Taking merchandising to a new level . . .

There's all kinds of merchandise out there for the NHL. There's some pretty cool stuff like game-used equipment and authentic jerseys. There's moderately lame stuff like fake jerseys and all those "Eastern Conference Champs!" every Caps fan has from 1998. At the bottom of the barrel has to be this shirt.


I would like to throw myself in line in congratulating the Buffalo Sabres on being better than two teams that aren't even in their division.

While we're at it, I'd like to nominate the Caps for "DelMarVa Champs!" After all, three states are better than one!

Conference Finals Preview!

My critics have often called me out as being someone that "rides a team." Well, duh I'm a hockey fan, I'm obviously going to have teams I like, and teams I don't like. That said, every single team I was pulling for in the previous round lost. A big oh for four. That said, I have to figure out who I am rooting for in the last two rounds. I can't sit back and just watch the games, I have to pick a team I want to win, and cheer for them.

I personally don't like either team in the West at all. I think Anaheim has used a bunch of cheap tactics to get here (I'm still irked over the wimpy suspension in the Kim Johnson incident), and I think Detroit has some of the biggest fairweather fans in the league. What does that say about the sport when "Hockeytown" can't sell out any playoff hockey games?

In the East, there's two teams I respect. Unfortunately, Buffalo has the worst fans in all of hockey, in terms of being rude, obnoxious stains on humanity, and both being fairweather fans. Ottawa, I nothing. They are kind of like the DC of Canada, in that they aren't as big as some cities, but they are the nation's capital, and that all the other "Big Cities" (Montreal and Toronto in this instance), tend to overlook them and look down their nose at them. I bet Ottawa is an awesome party city too. Unfortunately, there aren't really any players on Ottawa I like. Again, lots of guys I respect, but no one I particularly love. I shall definitely be pulling for them to win, but I'm going to have a hard time making myself get excited about them.

So what do I do? A simply solution. I'm pulling for the refs. There are certainly refs I like, and while I haven't seen a list of which officials are going to be on the ice for this round, I hope they do a great job, like some of them actually ARE capable of doing. I hope the NHL was smart enough to put Bill McCreary in the next round, as he is the most consistant official in the league. I want a situation where the losing team can sit back and say "we lost because we didn't play hockey as well as the other team," not another situation where fans are whining about a goal that shouldn't have counted, or a penalty that should have been called (are you listening Dean Morton?). I just want people at the end of the day to go "You know what? That officiating wasn't too horrible," because in the end, that would be a victory for hockey fans.

Let's be honest about a couple of things . . .

The Caps beat two solid teams this past week in Dallas and Buffalo, but let's try to keep our feet on the ground. Both teams had played games the previous night while the Caps rested. Dallas had to travel to DC from Chicago, and Buffalo traveled from upstate New York after an extended game against the Rangers.

This upcoming week the Caps play the Senators on Wednesday. The Caps will be resting while the Senators play on Long Island on Tuesday night. On Friday the Caps play the Ducks, who are now only mighty when one is describing their play. The Ducks also play Wednesday, but then have to fly across the country, and those of us that travel know how much fun it is to travel three time zones East.

The point is, a lot of Caps fans are patting themselves on the back saying "these are the types of games playoff teams like to win." I'm here to say these are the types of games that playoff teams have to win. When you catch a tired opponent, you put them away early, and don't let them in the game for a second. That's what the Caps have done against Buffalo and barely did against Dallas. Will this trend continue when a hot Ottawa team rolls in on Wednesday? We'll see. I doubt we'll see a repeat of the last time the Sens were in town.

Unruly fans

Congrats Philly! Your fans are no longer the worst in the league!
While the Sabres fans last night don't match the numbers Philly used to send to Landover, they surpassed the flyers fans in chants started, beers thrown on the ice, beers attempted thrown on the ice, but not making it, fans ejected, swings taken at yours truly, and just downright douchebaggery.

The Caps beat the Sabres, and the 2k fans that showed up in various shades of Gold/Blue or Red/Black had their numbers drastically thinned by the end of the match due to the fact that many were ejected from the game. The highlight of the game was when a dumb blonde chick tried to start a fight with another woman, and the second woman stiff-armed her and tried to walk away. So a 300 lb guy yelled at the woman for hitting a girl, and wound up to swing. Fortunately, FS stepped in and tied up the guy, who decided he didn't want to have to drop his beer to swing at FS.

What I want to know is, when is the NHL going to comment about Briere's flying elbow at AO's head just before Briere got lovetapped into his own boards? The silence when compared to AO's bump a minute later is surprising.