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Daily Caps Report: Let’s Go Caps!! Edition
By PennSkinsFan | October 10, 2008
It is here! Finally! After a long off-season, your Washington Capitals square off in their season opener tonight against the Atlanta Thrashers. Take note — we put the Ball Hype widgets for the Capitals and Wizards up on the main page since the seasons have arrived. Don’t forget you can pick the Caps to win on those Widgets. Support the Capitals.
First off, the projected Lines for tonight
Line 1: Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Victor Kozlov
Line 2: Brooks Laich, Sergei Fedorov, and Alexander Semin
DLine1: Shaone Morrisonn, Mike Green
DLine2: John Erskine, Tom Poti
Goalie; Jose Theodore
Second off, scroll to the bottom of this post and vote for who will score the first Capitals goal tonight. If you don’t think they will score or think it will be someone else not named, tough, don’t vote!
The Washington Post printed their Caps Preview. You’ll need Adobe PDF or some other PDF program to view it.
First off, you decide. Is Nicklas Backstrom a good artist. Look and see at DC Sports Bog.
It took a long, suffering at times, rebuild, but Washington Capitals are back, potent, and ready to skate. So are the fans. And they are showing it …
The Capitals’ overall revenue has increased by $15 million from this time last year, according to majority owner Ted Leonsis, and the season ticket base has doubled since February. Merchandise sales, meantime, also have spiked.
We have wrote time and time and time again here at DCPSR that, yes, Washington DC is big enough, excited enough, and energized enough to have a professional sports passion that goes beyond FedEX Field. I believe it wholeheartedly. The NHL is gaining attendance, finally looking as if post-lockout recovery is underway, and that increased interest is evident right here in Washington DC, home of the Washington Capitals, home of the best player in the world, Alexander Ovechkin!
“It hasn’t died down,” team president Dick Patrick said. “Usually the season ends, or you play your last playoff game and that’s it, nothing happens. But we kept selling tickets right through the summer. Hopefully we’ll get off to a good start and have a good year and that will put us over the top.”
And that is absolutely critical. We did last year Caps fans. Several players toward the middle to end of the season said the Verizon Center was the loudest place they have played. We must do it again. We must make the Sea of Red a horrible place for the opposing teams to play. Make the rue coming to the Verizon Center! Every single skater, every single player on the Washington Capitals has a role to play. So do we!
With Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin, Mike Green and an everyman coach in Boudreau, the Capitals have one the league’s most appealing lineups. Add to that Chris Clark and Michael Nylander, veterans who missed most of last season because of injuries, and expectations inside and outside of the organization are as high as they’ve been since the start of the Jaromir Jagr era.
“This year is so important,” Leonsis said. “If we make the playoffs, go deep in the playoffs, we’ll get 90, 95 percent renewals next year. I’ve always felt this is a great market, but it was up to us to find the formula, the product, the style of play, the approach, to activate it. We’re almost there.”
You bet it is Ted. It is a great market and DC does support its Caps! And it all begins anew tonight! Great article by Tarik, go read the whole thing.
How about Mike Wise going hockey on us. Wise gives a great look at Caps bench guy HC Bruce Boudreau. Thanks Mike, good read.
But, with success, comes higher expectations, as the Washington Times writes. The playoff leap and division crown last season brings higher expectation this season for not just a playoff appearance, but a deeper run.
There were years of losing and plenty of patience, but the reward could worth it. The Caps will play in front of bigger crowds, part of a swell of fan interest that began during last season’s run to the postseason.
After a couple of seasons of irrelevance save for the wonder of Alex Ovechkin, Washington will be featured often on national telecasts in both the United States and Canada.
But despite the Caps’ improved health and depth, they still must deal with heightened expectations. Washington has lost the element of surprise it had when it rallied around Boudreau to escape the NHL’s doldrums last season.
Times columnist Dan Daly chips in with a feel good, high expectations article on the Caps.
Jose Theodore is excited about the prospects of Washington DC and playing for the Capitals.
Around the NHL Scores
Toronto knocked off the Stanley Cup champs, Detroit, 3-2. The Canucks shutout Calgary 6-0. Boston downed Colorado 5-4. San Jose defeated Anaheim 4-1
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
Topics: Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Bruce Boudreau, Capitals, Jose Theodore, Michael Nylander, Mike Green |