Tonight Needs To Be Ovie Time

I'm not a big basketball fan, as this blog has gone into great detail about, but one of memory I have is from the 1993 NBA Finals. It was Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls shooting for a 3rd straight title against Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns. The Bulls had taken both games in Phoenix to open the series but the Suns got themselves back into it with a three-overtime win in Chicago in Game 3. Going into Game 4, the Bulls needed Jordan take over and carry them to a win over the revitalized Suns. As he typically did, Jordan did just that, dropping 55 points and giving the Bulls a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

I thought of that game last night when thinking about tonight's Game 4 of the Caps-Rangers series. I wrote in my playoff preview how Alex Ovechkin needed to be "The One" in this series. After getting back in the series in Game 3, tonight is the night where that has to happen. Ovie, who has been held goalless with four assists in the series, needs to take over and win a game by himself. He needs to strap the team on his back and carry the Caps to victory tonight.

Yes, his teammates will be vital in helping him do that, but if there's one guy who can dominate a series just by sheer force of will, it's Ovie. He's already tried to contribute in other ways, using his 'mates, getting under the skin of the Rangers through the media and his appearance at Rangers practice before Game 3. But Ted Leonsis doesn't pay him to be Claude Lemieux, he pays him to score goals. He pays him to dominate. And tonight's the night where he needs to do it. In a must-win game, on the road, in front of a fire up Madison Square Garden.

Ovie, you got the press clippings, you got the ESPN pieces, you got the notoriety. Now, you have to put together a signature playoff game. As John Cena would say, "Your time is up, my time is now/You can't see me, my time is now."

"I will break them Hangar"

Here's the aforementioned ESPN piece from Tuesday night's edition of "E:60." I will also post a link to this great Puck Daddy piece on the clip.

Remembering The Goon

I don't normally pimp the work of other bloggers but since he's put in a kind word about the Hangar before, I figure it can't hurt to send a little love back.

On the day of Wrestlemania 25, Puck Daddy's Greg Wyshynski uncovered this gem, the debut of every hockey fan's favorite wrestler: The Goon.

The crazy thing about this is that The Goon wasn't the worst gimmick that Vince McMahon ever thought of, not even top 5 (I'd say that list would be Mantaur, Duke "The Dumpster" Drose, The Red Rooster, Skinner and The Berzerker.)

Needless to say, The Goon's introductory clip gets funnier everytime you see it. How can you not crack up at Vince's over-the-top faux indignation at The Goon's hockey playing: "OH COME ON, THAT'S HIGH-STICKING!!!"

If that weren't enough, there was The Goon's entrance music, wrestling boots (which looked like hockey skates) and habit of dropping his stick and gloves before his match. I certainly prefer that over The Berzerker's "HUSS! HUSS! HUSS!" gimmick.

Alas, The Goon didn't catch on and quickly landed in jobber territory, even getting the honor of being pinned by The Undertaker in roughly 3 seconds.


Of course, no part of The Goon's career ever topped McMahon himself and his all-time unintentional comedy classic song "Stand Back."

Let's face it, you can never go wrong with Vince McMahon singing & gyrating around like he's got fire ants in his shorts, Hulk Hogan pretending to play bass and the trio of "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake on horns.

Good Guys Links- Capitals

Hallo mein scheissehunden! (that's German folks, I think)

Welcome back to your usual sports banter here at the old Hangar. I took a little bit of a break yesterday but after putting up 10 posts in 2 days, I figured it was time for one. But we're back with the nonsense that the few of you that come here have come to know and love. We'll start the day off with some Good Guys Links- Caps Edition. Later today I'll catch us up on some Orioles stuff and then have a metal album retrospective and hopefully another episode of "Bad Movies I Love," time permitting. Hopefully I can come at you with a mix of sports and non-sports stuff to help bring balance to the Force. So, without any further rambling introductions, here's some Caps stuff.

- One thing I did not address in my Caps-'Canes recap from Saturday was the officiating. It was, how shall we say, a bit questionable. Here's Billionaire Ted's take on it from his blog.

- Then there is this dandy quote (per Puck Daddy & Tank) from Bruce Boudreau that will surely cost him some cash...
"I've looked at them five times in there and I can't see where these calls are," Boudreau said. "It's my humble opinion, but holy frig. Those are some, in my estimation, some really iffy calls."
"There's no chance [Fleischmann's penalty] was a dive," he added. "His leg got corkscrewed. Then on Green's, when they went to the double minor, they cross-checked him in the head and then Pitkanen went at [Green]. Pitkanen goes at him and Mike retaliates and there still was only two [minutes] given each."

- The much-anticipated Don Cherry reaction about Ovechkin's 50th goal celebration...

Here's some takes from Puck Daddy, OFB, and Peerless. My take? Now that Cherry has had his say, let's all move on with our lives. Please?

- Japer's on the Caps penalty kill.

-OFB has the brackets for this year's NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament, which will culminate at the Phone Booth this year.

- Finally, here's some highlights from the last time the Capitals visited Tuesday's opponent, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Shameless Self-Promotion Files

Thanks go out to Greg Wyshynski over at Puck Daddy for giving the old Hangar a little love.

...dude even went the extra mile and called us "a cool DC/Baltimore sports blog." I'm not even sure I would agree with that and I'm the author of this thing. Nonetheless, the kind words mean a lot coming from The Hockey News' 100th most influential hockey figure. All I can say is...