CAPITALS NEWS NETWORK: WINTER CLASSIC

Showing posts with label WINTER CLASSIC. Show all posts

Capitals to Wear Third Sweater Select Road Games

Posted by Dave Nichols | Friday, September 16, 2011 | CAPS, THIRD JERSEY, WINTER CLASSIC | 0 comments »

The Washington Capitals announced this morning via press release they will be wearing the Winter Classic uniforms for 16 select road games in the upcoming season. We cannot applaud this move enough.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals will wear a third jersey modeled after their 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic jersey for 16 select road games during the 2011-12 season, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today.

The primary color for the uniform is white and closely resembles the team’s original jersey, worn from 1974-75 through 1994-95. The original Capitals wordmark is featured on the front of the jersey with six stars above it and five stars beneath the numbers on each sleeve.

The Capitals will wear red pants and white helmets with their new third jerseys.

The jerseys are available online at shop.NHL.com and will be available at the 2011 Capitals Convention presented by GEICO and Kettler Capitals Iceplex starting Sept. 24. The Verizon Center Team Store will begin offering the new third jerseys at the first preseason home game on Monday, Sept. 26 vs. Columbus.

Below is a schedule of the games the Capitals will wear the new third jerseys:

Saturday, Nov. 26 at Buffalo Sabres 7 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 23 at New Jersey Devils 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 18 at Montreal Canadiens 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 20 at Carolina Hurricanes 7 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 22 at Pittsburgh Penguins 3 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 4 at Montreal Canadiens 2 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 12 at New York Rangers 3 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 20 at Carolina Hurricanes 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 25 at Toronto Maple Leafs 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 10 at Boston Bruins 1 p.m.
Friday, March 16 at Winnipeg Jets 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 18 at Chicago Blackhawks 6 p.m.
Monday, March 19 at Detroit Red Wings 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 22 at Philadelphia Flyers 7 p.m.
Monday, April 2 at Tampa Bay Lightning 7 p.m.
Saturday, April 7 at New York Rangers 3 p.m.

(photo by C.Nichols/Caps News Network)

McPhee: Winter Classic "Seminal Moment" For Caps Franchise

Posted by Dave Nichols | Thursday, January 06, 2011 | CAPS, GMGM, HBO 24/7, JUNIORS, WINTER CLASSIC | 0 comments »

After practice this morning, Washington Capitals GM George McPhee candidly spoke with reporters about the World Junior Championships, HBO's 24/7 and the Winter Classic.

ON THE WINTER CLASSIC

"On a personal standpoint, it may be the most fun I've ever had as a manager and maybe the most fun I've ever had in my hockey life. It was just a fabulous experience, it was sort of a 'Field of Dreams' thing: Build it and they will come. Because you show up at this massive stadium and there's 70,000 people there, 30,000 are from Washington and that was extraordinary. Even the ride home...on Sunday I drove my family back, there were Caps fans on the way back at the gas stations, at the toll booths, at the restaurants. It was pretty remarkable."

"It felt like a seminal moment for this franchise. When you hear the crowd yell "Red" and yell "Oh" during the National Anthem you realize how many people were there -- I know John Erskine mentioned this sort of startled him on the bench, so I'm sure the other players experienced that, 'Boy, we have a lot of people here tonight', and I think the franchise is where other teams come into town and their fans are wearing the jerseys and to walk around Pittsburgh -- every time you turned the corner someone was wearing a Caps jersey. I thought it was a special night and a unique night in many way that really put this franchise over the top in terms of popularity. I think the popularity is unprecedented. And it's a really neat thing to experience."

"It's been a fun team to watch and we have great personalities in that room, and it's really neat that Washington has embraced this team."

ON HBO'S 24/7

"The most important thing here was getting exposure for this game, and I think HBO loved it. I think they got turned on to something really neat with these hockey players and the sport and I think a lot of people around this country and a lot of other countries, if they didn't already like hockey would certainly have a better understanding and appreciation for it."

"When we agreed to do this, we agreed to let them see everything and experience everything. I personally was having a hell of a time during that [eight-game losing streak] and they caught it pretty well. That was exactly how I was feeling. It's not an easy thing to go through, but I guess it makes for good television."

ON THE WORLD JUNIORS

"We're really pleased with all of our players there. I thought [Russian forward Evgeni] Kuznetsov was one of the better players in the tournament. I thought that [forward] Cody Eakin was the best player on the ice last night [in the championship game] for Canada and was very good in a lot of the games. He actually played with an injury throughout the tournament. He played left wing, right wing, center; played on the power play, played on the point on the power play, played on the penalty kill. I thought [Russian defenseman Dmitri] Orlov was good. I thought [defenseman] Patrick Wey played well for the U.S."

"It sure is nice as a manager to go to tournaments and see talent like that that you know will be playing for you within a year or so. Especially where we're been picking these days, it's usually been late in the first round and finding some of these guys in the later rounds. So it's nice that we're going to have another wave of good young players coming into the team, because that's what keeps you good, makes you good for a long time."

Winter Classic Photos

Posted by Cheryl Nichols | Sunday, January 02, 2011 | CAPS, OVECHKIN, PHOTOS, WINTER CLASSIC | 3 comments »

Here is a quick sample of our photos from the weekend - 4 photos of Ovechkin's "trip over the blue line." There will be more posted in near future. Not too bad from the upper deck (without my 70-200mm telelphoto lens!).

It looks like Dupuis is trying to slam Ovi's head onto the ice!

Caps Take It Outside (Photos)

Posted by Cheryl Nichols | Thursday, December 30, 2010 | CAPS, PHOTOS, PRACTICE, VIDEO, WINTER CLASSIC | 3 comments »

The Washington Capitals travel to Pittsburgh on Thursday afternoon for this weekend's Fourth Annual NHL Winter Classic. Before heading up, the Caps had a closed practice outdoors at the Chevy Chase Club rink to prepare for skating outside on Wednesday afternoon.

Most of the Caps have only played outside when they were very young and by the looks on many faces, they were transported back in time while out on the ice. Mike Knuble had a big grin on his face for most of practice. Defenseman Karl Alzner said, ""It's a lot of fun. We wish the whole season was played outdoors."

Jason Chimera mentioned playing outdoors with buddies on weekends that would start in the early morning, then have lunch at the rink and continue to play hockey until dark. Chimera is from Edmondton, Canada where "there is an outdoor rink in every community" he said. Chimmy is the only current Capitals player that has played outside professionally. He played for the Edmonton Oilers in the 2003 Heritage Classic.

The Caps usually practice in the morning around 10:30 or 11 a.m., however, practiced at 1 p.m. on Wednesday because that is the same time of the Winter Classic on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Playing outside in the afternoon also meant dealing with the bright sunshine and glare off the ice. Many players experimented with eye black. Some got creative like John Carlson and Matt Hendricks who were sporting a warrior type design on their cheeks.

Alex Ovechkin was the one that stood out. Not only did he put the eye block under his eyes, but continued over the bridge of his nose to make one long straight line. The eye black ring around the mouth was the attention getter. There are a few pictures below because words just can't describe it. Ovi told the media that he just wanted to have fun and it was a joke. The Great Eight also made it clear that while playing outside was fun, "its practice" with a seriousness in his voice.

The wind in Pittsburgh could have an impact on the game so Coach Boudreau ran the players through sprints at the end of practice to experience difference between indoor and outdoor sprints. "I wanted to skate them a little bit to see if the wind affects" them, Boudreau said. "It's amazing, going one way against even a two mile per hour wind is a little bit different."

Overall, practice went well and Caps are very excited about the big game. Boudreau said that Tom Poti, Mathieu Perrault and Marcus Johansson will all be ready to play.

Caps practice at 10:30 a.m. at Kettler Capitals Iceplex (open to public) on Thursday before flying to Pittsburgh.

Enjoy the photos. See you in Pittsburgh!