Washington Capitals Mathieu Biron, D; Matt Bradley, F; Andrew Cassels, F; Ben Clymer, F; Steve Eminger, D; Jeff Friesen, F; Boyd Gordon, F; Jeff Halpern, F; Jamie Heward, D; Brent Johnson, G; Olaf Kolzig, G; Shaone Morrisonn, D; Bryan Muir, D; Maxime Ouellet, G; Alexander Ovechkin, F; Stephen Peat, F; Matt Pettinger, F; Brian Sutherby, F; Petr Sykora, F; Brian Willsie, F; Brendan Witt, D; Nolan Yonkman, D; Dainius Zubrus, F.
Injury Reserve List: Chris Clark, F.
Where's Majesky???
EDIT: According to forecaster.ca, Majesky is on the IR too: "Knee injury, sidelined indefinitely."
This message has been edited by marc_mehdi on Oct 5, 2005 5:54 PM
I jumped the gun here.
The game you wanted has not yet started....................over and over again.
Then nothing...........I guess the radio ain't working.
AO's goals were the prettiest you've ever seen.... I have to work early tomorrow, so left just as the Caps went on that 4:00 PP late in the 2nd. Got home with 12:40 left in the 3rd.
Good game so far, by a lot of Caps- Sykora did not impress.
My Center Ice package didn't broadcast the game until 10 so I'm catching it now on TV. AO really is something! Nice to see Halpern really blend in on that first line. Who ever really expected to see him in that role...and excel.
Just finished watching the 10pm feed of the game...
-That guy Ovechkin, yeah he's pretty good.
-Zubrus had an extremely strong game. I hope the line of AO-Zubrus-Halpern stays together all season and beyond.
-Eminger did not lose any of the poise he possessed when he was last in a Capitals sweater.
-Sutherby looked awkward skating out there for most of the game, but he was pretty effective on the PK and late in the third when handling the puck. One wonders if he was going to fight Adam Foote again (recall back in the '03 season Suds had broken Footer's nose during their first-ever bout).
-2nd period a mixed-up line of Clymer-Sutherby-Willsie showed some good cycling/possession for a shift.
-Gordon was swarming on the PK.
-Biron was terrible. Got burned by Columbus forwards all night long.
-The Friesen-Cassels-Sykora line was virtually invisible. Sykora had one shot on goal by my count (a wicked slap shot from the right wing), but he took two consecutive dumb penalities.
-Except for losing that rebound resulting in Fritsche's second goal, Kolzig was pretty solid.
-Overall, the team skated hard out there tonight. I hope for their sakes they do that every night.
My 3 stars:
*** - Zubrus
**- Kolzig
* - AO
________________________
ANNIE
I’ve never even been to a hockey game.
EDWIN
Well you fit into this town perfectly.
This message has been edited by PureAgression27 on Oct 6, 2005 1:04 AM
Majesky failed his physical (knee), but was not placed on IR.
As for the contest . . .
- the "Olympic Opening Ceremony" was probably entertaining . . . if you were drunk or high (imagine 20 skaters in black outfits dangling a glowing orb to their sides in a darkened arena, with a glowing "mother orb" around which they are skating . . . then, as they are announced, they peel off to the blue line to line up).
- 40 seconds in . . . Radislav Suchy, meet Mr. Ovechkin . . . the kid nearly deposited Suchy in the third row. A metal support was knocked loose, and glass was displaced. Took a few minutes to repair the stuff.
- Dan Fritsche (a local Ohio boy, it should be noted) had a spiffy game with a couple of pretty goals for the Blue Jackets and making his presence felt whenever he was out there.
- Gilbert Brule did not display much of the feistiness for which he is renowed, but he made a nice head man "throw-the-puck-into-open-space" to Fritsche that led to the first Columbus goal . . . it would have been a two-line pass under the old rules
- With a couple of excpetions, the Caps can do one thing few of their recent teams could do -- skate. I was very much impressed by their ability to make a quick transition from defense to offense, but the trouble is . . .
- They lack any finishers whose names don't end in "vechkin." Five shots in the first period, and I believe Ovechkin had three of those.
- Petr Sykora might ease into that goal-scorer role . . . he unleashed just a bomb of a shot from about 25 feet out that almost took Leclaire's head off.
- I envision many animated conversations between Biron and Kolzig as the days pass. Biron could be seen in one instance loking as if he was profusely apologizing to Kolzig for something. Kolzig just knelt on one knee, staring up at him.
- Ovechkin isn't just talented, he's got a sense of theater about him. His goal celebrations are enthusiastic (his looking for his parents after the first goal was a nice touch), and when he gets one goal, you can see it in his skating -- he really starts looking for more.
- Brian Sutherby looks to have bulked up, but it doesn't appear to have harmed his skating. I thought he did an excellent job in penalty killing last night.
- The guys who had a cup of coffee before, but are expected to make a bigger impression this year -- Eminger, Sutherby particularly -- looked much more confident and at-ease in their play
- Dainius Zubrus . . . not rushing the shot when the pass comes to him, letting the goalie commit to coming across, then going five-hole? Why . . . it almost looked like a goal-scorer's goal!
- 16,000 and change in attendance (official), looked to be 12-13,000 actual people in seats.
- Rick Nash left at about the 10 minute mark of the second . . . sprained ankle.
- Ovechkin's goals were "veteran's" goals . . . the first was from the high slot as he found a void in the defense and one-timed the puck into the open side of the net. The other came on a rebound from a drive by Biron that Leclaire kicked to the weak side . . . just where Ovechkin was poaching all alone. He had a couple of chances for the hat trick, once catching the puck off the heel of his stick on another one timer, another lifting a shot over the crossbar.
___________ Play hard, shake hands, drink beer.
"LA needs two hockey teams like Switzerland needs two navies" -- Norman Chad (from "My 10-Point Plan to Save Gary Bettman from Himself")
If you've read this far, you probably could use a hobby
This message has been edited by fjc_33 on Oct 6, 2005 9:18 AM
Let's give Sykora some time to adjust. He has very soon impressed his new teammates with his booming shot. I'm sure he'll score his first goal very soon. We can't have everything in our first game: we already had two goals by Ovechkin, two points by Zubrus including the kind of goal he rarely scores, three assists by Halpern, and a great game by Olie. Friesen and Sykora will score later; they ARE goal-scorers, and should prove it very soon.
But let's not forget last night's most important event: Sidney Crosby's first NHL assist.
