I went to the game, it was fun to see a hockey game in Bmore again, since it's been years. A few notes...
- the ice looked pretty gnarly, there were several points in the game where i thought someone would get hurt, cause someone would take a bit of a spill.
- green/alzner pairing as well as the defense as a whole seemed pretty uncomfortable.
- wellar seemed to have schultz-like speed, and got burned at least 5 or 6 times.
- neuvy played solid, as expected.
- i was impressed with the way that eakin and galiev played, on and off the puck, decent chemistry, as well as the effort level. bourque was on their line, adn half the time i didnt even notice.
- semin tried to be too cute at times, but seemed to kind of care about playing
- ovie tried to do too much, esp during the 3rd.
- tfs was equally unimpressive for the preds as he was for us.
- the crowd was pretty tame during the game, really, until the last half of the 3rd.
- lots of people left before the game was over, i guess to beat traffic, or because they realized the game was over
- they announced it was a sellout though, which was cool.
- definitely the warmest rink i've ever seen a hockey game in, regardless of the season or level of play.
regardless, still a fun night, and good to see hockey in our beat up old arena.
Galiev loked tentative. McNeill got beat a lot in the corners. Neuvirth was solid but unspectacular, as usual. Johansson and Ovechkin looked good together, but Knuble looked out of sorts on the line. Laich played well but I don't know if he fit quite right with Backstrom and Semin. Backstrom looked a bit out of sorts as if he wasn't quite looking for everything he would normally be looking for. Ovechkin tried too hard to do it alone. Eakin looked uneasy, but not tentative. He lost a couple battles but nothing terrible. Carrier wasn't noticeable, which could be good or bad, depending on your perspective.
Earlier today, Dchesnokov retweeted this image from the rink:
If the ice is so bad as to be a concern for players' safety, sweet mother of mercy, postpone the game. The Caps can barely even skate on the ice at Verizon Center without injuring their groin; I don't want to imagine what the ice in Baltimore might do to them.
That ice is ridiculous. It's another example of Caps' management caring a lot about marketing and not so much about their players winning a Cup.
A Caps game in Baltimore on bad ice. With Ovechkin, Green, Semin and Alzner playing. Why? To sell more tix in the regular season, that's why.
Selling tix is great. Here's another way to do that: win a couple Stanley Cups.
That ice is ridiculous. It's another example of Caps' management caring a lot about marketing and not so much about their players winning a Cup.
A Caps game in Baltimore on bad ice. With Ovechkin, Green, Semin and Alzner playing. Why? To sell more tix in the regular season, that's why.
Selling tix is great. Here's another way to do that: win a couple Stanley Cups.
They already sell all the tix they could ever want to. This is about merchandise
Winning the cup takes changes. Painful structural changes that are not guaranteed to take you all the way on their own. Like tossing the waaark haaardaaar cretin from behind the bench to the nearest comedy club where he belongs.
Much easier to host a preseason game in Baltimore and get a guaranteed merchandise bump from there.
Galiev loked tentative. McNeill got beat a lot in the corners. Neuvirth was solid but unspectacular, as usual. Johansson and Ovechkin looked good together, but Knuble looked out of sorts on the line. Laich played well but I don't know if he fit quite right with Backstrom and Semin. Backstrom looked a bit out of sorts as if he wasn't quite looking for everything he would normally be looking for. Ovechkin tried too hard to do it alone. Eakin looked uneasy, but not tentative. He lost a couple battles but nothing terrible. Carrier wasn't noticeable, which could be good or bad, depending on your perspective.
Wait, what? Wasn't Carrier sent back to Junior earlier this week? Am I crazy, or shouldn't Carrier not be noticeable at all since he's up in Canada?
Wait, what? Wasn't Carrier sent back to Junior earlier this week? Am I crazy, or shouldn't Carrier not be noticeable at all since he's up in Canada?
No idea, thought I saw his number. Of course by the time I posted this I was many beers in so... could have been someone else and I just thought "Carrier" for some reason. D.J. King actually looked legit
The power play was abysmal. Except for one little flurry in front of (think it was still Rinne) they couldn't generate a scoring chance, probably due to the fact that they still can't set up in the offensive zone.
Believe it or not, most Preds fans were happy with the hit, too - despite our guy getting rocked. Little 5'9" 179lb Ellis at least wasn't shying away from physical contact... though he was trying to go against a 230lb Russian machine that never breaks.
Believe it or not, most Preds fans were happy with the hit, too - despite our guy getting rocked. Little 5'9" 179lb Ellis at least wasn't shying away from physical contact... though he was trying to go against a 230lb Russian machine that never breaks.
ive seen brooks orpik charge across the crease to hit a stationary ovechkin and bounce back into his own goalie. then there was denis gauthier and dion phanuef. your baby panther will learn not to try that again. its not embarrassing to have that happen though
Believe it or not, most Preds fans were happy with the hit, too - despite our guy getting rocked. Little 5'9" 179lb Ellis at least wasn't shying away from physical contact... though he was trying to go against a 230lb Russian machine that never breaks.
Other than being physical, I'm also happy Ellis kept playing and isn't injured. Ovy destroyed him.
this comes from him being dead last during suicides and being cut from camp this morning.
But he didn't slow down in the 3rd period like you said he would. And of course he got cut, his junior season has already started. Nobody suspected him to make the Caps this year, so why keep him away from St. John? Your vendetta against Galiev is becoming laughable.
pls help me out, as i read the thread i noticed TFS was in the game !! i remember him asking for a trade bevor he got cut, so pls say he played for the predators.
pls help me out, as i read the thread i noticed TFS was in the game !! i remember him asking for a trade bevor he got cut, so pls say he played for the predators.
He was on the ice for the Predators; I wouldn't say he played. D.J. King dangled him and looked fast while doing so.
But he didn't slow down in the 3rd period like you said he would. And of course he got cut, his junior season has already started. Nobody suspected him to make the Caps this year, so why keep him away from St. John? Your vendetta against Galiev is becoming laughable.
So why is it that "nobody suspected him to make the Caps this year?"
BB's suicides give a good indication of prospects' leg strength.
Anyway, I expect him to tear it up in the juniors this year, then we'll see what happens.
Isn't Galiev supposed to be a great skater / isn't that supposed to be probably the biggest strength of his game? I also remember reading that he finished near the top in several of the combine tests related to leg strength.
