney Crosby, for certainly it was a fault in leadership. The poor sportsmanship was a thread we saw through the fans, whose only (and quite unoriginal) post-game chant was "c-u-p-s, we have more!" And you can bet that sitting on the street corner for two hours while waiting for the car, I was the subject of much taunting. The media coverage was much whinier than anticipated. The general consensus was that the Winter Classic had been spoiled by Washington and that it was in no way fair.

But that's okay. I got my revenge on some penguins fan's car. In his carefully painted Pittsburgh emblem on his back windshield, I traced "lets go caps" with my fingers. I wouldn't change any part of this weekend for the world. This was an amazing experience from the tailgaters all the way through to the waiting in the parking lot at 2 am. The NHL had a task at hand to create a game worthy of these two powerful rivals, and they certainly did a tremendous job of it. A small suggestion for next time, if you're going to go to all of the trouble to make it such an event, then make it feel less like a penguins home game. Also, Washington, trod out those retro jerseys more often. They're better than the uniforms we have now!

I would definitely recommend going to an NHL event like this if you get the chance. It's an experience that you won't soon forget!

So Classic.

Oh man, what a game. You can say it was not as much of a spectacle as the previous Winter Classics because of the weather, but to me, that made it all the more special. Cate was at the Winter Classic, so I will let her handle how the atmosphere of the whole event was in greater detail, but just from watching on the television I could tell that it was probably awesome to be there, no matter how much water was being dropped from the sky. The thing that pleased me the most was the mass amounts of red that I saw in the stands. Pittsburgh fans are a proud bunch and usually you do not see many of the opposing fans in their seats, but tonight was a much different story. The many loyal fans who were "Rockin' the Red" were just as loud and supportive as the fans in black and gold (oh, and blue for some reason). Pittsburgh fans are known for following their fans around, but we showed that Caps fans can do just the same if not better.

In a night that was all about Sid the Kid vs. the Great 8, how awesome was it that a player who even casual Caps fans don't know ends up being the hero for the boys. Eric Fehr scored two goals in last night's game. It was only his second multi-goal game, the first coming in 2009. The first goal came off a Marc-Andre Fleury "assist" and the second on a breakaway shot that Fehr did not mess around with. Instead of trying to deke out the super quick Fleury, he simply wound up and put it top shelf to help seal the deal for the boys in Red, White, and Blue. Just as a final note, if you listened to the very first episode of our show, I picked Eric Fehr as the breakout player of the year. Loos like someone has a good eye for talent ;)

The biggest aspect of this game was the weather. Shout out to the weather man working for NBC who said the rain would only last "another five minutes" midway through the second period. Way to keep the reputation of the weatherman ALWAYS being wrong alive, sir. Anyhow, the rain did seem to play a major factor in the game. By the start of the third period, the puck had a wake trailing behind it, and players were constantly falling on the ice for no reason. The rain seemed to enhance the rough and tough game that the Caps and Pens always seem to play when the rivals clash. Ovi broke the glass by hitting a Pens defender into it in the first few minutes. Erskine and Rupp scrapped to (in my opinion) an even draw in the first period, and from there, the hits kept on coming. With .6 seconds left on the clock, the Pens kept preventing the faceoff from happening by starting mini-scraps. It seemed as if they could not accept the fact that they had lost a sixth straight to the mighty Capitals in Pittsburgh.

The weather conditions definitely affected the goalies the most, and on this night, the man with the blue number one on his sweater rose to the occasion. Varlamov saved 32 of 33 shots and spearheaded a group that killed off 4 power players for the Pens. The more important thing, however, is that he did not make the key mistake. The same could not be said for Marc-Andre Fleury, who consistently came out of the crease and misplayed the puck. One of those mistakes ultimately led to the loss, as Fleury lost the puck to Marcus Johansson, who then gave it up to Eric Fehr for the easy goal. From all of us Capitals fans, I would like to thank both goalies for their efforts (mishaps?) in the Capitals' win.

One negative that came from this game was not a fault of either team or the weather. It was the NBC camera crew. The camera angles that were being shown to the viewing public were horrendous. I don't know if they got confused on whether or not it was a hockey game or football game or what it was, but they could not figure out that all the fans wanted was the simple side view. Granted, most of the game was presented in this format (as it should be), but they spent much of the game with weird canted angles from far away that made it impossible to see what was going on on the ice. Dumb it down a bit, NBC.

Those retro jerseys were amazing. The white with the red helmet and pants were awesome. I hope the Caps take a note from their rivals and use those jerseys in more games this season and in following years

Final note. Just a shoutout to the crew I watched the victory with and followed that up by beating the beat up and Applebees. Drew and Amy Hallman, Mike, Ryan, and Matty Brown, John Welsh, and Adam "Lucky Retro Jersey" Artuso. With this huge win, the Caps have officially gained their swagger back.