Orp-bot?

We can't decide if we want to get a Brooks Orpik jersey or a Max Talbot jersey...

Puck Daddy found another Penguin fan who couldn't decide either...

Is this world ready for a #45, Orp-bot jersey?

No, we didn't think so either.

2:06 of your life that you won't get back

Yikes.

Uhh, this is gonna end well...

Sometimes I wonder about people in positions higher than me; what coaches think putting out certain line combos (like giving Mark Recchi 20 minutes of ice time Wednesday night and giving Evgeni Malkin 14)...Or what GMs are thinking when they make trades or signings.

Add the Washington Capitals promotional department to the list.

Given that:
A)You have one of your closest geographical rivals in town
B)Fans don't really come to your own rink that much (the announced attendance last night was just above 11,000)
C)Your opponent often draws many loud fans

Why would you take the following steps:
1)Announce a "white-out" night, where fans wear white. This is a cool idea when it comes off well (see Penn State, Calgary's 'Sea of Red', etc).
2)Stick your team in white jerseys, which is what the road team wears in the NHL
3)Give out Terrible Towel knock off white towels to fans that come in

Uhh, I hate to break it to you guys, but this is possibly the worst idea since someone thought to fill a blimp with hydrogen.

What could go wrong?

BUT!

The Capitals have aggressively marketed special discount tickets to fill the seats against their biggest regional rivals (Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, Toronto) with their own fans. A great idea. I bought this. I'm not going to be a dick and sell my tickets to the non-Pens games on eBay, I live close enough to attend. Plus, it's usually worth the price of admission to see guys like Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin and Nicklas Backstrom.

So maybe, unlike last year, there won't be as big of a Penguin partisan crowd. Maybe the Caps who've been losers of their last three games, and without the services of Semin will come out the gates fired up.....If the Penguins get a quick lead though and jump on the Caps early (Olie Kolzig gave up 5 goals last night, some pretty soft) it's going to get ugly. Caps fans will be quiet and the Pens fans will be more fired up.

The ultimate kicker:

If a Penguin scores a hat trick (I'm looking at you Petr Sykora), heaven help us all. Those Terrible Towel knockoffs are going to rain down on the ice so much it might just bring a tear to the old Pacman's eye.

I am very excited for this hockey game. I will be there. It's going to be very interesting to see the atmosphere and if there's more Caps fans than last time around. I went to the Caps home opener and they seemed to be very well represented. Judging from the locals, everyone has had this game circled on the calender for some time now. Should be electric.

Also, since the lockout, some head to head numbers:
Penguins: 7-1
Capitals: 1-6-1 (a shootout loss)

Sidney Crosby: 5 goals, 9 assists, 14 points
Alex Ovechkin: 4 goals, 4 assists, 8 points

So that's right, if you're keeping track at home, Croz is "Gretzky-ing" Ovechkin so far. That of course meaning he's got more assists than you do points.

On lines...

Fans shouldn't question coaches. After all, they are the ones who have a professional job in hockey and, for most cases, have spent all their adult lives around hockey and know what's going on. On the other hand, for the most parts, fans are just drunk assholes that have loud voices to let their spur of the moment thoughts out.

But, seeing Ryan Malone and Mark Recchi as the second line wingers in the first game for Evgeni Malkin is truly a heastratcher. Malone and Recchi were pretty much permanent wingers last year on the top line with Sidney Crosby. And, for the most part, they were not able (at full strength) to generate much as Crosby's wings..

So you move them away from Sid (smart move). But you send them BOTH to Malkin? After you already know what they can bring to the table?? Give them ice-time over Erik Christensen, over Gary Roberts?

I'm no NHL coach, but this combination stinks. Recchi is a skill player, keep him with top 6 minutes, but why not drop Malone down in favor of someone else who has skill.

The Capitals Had Their Players Cold Call..

You know, it's hard being a season ticket holder in the NHL. You're shelling out thousands of dollars (that are propping up the whole league), you're sacrificing countless hours of your time going to and from and attending games, and it's still $7+ a beer.

So I could easily understand why you might be on the fence about not wanting to re-up; especially when your team is the Washington Capitals and you've won one playoff series in the past nine years, you might not be interesting in the commitments to shell out the big $$.

So Sweaty Ted busts out the big guns, his players. Especially hilarious is this recap from a fellow who got a voicemail (because he didn't pick up a repeated call from the Caps) from Native Son Milan Jurcina:

Through a heavy accent, and in an eerily robotic voice, Jurcina addressed me personally, pleaded with me to help him, uh…do something (bring up attendance at the Verizon Center?), and asked that I give my account representative a call.(Of course, he gave me the wrong representative’s name, but I’m not going to
hold that against the big guy.)

He then thanked me for my support and expressed his extreme enthusiasm for the upcoming season with a monotone “Go Caaahhhps.”

Mike Vogel, a MSM writer for the Caps said they got this idea from The Penguins recent efforts of having players deliver a couple of season tickets as a thank you to those that bought season tickets.

Having players do cold calling and basically beg folks to re-up their tickets is a little different than Sidney Crosby or Maxime Talbot showing up on your door with your tickets.

As always, Capitals fans and organization, the devil is in the details.

Vancouver Reveals Their New Logo

Just. Fucking. Terrible.

But, rumor has it this is going to be the new Toronto Maple Leafs jersey:

So far Boston has made a subtle logo change (but it looks good), Chicago's basically the same, and Detroit too, except their captain's 'C' is going below the right shoulder due to size/shape limtations of their logo with the new jersey. Original 6 teams should not monkey around with their colors/designs. They're great for a reason. I really have no attachment to the Leafs but I'd still feel upset if this disaster is true. That's be a worse idea than this:

You won't give me a logo at midfield, endzone graphics or even cheerleaders but you'll give me a gay mascot like looks like Bill Cowher? Screw you old man Rooney.