Question: Why Can’t We Watch the Calder Cup Playoffs on NHL Network

Monday evening I was taking in a Memorial Cup game on NHL Network. I had much rather been watching or listening to the Bears game but in between the monsoon that was unleashing itself over southern-north-eastern Virginia and the fact I’m in the middle of the process of packing for a move it was difficult to get an internet signal to get a feed.

Now no offense to my friends who care about the Memorial Cup but I don’t care. I love hockey but I don’t pay attention to the Canadian leagues outside of listening to two WHL games this year. I’m not going to pretend I have a favorite team in ever league of hockey every where to sound like more of a hockey fan. I like the NHL, AHL, College hockey and pay some attention to the German (Berlin!), and just because they’re completely amusing, the British league (Edinburgh!) but otherwise I don’t have the time to be caring about a whole lot of teams I can’t even watch on TV ever, as a student I don’t have time to be finding feeds or reading blogs or listening to online radio, I already juggle several teams like this any more teams and my brain would most likely explode. Judge me as you will.  

So I was wondering as I sat there recognizing a lot of the names on the teams but not really knowing anything about the teams playing and pondering the weirdness that is Ian Schultz and his dark skin tone though he is the brother of Jeff, why NHL Network is not showing Calder Cup games.

To me, biased Bears fan and AHL lover (if I lived closer to an AHL team so I got games on TV I have no doubt I would be more of an AHL fan than a NHL fan), I would think a lot of people would be, especially in this part of North America, very interested in watching their NHL farm teams battle it out on TV. I  know the CHL has loads of prospects in it. It’s “the future of the NHL” but the AHL is the immediate future of your team. As of recently every single NHL team has an AHL affiliate.

Of course the NHL Network probably has a contract with the network that shows the Memorial Cup games that requires them to show a certain amount, and maybe though they occasionally show AHL games during the regular season the AHL wants to stick people outside of the local network with the fees on AHLlive.com but I’d be very interested to know why exactly I can’t watch one of the hockey leagues most closely associated with the NHL on NHL Network more than just the “AHL Game of the Week” and why I can’t get playoff games (the most exciting part!) on there. What am I paying for?

Why as an AHL fan am I not given more access to my team outside of payed for feeds, free feeds (that you can’t find during the playoffs!), or crappy online radio (am I the only one who only gets it in one speaker?) just because I live a mere three hours from my favorite team (and also 3 hours from the Admirals.) Maybe this is just me, maybe I’m just being my usual cantankerous self, but I think there must be other AHL fans living in places outside of their teams market equally frustrated by the fact we are not given more access to the second largest hockey league, in the United States at least , and it’s ever-expanding.

Is this because the AHL is mostly in America? Is this another one of those “Oh well Canada gets more access to their minor league hockey because they just love the sport more” thing? Or, is this just a genuine missed opportunity by the NHL Network and the AHL? Maybe one of my readers ever more versed in the nuances of hockey TV broadcast or legal sort of things would know.

I know there are a lot of CHL fans and people interested in the Memorial Cup and I could never begrudge them wanting to see their teams but couldn’t they show both? I feel like we should be able to find away to see most of both playoffs. Perhaps there is an easy answer I’m just not aware of about why can’t I watch the Calder Cup Playoffs on NHL Network or maybe there is no reason at all besides that it never occured to who ever is in charge of these things.

Until then I sit here and wonder if Dan Elis is part goat. (His beard it looks like a red headed Mr. Tumnus from the Narnia movies)

Weagle Scout Playoff Edition ’10: Montreal at Washington Game 7 Series 1

Series 1 will be the only series for the Caps. They fell 2-1 tonight to the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs fully deserved the win, and the winning of the series all in all. There is no doubt that the Caps and their fans are gutted completely.

This year was the best in Caps regular season hockey. The post season was heart breaking but nothing can be denied that the regular season was fantastic. A cruel way to end it for a great team. The 09-10 Caps are no more and from the sense of the team it seems that many of the familiar faces will be gone in October.

For better or for worse I am proud of this team, in the regular season at the least (perhaps not so much in the low points of the post season), and anyone trying to discount that has no appreciation of hockey as a sport.

I give my best to the Canadiens in the post season, I hope they do as well as they did against us against their second round opponents.

Our Weagle Scout of the Game?

You all

As corny as it is we, I and Anna, really do want to thank you all for having stuck it out with us for our first whole season of Caps hockey, it was rough surely at the beginning. We look forward to an interesting and fun off-season. We aren’t going anywhere. You have our opinions of the rest of the playoffs, “Better Know a Prospect” and more Development camp shenanigans to look forward to before October begins. And, we’re hoping to stick around a while on the blog-o-sphere and hope to have big things planned for the future.  

This team gave us a lot of hope, it united a city bruised by our sports teams briefly, and they broke more than a few hearts but they have a lot to be proud of and we the fans have a lot to be proud of them for.

It was over far too quickly but there is always tomorrow to look forward to. Here is to the future and what ever it holds. 

You’re stuck with us Caps, you have been for years and will be for years to come.

A Tale of Two Goal Songs

Today I was checking Twitter when I saw a local DC band I’m rather fond of, Redline Addiction, had posted a tweet with a link that said tantalizingly that Caps fan should check it out. I didn’t know or think they were Caps fans so I clicked with pins and needles to see what it was. The link took me to a Facebook group called “The New Caps Goal Songs Stinks (and Redline Addiction’s was way better)” A pretty self-explanatory group bemoaning the new slow, boring Caps goal song and endorsing a song submitted to the same contest but not chosen. While the first statement of the group’s name was true, in my opinion, the second statement was yet to be seen and I couldn’t listen to the song at that very moment. So I saved the page and vowed to check it out as soon as I got some where I could.

And, I did. I have to say I really enjoy Redline Addiction’s version much better. It is face paced, and integrates the “123 It’s All Your Fault!” chant into the song. It is A plus if  you ask me bringing the Caps fan base into the song.

Caps Chant by Redline Addicts

Compare to the song that won:

Rock the Red

Perhaps there was better submissions than the Redline Addicts song but it sure as hell isn’t worse than the winner. I’m no music major or critic so maybe I don’t have a right to an opinion but I sure do have ears and I can tell good from not as good. What went into choosing “Rock the Red” I do not know. While the song is less than spectacular I’m sure the band who made it but a lot of effort into making it so I can’t fault them but the people who judged it. Sorry Elliot in the Morning and Caps front office you messed up on this one. I don’t know if you can change the song. I’m sure you had some stipulation to the contest saying you have to play it and perhaps for a certain period of time but if it CAN be changed it NEEDS to be it doesn’t have to be the Redline Addicts “Caps Chant” (though I very much like it) but it need to be something that won’t have the boys falling asleep mid post-goal hug.

Perhaps if Caps fan talk to the right people of our very fan base connected organization we can get some information about whether the song can be changed and if so they’d be interested in song like the Redline Addiction’s song. And, you can follow Redline Addiction on Twitter here.

Some Excellent Journalism That Is…

Lately people of the media have been piling on Ovechkin so much so and for reasons that to most people make them go “what?” that even I, who is the last Cap fan to jump to his defense, have to cry foul. Ovie went from  ”…congenial and ultra-media-friendly…” to media hating. He’s a WITCH! WITCH, I SAY! BURN HIM AT THE STAKE!

Frankly if this was any player being called out all so much in a week I would still be up in arms. (And, I will be honest with you I can in no way be unbiased in writing this. I admit I have an axe to grind with most modern journalism. “Hatred” would be a very appropriate word to use.)

Mostly the recent sh** storm has been from journalists and blogger types. This Hockey News article is arguing the NHL should suspend Ovie for an incident of Ovie pushing a person with a camera after the Russia lose the other night (which I had not even heard of before this article). It even compares it to Avery’s little spat where he got suspend for saying detrimental things about the NHL. Problem is the very first sentence in the article:

None of us know the details regarding Alex Ovechkin shoving a person with a camera in the wake of Russia’s embarrassing 7-3 loss at the hands of the Canadians

“None of us know the details”? So we don’t know what the camera person was doing? For all we know the camera prson was accosting Ovechkin. Where did this even take place? When after the game? Was the person with the camera in a place they were even supposed to be? We don’t even know if the person was an actual member of the media or a fan. And it is “None of us knows the details…” if you want to be grammatically correct and all.

Why I’m not saying Ovechkin should have pushed the person with the camera, or had any right to in any situation to any one nor do I think there shouldn’t be backlash, comparing it to the Avery incident which was extremely public and we all know EXACTLY what happened is a bit of a stretch.

Then there was several people complaining he wasn’t talking to the media at the Olympics. Why I can agree some what with the frustration of the media whose employers want them to get a quote from one of the NHL’s biggest stars, who have deadlines to meet and stories that are interesting to write, I also think they’re go a bit far with their complaining. The Olympics are taxing on the athletes they play a lot of emotionally draining games night after night for two weeks. I can safely guess the last thing they want to do is field questions in the media scrum.

But, a good journalist will stop pouting about it and get good qoutes from other players to make up for the fact the big star didn’t talk to them. You’ll make it work. Crap happens. Where is the level of proffesionalism in journalism? I wonder if many of these writers have ever even been in a journalism class. (Though this would not surprise me as my journalism teacher said once ”No one who actually takes journalism in college actually ever becomes a journalist.”)

And, for the bloggers there, I am thinking of the Puckdaddy blog in particular who from what I was told (I do not follow the twitter or read the blog) and looked at had a serious hissy fit on Twitter over Ovie not talking to the paper or English media very much, even if your paid to do what you do, even if you have credentials, you are still a blogger. You are no different from every other fan who has computer access and enough brain power to register for a free account on Blogger or WordPress. So oh golden credentialed gods of the blogosphere pull up your big boy pants because unlike newspaper and tv journalist who have deadlines and articles they need to write you have a lot more flexibility with your writing and can figure out something to do. Maybe you should just count your blessing with the facts that you get to interview any big stars of hockey to begin with.

And, Ovie gives interviews after almost every game in the NHL. Two intense and wearing weeks of hockey in Vancouver should not erase this fact.

Whether Ovie’s actions were acceptable or not (in some cases not) this reaction by some of the media is if nothing unprofessional.

This Caps Fan’s Trip Through the Ovie Looking Glass

When I settled in to watch Russia vs. Slovakia it didn’t occur to me that for the first time in my hockey fandom I would be rooting AGAINST Ovechkin. I had become a Caps fan by the time Ovie had joined the team so not even during my Blue Jackets/no particular affiliation years I didn’t have a time where I was hoping to see Ovechkin fail.

It hit me half way through the first few minutes of the game that I was against Ovie and Semin but I shrugged it off as a non-factor. But, now I completely understand why some people hate him. By the time he was hit by Zdeno Chara the biggest hockey player ever and just shrugged him off (Shrugged the 6″9′ Chara off! What a freak of nature.) I was SEETHING with jealously because Slovakia doesn’t have a player who could do that. Slovensko has a LOT of great players but none like Ovechkin. There just isn’t another like him.

By the second Iwas activaly hoping someone one on Slovakia would hit him and hard. “Destroy” was the word on my lips. I was actually tempted to get hostile against my fellow Caps fans rooting for team Russia just because of Ovie. Seriously I wanted to call them bandwagoners. I’ve never wanted to do that to a fellow Caps fan or really any hockey fan before. And, Slovakia wasn’t even playing badly at this point. They didn’t play bad at all really they did much better than I thought they would. Russia only up by 1 by the end of the second? A win in my book. And, yet even my already usually high competitve streak was going off the charts.

I won’t ever take for granted the fact my Caps are lucky enough to have Ovechkin on his team. But, don’t think I’m going to get all fan girl on Ovie now. I’ve never thought of the Caps as “Ovie’s team” like a lot of people do. But, I defintaly appreciate how spoiled I am now.

And, guys come on now seriously? Quick crash course so we can avoid me getting asked one more time if I’m for team Slovakia or why I’m rooting agianst who ever they are playing.

THIS is Slovakia’s flag:

This is the shield on their jerseys:

And, Slovensko is the word for Slovakia in Slovak and I say it that way out of habit. (Just like I sometimes say “Magyar” when talking about the language or ethinc group “Hungarian”)

So come on now when my Twitter icon is the front of a Slovakia jersey and some one goes “You’re rooting against [insert who ever is playing Slovakia at said time] What? Why? They have [insert said Caps player on said opposing team]!” especially when I’ve said “Go Slovensko!” like five times you’d think it’s fairly figure out able but I’ve been asked a ridiculous amount of times over the past two nights so here’s your geography lesson for the day.

UPDATE:
I wrote this before the game was over and seriously my mind is blown. That was some of the best hockey I’ve seen in a while!

Slovakia won! Against RUSSIA! They flat out played them! I am so amazed by Slovensko! Halak who I’ve never payed attention to before blew me away. If I wasn’t so dirt broke I’d have my Halak Slovakia jersey ordered. If they have any still avaliable in March maybe I can (though it’s either a jersey or a desperetly needed new phone) The only thing I’m disapointed by is the tape I was recording the game on ran out half way through the third so I can’t relive the amazingness of the game over and over again. (I’d pay ten whole dollars for a DVD copy of that game!)

A Roast of the Washington Post

It is not secret I do not like the Washington Post and more specifically its sports section; I greatly prefered the Washington Times‘ now defunct sports section. Most of my beef is with Tarik El-Bashir and the “Capitals Insider” but a recent article by staff writer J. Freedom du Lac had myself and fellow Chronicles blogger Anna in arms.

Now I was extremely surprised when the woman interviewed in this article read our post and left us a comment. Newman says in this comment, you can read by clicking the link, and I quote:

 In the article though, call me paranoid, I thought that I came across as one not so accepting of newbies or the bandwagon. Not true.

No, you are not paranoid because that is EXACTLY what is sounded like. And, I am not the only one who agrees with this. To be frank when I saw the comment was left by the very person interviewed for the article in question I was horrified sure that it was a negative combative comment. Quite contrary is was a pleasant, well thought out, explanatory comment. It sounded completely different from the person who was quoted in the Post article.

Any good writer knows it is extremely easy to take a person’s words and make them reflect your meaning without changing them at all. All you have to do is form your paragraphs a certain way, take the specific part out of context or even just put in the exactly as it is. Any good writer or even any person who has been through high school AP english classes can do it. It’s a regular practice in journalism to take what you need and make if fit the agenda and point you wish to make. And, then it’s bloggers and the publics interviewed jobs to call foul which is exactly what I am doing.

The Post has once again taken liberties with an article, whether those liberties be on purpose, by unavoidable bias (and it IS absolutely unavoidable; do not pretend it’s not.) or by complete lack of fact checking (something the Post is not great at…) They made it sound like die-hard fans like myself and Newman do not like new fans.

My Dad, daughter and I have five seats between us and I frequently bring the uninitiated. I have several close friends that are now just as much Caps fans as I am, including my husband who has pretty much “bogarted” one of my seats!

Mrs. Newman, like myself, is an admitted hockey converter.

Mr. Freedom du Lac phrased similar quotes to what Newman said in her comment on our blog to sound resentful in his article by putting such phrases like “Ovie-come-latelys.” and ”Plus: She was here first”  right before he quoted here setting a tone. And, what HE says right before he quotes what she says makes you read what comes right after as the same tone. Mr. Freedom du Lac do you have an issue with bandwagoners? By the way this is in now way a personal attack on Mr. Freedom du Lac who as a staff writer can write on a large number of topics (but he usually writes reviews for music and is not in general a sports writer) or his style of writing, which is very good.

All I can say is that the most recent Post articles have made myself, and quite a few other people, only mistrust and dislike the Post more. And, in the words of Newman;

My final comment is this… before the bandwagon, we never heard a player talk about how the crowd gave the team motivation at a lagging moment. I pray that fifteen years from now, the bandwagon is helping to keep the seats filled and the Fury Unleashed!

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

“Diehards” vs “Bandwagoners” Pt. 2

You’ve all heard Meghan’s two-cents on this Washington Post article, but here’s mine:

Yes, I am a new fan. Yes, I didn’t pay attention to the Washington Capitals until 2007. Yes, I became a fan when the Washington Capitals were getting good. Yes, I didn’t become absolutely, totally, and completely a fan until the latter half of last season. Being a new fan doesn’t automatically make you a bandwagoner.

There’s a big difference between new fans and bandwagoners. Bandwagoners like it because it’s popular. They couldn’t care less about the game or the team or the players; they like it because it’s “cool”. New fans are just that – new. Being new to the Washington Capitals does not make me any less of a diehard fan. Bandwagoners cannot name players beyond the stars, or know the stats, or carry on conversations about the game or other teams, simply because they do not care. They abandon the team once they begin to do poorly, and more than likely, they’ll be gone by the off-season.

But new fans – new fans grow. They may start off as ignorant, but they transform into indistinguishable  knowledgeable, diehard fans. They learn the entire roster, they learn about the stats, they learn to carry on conversations about the game or other teams, simply because they do care. Half the time, you wouldn’t know they’re not from the “lean years” unless they tell you.

And, is it really such a bad thing that the Caps sell out the Verizon Center? That away team’s ticket sales go up when the Caps come to town? That more and more people are wearing Caps shirts, going to Caps practices, supporting the Caps? Because if you think it’s bad for the boys to be having so much success, then maybe you’re the bad fan, not the new ones.

So yes, I am a new fan. Hate me if you want, but know that I love this team just as much as you do.

Embrace Them, Love Them, Get Over Yourselves: “Die Hards” VS “Bandwagoners”

After reading a this article on the Washington Post website I felt like I was being lumped into a category I didn’t want to be lumped in. I felt like all “die hard lean years” fans were being called resentful bandwagon haters.

When I moved to the DC area, it doesn’t seem that long ago but I guess it’s eight years now, I wasn’t terribly interested in the Caps since I was I confess a bit of a Jackets fan at the time. But, I began to go to Caps game, as a hockey fan deprived and raving after the lock out, during those lean years when the players wore black and gold, when Hanlon was coach and Ovechkin was just starting his rookie season and fell in love with the floundering team. When I became a fan I never expected them to be very good though I hoped they would be; I saw the potential but I wasn’t sure how it would pan out.

Everyone has to become a fan at one point. Just because I (and others) happened to become a fan during those losing years; learning the players names and positions slowly but surely does that make me more of a fan than those who are learning now? Or only a few years ago? No, absolutely not.

I love the new fans. I encourage it. I want my boys to have that support of a full house every night. To see people in their gear around town. Maybe the concourses are a little crowded or tickets a little harder to find but isn’t that a small price to pay for a growing community? What is better a community or a small “holy crap there’s another Caps fan in my town?!” like atmosphere?

 I actively try to convert people to hockey, see fellow Chronicles blogger, and now indistinguishably die hard fan Anna, and sure it can be a little trying when they mess up a term or don’t know a name but be patient they’re trying. And, if they’re not trying their going to lose interest pretty quick and you won’t have to deal with them anyways.

I can understand that feeling of almost resentment at “bandwagon” or new fans. The sudden influx of people claiming to be fans after winning a playoff spot and unexpectedly clinching the top spot in the Southeast, I was at the Panthers game that was do or die for clinching that spot, after firing Hanlon and hiring Bruce in 07-08 was a little startling. But, it’s the 09-10 season now and the new fans have been around for a while, time to get used to it.

There’s a difference between “bandwagoners” and new fans. New fans are going to be considered “die hards” in a couple years and are going to be the next generation of fans, I’m one of those “new generation” fans even if I did become a fan back in the “lean years” and was into hockey before the lock out and Mr. Ovechkin and Mr. Crosby.

Bandwagoners will lose interest by the first week of July and not be back in October. (Though new bandwagoners will be but what are you going to do?) And, anyways I know plenty of long time fans and self labeled “die hards” who have NO clue what they are talking about anymore than a bandwagoner.

I love the new fans; welcome to the bandwagon. Don’t scare them away or try to, fellow die hards. Don’t be selfish with your team. Basically, pardon my language (children cover your eyes!), don’t be a hockey-snob ass.

I Can Tell You Where to Put That Laser Pointer…

It would seem that at last nights Caps game a Rangers fan, or so we would assume I do not know why a Caps fan would do this, brought a laser pointer to MSG and shone said laser pointer in Jose’s eyes before the start of one of the periods. Youtube video of the event can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3aWucrOtIM (little warning: audio is abnormally ear-splitting loud so I would recommend turning the volume on your computer down before clicking)

Now this happened recently at a Canucks game in which a Canucks fan did the same thing to the opposing goalie that night.  This is never okay; In fact I don’t care what team it is, what goalie, what player, what fan, I don’t care if they’re a fan of my team doing it to the opposing goalie it is in no way alright. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE.

You obviously don’t flash laser pointers in anyones eyes because it will mess them up which is obviously the point of flashing it in a goalies eyes but it could mess them up maybe pretty badly, that’s why it say “DO NOT POINT IN EYES” on the package. Just to give you an idea how badly I got this information from www.laserpointersafety.com

• The power density from a 1 milliwatt laser, focused to a point, is brighter than the equivalent area of the sun’s surface.
• This can cause a detectable change (injury) to the retina, if the laser stays in one spot for a few seconds
• In extreme cases, central vision could be almost fully lost, and the person becomes blind in that eye.
  

It’s literally all fun and game until someone loses eyesight. That last fact, the complete lose of eyesight is of course in extreme cases and in the US and most countries only a 5 milliwatt is the highest you can get but this can still cause blind spots in the eye because obviously if only a 1 milliwatt laser is as brighter than the equivalent of the SUN than a 5 miliwatt is even worse.

A lifetime ban from the arena is light punishment in my books but it’s about as far as the arena can go, maybe depending on where it happened they could file some sort of charges with the police; in some areas it is a misdemeanor to point a laser into someones eyes. You can find out more about your area on www.laserpointersafety.com

In a perfect world they would take the perpetrator down on the ice after the game and let the team whose goalie they shoot a laser pointer at do with them what they wished and we could all see what kind of big man or woman they were then. Of course, and perhaps unfortunately, this is considered assault.

Now I know it’s really easy to sneak something like a laser pointer, most look like a regular old pen, into an arena so there isn’t much the arena can do short of patting down people, which I’m sure some arenas do already. Just keep a look out when they check bags and the security people keep an eye out during games. And for fellow fans to report it if they see it. Even if it’s a person who roots for your team just report it. In fact this, very useful, website www.laserpointersafety.com tells you how to file an incident report.

So if fans have any respect for this beautiful sport and their team everybody will keep the antics in their heads and leave the distracting devices at home. And, if they have any respect for the way their face is arranged they won’t try that crap sitting by me.

A Statistical Look: Schultz

The Washington Capitals have an unsung Weagle scout. Okay well some people are privy to this and admit it but the majority of fandom especially the bandwagoners, boo hiss I know, are not. Well I present to you: Jeff Schultz.

No this is not another “I like Jeff Schultz; stop hating” post on another blog… okay yes it is. But here’s just the straight plan stats.

At the moment Jeff Schultz is tied for second as league leader in +/- in fact the only person who has a higher plus minus? Alex Ovechkin. And, only by one point (AO: 24 JS: 23) And I believe the only defense man in the league in the top three is Brent Seabrook (and, we all can agree he’s pretty awesome company to be keeping)

That makes him obviously second on the Caps in +/- too.

He has one goal. (a super awesome goal)

He has 11 assists which ties him for tenth in assists on the team with Eric Fehr and Mike Knuble.

He averages around 20 minutes ice time a game.

28 SOG. Ain’t to shabby for a non-offensive defenseman.

And why I can’t prove it statistically I would say his insane +/- is probably why Tom Poti has a good +/- also since they are often paired together because Tom is well… Tom and how he keeps that +/- up is flabbergasting to me.

So why I’m not saying I want a giant banner of Jeff Schultz hanging off the side of Ballston Commons. NO one wants that (Sorry, Schultz but it’s the truth) I’d like to see a little respect for Schultz. So keep this in mind next time your tempted to put down Jeff Schultz. Or keep it in mind when telling a Schultzie hater to stuff it.