Lazy Summer Days

It's July already. July is like the Wednesday of the calendar; we're halfway through the year, we're halfway through the summer break. Unlike Wednesday, it just means that summer break is that much closer to being over. 

Mulch and a little butterfly milkweed plant

It's been super muggy outside the past two days, with the associated thunderstorms. There were even some small EF0-1 tornadoes close by in Bowie. I did some garden work yesterday and today, trying to get rid of more of the invasive English ivy that runs rampant in our yard. Once I get that under semi-control, then maybe I can tackle the poison ivy that is springing up everywhere and making it difficult to mow anywhere beside the very front lawn.  

Yard waste bags filled with English ivy and other invasive junk

In the meantime, the Capitals released their schedule for 2022-23, and I am surprisingly not champing at the bit to go to any of the weekend games. In fact, the schedule pretty much sucks. I will likely try to go to the New Year's Eve gave versus Montreal, and my birthday game. There's talk in the #404family group text about trying to do a trip to Carolina for the Stadium Series game in February. But beyond that.... there aren't really any good weekend out-of-town games either, except maybe an Islanders game. 

I think we ditched our season tickets at the right time.

I Come In Peace

The sickness continues. Yah. At least I was able to sell my tickets for Thursday night's Caps game, and tonight is an away one.

I have to say that I was disappointed in having to miss that game, though. Watching it on TV just isn't quite the same. I was pretty surprised that the Caps not only broke the streak, they shut out the Blue Jackets by a pretty hefty margin -- 5-0. It was almost like the Boudreau era again. 

Anyway, if you didn't already know, I was recently accepted into the Subaru Ambassador program. I guess having some notoriety and a stickered up WRX is good for something. ;) 

Cool #subaruambassador icon for my #Subaru badge of ownership. :)

A photo posted by Karen (@kiirenza) on Jan 6, 2017 at 11:38am PST

I actually got word of my acceptance in a sort of roundabout way. The original "welcome" email never came through, not even to my spam folder, but I received a message on how to order swag and ambassador gear. I figured maybe I'd be getting a letter via snailmail, and since our USPS mailperson is notoriously awful, maybe I received the email before the letter.

So, I ordered some swag and gear, since I had $150 to burn up before January 1st. A week later (and after my order arrived), I still haven't received anything official from Subaru. So, I sent an inquiry.

Sure enough, there had been a glitch in the emails going out that day, and mine was among them. They resent the email, and I've since also received my "starter kit."

In the meantime, I posted up a "contest" of sorts on my Triskelion Racing Facebook page for what I billed as a winter prize pack.


While the local Maryland Subaru group had people that seemed interested, I guess it was either too complicated for them, or too much effort to post a photo. Their loss! In the end, some of my friends from Ohio were the big winners. I guess that's good for them, since they've had a lot more snow than we have in Maryland so far.

I got a lot of neat little things to give away, including some diecast Subaru vehicles (a Legacy GT, an Outback and a WRX) that will be in an upcoming prize pack, some pet-related stuff, ice scrapers (evidently a big ticket item right now) and some other stuff.

If you see me around, especially in the Subaru, say something. I will have gear to give away on the spot too. And no, I haven't coughed or sneezed on it, so it should be sickness free. :p

Locked Out

Last night, the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA was allowed to expire after they, in the words of NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, "determined that there was no point in convening a formal bargaining session in light of the fact that neither side is in a position to move off of its last proposal."

Sounds a lot like the US Congress and their bipartisan bickering.

And like Congressional stalemates over budgets, tax breaks and entitlement programs, those who are hurt the most by the lockout are the ones that are overlooked, who don't have a voice in the matter. In the lockout, those who are arguably hurt the most are the businesses around the arenas and practice facilities of the teams.

I know that Pat and I easily spend $100 or more in food, drink and the occasional souvenir the night of every home game that we attend. There are games where we spend less, and there are games where we spend more, especially if we are spending the night in DC. We spend some of that money "pregaming" at local bars and restaurants in the area of Verizon Center, especially RFD, the Irish Channel and Nando's Peri-Peri. Sometimes, we just grab a drink or two at Rocket Bar or the Iron Horse Taproom. We'll have a drink or two, and maybe a pretzel or peanuts at Verizon Center, and depending on the night of the week, sometimes we'll head over to the District Chophouse with our friends from 421 for a drink afterwards.

We ride Metro down via the Green Line, and pay for parking in Greenbelt. I take the ICC to get to Greenbelt from work on a weeknight. We stay overnight in the Convention Center area several times a season.

And we're not the only ones. There are plenty of people who don't even have tickets to the game who come downtown to watch the game at one of the aforementioned bars and soak in the atmosphere in the area.

We can't forget the practices either. Hundreds of people will come out to Kettler Capitals Iceplex any day the Caps are practicing, and they spend money at Kettler for t-shirts, jerseys, pucks and other trinkets for autographing. Those people then go to the food court at Ballston Mall, or to one of the establishments very close by, like Union Jacks, Rock Bottom or Front Page.

It's these businesses that are the ones who will suffer the most during this lockout. Fans will be disappointed, and maybe go to an AHL or ECHL affiliate to get their "hockey fix." As expensive as NHL tickets have become, it's even possible those minor league teams and the businesses surrounding their arenas will find permanent places in the hearts and wallets of those people. I know a lower bowl ticket at the Hershey Bears' Giant Center is a fraction of the cost of a ticket for a Caps game (less than $30 versus well over $100), and it's barely a further trip for me to see a game that is of comparable quality.

If $100 of my money, times the 40 some games I can attend (preseason, home and playoff) seems paltry, imagine that amount times 19,000+. There is easily a quarter of a million dollars per home game that won't be flowing into the hands of local businesses because the owners and the players can't even be bothered to consider a compromise.

In the meantime, at least I can use the money I'm not spending at Caps games to get my WRX back on the road sooner. So, I'm still helping local business, just not the ones I usually frequent in the fall and winter.

Falling Down The Mountain...

...end up kissing dirt.

So goes a song by one of my favorite bands of all time.

Being good or even dominating during the regular season means nothing when it comes to taking the big prize home. What's worse is being told over and over again, "You'll do it this year," after having been unsuccessful the previous one, and after failing, "Next year it'll be yours."

I know. I've been there. And I, for one, got sick of the set up.

People who engage in a sport are, by nature, competitive as hell. That's half the reason to participate, to work out that competitive nature. My sport is autocross, a time trial involving driving a temporary course as fast as I can, without knocking over the course markers. Cars are classed based on modifications and perceived handling/horsepower advantages.

For many years, I ran that green Camaro Z28 in FS at the National Championships, which were held in Topeka, Kansas until this past September. I started off running ladies class, with tons of expectations to win, and when I didn't even earn a trophy those first two years at Nationals, I started running open class, against the guys. Seems odd, yeah, but my mentality was that I'd push myself even harder, and wouldn't choke at Nationals as I'd done my first two attempts. Plus, to me, it would mean more to earn an open class trophy than to win a ladies-only championship.

From 1999 to 2002, I improved steadily each and every year, coming closer to my goal of an open class National Championships trophy. In 2002, I even finally managed to earn some trophies during the season in open class, starting with the Ft. Myers ProSolo where I snagged the final trophy in FS, driving my trusty green Z28. I held that medal the entire fifteen hour ride home to Maryland. I also earned a trophy driving a stock-classed Corvette in a street-prepared class, pissing off a fellow competitor along the way when he told me that I "couldn't" drive a stock car in a street prepared class (which you can) and I responded, "Do you have a problem getting beat by a stock car or by a girl?"
the AS Corvette being run in BSP; I got the third and final trophy spot
Finally, in 2003, after a solid year in ProSolo and at a few National Tours, I found myself within the trophies after the first day of the National Championships. Alas, I fell to two out on the second day, finishing 0.149 behind the final trophy spot. My friends told me, "Next year, you'll do it," and I believed them.

Come 2004, after another solid year of competition, I again was in the trophies after the first day, though this time, I was running someone else's Camaro Z28 1LE. However, after staying out a bit too late, and not really getting a chance to walk the north course as well as I should have, I again fell out of the trophies -- a heartbreaking 0.068 out of trophies, to finish 8th in F Stock. "You will do it next year," everyone told me. I sucked it up, and nodded.

The rain of 2005 made a bad situation worse. I'd allegedly coned my first run, then it started to rain. This wasn't the first time this had happened to me during the 2005 season, and it hurt like hell to have it happen again. The only reason I even showed up for the second day of competition is because I had a codriver and he was in the trophies. He finished in the final trophy spot, while I languished in the bottom third that year. However, I did beat him over four events to win the 2005 Southeast Division championship. Did it ease the pain? No.

I didn't consciously realize it, but 2006 would be my final attempt at an open class trophy in F Stock. The 2005 Mustang was thought to be a dominant chassis to the established third and fourth generation Camaros, and an even better version -- the Shelby GT -- was coming for 2007. The 2006 Solo National Championships would be the final hurrah for my 1996 Camaro Z28 1LE that was my darling, my baby, my little green terror. As had been the case for two of the past three years, I was right there heading into the second day of competition. On my last run on the second day, I distinctly remember getting the time slip from the course worker at the end of the course, and her saying, "Awesome run!! 52s?!" And I just stared at the 52.9 that I'd just run, realized it wasn't enough for a trophy, and burst into tears.

I drove back to my grid spot, and sat in the car, crying. Everyone knew why. No one dared approach me until I'd let it all come out. Did I drive my best? I thought so at the time. Did I do everything I could? Again, I thought so at the time. We'd put my front sway bar on Jerry's car and did back-to-back testing. His car was set up exactly like my green one, and we codrove for maximum tire warmth, since Heartland Park was a terrible site for cold tires. But I just didn't drive fast enough.

Why do I bring this pain up? Because I'm tired of seeing so many people who have no competitive background whatsoever rag on the Washington Capitals for their first round playoff loss. If anyone thinks that those guys aren't being their own harshest critics, that they aren't feeling like they've let down themselves as well as their fans, then those people don't know the meaning of the word "competitive".

Did the players play their hardest? They thought so. There was cases where it didn't exactly look like much effort was being put forth, yes. Where a player wasn't making his presence exactly known, yes. But, as an amateur athlete, even I know that my best may not actually be the best I could have done, and I am damned sure that those professional athletes have done that kind of self-reflection on what happened during those seven games and don't need a ton of couch-jockeys telling them what they allegedly did wrong.

The Time Is Now

I've been a Capitals fan for a very long time... a die hard since 1988. In all that time, the Caps have only ever visited the Conference Finals twice (the first time being swept), and the Stanley Cup Finals once.

The 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs start today, Wednesday, April 14. The Capitals have their first playoff game tomorrow against the Montreal Canadiens, on Thursday, at Verizon Center.

Here's hoping they can do what no other Capitals team could do since 1974. :)

I'm a Loser, Baby...

So, this morning, the Washington Capitals Club Scarlet posted the winner of their "How I Became a Caps Fan" contest, in which the winner gets a game worn jersey after the team takes on the Boston Bruins on April 11.

Read the winning entry and tell me how this woman is a Caps fan?

I didn't expect to win, but I also didn't expect to lose to someone who isn't even a fan of the team. :( For contrast, my entry is posted below.

Title : You Never Forget Your First

The year was 1986 and I was a high school sophomore when my mom won a set of four tickets to a Washington Capitals game during the Montgomery County Fair. Mike Ridley would be acquired from the New York Rangers in a deal that sent Bobby Carpenter to the Big Apple in return. Larry Murphy and Scott Stevens would be two of the top three scorers for the team.

And I would still not see my first Caps game live.

For some odd reason, my mom never redeemed the voucher for the tickets that year. My family – myself included – wasn’t that much into hockey at the time. We were passing fans in that we’d watch it on TV, but it wasn’t a passion for my parents, myself or my younger brother.

Yet, my mom still didn’t forget about the tickets, and at the onset of the 1987-88 season, she wrote a letter to then-owner Abe Pollin, asking if she would still be able to use them. Mr. Pollin himself wrote back, asking what game she would like to go to. After looking over the schedule, we settled on the February 14th game, as it was the closest game to my birthday. They’d be playing the Calgary Flames, which, coincidentally, was the team pennant hanging in my bedroom at the time.

Our seats were excellent, just four or so rows from the ice. In retrospect, it was amazing what we got to see – future Hall of Famers, including Mike Gartner, who scored the game-winning goal in overtime, and Brett Hull, who was a tenacious rookie on the Flames, mucking it up in the corners and blasting pucks towards the net with that wicked shot of his.

Seeing Gartner hustle down the boards in overtime to clinch the 5-4 win over the Flames sealed it for me. After watching my first NHL game live, I was hooked, and by my senior year in high school, I was skipping out early on Fridays in order to get to the Capital Centre for games. The year after I graduated, I was working full-time and had the spare cash to get a single season ticket for myself, and was able to see the Capitals make it to the Wales (Eastern) Conference finals for the first time in franchise history, even though they were swept by the Boston Bruins. It was heart-breaking, but I was thoroughly hooked by this time, it didn’t matter. I would be back for more.

I was a season ticket holder at the Capital Centre for all of two years before I went to college full-time and had to come to my senses. I never forget Mr. Pollin’s kindness in letting my family use those tickets after the fact, and the excitement of that first game being won in overtime. Over twenty years later, I am a full season ticket holder, and again, I am witnessing franchise records and history being made. It’s an exciting time to be a Capitals fan, but then again, when isn’t it?

I'm Bad... I'm Nationwide...

Pat and I, along with friends Heather and Dennis, ventured out to Columbus, Ohio this past weekend to take in a Capitals game in a town I've only driven through (many, many, many times on my way out to Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska or further west, for autocrosses). After the March 12th game against the Lightning, we came to an inebriated decision to drive to Tampa Bay for the March 20th rematch, but fortunately, we all sobered up and scrapped that before our credit cards were charged. Instead, Heather and I individually decided that driving the six hours to Ohio would be "smarter" than the fifteen hours to Tampa, and so the idea to go to Nationwide Arena on April 3rd was born. Some discussion, some emails, and voila, we were all set to meet up with an autocrossing friend of mine from Cleveland at the arena on Saturday night.

Heather and Dennis left about thirty minutes ahead of Pat and me, and it took us about the same amount of time to get to the hotel. Monitoring our whereabouts via Twitter and Foursquare, we managed to confuse each other with late and duplicate "check-ins," plus Dennis thought Pat and I had left closer to 11 (instead of the 9:30AM we actually did leave). Needless to say, he was shocked when I tweeted that I was 45 minutes from Columbus, despite the fact that I was driving the famed 400K mile Camaro Z28 1LE that's been affectionately nicknamed the Green Terror for my alma mater's mascot. Pat and I arrived at the hotel about thirty minutes behind Heather and Dennis, and Sean was done autocrossing at National Trail for the day, so he was getting ready to head over as well.

A quick jaunt from the hotel to the Tip Top Kitchen (on a recommendation from NHL.com contributor and former Washington Times sports writer Corey Masisak) saw all four of us ordering the delicious pot roast sandwich (on a pretzel roll, some of us getting the sweet potato fries as a side, and other getting fried green beans or regular fries). The savory meal would last us through the game until further exploits at the Horn-Guy-recommended "R" Bar after the game.

Nationwide Arena evidently has issues with "printing" tickets ordered via Ticketmaster, and Dennis couldn't retrieve the tickets until after 6PM. Sean arrived while we were waiting for the tickets to be "printed" and we immediately took up spots for warmups while Pat went for refreshments.

We would need the alcohol. Greg Wyshynski, of Yahoo Puck Daddy, had clearly called Columbus the "Central U.S. command center of Jersey Fouls" and he wasn't kidding. From the general foul of wearing a jersey of a team that wasn't playing, to the "Hockey Town" Red Wings #97 jersey, we saw quite a plethora of eye-numbing fouls. However, coupled with the fact that the bunny was wearing a powder-blue Crosby jersey, this chick was the "winn4r" of the pathetic sites we witnessed.


We did get a good view of the warmups, as well as of the game, however. We ended up being near both of the Caps clubs that were in attendance (the Road Crew and the Fan Club), on the end where the Caps were shooting twice.





The theme for the Blue Jackets is "Carry the Flag." It doesn't seem very threatening, especially when coupled with a weak video introduction that was a parody of the "needs more cowbell" SNL skit (here's an old version of it from 2007). This one was a play on the AC/DC "For Those About to Rock" video, and the line was "needs more cannon." This led into a "Live from Columbus, it's Saturday night!" with some of their top players (not the opening lineup, which I think would have been more appropriate) mentioned.

The Caps started off very strongly in the first, with crisp passing and a dominant presence in the Blue Jackets' zone. Mathieu Garon was tested early and failed often, letting through two of the first four shots on net. Semin started the scoring, and Flash continued it. However, things were about to change for the worse.

Jason Chimera, coming into Nationwide Arena for the first time since the late December trade that sent Chris Clark to Ohio (along with Milan Jurcina, temporarily), was coming into the BJ's zone at, as he put it, "full speed," and got caught up with defenseman Anton Stralman as he entered the crease. Garon was the unfortunate braking point. While he tried to shake off, Garon would end up being replaced by Caps killer Steve Mason.

A few miscues on the part of the Blue Jackets minutes later would find Mason facing down the league's best power play on a 5-3. Mike Green, after whiffing on a perfectly open net moments previous, would take a sweet setup and send the puck straight in for his 19th of the season. However, the Caps would not score again, and, in fact, the defensive breakdowns would begin almost immediately. With the rest of the second penalty still on the board, Rick Nash and Antoine Vermette would take the puck to Jose Theodore and slide one by to "fire the cannon" (which is damned loud, by the way) and narrow the lead to 2 before the end of the first period.

The cannon was mercifully silent during the second period, and most of the way through the third, not for lack of BJ attempts though. Theo would face 36 shots versus the 23 taken on Mason (and 4 on Garon), and he'd stop all but two, including a flurry of shots during a 5-on-3 situation caused by a Chimera cross-check followed closely by a Shaone Morrisonn tripping call.

Vermette would score even strength on another Nash feed late in the third period, but Theo would hold off the rest of the onslaught and as a result, take the first star of the game. It was a too-exciting finish to what should have been a routine win for the league-leading Capitals. Yet, another mediocre game -- and -2 finish! -- for Alex Ovechkin and more disinterested play for countryman Alex Semin would be part of the problem. With Brooks Laich back in the lineup, albeit with a college-style cage, some of the weak points of the penalty kill and the power play units have been shored up -- let's face it, Jason Chimera was not a good replacement for the Iron Man -- but even Laich wasn't up to the task of cracking Mason beyond that one Green tally.

RJ Umberger would make some disparaging remarks about the Capitals' post-season chances in the press conference after the game, saying that Washington doesn't "play right" and that no Western Conference team would be outmatched by them. However, no other Eastern Conference team has a better record against the West than Washington, so if not the Capitals, then who should face the best of the West for the Stanley Cup? Maybe Umberger is a bit bothered by his team being out of the playoff picture in the West, though teams with worse records in the East are still in contention, and if so, that's a valid concern. Yet, to call out the Capitals -- who would still be in the playoffs even if the wins over supposedly weaker division opponents were left out -- is just being a poor loser on his part. He later tried to backpedal on his comments, but honestly, I'm not surprised about his initial remarks, considering he's a former Flyer.

After the game, we all headed over to the R Bar, which was touted as "the most awesome hockey bar ever" by Sam "The Horn Guy." Sure enough, the place was a mecca of hockey souvenirs, including a Baltimore Skipjacks pennant! Turns out that one of the owners is from the Baltimore area, hence the Skipjacks, Baltimore Colts and Orioles pennants being tucked away in the entrance area. Other cool touches included the penalty box/boards booths, hockey sticks and pucks everywhere, and the 100oz beer towers of Molson Canadian for $18. Well, the $3 PBR 24oz cans weren't bad either.

After chatting with some Pens fans from Waterloo, Ontario (may your French-speaking, Habs-fan children be the bane of your existence!), and Todd, who told us he was one of the guys responsible for the boards at Nationwide, we called it a night. Sean went back to Cleveland (with his own interesting story of the drunk-driver-in-a-mirror-image-car), and the rest of us staggered back to our hotel. All-in-all, it was a great time to be had. Nationwide Arena is a very nice site, and the Columbus fans were very gracious hosts! If the Caps are in Ohio again next year, I think I'm going to have to make the trek again.

March of the Penguins

I'm glad I was able to make it to the game yesterday -- oddly enough, I made it because my Subaru WRX was "snowed out" of my neighborhood since I went to the game on Friday night and stayed overnight in DC. It turned out to be an excellent battle between the two teams. I'm also glad the Caps won, because the trials and tribulations of getting to and from the game were, in a word, unacceptable.

My brother came from Hagerstown in his own Subaru. I-270 was, in his words, "a disaster." He had to drive all the way to Bethesda to the closest Metro station, Medical Center, where he then waited 30 minutes because he'd *just* missed the departing train. Metro neglected to post anything about only running trains every 30 minutes on their website, otherwise, he would have just tried to drive into DC and park in a garage. It took him nearly three hours to arrive. Meanwhile, because I had his tickets in my hand, I, too, missed the entire first period because I waited in the Green Turtle for him.

And Mr. Leonsis, while all of "your" employees may have shown up for the game, not all of the Verizon Center staff was present. That much was clear when I entered during the opening minutes of the second period, even if I hadn't already received a text message telling me that the concession lines were ridiculously long because more than half of the stands were not open. My brother and I sprinted to our seats, and respectfully waited for a stop in play to enter the actual seating area despite no usher being present (not sure if the usher was taking a quick break or if they, too, couldn't make it due to the weather). One of the season ticket holders next to me missed the *entire* second period waiting in the concession lines. There may have been enough staff present to "run" Verizon Center, but it was very obvious to anyone there that not "all" of the arena staff was present.

I understand the need to hold the game, Mr. Leonsis, and if both teams were there and the officials were there, I would have been sorely disappointed to not be able to see it. What does disappoint me is that part of the justification for hold it (from a previous blog entry) was that the NBC crew was there, and then telling people who were there that the ends (the win and a majority of seats being filled) justified the means (Pittsburgh's players on busses for 5+ hours in conditions that were, at best, treacherous; thousands of people -- including "super fans" such as Sam "The Horn Guy" and the announcer Wes Johnson -- making borderline insane trips to get to the arena). Please don't tell us things that we could see with our own eyes weren't true either (that "all employees" were there). You may not have had a vastly different game experience than you usually do, but many of the rest of us definitely did. To belittle our journeys and our experiences by dismissing them out of hand is insulting to those of us (Caps and Pens fans both) who went to, literally, fanatical lengths to see this team play.

For the record, my brother sent me a text at 8:14PM last night. We'd departed the Irish Channel after a late lunch at 4:15PM. Four hours for him to get home, and he said that I-270 was even worse going northbound. But, as a true, diehard Caps fan, he said it was all worth it.

Containing the Rabble

Well, I spent all day at the Washington Auto Show on Thursday, which was the second day it was open to the public. I was helping out at the WDCR-SCCA area, and was supposed to be answering questions and generally trying to "sell" SCCA events as a great legal alternative to playing on the street.
the autocross cars
The first thing I noticed after about noon was how light the crowds were, even for a week day. I didn't get a chance to venture much out of the area (I did talk to some of the National Capital Region Mustang owners, but that was about it), so I don't know if the light crowds were due to the area we were in, but what a difference from last year. The other thing I noticed, and this was immediately, was that as soon as the doors were open to the public (10AM), there were people gathing in line to see some WWE wrestler (I looked it up later -- his name is Randy Orton). The wrestler wasn't due to be on stage until 6PM.

Well, the wrestling crowd that was gathering for this game was unfortunately of the stereotypical wrestling fan type -- very white trash. They were also completely ignorant of the chains that Ian and Carrie set up around the autocross cars, and I found myself constantly telling them to not push past the chains or move the chain holders. At one point, I had Mike Collins, the floor manager over to help move the chains back in position, hoping that his "officialdom" would make an impression. I should have known that if my suit and name badge didn't convey authority, neither would his.

I was very disappointed, because Ian had told me on Sunday, when I dropped the car off, that the Capitals would be signing at the stage that was about 100-150 feet from my car. Nick Backstrom, Mike Green and Bruce Boudreau were due for signings, but they turned out to be upstairs by the Ford exhibit. I asked Mike was the chances were that he could get one of them to come and pose by my WRX before they left, and he said he'd see what he could do.

Brooks Laich was also present, though he was there for Potomac Garage Solutions, who'd done a garage makeover for him. He wasn't very far away from our area, and in fact, Carrie went over to get his autograph on two hats (we all know they are both yours, Carrie!), and then since the wrestling crowd was dying down and we had enough coverage of our area to keep the rabble in check, I caved in and got my hat signed. I told him I figured I'd get his autograph on it, since I'd pledged to throw it the other week when it looked like he might get a hat trick. He laughed and said that he'd try to get one against the Panthers on Friday night, to which I said, "But now I don't want to throw this one! I'll have to get another to throw."

I felt like a moron for being up there in my suit and with my exhibitor's badge, so I didn't get a picture or anything. Carrie was needling me about that when Mike came back over to see if things were still okay. I asked him about the other players, and he said that they actually left early, so he didn't get a chance. I told him that Laich was still there, and so he went over there and told me that the "handler" said once the line died down, he'd call Mike on the radio.
the 'diorama' with rescue1 and obadia's spec miata was in front of my wrx
Well, it was approaching 9PM, which was the close of the show, and the line was pretty much gone. But suddenly, there was some drama going on with the wrestler's fans, and Mike was called away to deal with that fallout. So, I asked Carrie to come with me (for moral support, of course), and we went back over to where Laich was. I waited until the rest of the autograph seekers were done, then asked the "handler" about if I could get a picture of Laich with my car. He acted unsure, and deferred to a younger guy behind him, who introduced himself as "Brooks' cousin." I asked him about getting the picture, and he asked where my car was again, what kind and color the car was, and then said, "I'll make sure he walks that way on the way out." I thanked him, and then Carrie and I went back to the SCCA area, realizing how many Subarus there were right there and I was very thankful he'd asked about the color!

I wasn't completely convinced that it would still happen, but a minute later, Carrie says, "Oh my god, they're coming!" and sure enough, Brooks, his cousin and the manager walked over the the car. Brooks noticed the weagle magnet on the car right away, then asked where he should stand. I hadn't even thought that far ahead, and so said, "Just anywhere." His cousin was telling him to smile for the camera, "No, really smile, Brooks!" and then after Carrie had taken one picture, he told her to "take another, keep shooting!" I couldn't stop laughing.
brooks laich graciously allows me to get a couple of pictures in front of my wrx
We thanked them for taking the time to come over, and they headed out. But how cool was that? :)

So tonight is an attempt to prolong the winning streak, taking it to what would no longer be a tie for the second-longest streak in franchise history. The Florida Panthers are coming to town, and Brooks Laich said he was going to get a hat-trick, while Tomas Fleischmann said he needed to get started on scoring 45 goals for the season ASAP. It's a good time to be a Caps fan is all I can say.

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch?

ovechkin gets ready for his sixth career penalty shot
"We just want to give fans free chicken wings and give them free food, you know?" said Ovechkin after the Washington Capitals put away the Philadelphia Flyers for the third time this season. He made it sound simple, despite the fact that it was his first career goal via penalty shot, after five previous attempts. His shootout percentage is marginally better (1 for 5 this year), but the decision to award a penalty shot for Coburn's actions during Ovechkin's late breakaway had some in the stands wishing for a traditional two-minute power play.

Ovechkin's 30th goal wasn't the story of the game however; that distinction belonged to Brooks Laich who snapped an eighteen game scoring drought after a one-on-one video session with Coach Boudreau.

"We went through the shifts from the Toronto game and at the end of it we discussed what we saw. And the term he used was 'You’re kind of just existing out there.' And the term I used was that 'It kind of looked uninspired' – the way I was playing," Laich told the media after being named first star of the game. He scored twice, once short-handed and once even strength, and added an assist in the 5-3 undressing of a Philly team that is trying desperately to climb into a playoff position before April.

Laich certainly wasn't just existing on the ice during the matinee matchup. After his first goal, which tied the game at two, he played his position solidly and relentless, resulting in the short-hander against a Flyers squad that has allowed six other SHG this season.

knuble in his office
Since coming back from a broken pinky finger, Mike Knuble had been slow to get back into form. But, in the last week, "Noobs" has netted five goals in five games, working to a +2 overall, and virtually none of those goals were from more than five feet away from the net.


Since switching Tomas Fleischmann to a center position and pairing him with Brooks Laich and Alexander Semin, Coach Boudreau seems to have finally found a happy medium with his lines. As much as he's known for switching things up every game, and oftentimes during a game, the 8-19-22, 28-14-21 and 16-9-25 lines seem to have clicked and as such, have persisted for over five games (which is likely a record for Boudreau's Capitals). The only line that has seen change is the fourth line, as Boyd Gordon and Quintin Laing have been in and out of the lineup.
backstrom waits patiently for the flyers to begin a breakout
Maybe not coincidentally, the Capitals have won four of the last five games, and scored an average of 5.6 goals per game. The last time the Capitals scored fewer than four goals? Their loss to the Los Angeles Kings on January 2nd. In that span, Capitals faithful at Verizon Center have netted free wings in the Glory Days promotion three times of a possible four (only four goals were scored on the Canadiens on January 5th).

It's been said that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Looks like the exception to that rule is if you're a Caps fan!

The real test for the team is coming up in the next week. The Stanley Cup finalist Detroit Red Wings come to town tomorrow night, and then the Capitals visit the Cup winning Penguins on Thursday. The week wraps up back at home with the Phoenix Coyotes -- a surprise of the season with 61 points as of this writing -- coming to DC. If the Capitals are going to contend for the Cup in a serious fashion, these next three games will illuminate strengths and weaknesses for sure. And the Coyotes game is the next Caps on Tap bar crawl, so it will be entertaining in more ways than one! :)

For some other enlightening reading on the Flyers/Capitals matchup, check out : The Examiner, Japers Rink, Rock The Red, Washington Post and Russian Machine Never Breaks.

Raindrops Keep Falling...

Last time the Capitals played Philadelphia, it was snowing. This time, it's pouring rain. It would be nice to have a sunny day during the Caps vs. Flyers contest, but I digress.

In the last week, we've seen the extreme side of the Capitals' offensive ability; they currently lead the league in goals-for, with 177. Chicago is the next closest at 161. Going back to the January 5th game against the Canadiens, the Caps have scored an average of 5.1 goals per game!
just another celebration of a Semin shot in Atlanta

The defensive work is what is still troubling. Despite the overwhelming ability to score goals, the team still lost one game and had another go to shootout in the last week. Those two games also saw rookie netminder Michal Neuvirth give up a total of 8 goals over the span of about 50 minutes, and get replaced by veteran Jose Theodore. In the first of those two matches, against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Theodore unfortunately lived up to the derisive nickname of "ThreeOrMore" by allowing another 3 goals to slip by even as the front line juggernaut tied the game at 4-4. In the second game, however, "Contract Year" Theodore came in to stone the Florida Panthers for the final period and a half plus overtime, and then held on during the shootout. "Contract Year" Theo also played against the Maple Leafs this past Friday night, where he stood on his head to keep Toronto to a single power play goal even as six were scored against Vesa "For All Your Backup Needs" Toskala.

Just before the Canadiens game, Brooks Laich told the media that the team has a hard time buying into defensive work, even though, as he put it, it's when they play good defense that they get the opportunities to score four, five goals. Sure enough, that night against Montreal, they played well defensively, and they scored four goals. Two nights later, again, the defensive effort was decently solid, and they scored five. Those two games however, may have led to the shoddy first period in Atlanta, where it was only due to Neuvirth that they weren't chasing the Thrashers after one, considering the 18-7 shots-on-goal differential. However, Johan Hedberg's and Ondrej Pavelec's sieve-like qualities likely led to the disaster against the Lightning; the Capitals got lucky in Atlanta, knew they got lucky, and still didn't adjust their defensive game in Tampa until it was too late. And when things got "chippy" in the third period, they'd expended too much energy in the second just to pull into a 4-4 tie, and they had nothing left.
neuvirth works up a sweat against the thrashers

Did they learn their lesson? No. The next night in Sunrise, the exact same thing happened, almost to a tee. There was no Matt Bradley-coming-to-Ovechkin's "rescue" this time, though.

capitaLOLs hits the nail on the head

A quick first period goal on Friday night took some of the fight out of the Maple Leafs, and the defensive work was fairly solid, despite John Carlson not arriving at Verizon Center until 6:10 (literally minutes before warmups) and Brian Pothier's late scratch.

So what is to be expected against the Flyers? The last game was a rout, partially due to Daniel Carcillo's ill-advised "fight" with Matt Bradley and the resultant nine minutes of power play that netted a couple of goals. It's almost inevitable that the Flyers will try to punish the Capitals, as it's widely thought that Boudreau was just running up the score at the end (when he put Semin, Backstrom and Green out on a late power play... even though the point was to help David Steckel get that elusive first goal of the season). However, if the Capitals play like they did Friday night -- solid defense, cutting back on the cross-ice and cutesy passing, and unrelenting on the shots on goal -- they should improve their Eastern Conference leading home record to 16-3-3 easily.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Well, not this time, not really.

Alex Ovechkin was serving the second of his two-game suspension. The weather was cold, snowy/rainy/generally icky, and the Flyers had just fired John Stevens and replaced him with former Hurricanes coach, Peter Laviolette.
it's half past noon, and the Camaro has a half-inch of snow on it
We had tickets through the Caps Road Crew, who were schedule to leave Greenbelt around 3:15 to arrive at Wachovia Center around 5:30, so with the weather looking bleak and a mildly ESP-prepped Camaro Z28 as the sole transportation available, we left at 12:30. The original plan to go to see BodyWorlds2 at the Franklin Institute or the Mutter Museum at the College of Physicians got scrapped when I forgot to set an alarm to get up on Saturday. I didn't wake up until 11:30AM, as usual for me on a weekend without an autocross. So, we were going straight to check in at the hotel, chill there for a short period, then to the arena. We were also considering going to see Sloan after the game, as they were playing at Kung Fu Necktie that night.
The roads were fine. I tested the brakes on the way out to the main drag, and even though the Green Terror's on 3+ year old Kumho Ecsta 711 performance tires, there were no traction problems at all. The roads were wet, and fortunately, the people in Baltimore and north are not nearly as idiotic as DC area drivers are. We arrived at the hotel by 2:30, even after running errands before actually "leaving."

Pat was weirdly sleepy, so I let him nap for a while and I played on my still-pretty-new-to-me Nokia Surge, checking email, Twitter and Facebook. We headed over to the arena to arrive around 5:30, and were the first Capitals fans in the suite. Turns out the bus was running late.
view from the suite
We grabbed a bite to eat and a drink, then headed down to the glass for warmups. The bus arrived just before the warmups started, and the rest of the Caps Road Crew filtered in at the corner, while we were next to the tunnel. I started off taking some random pictures, but once the players came out, I took some cell phone pics to post to Facebook Mobile, while Pat took some camera photos. Most of them turned out pretty good.





We headed back up to the suite after warmups, and it was packed. Talking to only guy wearing a Laing jersey, I found out that the bus had a late departure, then an unexpected stop with delayed their arrival. At least they didn't have traffic issues.

The game started off with a quick goal from Tomas Fleischmann, less than a minute into the game. It was so unexpected, we all had a delayed reaction when it came to cheering. Things were relatively subdued after that -- a lot of back and forth, no clear domination -- until the Flyers fourth liners managed to get a rebound stuff on Jose Theodore. It was all tied up, and the Flyers faithful were getting geared up for a loud game.

Then Matt Bradley put a hit on Daniel Carcillo, who'd just had an assist on the goal. Carcillo took exception to the clean hit, and hit Bradley with a cross-check, followed by a shove, and inexplicably cold-cocked him. Brads went down in a heap and was so woozy, he needed help off the ice. As for Carcillo, like Mike Duco on Thursday night, the refs threw the book at him. Two minutes for cross-checking (the ref's arm was in the air for that when the rest happened), two minutes for instigating (the shove), five minutes for fighting, a ten minute misconduct and a game misconduct. All told, the Capitals would end up with a nine minute power play, even better than the seven minutes they had against the Panthers on Thursday night.

The major penalty is run first, so for the next five minutes the Caps would have an all-you-can-score opportunity. After a shaky two minutes, where Richards and Carter snaked into the Caps' zone on a short-handed attempt, the Caps settled down and got to business. Fleischmann tipped one by Ray Emery, and twenty-seconds afterwards, Mike Green slapped one through. The Flyers faithful went silent, and the period drew to a close.
Dan Carcillo was generous this holiday season
The second period starts off with a brief period of intensity on the part of the Flyers' penalty killers, but again, less than a minute into the period, the Capitals score. This time it's Brooks Laich, and it knocks the rest of the penalty kill down to a mere two minutes, as the major penalty had now expired.

After last December's game that Pat and I had attended, we had never dreamed that the score would be similar, but on the opposite end. Less than a minute into the second period, and it's 4-1. And the bleeding would continue.

Karl Alzner was called for a penalty for the second game in a row -- very uncharacteristic for him -- and the Caps PK unit went out and methodically killed off what would be the only Flyers power play on the night. Then the Flyers made the critical mistake of letting the puck slide up the boards by the penalty boxes, just as the penalty expired. Alzner erupted from the box, grabbed the puck and sent it over to a streaming Chris Clark, who stuff it past a reeling Ray Emery. Within seconds, Emery (12 saves on 17 shots) was replaced by Brian Boucher.

Boucher barely had time to be settled in the crease when the puck was dropped and he was tested. Before the end of the period, Boucher would let in two more goals, and the teams would retire to the locker room for the second intermission with the score 7-1.

The third period, the Capitals went for, as Mike Green put it during the intermission interview with Craig Laughlin, "keeping it simple." Basically, they tried to avoid the all-too-common third period meltdown, and while they weren't driving as hard to the net, they were also trying to avoid neutral zone turnovers and odd-man rushes. While Scott Hartnell did eek one past Jose Theodore to make it 7-2, he also took a poor slashing penalty (or was it his medusa-like hair that actually took the penalty?), leaving the Capitals the chance to help goal-deprived David Steckel get the elusive first marker of his season.

Yeah, so maybe with Backstrom and Green out there to help him, it was cheating a little bit. But why should Laich, Fleischmann and Fehr get all the fun on the power play unit? ;)

The scoring was over then, sadly. However, for the first time I can remember, an opposing team's players called as stars of the game actually came out to salute the crowd. Tomas Fleischmann -- with two goals and two assists -- was the third star, and he came out and waved at the meager crowd that was left (mostly Caps fans at this point, as a vast majority of Flyers fans had left before the second period was over). Mike Green was the second star, also with two goals and two assists, and he actually saluted towards our section. Nicklas Backstrom was the top star, and I'd like to think the only reason he didn't make it out was because he was being interviewed.
Mike Green waves at the Caps Road Crew when he's deemed second star of the game
The ride back to the hotel was uneventful -- fortunately -- as it was a quick jog to the car, and the parking lot was basically empty at that point.

The most pathetic parts of the game, besides the goaltending? Referee Stephane Auger took a puck to the ear during play in the second period, and fell to the ice. The classless Philly fans cheered his injury and booed as he skated, with help, to the locker rooms. :( He did return at the beginning of the third period, but I can imagine it was with a heavy dose of painkillers.

The other pathetic display was the fight in the stands, over near section 100. We heard someone say, "Fight!" but we didn't see anything happening on ice. The scuffle in the stands was actually between two Flyers fans! Both were escorted out by Wachovia Center security, needless to say.

So, in all, we're glad we went. While Matt Bradley was out for the majority of the game, it looks like he just needed ten or so stitches to patch his cheek up, and he'll be in the lineup for Monday night. Carcillo ended up with a four-game suspension for his trouble -- and a lot of criticism for his post-game lies and half-truths. So, after a seven-minute power play against the Panthers and a nine-minute power play against the Flyers, the question remains -- who on the Tampa Bay Lightning will go full stupid and let the Capitals now-number-one-ranked power play have its way with their goaltenders?

And, no, we didn't go get to see Sloan at Kung Fu Necktie. By the time we got out of the Wachovia Center, Pat figured we would have missed most of the set. We did get to see them in Vienna, Virginia, on Tuesday night, so it was okay to miss them this time around.

Grounded!

I just got home from Philadelphia, and I don't think my voice has recovered yet. Pat and I went up to see the Caps play the Flyers, and it was the complete opposite of the lop-sided 7-1 blasting they gave the Caps last year (December 20th).

I'm gonna go have lunch with my Dad, but when I come back, I'll post up some pictures and give an account of the game. We sat with the Caps Road Crew in club suite 16, and it was just awesome.

Question of the Day

The Caps won last night on an inspired five goal surge in the third period to come back from being down, 3-2 and win 7-4.

Question of the Day : Will Danny Snyder's Redskins score more points today than the Capitals did last night?

What If...?

The brightest and hottest stars burn out the fastest. Is there a lesson here?

Marvel Comics has an on-again-off-again series of comics called "What If...?" which explores various momentous decisions and occurances in the Marvel Universe. What if Spider-Man had joined the Fantastic Four? What if Jean Grey had submitted to a psychic lobotomy by Professor Xavier at the end of the Dark Phoenix saga?

This weekend marks the ten-year anniversary of the tragic accident that killed Greg Moore, a rising star in the open wheel racing series that was, at the time, called CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams). While Moore only had an official five wins in his four years of racing in the CART series, he was a force to be reckoned with on the track, and a bright soul off of it, according to his friends, teammates and even his competition.
photo from speedcenter.com
John Oreovicz explores some of the "what if?" in this poignant article marking the dark day that may have been the beginning of the end of CART and possibly of US open wheel racing. Greg Moore's infectious enthusiasm for life helped vitalize those he raced with, as well as drawing in fans to a sport that has always had a tenuous American existence, amongst the grittier NASCAR and circle track crowds. As Dario Franchitti put it in Oreovicz's article, "[Greg] was such a bright light. It's kind of a cliché, that he lived every day, but he did. From the time he got up, he was flat out. Right away the phone was ringing. You're still coming to, but there's Greg saying, 'Right! What are we doing? We're going mountain biking! We're doing this, we're doing that! We're going skiing!' There was never a dull moment."

Too many parallels exist between how Greg Moore sparked a renewed American interest in open wheel racing and how Alex Ovechkin has sparked a renewed Washington -- and American -- interest in hockey. Ovechkin is a larger-than-life personality, enjoying each and every day to the fullest.
Ovechkin and Semin goofing off at Six Flags during the STH party
What if the Capitals had chosen Malkin instead of Ovechkin in the 2004 draft? Would a Crosby-Ovechkin line be any more or less dominant than a Malkin-Backstrom line? Would Malkin be able to captivate the fickle Washington fan base the way Ovechkin has?
can you imagine the jerseys reversed? photo by Getty Images
More importantly, with Ovechkin as a larger than life personality, enjoying every moment to the fullest in a life that most of us can only dream about, how long until he burns himself out? Fans have already been "treated" to some close calls that are considered "goofing off" only because nothing happened in the end. Greg Moore's end was foreshadowed from the beginning with his exuberant driving on the track; it seemed only a matter of time before he had a terrible -- but not necessarily fatal -- accident. Ovechkin publicly admits to putting himself in danger on the street, and while Moore was a professional driver in a car with top-of-the-line safety equipment, Ovechkin is in a very fast street car without a roll bar (much less a cage), and hasn't (to my knowledge) taken any kind of performance driving lessons beyond his own "playing around" on the ragged edge.

And this doesn't even address Ovechkin's 110% play on the ice. The running joke is "Russian Machine never break." But how long before the wear-and-tear on his twenty-something body adds up?

It's worth noting how often the best and brightest human stars, like their cosmic counterparts, use themselves up long before what we'd consider to be "their time." Can the Capitals brightest star continue living his life his way?

Here's to hoping that Alex Ovechkin learns the meaning of the word moderation before he joins Greg Moore and myriad other stars who went supernova too early.

Unconventional

The Inaugural Capitals Convention was today at the Gaylord Resort at the National Harbor. It was supposed to be modeled after events held by the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Blackhawks, and the announcement of this event had a lot of long-time season ticket holders worried that it would supplant the now annual season ticket holder party. The Capitals organization constantly stated that the Convention and the season ticket holder party were not connected at all, and in fact, an email was sent out two weeks ago announcing the date of the party. And the Convention was today.

Season ticket holders were given an extra hour in the exhibit hall to purchase used equipment, buy souvenirs and otherwise take in the exhibits, before the rest of the "general admission" tickets were admitted. Pat and I arrived around 9:30, mainly because I didn't feel like getting up this morning after a very long week at work. We'd parked in the Gaylord parking garage, and knowing we'd be there most of the day, I wasn't particularly happy about being slapped with a $19 parking fee. Even the $11 that others reported paying off site wasn't really a "bargain," though I should have known that at a "resort hotel," everything would be overpriced and underwhelming. At least the spaces in the garage were "normal sized," plus we managed to get a parking space next to Clyde and his new Miata top.

The first thing we noticed was that the line to sign up for the autograph sessions was long, really long. We opted to just go into the exhibit hall (bypassing all the general admission people who were grumbling about waiting) to see what it looked like. The "History Lesson" session was taking place on the main stage when we entered, but the sound was pretty bad if you were standing against the skills "rink," and we decided to go look at what was available at the jersey shop. The equipment sale line was crazy long and the interactives were dominated by kids, so there wasn't much else to do at this point.

I saw a couple of shirts I was interested in, but Pat was fixated on the jerseys. Since Brashear signed with the Rangers, Pat had decided that Brashear was "dead to him." He wanted another jersey, but he wanted an American-born player, and preferably one who would stay with the team for at least a few years. We'd been discussing this (along with Clyde) for the last couple of weeks, and even on the way down to the Convention, Pat had mentioned sadly that new Capital Mike Knuble was from Toronto and had only signed a one year contract. So, it was no surprise that he was glancing between the Poti and Steckel jerseys hanging along the back wall. He tried on the L/G Steckel jersey, and I knew his decision had been made. He took his claim to the first line of the day, and I went to check in for autographs.

I picked a 4-5PM timeslot at first, and when I came back to Pat (still in line to pay for the jersey), I told him I knew it was during one of the panel sessions he wanted to go to, but I was going back with his (the other) ticket, and I'd get a different session then. I was just about at the actual window to get the second wristband when Pat showed up with his new jersey in hand, and I gave him the 1:30-2:30 band, telling him that I hoped he'd get Tyler Sloan to sign the Sloan CD he'd brought with him.
Pat didn't really steal the jersey from Steckel's locker... but the locker room area made for a good background!
Pat headed upstairs to sit in on a panel discussion about the media coverage of the Capitals. That was really no surprise, since Pat's a photojournalist by trade and while he was trained by the Air Force and he currently works for an Army affiliated group, I'm sure he wouldn't mind covering the Capitals (or Nebraska football... and I think Nebraska would win if it came down to those two!). I told him I might come up to join him, but I wanted to wander around some more in the exhibit hall.

I took some pictures of the various trophies on display -- it was very much like the Hockey Hall of Fame set up with these -- but I was sorely disappointed that the Stanley Cup wasn't present. Was this a ploy by the Penguins to irritate the Capitals fans? I'm not sure what the "rules" are when it comes to public showing of the Stanley Cup, but every other trophy was there except for the Calder Trophy (for the top rookie). The Kelly Cup for the ECHL Champion (South Carolina Stingrays) was there, and I think the Calder Cup for the AHL Champion (Hershey Bears) was there too. Why not Lord Stanley, unless someone couldn't part with it for a night?





I ended up joining Pat in the panel discussion, which was very good. Frank Brown, the NHL Director of Media Relations, was the moderator, and Jon Press, Lindsay Czarniak, Corey Masisak, Joe Beninati, Craig Laughlin and Steve Kolbe were on the panel. It was a real show of camaraderie, as it was evident how much the broadcasters as a whole enjoyed working with each other, especially Kolbe, Beninati and Laughlin. Press, a blogger, and Masisak, a beat writer, seemed a bit out of their element in front of an audience, but when handed the microphone, they could still hold their own.

Afterwards, Pat and I looked around a bit for food, and we weren't impressed with the options on site. Instead, we meandered back toward the exhibit hall so that Pat could get in line for the autograph session. He was in group B, and I had chosen correctly for Tyler Sloan... except Sloan was in group C, along with Tom Poti. Group B was Shaone Morrisonn and Chris Bourque. I suggested to Pat that he try to switch wrist bands with someone from group C, since we are SCCA experts at removing wristbands. He considered it, but ultimately decided to just get in the "B" line. I guess he's hoping that Sloan makes the big team this time, and that he can meet him at Kettler.
Pat talks to Chris Bourque
We looked at the trophies some more and waited in the line to see the mock locker room setup, which was cool in some respects (the real Jose Theodore mask and the real Semyon Varlamov pads, albeit from Hershey, for instance), and completely lame in other respects (the wrong jerseys hanging (logo forward) in some "lockers").
Does the Chris Clark jersey in the Semin stall count as a jersey foul?
The real Theodore mask was cool...even if some assclown thought it was cool to try to put it on :|
We had some downtime after the autographs, and so we hit the hotel's atrium for lunch. We opted for the buffet place, at a mere $23.50 apiece, and while there, Steve Kolbe stopped by and chatted with me for a few minutes, which was very cool. Pat was kind of astonished when he came back from getting a second helping to see Kolbe talking to me about attending games in Philadelpha. One of the most interesting things he said to me was that he really wanted to place a bid on the Eastern Conference Champions banner that was available in the silent auction, but he also thought a fan should get it. His desire for the banner was due to the fact that he'd first announced for the Capitals in that season. I asked him, "But aren't you a huge fan of the team too?" I have to wonder if he did end up bidding on it.

Heather was at the Convention too (along with Julie -- one of our skating friends -- and Kelly -- who has season tickets next to us), and while we were trying to eat that late lunch, she was spazzing that she wasn't going to get Semyon Varlamov's autograph. Like me choosing Pat's session, she'd chosen the correct time, but didn't get the right stage (B vs. C, just like Pat). So, she wanted me to snap a few shots of Varlamov for her while she languished in the other line.
poor Heather
I got in line for my autograph session soon after, because I wanted to go to a panel session at 4:30, so I wasted a good 40 minutes of my time just standing around so that I could be one of the first to get an autograph. I didn't even know who would be in my session until about 3:40 when Pat came over with his newly purchased Steckel jersey.

Alexandre Giroux and David Steckel were the two players I would get autographs from. Not being a psycho about getting autographs, I hadn't really brought anything to get signed, so it was a good thing Pat had brought some ticket stubs and given me the jersey. Otherwise, I would have felt like a total fool. At least the stub he gave me was from a game where Giroux had played (the preseason game again the Blackhawks last Wednesday). As I presented it to him, I remarked that he had been robbed several times in that game, and he completely agreed. While he may have set a new record in the AHL for goals scored, he has still struggled to get the puck past the goal line in the NHL.
Giroux signed the preseason game stub, while Shaone Morrisonn signed the playoffs game stub
I told Steckel that the jersey belonged to my boyfriend, who'd bought it because he was an American born player, and Steckel responded, "I like his style." I amended that Pat hoped he'd stay for more than just one more year, and Steckel replied, "I'll work on that." I hope he does. I think that game six against the Pens in the playoffs really upped his fan approval, considering the number of Steckel jerseys I saw today, and his faceoff ability is only matched by Boyd Gordon's.
Steckel comments to Giroux about something before autographs begin
I headed upstairs immediately so that I could hit the "Dropping the Gloves" breakout, and on the way, I saw Eric Fehr heading downstairs. I asked him, "Aren't you late?" as I was pretty sure he was supposed to be with Jose Theodore in the group B autograph signing, and his reply was, "I'm on time!" with a big grin, as if he knew he was going to be reamed for being late.

The "Dropping the Gloves" panel was moderated by Steve Kolbe, and the panelists were John Erskine, Alan May, Gary Rissling and Ken Sabourin. Seeing Sabourin at the back of the room before the session began, I asked him why he was there, since I didn't remember him getting into that many fights when he played. He remarked that he used to be "worse" when he played for Calgary. This was another good panel, as the stories told about the penalty box and the opposing players fought were very good. The most awkward moment came when someone asked about how incidents like the Patrick Kane idiocy were breakdowns of "turning off the fighter," but all of the (former) players agreed that what happened with Kane wasn't normal, and that any professional player can turn off the fighter off ice.

Heather and her friend Dennis were ready to leave after the session, so while Pat went to get my skates and jacket from the car (since I'd left them with her after our skating class on Wednesday, instead of trying to carry a duffel with hockey skates into the Verizon Center), I waited to ask Alan May a question I'd been dying to know the answer to for over fifteen years.

"A guy I went to college with swore up and down that he was close personal friends with you, to the point of 'calling you' during our chemistry lab one day. I just have to know... do you know Craig Fitch?"

May immediately responded with, "Do you mean Fitchette?" and I confirmed that (Fitch was his nickname). Then he asked, "Where did you go to school?" I told him, "Western Maryland, but I think Craig was working on his second bachelor degree then." May nodded, "Yeah, I knew him from when he was at Princeton..." After over fifteen years, I finally had my skepticism erased about Fitch's association with Alan May. So, that phone call during lab was for real after all...

My other question was about his propensity towards instigation via goaltender interference. I asked him if he feared certain goaltenders, like Ron Hextall. He said that Hextall was a lot less scary when he faced him than if it had been a few years earlier. He also pointed out how small Hextall was outside the pads, which I know, since I'd met Hextall at one of the Flyers' fan club activities.

So, it was cool talking to Alan May for a few moments at the end of the panel. I then went to the room next door for the athletic trainer's panel, and texted Heather to tell Pat where I was (since I knew he didn't have a phone). He popped in shortly thereafter, then went next door to watch the "'Bear' Facts" breakout session.

Not many people were at the session I attended, but I guess since no players were there, there was a lot less interest in the discussion from the general populace. Ken Sabourin was the moderator for this group, and I was chosen to ask my question, which was in reference to my teaching. I asked how high school students interested in being athletic trainers should prepare themselves, and the head trainer (Greg Smith) said that they should consider if they want to go the sports medicine or the physical therapy route (he's evidently done both!), then choose the school appropriate to their decision. The strength training coach, Mark Nemish, also suggested networking as an important tool to getting into the "big leagues."

Pat gave some funny stories from the session he went to, including a question asked of Karl Alzner about the craziest thing a female fan has done. :o

We went downstairs again to scan around the exhibit hall one last time. The line to get into the Capitals Shop was gone. The equipment sale was essentially done. Even the late autograph sessions were poorly subscribed, likely because everyone knew there was zero chance of Ovechkin being in the last session (since he was signed up to do photographs then).
Karl Alzner and Nicklas Backstrom sign autographs in the final session
Besides Heather, Clyde had also already left, when his autograph session included Ovechkin... at another line (gee, sounds familiar). His line was Milan Jurcina and Tomas Fleischmann. I wish he'd told me, because I would have gotten Jurcina's autograph. Oh well.

We surveyed surroundings, then decided we could wait until next Saturday to see the opening night video. Before leaving entirely, we did the "hard shot" interactive (the only one that didn't seem to be dominated by children under twelve).
Pat whiffed on more than one shot
I never got a good time, but I didn't whiff on any, so I win.
We waited in one last line (to prepay for the parking), then came home.

Knowing it was the first attempt at this sort of thing, and knowing there are 4998 other people with opinions (me and Pat being the other two of the 5K passes sold), I'll just sum up our pros and cons here.

Pros :
* Season ticket holders had extra time (over the general admission ticket) to survey the souvenirs and the game/used equipment
* Breakout sessions that we attended were fun AND informative
* Interactive sessions with puck shooting, etc. were interesting
* Availibility of players and others was good
* Some of the "players" were very polite and accessible -- including Ted Leonsis, Bruce Boudreau, Steve Kolbe, Al Koken, and Gary Bettman

* Honest attempt to include children in the Convention.
* All players -- current and possibly-current were available for autographs.
* Very inexpensive ticket costs.
* Most of the NHL trophies available to look at.

Cons :
* One hour extra was not nearly enough extra time for the season ticket holders
* Breakout sessions did not have enough room for the number of attendees, and there were a lot of people being disruptive via opening snack bags and talking to each other during the sessions
* I saw the various skills clinics on the schedule, and wanted to do one or more of them. But the overwhelming majority of participants in the interactives were children, and I felt like I shouldn't participate if it was meant for children. But I'm not sure it was meant that way.
* Lines for various things -- including getting souvenirs -- were out of control. I might have gotten a souvenir T-shirt if the line for such hadn't been ridiculously long from the moment of arrival. Pat waited a good 20+ minutes in the line to buy his Steckel jersey. I wanted some alumni autographs, but upon monitoring how quickly the line was moving, I realized that by the time I got to the table for signatures, chances were that the current players would have been replaced by other alumni by the time I got there.
* Some of the players were there for as short of a time as possible.
* There was no order to the alumni table autographs, and the line was inexcusably long. Of all the autographs I would have liked to get today, the alumni autographs were at the top of my list. I was very disappointed that the alumni line was the most sluggish, and the least predictable when it came to who would be seated upon arrival.
* Too few seats and very poor acoustics for the main stage.
* Too many children in then interactive sessions made it impossible (or at the very least, awkward) for adults who wanted to participate in stick skills or other clinics.
* The autograph sessions ran into breakout sessions too much. Too many people in some sessions with hardly as many in other groups.
* No photo-postcards or anything for the players to sign for people who didn't bring/buy something to get signed. The alumni table had an "autograph sheet" for signatures, but the regular player tables didn't even have that.
* Parking and food costs not disclosed until too late. Captive audience doesn't equal people who will pay anything -- I know some people just left the convention early to avoid paying the hotel $25 (or more for lunch), and they didn't come back.
* No Stanley Cup.

Other thoughts :
* Have a second room available. This would allow for a larger main stage, and more space for the autographs. The equipment sale and the preseason sale could also be expanded (meaning no line to get into the souvenirs). A second room where the interactives could be the primary thing would be cool, and could allow for kids and adults to compete but not against each other.
* let people know costs (parking, food, etc), ahead of time so they don't get slammed with ATM surcharges. $19 for parking is a bit exorbitant. On the other hand, the $175 Pat paid for the Steckel jersey is less than I paid for his Brashear jersey at Verizon Center.

After seeing Boyd Gordon and Michal Neuvirth at the A stage, we decided to call it a night. Something about needing to be up in time for a noon event on Sunday. At least I don't have to work on Monday!