Archive for May, 2009

I am not a hockey analyst – let’s put that out there right now. I am, however, in full disclosure, a Caps fan, born and raised, good and bad, from Ole the Goalie and Langway til now, what with the rocking of the red and the beard-a-thons and a group of Russian guys who can really, really play.

I can’t tell you what happened to the Capitals last night, because, well, first of all I was trapped in a lecture to support a good friend for the first hour of the game, resorting to obsessively following the action on my iPhone. And after they were down 5-zip in the middle of the second period (not to mention down 2-0 after two absurd Pitt goals in eight seconds in the first. Eight seconds!) I couldn’t bring myself to watch it anymore.

I could have. I could have raced through the punch and cookies reception afterwards, gone the short ride home and watched what I knew was going to continue to happen in full-screen depression instead of on a tiny, more emotionally manageable device. I didn’t. I couldn’t take it anymore.

I really can’t tell you what happened to cause an amazing young goalie who held this situation together for six games, pretty much, to let four goals go by? (Why, Varly, why?) Except, maybe, dude was off his game? Again didn’t have enough help from defense, which to be honest worried me all along? One guy can’t carry it, no matter how hot he is. It’s really not that complicated – sad, but not complicated.

I can’t tell you why there were NO Pittsburgh penalties – except maybe they didn’t need any?

I cannot tell you why the red did not rock, in any way, shape or frozen form.

I can tell you that I really, really wished they’d lost a kickass Game Six in Pittsburgh, where they really played, avoiding this flat ninety-minute exercise in frustration on and off the ice. I can only rationalize that it’s always nice to bring it home and if they hadn’t they’d have missed a two-minute standing ovation from thousands of people who put their hearts into this series from the stands and in front of tv screens when they went on the road.

Columnists can make it all about Crosby (ummm….) and Ovechkin, or even between the Canadians and the Russians.

Go ahead.

I can hate on Crosby and love on Ovechkin all I want (hel-lo! ) But what I can tell you is that for this fourth-generation Washingtonian whose dad took her to Flyers games in the 80s when things were really cooking, who sat in the cheap seats as a college student at the old Cap Centre, being a part of this season and series – both, counting the Rangers – was coming home to being a Caps – and beyond that, a hockey – fan again. I wasn’t thinking about where any of those guys were from when I just wanted the puck to go in the other guy’s net.

It was appreciating a game that at its worse can be perceived as a brawl between big guys with missing teeth, but at its best is a physically grueling, technically complicated, actually sort of beautiful competition. Oh, and it happens on ice skates. Take that, quarterback. (Sorry – still kind of fired up.)

What I can tell you is that Sergei Fedorov’s game winning goal to eliminate the Rangers in Game 7 was a thing of beauty. (Goosebumps from that video, seriously.)

I can add that being in the Verizon Center for Game One of the Pitt series will remain one of my favorite memories ever. The hockey was awesome and the people with me in the not-cheap cheap seats were having a ball, which is what it’s all about anyway.

As bummed as I am about last night’s outcome – mostly because these games were so much fun to watch and it’s just not the same when the others are playing – I’m looking forward to next year. If people are watching more hockey, I’m glad – and more than I have been in a long time, I’ll admit that I’m proud to be a fan.

(Check back for slightly less biased playoff coverage, because I’ll keep watching.)