He's baaaaaack

Finally, Ovechkin has come back from the dead! You figured it had to happen eventually and sure enough the Great 8 has put up six points in the last three games. With two convincing wins in a row, the Caps may just be starting to put some momentum together. It'd be nice to see the team put up two more before the All-Star break, especially considering that both the Rangers and Thrashers are solid teams.

Also, I'd like to give a shout out to Braden Holtby, the Caps third string goaltender who's been playing like an absolute hammer over the past two games. The Caps have such a strong core of young net minders, maybe the try and move Holtby or Neuvirth and get a defenseman?

Certainly a possibility, considering Varlamov has shown himself to be a top notch, everyday goalie.

On a side note, how creepy are the guys at bars? I feel bad for the young ladies that have to put up with them. I bar hopped in Bethesda recently for the Islanders game and there were mad guys just trolling for women. By themselves. Totally a creeper move, imo. If you're going to go try and pick up girls at least take a wingman with you, don't just stand there by yourself, in your blazer and jeans(which my lady friend informed me was an awful fashion decision and should be avoided at all times) sipping on your drink and just eyeing up every girl in the room.

My favorite thing is when a guy hits on the girl your with as soon as you walk to the bathroom.

At two different bars, I went to the bathroom only to return to some guy trying to talk to my friend or having already offered to buy her a drink. Nothing's quite as satisfying(to me anyway) then just walking up to the girl you're with and smiling smugly at the guy attempting to woo her.

By the way, on the topic of bars, the Barking Dog in Bethesda isn't a terrible place to watch a game. I was there on thirsty Thursday so it may have been more packed than usual but man, it was packed. And cheap. Can't go wrong w/ dollar bud lights. I will say however, if you like buffalo wings(my favorite food) you'd be better off going somewhere else. Not cheap and not very good. American Tap Room is a bit stuffy and high-browed for a game. Great place to grab a drink and talk fancy but not the ideal environment for a Caps game.

See, what had happened was...

Alright, so obviously I got ahead of myself when I said I would post daily. We're going to shoot for weekly. My attention has been elsewhere, especially w/ my beloved Steelers making a run to the SB(which I believe, from a totally objective standpoint, that they will get in). And then there's the fact that Caps have just made me depressed lately.

Yeah yeah, they beat the Senators on Sunday. This would be more impressive if the Sens weren't in dire need of being completely restructured from top to bottom and weren't a lock for a top 5 pick. Granted, the recent losses have been to Tampa, Vancouver and Philadelphia, by no means the cellar dwellers of the league but still, you'd like to see the Caps be able to pull one out. If they want to make a run for the Cup in May, they need to be able to beat these teams.

Especially disappointing is the continued losses to the Lightning, who look like they could be poised to take over the Southeast. I know, there's plenty of hockey to be played but the Lightning have playmakers that can light it up, solid d play and Dwayne Roloson looks like Patrick Roy circa early 90's every time they play the Caps.

As excited as I am that the Caps are making strides on defense and that Varlamov has turned into a stud, I wonder where all the goal scoring has gone. Ovechkin, Backstrom and Semin(who looked like he was ready to light it up at the beginning of the year) are producing, but not nearly at the level Caps fans expected. Maybe we've been spoiled the past two/three years. We got use to putting up four goals a game, to scoring three goals in a period, to having a wingman put up 60 goals a year. Or maybe we're looking at a Caps team that come playoff time, when defense and goaltending matter, will be able to finally put up a wall while getting hard fought goals from Ovechkin and Green(who both seem to disappear during the playoffs, disheartening for any fan).

Next on the schedule is an Islanders team that sits fourth in the Atlantic division. It'd be nice if the Caps could build some sort of momentum going into the All-Star break.

Getting things rolling

Alright, well I'm going to try and give this blogging thing a shot. Hopefully I can convince some of you out there to follow so that I'm not just a crazy guy keeping an online journal. My name is Ryan and I've been a Capitals addict since I was probably eight or so, back in the days of Steve Konowalchuk, Peter Bondra, Chris Simon, Joe Reekie and all those guys. You know, the days when the Caps would have a good season, suck the next season, do well the next year and so on. I thought this vicious cycle was awful, then came the early 2000's when the team was just plain old awful. Thank God for Ovechkin or I probably would have killed myself by now.

I am a full-time student at Shepherd University in West Virginia(save the WV jokes, this is about the only civilized area of the state) planning to graduate in the Fall of 2011 majoring in Communications with a minor in Journalism. My goal is to one day work for a newspaper or an internet site, hopefully covering the Caps. I played hockey for several years when I was younger and am looking to get back into it once I graduate. That being said, I promise that I will not post my life story everyday, just figured you should know what you're dealing with here.

Anyway, the purpose of this blog is to keep everyone informed about the Caps and attempting to do so in an entertaining way. Personally, I think I'm hilarious, but I suppose everyone thinks that about themselves. I'll try and update the blog as often as I can but between being a full time student and working a job that requires me to be there from 10 p.m.-4 a.m.(yes, it does suck in case you were wondering) I'm sure there will be some time lapses. I'll try and get the first real post up tonight during the Caps-Lightning game(assuming Comcast will show it). I look forward to doing this blog and hope that many of you will check in when you get the chance.

Peace.