"Thank Hockey The Next Time You Fly"

Sometimes when someone finds out that I write a hockey blog, I get these random nuggets of hockey information from out of nowhere. Some people feel the need to show you they know the same or more about hockey than you. Annoying as it is, there are times when someone does give you a nugget that you have to stop and become intrigued.

Recently, a person did come up to me to spew her keen knowledge on hockey upon the knowledge that I have a blog about the Capitals.

"Did you know," random girl starts, "that Orville Wright was hit in the face with a hockey stick? You know the guy that invented flying?"

No, I didn't know that. Didn't dinosaurs, birds and kites beat us to the punch inventing flying?

Random girl continues, "Yea, he lost a bunch of teeth and it was so bad he was bed-ridden and he while he was in bed he read all about flying. So, you should thank hockey next time you fly."

Indeed. It turns out it was half true. It was actually Wilber Wright that was hit with a hockey stick in the mouth in the winter of 1885-1886. About 3 years before the institution of the Stanley Cup. According to Wikipedia, Wilber did lose his front teeth although the injuries were not that severe. He became more withdrawn during his recovery. He did some extensive reading which sparked his interest in flying. Orville dropped out of high school.

No word from the league whether or not there was a fine or suspension.

NHL Notes:

• Back to the beginning, Brendan Shanahan agreed in terms with the New Jersey Devils. The Devils picked Shanahan No. 2 in 1987. Good for Shaney.


• The KHL had their All-Star game in an outdoor game on Red Square in Moscow. You can watch the game on Universal Sports' website. The setting is a pretty unique and a very cool one. Although, the game was only played in front of 3,000 people. A hare shy of the 42,000 at Wrigley Field. Former Cap Ben Clymer had a goal and former Cap Jaromir Jagr had the game winner.


• It's not a good time to be in management if you are with the Ottawa Senators. Things seem to be spiraling from bad to worse, and this time there is no goaltender controversy. Could the Senators be in line for a power shift before the All-Star game? If they do, it would be an eternity compared to Tampa Bay.
  

Caps Fall Further

Capitals 1, Rangers 4

Scoresheet - Wash Post

This is one of those games were there was no respect given to the young Caps. The Rangers took it upon themselves to teach this young group a leasson and the refs just looked the other way. A couple of checks from behind, a few cheap shots on Capitals and the officiating crew just let things get out of control.

Donald Brashear had been playing good solid defensive hockey over the last couple of games. That gave Glen Hanlon the opportunity to put him on the checking line against the number one line of the Rangers last night. As the Rangers took liberties of a depleted Caps team Brashear started standing up for his players. When he took a shot at Jaromir Jagr, Jagr dumped him getting two minutes for being an idiot. Brendan Shannahan's fight with Brashear was more of theatrics than anything else. Aaron Ward said something to Brashear after the fight which caused him to sucker punch him on the way to the penalty box. Brashear lost his cool a little bit, and should not have done that, it caused his ejection.

With Brashear out of the line up, it got worse for the Caps. Colton Orr took it upon himself to take a run at Alex Ovechkin (run is too nice of a word, he all out wanted to hurt the Caps' star). All he was going to get for his high check was a minor for charging. Are you kidding me? It's an obvious shot at Ovie with our enforcer in the locker room. Shaone Morrisonn came to the rescue and fought with Orr. Dan Marouelli and Kevin Pollock let this game get to this point. I don't think this crew will be officiating the Stanley Cup Finals anytime soon.

With that said, the Caps didn't play that bad of a game. There were a few missed opportunities and the Rangers took advantage of some defensive break downs. The Rangers were due for some offense, the Caps were just trying to get through a game healthy. Ben Clymer scored the only Caps goal off a pretty pass from Lawerence Nycholat which broke Clymer loose on a breakaway.

Overall Grade: C-

The Caps are just not 100% and obviously don't have the depth to cover for injured players. The Caps don't have much time to get healthy as they face the Coyotes on a New Years Day show down.

Nycholat is having a good stretch on the big squad since being called up from Hershey. He has one goal and three assists in five games for the Capitals. He is making a strong case for staying in a Caps sweater in the coming years.

New Season, Same Result

Capitals 2, Rangers 5

It was Brendan Shanahan’s night. The former Red Winger, now in the Big Apple, future Hall of Famer Shanahan scored his 600th goal as the Rangers win their home opener against the Caps.

The Capitals had plenty of opportunities to keep the game close. However, the Caps looked slow, sloppy and stunned. The speedy forwards looked engulfed in Ranger blue. And again, like a broken record, the Caps defense doesn’t look up for the job.

It’s obvious that the direction the Capitals are heading is total offense domination. That leaves goaltender Olie Kolzig high and dry. I saw just about every defensemen pinch in too far, and on several occasions getting in trouble the other way with Ranger odd-man rushes.

But defense was the only problem. There just seemed like there was no chemistry with anyone. Passes were intercepted, or off mark or not made. Most of the reasons for those odd-man rushes were from bad passes.

Power-play looked sloppy for that reason. The Caps looked like they were always diving and chopping for the puck. Instead of using their legs, they are diving out of position or worse, just giving up on the play. Caps had some key power plays where they could have turned the tide, but didn’t capitalize.

Overall Grade: D

Alex scored. The other Alex, Alex Semin. Rico Fata also added a tally for the Capitals. Wash Post has all the details. Capitals must regroup for their home opener on Saturday night. They will be playing the defending Cup Champions Carolina Hurricanes. If the Caps play like they did against the Rangers, it’s going to be a long night in a semi-full building.