Not a good Sunday for the Good Guys...

- THE Towson University was unable to take to George Mason in the semifinals of the CAA Tournament ended yesterday with a 56-48 loss. It was a nice run for the Tiggers, ending a bad season on a high note. However, calling the Tigers run "storied" may be stretching things a tad.

"Was a nice run Kev, had to close out someday."

- The Caps also lost yesterday, their fourth straight defeat, this time to the hated Penguins in a shootout 4-3. The Caps got themselves down early, 3-1 after 2 periods, but fought back to tie it with two quick 3rd period goals by Alex Ovechkin and Brooks Laich. It was a fun game to attend and it can be confirmed that my friend and former work protege Jermaine "Bunky" Murray thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Unlike prior Caps defeats, this one was one I could live with. In the 3rd period the Caps got back to the swarming, puck-possession style of hockey we've grown accustomed to. The Caps had several chances to end this thing but Marc-Andre Fleury, who looked like swiss cheese the last time these teams met, came up with some nice stops to give his club a chance to win. The game went into a shootout where Sidney Crosby scored the only goal to give the Pens their first victory over the Caps in four tries this year. Now for some random mental notes from being in the stands:

-Sidney Crosby is still a pansy. I hope little Sid and his "sugar daddy" Don Cherry are happy that Little Sid was able to get a win and a first star.

-Crosby did have a nice game (a goal, assist and shootout winner) but let me tell you, I was 10 times more terrified of Evgeni Malkin than I was of Crosby. When Little Sid gets the puck your first inclination, as an opposing fan, is "don't let this little punk score." When Malkin gets the puck your first thought is "Oh shit, Malkin has the puck and he might score." On TV you maybe don't appreciate it much, but next to Ovechkin I can't think of a guy I've seen who inspired more feelings of dread and excitement than Malkin.

-The anti-Crosby signs were brilliant. Well played Washington. As soon as me and Bunk entered the area, the first sign they had on the video board was a Crosby "No Diving" sign. My personal favorite Crosby-bashing moment was a sign and a doll these two girls brought in. One had a sign that said, "You Can't Spell Crosby Without 'Cry'" while the other had a baby doll with a "Crosby 87" Penguins jersey.
(photos from Puck Daddy)



-Bill Guerin's goal was pretty sweet I must say. Shaone Morrisonn, you got pwned on that one.

- The celebrations by some, not all, of the Penguins fans in attendance was absolutely ridiculous. Can you believe that after the Caps beat them three times this year, including a humiliating 5-2 defeat two weeks ago, these people were celebrating like they just won the Stanley Cup! All sorts of "woo-hoos" and high fives. And the Caps catch all the criticism for celebrations? Congratulations guys, you won one game out of four and needed a contrived breakaway competition to do that. The win moved them to 8th (8th!) place in the Eastern Conference. Settle the fuck down Sparky, you're humiliating yourself out there. I do not blame some of the Caps fans one iota for challenging some of these goofs to fisticuffs afterwards. One example, I'm outside the arena and a couple of Pens fans are whooping it up when four Caps fans walk by and casually inform them that, you know, you won one game against us all year, cool out. So of course, Pens fan gets all beligerent and the two dudes nearly come to blows before a sensible Pens fan comes in and breaks it up. As the Caps fans walked by I told them "Don't take any guff from these swine," in my best Hunter S. Thompson voice. Then again, assholishness and Pittsburgh sports fans go together like peanut butter and jelly so who am I kidding.


-Speaking of assholes, the three guys we saw getting off the Metro in Flyers jerseys? Wrong game, dipshits!

So that's it for now. I'll be back later with some photos from yesterday's game and maybe another post depending on time constraints. I am sure you are willing to move hell, fire and brimstone to be here...

More Crosby vs. Ovie

Per Dan Steinberg & Tarik El-Bashir’s Washington Post blogs, here’s Sidney Crosby’s take on Alex Ovechkin, followed by my own personal opinion:


Sid: I was skating to the bench and he pushed me from behind so I gave him a shot back," Crosby said. "That's hockey and he likes to run around these days. That was it."

Me: “STOP WHINING!!!!”

Sid: "I don't like it personally, but that's him," Crosby said. "And like it or lump it, that's what he does. Some people like it, some people don't. Personally, I don't like it, but you know what, he's a good player."

Me: “STOP BEING SUCH A PUUUSSEEEE!!!”

Sid: "He had a couple good chances and he's out there hitting guys like he normally does," Crosby said.

Me: "STOP EEEET!!! YAHHHHHHHH!!!!"



Sid: After the game, Crosby was asked about the words thrown in his direction from the Caps; "that's always the case," he said. "You know, it doesn't change from team to team."

Me: "SHUTTHEFUCKUP, SHUTTHEFUCKUP, SHUTTHEFUCKUP, SHUTTHEFUCKUP!!!!"



Sid: A reporter said it seemed like Crosby was unhappy with Ovechkin at times, and asked whether it was "just hockey."

"Yeah," Crosby said, "I guess."

Me: “What happened to you Crosby? You used to be someone I could trust”




Ovie: “I must break you.”

Caps 5 Penguins 2

As a Caps fan I can think of no better thing than beating the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ok, maybe beating Philadelphia is just as sweet but beating Pittsburgh just has a little better taste. It's always a pleasure to send the douchebag multitudes known as Penguins fans home with their heads held down and its always good to have even more visual evidence that the best player in the NHL does not wear #87 in black and gold.


This was the perfect opponent for the Caps to face after Friday's debacle against Colorado. A team the Caps love to beat, more specifically, a team Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin love to beat. Having the game on national TV only added to the playoff atmosphere at the Phone Booth today. It was certainly a back and forth affair early on but the Caps showed some killer instinct in the second period and absolutely sucked out the Pens will to play. Here now are some passes and fails.

-Epic Fail- Matt Cooke - Does anybody miss this clown? Turning point in the game as far as I'm concerned. It's halfway throught the second period, the game is still close and the Pens are playing fairly well. Then, Cooke, the ex-Cap, takes a run at Mike Green that isn't called. The kind of borderline cheapshot that Cooke is well known for. Whatever the case, from that point on, the Caps came alive. It was as if the Caps collectively said, "Ok, you wanna play it that way? We'll play it that way." The Caps got two quick goals from Shaone Morrisonn & Brooks Laich. The kind of soft goals that can really deflate a hockey team. Marc-Andre Fleury was soon pulled and then Greener got his revenge by kabooming Ruslan Fedetenko at center ice. The Caps started roughing up the Pens something fierce. It was game, set and match at that point. The 3rd period was just a matter of running the clock out.

-Epic Pass- Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom - Ovie was all over the ice. He scored goals, he set up plays, he completely threw Sidney Crosby off his game (more on that in a moment) and for good measure, he threw a lovely "Get in the weight room!" hit on Sergei Gonchar in the 2nd period. If anybody doubts who the best player in the league is anymore is either blind or a Pens fan.

Backstrom has been superb lately. The Caps first goal was set up off of the same give-and-go play with Sergei Fedorov that Nick scored on Friday night but this time, the D collapsed to him, so with the flick of the wrist, he backhanded it to Ovie who put it home. The guy has been Forsberg-esque lately, playing both ways, looking to shoot more and even adding a little physical edge to his game. Witness his lovely hit on Evgeni Malkin in the 1st period.

Epic Pass- the PK -They certainly got a workout today and passed with flying colors holding the Pens to 1 for 8 on the power play. Tom Poti, Dave Steckel and Brooks Laich in particular completely flummoxed the Pens power play.

Fail - Too many penalties - They got away with it today but the Caps have to be wayyyy more disciplined than that. Poti's elbowing call early in the 3rd was especially egrigious. I liked that the Caps played with a nasty, physical edge today, but at times they went a little too far. Plus, Donald Brashear- love ya man, but there is absolutely no reason to be looking for a fight in a game you are completely controlling. It can do nothing but fire up the other team.

Fail- The officiating - With that being said, let's just say that the refs work today was a little, shall we say, suspect. Eight penalties against the Caps. Some were earned (like Poti's elbow) others were shady. That and the fact that the Pens got away with a number of stick fouls that didn't get whistled. Then again, considering who was doing the officiating, maybe we should have seen this coming...


Epic Pass- The line of Fedorov, Laich and Semin - Outstanding work gentleman. That group combined for three goals, two assists and a combined +5.

Epic Pass - Caps fans - For giving Sergei Gonchar the Larry Murphy/Kevin Hatcher "woop, woop, woop" treatment. Nothing against Gonchar, it's just nice to hear it again. It wasn't as good as how they used to give it to Murphy, but still, it was nice and loud.

Pass - Semin's hard work on the Pens last PP - He created a 2 on 1 shorthanded and missed the net. But instead of hanging his head or dogging it back up ice, Semin chased down Crosby and disrupted the 3 on 2 the Pens had going the other way. Nice hustle.

Fail - Semin's "skate to the blue line, spin and fall down" maneuver. Copywrited by Michael Nylander. Just dump the damn puck in dude.

Epic, epic FAIL - Sidney Crosby - So this is the face of the NHL, eh? The game was barely five minutes old and Crosby was swinging his stick at Brooks Laich in the corner. Every time he would get touched he'd either cross-check or slash somebody or give that "Did you see what he did to me!!" pout that he gives. Puhleeze. This shirt pretty much sums it up...

Look, Crosby is a very good player, one of the best in the league. But the whole reason most people hate him is because, not only of the excessive lengths to which the NHL promotes him but because when he gets hit, frustrated or both, he turns into one of these...


He whines, he swings his stick, he gets frustrated easily. You know what the difference between him and Ovechkin is? When Ovie gets run or hit with a stick, he raises his game to a higher level and comes that much harder at opponents. Other than the foolish penalty he took against Paul Mara in New York, I've rarely seen the guy outwardly frustrated. Remember the last time in Pittsburgh when Ovie put a clean hit on Crosby, who, on cue, jumped up and started whining to the refs. Cooke then came in and took at shot at Ovechkin and got sent off for two minutes. And, just as quickly, Ovie scored. To me, that's the essence of these two players and why the best in the league wears #8 in red, white and blue.

So until next game, it's one more...for the good guys.