Brent Johnson was left to hang and dry during the 4th contest the Caps have been shut out of this season. The 2 on 0 shorthanded goal drives home the point. Johnson played fine, Huet played great and the Caps as a group fell behind early and didn't get it done.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
GOALIE GETS INCH PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore Goalie
Hinton, Iowa
The Huskies are now in a three-way tie for sixth place in Atlantic Hockey, and just two points behind fifth-place Mercyhurst for the final home-ice spot in the league playoffs.
His Runners-Up: Jeff Lerg (Michigan State), Matt Fornataro (New Hampshire), Alex Stalock (Minnesota Duluth), Matt Thomey (Yale), Matt Pope (Bemidji State)
Hinton, Iowa
BEAU ERICKSON Connecticut
His Statistics: 2 GP, 1-0-1, 70 saves, 1 GA
His Statistics: 2 GP, 1-0-1, 70 saves, 1 GA
His Impact: UConn was muddling along through the first half of the season, but since returning to Atlantic Hockey play in mid-January, the Huskies have lost just once in six games against conference foes.
The most recent test came against first-place RIT, and goalie Beau Erickson answered the call against the top team in Atlantic Hockey. He started the weekend set in Storrs by making 40 saves in a 3-0 shutout win. He followed that up with a 30-save performance in a 1-1 tie against the Tigers on Saturday.
The Huskies are now in a three-way tie for sixth place in Atlantic Hockey, and just two points behind fifth-place Mercyhurst for the final home-ice spot in the league playoffs.
His Runners-Up: Jeff Lerg (Michigan State), Matt Fornataro (New Hampshire), Alex Stalock (Minnesota Duluth), Matt Thomey (Yale), Matt Pope (Bemidji State)
Monday, January 28, 2008
UPCOMING SESSIONS (all times PM)...
The cost of each session is $65 and will have a warmup session 50 minutes prior to the ice slot for 30 minutes with 20 minutes to get dressed. Liability waivers must be signed before hitting the ice for first session.
Tuesday, February 5th 9:15 – 10:35 at Ft DuPont - 1 opening
Tuesday, February 12th 9:15-10:35 at Ft DuPont - 1 opening
(TENTATIVE) Friday, February 22nd 7:00 -9:30 - 1 opening
Sunday, February 24th 7:10 - 9:00 - FULL
Sunday, March 30th 5:30 - 9:00 - FULL
TO BE DETERMINED AT CABIN JOHN - NEED 4 GOALTENDERS TO HAVE A SESSION
Friday, February 15th 8:00 -9:30 - Need 2
Sunday, February 17th 5:30 - 9:00 - Need 3
Friday, February 29th 7:00 -9:30 - Need 2
Sunday, March 2nd 5:30 - 9:00 - Need 2
Saturday, March 15th 6:30 - 9:30 - Need 2
Saturday, March 22nd 5:00 - 9:30 - Need 3
Friday, March 28th 7:00 -9:30 - Need 2
Saturday, March 29th 5:00 -9:30 - Need 2
Tuesday, February 5th 9:15 – 10:35 at Ft DuPont - 1 opening
Tuesday, February 12th 9:15-10:35 at Ft DuPont - 1 opening
(TENTATIVE) Friday, February 22nd 7:00 -9:30 - 1 opening
Sunday, February 24th 7:10 - 9:00 - FULL
Sunday, March 30th 5:30 - 9:00 - FULL
TO BE DETERMINED AT CABIN JOHN - NEED 4 GOALTENDERS TO HAVE A SESSION
Friday, February 15th 8:00 -9:30 - Need 2
Sunday, February 17th 5:30 - 9:00 - Need 3
Friday, February 29th 7:00 -9:30 - Need 2
Sunday, March 2nd 5:30 - 9:00 - Need 2
Saturday, March 15th 6:30 - 9:30 - Need 2
Saturday, March 22nd 5:00 - 9:30 - Need 3
Friday, March 28th 7:00 -9:30 - Need 2
Saturday, March 29th 5:00 -9:30 - Need 2
Friday, January 25, 2008
CAPS GOALIE REPORT: JOHNSON EMERGING
Almost at the Top, Capitals Catch a BreakCapitals 2, Maple Leafs 1
By Tarik El-BashirWashington Post Staff Writer Friday, January 25, 2008; Page E01
Excerpt
...."Since Coach Bruce Boudreau stepped behind the bench on Nov. 22, Johnson has been one of the team's best players. He is 5-1 with a 2.05 goals against average and .926 save percentage under Boudreau, and his coach believes he has earned the right to play more down the stretch.
"You could tell he was on his game," said Boudreau, who earned his first NHL coaching win over the team that drafted him in 1975. "His movement was great and we needed him because we were tired. We got outplayed pretty good for the first time in a while."...
1/24 Highlights v. the Leafs. 2-1 Win for Johnson.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
CAPS GOALIE REPORT: "CLUTCH PLAY" NOT THERE
It looked good for Ollie on paper but the trained eye knows better. It's easy to say the Caps didn't finish, which of course they didn't, but they also didn't get the clutch situational play in front of the net that could have gotten them at least a point. RLH Observations:
- Again, Kolzig gets tangled up in defensemen who are trying to aide his flanks to stop rebound shots that come from the side. This is happening over and over.
- When those rebounds do end up turning into shots from the side, Kolzig's recovery is poor and is typically a head first flop rather than a quick and explosive one leg slide. This is why the D keep overcompensating as they do.
- Giving up a goal with :30 left in a tie game is not the "clutch situational play" that is needed when every play counts.
Washington Post Observations:
Boudreau Hopes for a Happy Homecoming
Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 23, 2008; Page E07
"If we can continue to improve defensively, we'll be in good shape."
The Capitals are averaging 3.5 goals per game since Boudreau took over, up from 2.2. But they're also yielding an average 3.2 goals per game under Boudreau.
Boudreau said he plans to start goaltender
Monday, January 21, 2008
RED LINE GOALIE GETS WASHINGTON POST INK
Memory of a Coach Who Never Quit Keeps an Unlikely Program on Solid Ice
By Jeff Nelson
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, January 22, 2008; E01
In a closet that serves as a makeshift locker room underneath the bleachers of Fort Dupont Ice Arena, Wilson High School goalie Tyler Hill stood above the massive bag holding his hockey gear and remembered the only season he played for Paul McKenzie.
Hill was 12 at the time, he said, and he had one major problem with his skating: He couldn't stop. Moving forward was easy, but without the help of a wall or a fall, Hill had some difficulty coming to a halt. His coach noticed.
"He took me aside, and not in an embarrassing way," Hill said, "because it's hard when everyone else can do things and you're coming off roller hockey. And he just said: 'Turn like this. Turn like this.'
"He spent at least half of practice with me and I got it. Everything he did was really, really amazing."
Moments earlier, Hill, a sophomore goalie playing his first season for the high school team McKenzie founded, made 37 saves. It was just his sixth game in goal for Wilson -- the District's first public high school ice hockey team, playing its first official home game on D.C. soil. The Tigers lost to undefeated Good Counsel, 6-4, but considering they had been beaten by those same Falcons the week before, 10-0, this result almost felt like victory.
In the locker room, the Tigers applauded Hill, and one teammate gave him the game puck. As everyone cleared out, the team's senior leaders agreed: Nobody would have enjoyed Hill's performance more than McKenzie.
"Paul would have sung the praises of Tyler for the rest of the season," senior captain Dylan Aluise said. "Paul was all about giving kids chances to play. . . . Tyler's exactly the kind of player Paul would have loved."
McKenzie coached, raised funds and fought for this team from its inception five years ago. But he never had the opportunity to coach Hill in high school or witness his team complete its historic transformation from private to public. Eleven months ago, at the age of 53, he died unexpectedly from pneumonia.
His death appeared to jeopardize the team's future. McKenzie had done so much to keep it alive, many wondered how it could survive without him.
'He Was Always Positive'
A man with seemingly infinite reserves of energy, McKenzie "sort of steamrolled through life," said Trish McKenzie, his wife of 20 years.
In addition to his day job as a deputy director at the Naval Surface Warfare Center of the Naval Sea Systems Command, he dedicated himself to political activism in the city.
"He was all energy, all the time," said D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who first met McKenzie in 1998. "He was always positive, but at the same time, he didn't let one conversation go without pushing you to do something more than what you were already doing."
McKenzie applied that same pressure to himself. When he decided there should be a hockey team for high school students in the District who didn't go to Gonzaga, St. Albans or St. John's -- all private schools -- he took the reins.
The idea came naturally to the son of Canadian parents. Next to politics, hockey was his great passion.
"To him, it was a very egalitarian sport," Trish McKenzie said. "If you played football or basketball or whatever, the bad kids are sitting on the sidelines most of the time. In hockey, you have lines. And when your line goes out, you go out, so everybody gets ice time."
That premise loomed large in his vision. He created a team in 2003 with the intent of exposing young people from all backgrounds and all levels of experience to the sport. Through a provisional agreement with the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League, the team could represent Washington International School, which his daughter attended at the time, but use students from five schools.
In the team's first four seasons -- including last year, when it represented Edmund Burke School, which by then had more students on the team any other school -- a lack of depth and a wealth of inexperience led to frequent losses by the league's 10-goal mercy rule.
But each year, a few new players tried hockey for the first time and learned with each practice, each game, each shift.
"I remember we got blown out a few games in a row," said Porter Ryan, a Wilson junior who joined the team last year. "And [McKenzie] managed to find something good to say about each player after each game."
Trish McKenzie remembers her husband writing letters of recommendation for players and advising them on college and their futures. "He saw himself as a real guidance person to them," she said. "It wasn't just, 'This is how you play hockey.' He was involved with them as individuals."
Toward the end of last season, McKenzie started to feel weak. After being pressed by Trish and convinced by a doctor, he checked into Georgetown University Hospital on a Monday. The next day, he received a "Get Well" card from his players. On Thursday of that week, doctors found fluid in his lungs. Relieved to have a diagnosis -- and something so treatable -- Trish e-mailed their 19-year-old daughter Margaret, in Belgium on a college field trip, and 15-year-old son Alexander, who was attending high school and playing hockey near relatives in Canada. "I told them it was only pneumonia," Trish recalled.
Paul McKenzie was in bed at the family's home in Mount Pleasant a week after he first went to the doctor when he began to have trouble breathing. Trish called 911 and administered CPR. Firefighters and paramedics arrived and rushed him to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, but he never regained consciousness. Eighteen hours later, on Feb. 20, 2007, he was dead.
"They said it was pneumonia of unknown otology," Trish McKenzie said. "One doctor says it wasn't so much the germ as how his body reacted to it.
"I don't really think [Paul] had a clue how sick he was. He loved everything he was doing. He loved his family. He would not have wanted to die."
On the Thursday after his death, McKenzie's hockey team took the ice for its final regular season game. The team that had lost 10 of its previous 13 games dedicated its final regular season contest to his memory and won, 6-0.
A few days later, the players were among more than 400 people to pack Cleveland Park Congregational Church for McKenzie's funeral. They wore their home jerseys and were mentioned in eulogies. On the family's way out of the church, the boys formed two lines by the doors and made a ceremonial arch with their hockey sticks.
Philip Castiel, the team captain, gave a speech during a service afterward: "During [the past four years], over 30 young high school hockey players, both boys and girls, were given a gift by Coach. That gift is the love of the game of hockey."
A Rededication to Purpose
For each void created by McKenzie's death, someone stepped forward, ready to make life a little busier so the team wouldn't fade away.
Adam Davis, a teammate of McKenzie's in a men's hockey league, took over as coach. Five parents took on roles, including team manager, and handled responsibilities such as procuring ice time, applying for grants and organizing community outreach efforts.
Even with those efforts, the team worried about its future without a more stable affiliation.
"We had a lot of meetings over the summer," said Tim Aluise, a team parent, "and there were many times when we thought we would not have a hockey team this year."
The team's roster had had a growing Wilson presence since 2003, and it became apparent that the majority of players would be from Wilson this season. Dylan Aluise went to Wilson Athletic Director Eddie Saah and pleaded for him to add hockey as a varsity sport.
Saah said Wilson had no money to offer. But the more he heard about the team, the more he liked the idea.
Last month, Paul Koring, another team parent, established the Woodrow Wilson High School Hockey Club as a nonprofit organization. With a projected budget close to $20,000, the team receives donations from McKenzie's Masonic lodge, parents and others. The team also received grants from the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission.
Fenty, who attended Wilson, said he plans to bring his sons to a game in the future. He hopes others in the city will do the same to help the team flourish.
"This team is great for young people, great for the sport and great for the city," Fenty said. "It's a lesson to all of us. If you believe in something, you go forward with it 100 percent."
The players who knew McKenzie echo that message. "In some ways, we're still representing Paul," Dylan Aluise said. "It might be a Wilson team, but it was his child that he brought up through the years. We would not be here today if not for Paul. I'm sure of that."
In case anyone forgets, a reminder remains on the sleeve of their home jerseys: a red "PM" patch.
Players such as Hill carry McKenzie's legacy beyond their sleeves. Were it not for this team, he would have had nowhere to play in high school, nowhere to try goaltending and nowhere to experience a 37-save night.
"Just being able to play [for Wilson] is amazing," he said. "Everyone kind of embraces you, never saying a bad thing as you learn. It's great."
By Jeff NelsonSpecial to The Washington Post
Tuesday, January 22, 2008; E01
In a closet that serves as a makeshift locker room underneath the bleachers of Fort Dupont Ice Arena, Wilson High School goalie Tyler Hill stood above the massive bag holding his hockey gear and remembered the only season he played for Paul McKenzie.
Hill was 12 at the time, he said, and he had one major problem with his skating: He couldn't stop. Moving forward was easy, but without the help of a wall or a fall, Hill had some difficulty coming to a halt. His coach noticed.
"He took me aside, and not in an embarrassing way," Hill said, "because it's hard when everyone else can do things and you're coming off roller hockey. And he just said: 'Turn like this. Turn like this.'
"He spent at least half of practice with me and I got it. Everything he did was really, really amazing."
Moments earlier, Hill, a sophomore goalie playing his first season for the high school team McKenzie founded, made 37 saves. It was just his sixth game in goal for Wilson -- the District's first public high school ice hockey team, playing its first official home game on D.C. soil. The Tigers lost to undefeated Good Counsel, 6-4, but considering they had been beaten by those same Falcons the week before, 10-0, this result almost felt like victory.
In the locker room, the Tigers applauded Hill, and one teammate gave him the game puck. As everyone cleared out, the team's senior leaders agreed: Nobody would have enjoyed Hill's performance more than McKenzie.
"Paul would have sung the praises of Tyler for the rest of the season," senior captain Dylan Aluise said. "Paul was all about giving kids chances to play. . . . Tyler's exactly the kind of player Paul would have loved."
McKenzie coached, raised funds and fought for this team from its inception five years ago. But he never had the opportunity to coach Hill in high school or witness his team complete its historic transformation from private to public. Eleven months ago, at the age of 53, he died unexpectedly from pneumonia.
His death appeared to jeopardize the team's future. McKenzie had done so much to keep it alive, many wondered how it could survive without him.
'He Was Always Positive'A man with seemingly infinite reserves of energy, McKenzie "sort of steamrolled through life," said Trish McKenzie, his wife of 20 years.
In addition to his day job as a deputy director at the Naval Surface Warfare Center of the Naval Sea Systems Command, he dedicated himself to political activism in the city.
"He was all energy, all the time," said D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who first met McKenzie in 1998. "He was always positive, but at the same time, he didn't let one conversation go without pushing you to do something more than what you were already doing."
McKenzie applied that same pressure to himself. When he decided there should be a hockey team for high school students in the District who didn't go to Gonzaga, St. Albans or St. John's -- all private schools -- he took the reins.
The idea came naturally to the son of Canadian parents. Next to politics, hockey was his great passion.
"To him, it was a very egalitarian sport," Trish McKenzie said. "If you played football or basketball or whatever, the bad kids are sitting on the sidelines most of the time. In hockey, you have lines. And when your line goes out, you go out, so everybody gets ice time."
That premise loomed large in his vision. He created a team in 2003 with the intent of exposing young people from all backgrounds and all levels of experience to the sport. Through a provisional agreement with the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League, the team could represent Washington International School, which his daughter attended at the time, but use students from five schools.
In the team's first four seasons -- including last year, when it represented Edmund Burke School, which by then had more students on the team any other school -- a lack of depth and a wealth of inexperience led to frequent losses by the league's 10-goal mercy rule.
But each year, a few new players tried hockey for the first time and learned with each practice, each game, each shift.
"I remember we got blown out a few games in a row," said Porter Ryan, a Wilson junior who joined the team last year. "And [McKenzie] managed to find something good to say about each player after each game."
Trish McKenzie remembers her husband writing letters of recommendation for players and advising them on college and their futures. "He saw himself as a real guidance person to them," she said. "It wasn't just, 'This is how you play hockey.' He was involved with them as individuals."
Toward the end of last season, McKenzie started to feel weak. After being pressed by Trish and convinced by a doctor, he checked into Georgetown University Hospital on a Monday. The next day, he received a "Get Well" card from his players. On Thursday of that week, doctors found fluid in his lungs. Relieved to have a diagnosis -- and something so treatable -- Trish e-mailed their 19-year-old daughter Margaret, in Belgium on a college field trip, and 15-year-old son Alexander, who was attending high school and playing hockey near relatives in Canada. "I told them it was only pneumonia," Trish recalled.
Paul McKenzie was in bed at the family's home in Mount Pleasant a week after he first went to the doctor when he began to have trouble breathing. Trish called 911 and administered CPR. Firefighters and paramedics arrived and rushed him to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, but he never regained consciousness. Eighteen hours later, on Feb. 20, 2007, he was dead.
"They said it was pneumonia of unknown otology," Trish McKenzie said. "One doctor says it wasn't so much the germ as how his body reacted to it.
"I don't really think [Paul] had a clue how sick he was. He loved everything he was doing. He loved his family. He would not have wanted to die."
On the Thursday after his death, McKenzie's hockey team took the ice for its final regular season game. The team that had lost 10 of its previous 13 games dedicated its final regular season contest to his memory and won, 6-0.
A few days later, the players were among more than 400 people to pack Cleveland Park Congregational Church for McKenzie's funeral. They wore their home jerseys and were mentioned in eulogies. On the family's way out of the church, the boys formed two lines by the doors and made a ceremonial arch with their hockey sticks.
Philip Castiel, the team captain, gave a speech during a service afterward: "During [the past four years], over 30 young high school hockey players, both boys and girls, were given a gift by Coach. That gift is the love of the game of hockey."
A Rededication to Purpose
For each void created by McKenzie's death, someone stepped forward, ready to make life a little busier so the team wouldn't fade away.
Adam Davis, a teammate of McKenzie's in a men's hockey league, took over as coach. Five parents took on roles, including team manager, and handled responsibilities such as procuring ice time, applying for grants and organizing community outreach efforts.
Even with those efforts, the team worried about its future without a more stable affiliation.
"We had a lot of meetings over the summer," said Tim Aluise, a team parent, "and there were many times when we thought we would not have a hockey team this year."
The team's roster had had a growing Wilson presence since 2003, and it became apparent that the majority of players would be from Wilson this season. Dylan Aluise went to Wilson Athletic Director Eddie Saah and pleaded for him to add hockey as a varsity sport.
Saah said Wilson had no money to offer. But the more he heard about the team, the more he liked the idea.
Last month, Paul Koring, another team parent, established the Woodrow Wilson High School Hockey Club as a nonprofit organization. With a projected budget close to $20,000, the team receives donations from McKenzie's Masonic lodge, parents and others. The team also received grants from the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission.
Fenty, who attended Wilson, said he plans to bring his sons to a game in the future. He hopes others in the city will do the same to help the team flourish.
"This team is great for young people, great for the sport and great for the city," Fenty said. "It's a lesson to all of us. If you believe in something, you go forward with it 100 percent."
The players who knew McKenzie echo that message. "In some ways, we're still representing Paul," Dylan Aluise said. "It might be a Wilson team, but it was his child that he brought up through the years. We would not be here today if not for Paul. I'm sure of that."
In case anyone forgets, a reminder remains on the sleeve of their home jerseys: a red "PM" patch.
Players such as Hill carry McKenzie's legacy beyond their sleeves. Were it not for this team, he would have had nowhere to play in high school, nowhere to try goaltending and nowhere to experience a 37-save night.
"Just being able to play [for Wilson] is amazing," he said. "Everyone kind of embraces you, never saying a bad thing as you learn. It's great."
Thursday, January 17, 2008
RED LINE GOALIES GET WASHINGTON POST INK
Tyler Arrives, Gonzaga Thrives
By Jeff Nelson and Dave Yanovitz
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, January 17, 2008; E08
Beyond losing 10 seniors from last year's team, Gonzaga watched two of its top returning players -- defenseman Andrew Panzarella and goalie Billy Rivolini -- leave the school before this season to play hockey elsewhere.
Goalie Kelci Lanthier is 4-0 with a 3.25 goals against average for Linganore, which is one win away from a playoff berth. (Ricky Carioti - The Washington Post)
Departures of that magnitude threatened to knock the Eagles from their perch as an area powerhouse, but thanks in large part to the emergence of sophomore goalie Matt Tyler, Gonzaga is the No. 1 team in The Washington Post's inaugural ice hockey rankings.
Tyler did not attend Gonzaga last year but played club hockey for the Little Capitals, an elite area team for 16-and-under players. Meanwhile, the Eagles were in the process of winning their third straight Maryland Scholastic Hockey League private school championship.
Upon gaining acceptance to the all-boys school this year, Tyler decided to play for the Eagles and he has appeared in six of their seven games.
The only game he missed, when he and a few other players were with their club teams, the Eagles lost to No. 9 O'Connell, 4-3. With Tyler in net, they are 5-0-1 with four shutouts.
"We've been pretty consistent for a young team, and a lot has to do with Matt," Eagles Coach Paul Tilch said. "He's real calm in the net, doesn't get rattled and I think the rest of the team feeds off it."
Girls Against Boys
With only a few girls' teams in the MSHL, senior goalies Kelci Lanthier of Linganore and Katharyn Dembowski of Long Reach tend the net for their boys' squads -- and both are enjoying success.
Lanthier is 4-0 with a 3.25 goals against average for a Lancers squad that has an 8-3 record.
"Kelci is quick and fundamentally sound," Linganore Coach Pete Grzybinski said. "If there's a scramble in front, there's no one else I'd rather have in goal. She'll stop anything in the crease in front."
She has played in only four games with the high school team because of her commitment to her club team, the all-girls Washington Pride, which has an extensive travel schedule.
Lanthier's solid play in net propelled Linganore to the MSHL public school championship game last season, and if the Lancers beat Thomas Johnson on Feb. 1, they will clinch a playoff spot.
Dembowski has turned around Long Reach's fortunes this winter, going 7-0 with a 2.20 goals against average. Last season, the team went 3-7, but Dembowski still had a respectable 3.68 goals against average.
The undefeated Lightning is 5-0 in league play and tied with Marriotts Ridge atop the Howard A conference. Only one of those teams will earn a playoff berth.
Long Reach beat Marriotts Ridge, 7-2, on Jan. 4, as Dembowski held MSHL scoring leader James Lindsay (32 points) to one goal. Dembowski also plays club hockey for the suburban Philadelphia-based U-19 Lady Patriots.
Rough Sledding
Among the 26 teams in the Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League, only two are undefeated, and there might be none by the end of the season.
McLean is 5-0, but has No. 6 Stone Bridge and No. 7 Langley remaining on its schedule.
Woodbridge is 6-0 and appears unlikely to be tested until its season finale against No. 9 O'Connell.
The Post Top 10: Ice Hockey
Thursday, January 17, 2008; Page E08
Gonzaga is coming off back-to-back wins against St. Stephen's/St. Agnes and Langley. All four of Landon's losses are to teams from outside the area, and DeMatha has dropped five games to teams from the Midwest and Northeast. B-CC and Wootton play tomorrow night.
Team (W-L-T)
1. Gonzaga (5-1-1)
2. Landon (10-4)
3. Bullis (6-0)
4. DeMatha (6-9-1)
5. Georgetown Prep (9-4-2)
6. Stone Bridge (6-1)
7. Langley (13-3)
8. B-CC (10-4-1)
9. O'Connell (9-6)
10. Wootton (6-1-1)
Records through Tuesday.
By Jeff Nelson and Dave Yanovitz
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, January 17, 2008; E08
Beyond losing 10 seniors from last year's team, Gonzaga watched two of its top returning players -- defenseman Andrew Panzarella and goalie Billy Rivolini -- leave the school before this season to play hockey elsewhere.
Goalie Kelci Lanthier is 4-0 with a 3.25 goals against average for Linganore, which is one win away from a playoff berth. (Ricky Carioti - The Washington Post)
Departures of that magnitude threatened to knock the Eagles from their perch as an area powerhouse, but thanks in large part to the emergence of sophomore goalie Matt Tyler, Gonzaga is the No. 1 team in The Washington Post's inaugural ice hockey rankings.
Tyler did not attend Gonzaga last year but played club hockey for the Little Capitals, an elite area team for 16-and-under players. Meanwhile, the Eagles were in the process of winning their third straight Maryland Scholastic Hockey League private school championship.
Upon gaining acceptance to the all-boys school this year, Tyler decided to play for the Eagles and he has appeared in six of their seven games.
The only game he missed, when he and a few other players were with their club teams, the Eagles lost to No. 9 O'Connell, 4-3. With Tyler in net, they are 5-0-1 with four shutouts.
"We've been pretty consistent for a young team, and a lot has to do with Matt," Eagles Coach Paul Tilch said. "He's real calm in the net, doesn't get rattled and I think the rest of the team feeds off it."
Girls Against Boys
With only a few girls' teams in the MSHL, senior goalies Kelci Lanthier of Linganore and Katharyn Dembowski of Long Reach tend the net for their boys' squads -- and both are enjoying success.
Lanthier is 4-0 with a 3.25 goals against average for a Lancers squad that has an 8-3 record.
"Kelci is quick and fundamentally sound," Linganore Coach Pete Grzybinski said. "If there's a scramble in front, there's no one else I'd rather have in goal. She'll stop anything in the crease in front."
She has played in only four games with the high school team because of her commitment to her club team, the all-girls Washington Pride, which has an extensive travel schedule.
Lanthier's solid play in net propelled Linganore to the MSHL public school championship game last season, and if the Lancers beat Thomas Johnson on Feb. 1, they will clinch a playoff spot.
Dembowski has turned around Long Reach's fortunes this winter, going 7-0 with a 2.20 goals against average. Last season, the team went 3-7, but Dembowski still had a respectable 3.68 goals against average.
The undefeated Lightning is 5-0 in league play and tied with Marriotts Ridge atop the Howard A conference. Only one of those teams will earn a playoff berth.
Long Reach beat Marriotts Ridge, 7-2, on Jan. 4, as Dembowski held MSHL scoring leader James Lindsay (32 points) to one goal. Dembowski also plays club hockey for the suburban Philadelphia-based U-19 Lady Patriots.
Rough Sledding
Among the 26 teams in the Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League, only two are undefeated, and there might be none by the end of the season.
McLean is 5-0, but has No. 6 Stone Bridge and No. 7 Langley remaining on its schedule.
Woodbridge is 6-0 and appears unlikely to be tested until its season finale against No. 9 O'Connell.
The Post Top 10: Ice Hockey
Thursday, January 17, 2008; Page E08
Gonzaga is coming off back-to-back wins against St. Stephen's/St. Agnes and Langley. All four of Landon's losses are to teams from outside the area, and DeMatha has dropped five games to teams from the Midwest and Northeast. B-CC and Wootton play tomorrow night.
Team (W-L-T)
1. Gonzaga (5-1-1)
2. Landon (10-4)
3. Bullis (6-0)
4. DeMatha (6-9-1)
5. Georgetown Prep (9-4-2)
6. Stone Bridge (6-1)
7. Langley (13-3)
8. B-CC (10-4-1)
9. O'Connell (9-6)
10. Wootton (6-1-1)
Records through Tuesday.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
WASHINGTON POST: "SAY IT AIN'T SO, OLIE"
THE RUN HAS BEGUN: If you've been reading Red Line you could see this one coming. It's no time for average goaltending. It's time for tenders to catch fire...and even with a hot hand you might just need a closer to backfill too.
Remember the Edmonton Oilers rode Dwayne Roloson from January of '06 all the way to the Cup finals? And remember how even that wasn't enough as Roloson went down and had to bring in and average Conklin to backfill?
The Washington Caps face a goaltending turning point. They need a hot hand and they need it now along with a competent backup that can turn hero on a moment's notice as well. OK goaltending is not going to cut it from here on out.
WASHINGTON POST
Say It Ain't So, Olie
By Mike Wise
Wednesday, January 16, 2008; E01
Olie Kolzig shuffled from the ice to the locker room in Arlington yesterday, removed his skates and shook his head. He appeared tired, frustrated.
Bruce Boudreau, the team's neophyte NHL coach, informed the 37-year-old goaltender on Monday he would not start against Eastern Conference leader Ottawa last night at Verizon Center, even though Kolzig is 3-0 against the Senators this season.
The benching followed being pulled in the 6-4 loss to the Flyers on Sunday after allowing four goals. It's enough to make the pre-Ovechkin face of the franchise wonder how much longer he will play and where he will finish his career.
"I've talked to my wife about retirement," Kolzig said after the Caps' morning skate. "Things just haven't gone as well for me as I've thought the past two years. I'll wait and see how things play out."
The possibility of Olie the Goalie hanging it up, maybe playing for a team other than the franchise that drafted him in 1989, should be disturbing for even the most peripheral fan.
Just as Washington attempts to turn an abysmal 6-14-1 start into an improbable playoff berth, behind Ovechkin, their newly minted $100 million man, and Boudreau, the meat-and-potatoes, minor-league lifer who finally got his shot, Kolzig leaves? Just as the Caps rejoin the NHL conversation, the guy who held the fort for 12 years might not be here beyond this season?
Kolzig, the player who tended goal full time for the Capitals since 1996 -- the Canadian-reared guy who's been in the orguhn-eye-zation for 19 years and is an unrestricted free agent this summer -- getting cheated out of one more run into June?
Business is business, but that decision would just leave a bad taste throughout the franchise.
With all the incarnations of this team since they went to the Stanley Cup finals in 1998, Kolzig has remained the one constant.
He watched as a new owner, Ted Leonsis, played the big-name game with Jaromir Jagr. He saw Leonsis go the way of new-age, NHL frugality by dumping everybody and building through youth. Then came the drafting of the next NHL superstar and then, 2 1/2 years later, signing Alex Ovechkin to hockey's first $100 million contract. Olie was there, long before Ovie.
"We have the team to do it, to get back there one day," Kolzig said. "We're playing really well. It's unfortunate we dug ourselves such a big hole early on, but I think if we can get ourselves in the playoffs we're a team that can do some damage."
Kolzig, coming off a sprained right knee last season, has a goals against average of 3.04 this season. His save percentage is .888, far off his career-best years. He is asked if he feels like he's slowing down.
"No, I don't," he said. "A lot of people do, but I don't. It's strange. My numbers aren't anything to write home about. But to me, the bottom line is the wins and losses. At one point, I was eight games under .500. I'm down to one game under .500. That means the most."
Asked if he felt he would be moved at the trading deadline Feb. 26, "I don't know," he said. "I thought I'd be approached about a contract by now and that hasn't happened either. We'll just wait and see.
"Obviously, because I am unrestricted, being 37, they're not quite as worried I'm going somewhere. And they had to worry about Alex before anyone. Now, they're probably working on getting Greenie [Mike Green] signed. It might be a case where they don't have to worry about me until it's my time. I hope that's the case."
He makes $5.45 million this season, the last of a two-year extension. The thinking here is, the Caps would be interested in re-signing Kolzig for less money if he were willing to give up 30 or so games a year to another goalie such as Brent Johnson, who beat the Senators last night, 4-2.
"I've said I'd love to finish my career with the same team," he said. "Now that we've got a team that has the ability to be successful for a long time, I mean, it would be ironic all of a sudden if I go somewhere else right when the team is starting to peak."
It would be wrong. Kolzig has not just had to adjust to a new locker room of kids -- the Caps' best four players are now 23 or younger -- but he's had to adjust to a new coach who has certain ideas about what he wants from his goaltender.
"I had a great relationship with Glennie," Kolzig said of Glen Hanlon, whom Boudreau replaced in late November. "He finally had a team that he deserved. As players, we just couldn't get it done for him. Bringing Bruce in, half our team really responds to him because they played for him in Hershey, so I think that's been really positive.
But Kolzig added: "Bruce is not a goaltender guy. One thing about Bruce, he's hard on goalies because he doesn't understand the position. And a lot of coaches that haven't played the position are usually that way. You know: 'Just stop the puck and get it done. Doesn't matter how or what.' That's something I've got to get used to because I've had Glennie here for so long and obviously being a goaltender, he understands the situation and the position."
Of the hook on Sunday, he said: "I didn't think I should have been pulled. In that game I honestly didn't think I was playing poorly. All the goals were circumstantial. Two of them were behind me. Guys dug them out underneath me and put them in. One was redirected. The other one was a bad rebound off my pad.
"You want to battle through it, but it's demoralizing when you get pulled. Especially at home. But it wasn't my first, won't be my last. It's just something I'm not a big fan of."
They've got Alexander the Great, a coach who is essentially the Crash Davis of hockey and all these young bucks who fly around the ice at warp speed. The Caps are winning and playing with purpose and passion.
Here's hoping they keep Kolzig for two more seasons, that a piece of Washington sports memorabilia is treated with the respect and dignity he deserves for holding this franchise together through good and bad.
Remember the Edmonton Oilers rode Dwayne Roloson from January of '06 all the way to the Cup finals? And remember how even that wasn't enough as Roloson went down and had to bring in and average Conklin to backfill?
The Washington Caps face a goaltending turning point. They need a hot hand and they need it now along with a competent backup that can turn hero on a moment's notice as well. OK goaltending is not going to cut it from here on out.
WASHINGTON POST
Say It Ain't So, Olie
By Mike Wise
Wednesday, January 16, 2008; E01
Olie Kolzig shuffled from the ice to the locker room in Arlington yesterday, removed his skates and shook his head. He appeared tired, frustrated.
Bruce Boudreau, the team's neophyte NHL coach, informed the 37-year-old goaltender on Monday he would not start against Eastern Conference leader Ottawa last night at Verizon Center, even though Kolzig is 3-0 against the Senators this season.
The benching followed being pulled in the 6-4 loss to the Flyers on Sunday after allowing four goals. It's enough to make the pre-Ovechkin face of the franchise wonder how much longer he will play and where he will finish his career.
"I've talked to my wife about retirement," Kolzig said after the Caps' morning skate. "Things just haven't gone as well for me as I've thought the past two years. I'll wait and see how things play out."
The possibility of Olie the Goalie hanging it up, maybe playing for a team other than the franchise that drafted him in 1989, should be disturbing for even the most peripheral fan.
Just as Washington attempts to turn an abysmal 6-14-1 start into an improbable playoff berth, behind Ovechkin, their newly minted $100 million man, and Boudreau, the meat-and-potatoes, minor-league lifer who finally got his shot, Kolzig leaves? Just as the Caps rejoin the NHL conversation, the guy who held the fort for 12 years might not be here beyond this season?
Kolzig, the player who tended goal full time for the Capitals since 1996 -- the Canadian-reared guy who's been in the orguhn-eye-zation for 19 years and is an unrestricted free agent this summer -- getting cheated out of one more run into June?
Business is business, but that decision would just leave a bad taste throughout the franchise.
With all the incarnations of this team since they went to the Stanley Cup finals in 1998, Kolzig has remained the one constant.
He watched as a new owner, Ted Leonsis, played the big-name game with Jaromir Jagr. He saw Leonsis go the way of new-age, NHL frugality by dumping everybody and building through youth. Then came the drafting of the next NHL superstar and then, 2 1/2 years later, signing Alex Ovechkin to hockey's first $100 million contract. Olie was there, long before Ovie.
"We have the team to do it, to get back there one day," Kolzig said. "We're playing really well. It's unfortunate we dug ourselves such a big hole early on, but I think if we can get ourselves in the playoffs we're a team that can do some damage."
Kolzig, coming off a sprained right knee last season, has a goals against average of 3.04 this season. His save percentage is .888, far off his career-best years. He is asked if he feels like he's slowing down.
"No, I don't," he said. "A lot of people do, but I don't. It's strange. My numbers aren't anything to write home about. But to me, the bottom line is the wins and losses. At one point, I was eight games under .500. I'm down to one game under .500. That means the most."
Asked if he felt he would be moved at the trading deadline Feb. 26, "I don't know," he said. "I thought I'd be approached about a contract by now and that hasn't happened either. We'll just wait and see.
"Obviously, because I am unrestricted, being 37, they're not quite as worried I'm going somewhere. And they had to worry about Alex before anyone. Now, they're probably working on getting Greenie [Mike Green] signed. It might be a case where they don't have to worry about me until it's my time. I hope that's the case."
He makes $5.45 million this season, the last of a two-year extension. The thinking here is, the Caps would be interested in re-signing Kolzig for less money if he were willing to give up 30 or so games a year to another goalie such as Brent Johnson, who beat the Senators last night, 4-2.
"I've said I'd love to finish my career with the same team," he said. "Now that we've got a team that has the ability to be successful for a long time, I mean, it would be ironic all of a sudden if I go somewhere else right when the team is starting to peak."
It would be wrong. Kolzig has not just had to adjust to a new locker room of kids -- the Caps' best four players are now 23 or younger -- but he's had to adjust to a new coach who has certain ideas about what he wants from his goaltender.
"I had a great relationship with Glennie," Kolzig said of Glen Hanlon, whom Boudreau replaced in late November. "He finally had a team that he deserved. As players, we just couldn't get it done for him. Bringing Bruce in, half our team really responds to him because they played for him in Hershey, so I think that's been really positive.
But Kolzig added: "Bruce is not a goaltender guy. One thing about Bruce, he's hard on goalies because he doesn't understand the position. And a lot of coaches that haven't played the position are usually that way. You know: 'Just stop the puck and get it done. Doesn't matter how or what.' That's something I've got to get used to because I've had Glennie here for so long and obviously being a goaltender, he understands the situation and the position."
Of the hook on Sunday, he said: "I didn't think I should have been pulled. In that game I honestly didn't think I was playing poorly. All the goals were circumstantial. Two of them were behind me. Guys dug them out underneath me and put them in. One was redirected. The other one was a bad rebound off my pad.
"You want to battle through it, but it's demoralizing when you get pulled. Especially at home. But it wasn't my first, won't be my last. It's just something I'm not a big fan of."
They've got Alexander the Great, a coach who is essentially the Crash Davis of hockey and all these young bucks who fly around the ice at warp speed. The Caps are winning and playing with purpose and passion.
Here's hoping they keep Kolzig for two more seasons, that a piece of Washington sports memorabilia is treated with the respect and dignity he deserves for holding this franchise together through good and bad.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
CAPS GOALIE REPORT: JOHNSON MOVING FORWARD
Red Line has given Brent Johnson tough critiques in the past but he may be seeing his big shot right now. We shall see. He came up with a big win for the Caps this evening over the Senators (Caps are 4-0 v. Ottawa). This game was pivotal to see whether Boudreau would throw Kolzig back into the fire or ride the finisher from the Philly game. Obviously the choice was the later. This is leading Red Line to believe that Kolzig's time may be diminishing. Time will tell but goaltending is all about OPPORTUNITY and making the most of it. Johnson did that today.
Game highlights in 4-2 Win over Ottawa 1/15/08.
Monday, January 14, 2008
CAPS GOALIE REPORT: KOLZIG YANKED AFTER 4, CAPS DOWNED 6-4 (1 EN)
Kolzig had a tough game a on Sunday for a number of reasons 1) he got pulled, 2) it got better after he did. That’s a tough pill to swallow for a pulled goaltender especially if your are a regular #1.
Clearly goal 1 was weak, goal 2 was a bad rebound and poor recovery, #3 couldn’t hold onto a saved shot and #4 was a tip but was an off angle anyways even if it hadn’t been tipped.
Were these all the goaltender’s fault? No. Has he had better games? Yes. Could he have turned it around during the remainder of the game? Possibly…..
But it’s not about 1 player. We don’t figure skate, we don’t play tennis or golf. It’s a team game and the 19 other skaters needed to respond to that..and they did.
Short of long: Goaltenders stay humble. If you won, the team probably could have won without you. If you lost, it probably wouldn’t be any different with any other tender in the net.
Just go out and play for the day. And if it’s not so good, there’s always another.
Here are the highlights from Sunday v. the Flyers.
Friday, January 11, 2008
PLAYOFF PREP SESSIONS...WHERE IT MATTERS MOST
IT'S THE END OF THE ROAD FOR 2007-2008. ARE YOU READY?I have been in touch with Cabin John Ice Rink regarding the “studio rink” for the months of February and March and have received dates and times that are available.
If we can get 4 (max) goaltenders for any of these given slots I will be holding a session on any of the given dates below.
I am hoping to hold at least one session a week to make it a regular, 1 hour - high intensity, prep session for playoffs with select shooters. Let's face it, at the end of the season the team is working on special faceoff plays etc. etc. but as a goaltender you still need to be seeing rubber.
Please respond by COB Wednesday, January 16 to rdegem@hotmail.com as to your availability.
Each session will be $65 per goaltender per session and will include a half hour off-ice session 50 minutes before the ice time. I will respond with the final list of sessions on January 17.
Good luck in the final push!
-Bob DeGemmis
If we can get 4 (max) goaltenders for any of these given slots I will be holding a session on any of the given dates below.
I am hoping to hold at least one session a week to make it a regular, 1 hour - high intensity, prep session for playoffs with select shooters. Let's face it, at the end of the season the team is working on special faceoff plays etc. etc. but as a goaltender you still need to be seeing rubber.
Please respond by COB Wednesday, January 16 to rdegem@hotmail.com as to your availability.
Each session will be $65 per goaltender per session and will include a half hour off-ice session 50 minutes before the ice time. I will respond with the final list of sessions on January 17.
Good luck in the final push!
-Bob DeGemmis
Red Line Hockey
Please email the following back with availability to rdegem@hotmail.com. All times are PM.
Friday February 15th 8:00 -9:30 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Sunday February 17th 5:30 - 9:00 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Friday February 22nd 7:00 -9:30 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Sunday February 24th 7:10 - 9:00 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Friday February 29th 7:00 -9:30 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Sunday March 2nd 5:30 - 9:00 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Saturday March 15th 6:30 - 9:30 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Saturday March 22nd 5:00 - 9:30 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Friday March 28th 7:00 -9:30 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Saturday March 29th 5:00 -9:30 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Sunday March 30th 5:30 - 9:00 Available? Y/N Time
Available?
Friday February 15th 8:00 -9:30 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Sunday February 17th 5:30 - 9:00 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Friday February 22nd 7:00 -9:30 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Sunday February 24th 7:10 - 9:00 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Friday February 29th 7:00 -9:30 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Sunday March 2nd 5:30 - 9:00 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Saturday March 15th 6:30 - 9:30 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Saturday March 22nd 5:00 - 9:30 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Friday March 28th 7:00 -9:30 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Saturday March 29th 5:00 -9:30 Available? Y/N Time Available?
Sunday March 30th 5:30 - 9:00 Available? Y/N Time
Available?
Thursday, January 10, 2008
CAPS GOALIE REPORT: KOLZIG AND CAPS LOCKDOWN
The Caps are inching their way back into the playoff picture and came up with a playoff style win last night. Kolzig did what he had to do to shutdown the Avs when it counted and Theodore kept the Avs in the battle all the way. The scouting report is clear though - go high on Kolzig in tight. It's no secret. The one and only goal is the case in point...
Sunday, January 06, 2008
CAPS GOALIE REPORT: 4 GA IS ENOUGH
The Caps only let up 2 goals Thursday which should be good enough to put a team in a position to win. However, the stingy Bruins would have none of that and the Bs and TimThomas walked away with a 2-0 shutout.The Caps restored some offensive firepower in the Bell Center on Saturday where the Habs have struggled going just below .500. The Caps followed their recent trend of getting down by multiple goals before restoring ties or leads.
The first goal was a trend that I don’t like to see, of Kolzig diving head first after pucks in desperation play. The Caps got lucky minutes later on similar play that saw Kolzig out of the play and the Habs jamming the puck into the post and Caps defensemen all the way back into the crease playing 2nd and 3rd goaltenders.
The second goal against saw Mike Green get completely undressed before beating Kolzig in tight to the far post over his butterflied right pad.
The Caps rebounded and caught Carey Pryce a bit shakey up high on the next 3 goals all at some range. The Habs tied it at 3s with a bad bounce off the back boards and caught Kolzig on one side of the net.The Caps again took a lead at 4-3 on another high shot at range from OV who went 1 on 3 just over the blueline as he came out of the box. Shooting high shots from the center lane through defensemen and scoring was a common theme at both sides of the ice. Kovalev did the same with goal 4 to tie it to send the game into OT.
The Caps scored in OT on a low shot by Green getting Pryce to have to readjust side to side.
I thought both Pryce and Kolzig could have shaved off 1-2 goals from their total goals against in this game.
GWG v Carey Pryce...
Friday, January 04, 2008
RED LINE GOALTENDERS FIND RECENT SUCCESS
Katharyn Dembowski – Lady Patriots (Warminster, PA) Girls U19 AA
This year the Lady Patriots fielded 2 teams in the prestigious Polar Bears tournament. This year's tournament hosted more than 3000 players. The Lady Patriots U19 team lost their opening game to the Connecticut Polar Bears, who went on to win the overall tournament at the U19 level. The Lady Patriots U19's continued to fair well winning all of their remaining games to end the tournament with an impressive 3-1 record.
Michael Huber – Top Gun Hockey (Salem, NH) PeeWee AAA
Pee Wee major, Michael Huber, has found success with Top Gun Hockey in Salem, NH. Michael was the original goaltender in Red Line Hockey. His team now stands in third place in the 11 member Eastern Hockey Federation in New England.
Michael Lackey – Montgomery (Rockville, MD) Squirt AA
Made it to the finals in the 2007 Pittsburgh Aviators "Winner Takes All" Holiday Tournament. MYHA lost 2-1 in the final to host Pittsburgh Aviators but did beat the Aviators earlier in the tourney 4-2 and also pulled wins 5-1 over Armstrong Arrows and 4-1 over Pittsburgh Predators. Mike’s GAA after the 4 games was an impressive 1.5.
In addition Lackey backstopped MYHA in the Eastern Regional Silver Stick Qualifier to advance to the International Finals in Sarnia, Ontario Canada January 18-20, 2008.
Tyler Hill - Wilson H.S. Hockey (Washington, DC)
Tyler was called in to fill in between the pipes for the first year program for 2007-2008. The first time goaltender shows tremendous potential and bears a resemblance to Buffalo Sabres tender Ryan Miller. Expect Tyler to make great strides in the next two years and to make his club competetive in the WDC area.
http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=wilsontigers
This year the Lady Patriots fielded 2 teams in the prestigious Polar Bears tournament. This year's tournament hosted more than 3000 players. The Lady Patriots U19 team lost their opening game to the Connecticut Polar Bears, who went on to win the overall tournament at the U19 level. The Lady Patriots U19's continued to fair well winning all of their remaining games to end the tournament with an impressive 3-1 record.
Michael Huber – Top Gun Hockey (Salem, NH) PeeWee AAA
Pee Wee major, Michael Huber, has found success with Top Gun Hockey in Salem, NH. Michael was the original goaltender in Red Line Hockey. His team now stands in third place in the 11 member Eastern Hockey Federation in New England.
Michael Lackey – Montgomery (Rockville, MD) Squirt AA
Made it to the finals in the 2007 Pittsburgh Aviators "Winner Takes All" Holiday Tournament. MYHA lost 2-1 in the final to host Pittsburgh Aviators but did beat the Aviators earlier in the tourney 4-2 and also pulled wins 5-1 over Armstrong Arrows and 4-1 over Pittsburgh Predators. Mike’s GAA after the 4 games was an impressive 1.5.
In addition Lackey backstopped MYHA in the Eastern Regional Silver Stick Qualifier to advance to the International Finals in Sarnia, Ontario Canada January 18-20, 2008.
Tyler Hill - Wilson H.S. Hockey (Washington, DC)
Tyler was called in to fill in between the pipes for the first year program for 2007-2008. The first time goaltender shows tremendous potential and bears a resemblance to Buffalo Sabres tender Ryan Miller. Expect Tyler to make great strides in the next two years and to make his club competetive in the WDC area.
http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=wilsontigers
CAPS GOALIE REPORT: THOMAS OUTDUELS KOLZIG
Red Line Hockey remains high on Tim Thomas as he turned ina another stellar performace to stiffle the Caps. Both teams needed the points and the difference was team defense, goaltending and a set of penalties at an inopportune time. 
For the second time in recent games Kolzig was tripped or slipped resulting in crucial goal (goal #2). In last night's game defenseman Jeff Schultz knocked over Kolzig resulting in an open net for Zdeno Chara to blast away at. Schultz being this far back, essentially in the crease sends a bad message, that the defense feels it needs to give extra assistance to th goaltender.The first goal was a juicy rebound put right into the slot the Marc Savard was able to put away.
Ollie did have a number of clutch saves but the need for a flawless game and the inability of the Caps' offense to beat Thomas landed the Bs in the win column.
Ollie did have a number of clutch saves but the need for a flawless game and the inability of the Caps' offense to beat Thomas landed the Bs in the win column.
Caps Again Can't Solve Bruins' ThomasBruins 2, Capitals 0
By Tarik El-Bashir
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 4, 2008; E01
BOSTON, Jan. 3 -- The Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins had gone to overtime in each of their previous five meetings. But on Thursday night, Boston goaltender Tim Thomas made sure the extra period wasn't necessary.
Thomas, who has dominated the Capitals through the years, tormented them once again, turning aside 31 shots to earn his first shutout of the season, 2-0, at TD Banknorth Garden.
With the victory, Thomas improved to 8-0-1 against Washington -- his best record against any NHL team. He also snapped the injury-depleted Capitals' winning streak at two and halted their run of five straight games in which they had gained a point.
"He's good," Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau said of Thomas. "Some guys just love playing against certain teams. They get that feeling that they are unbeatable against that team. Evidently, Tim Thomas likes playing against the Capitals."
Thomas handed Washington its first shutout loss since a 5-0 defeat at Carolina on Nov. 5. Yet even with Thomas getting a glove, pad or blocker in front of everything directed toward the Bruins' net, the visitors managed to hang around late into the third period, despite playing without winger Alexander Semin and defenseman Tom Poti, who were injured on Tuesday, and the entire third period minus defenseman Brian Pothier, who suffered an upper-body injury in the second.
Boston changed that, however, midway through the final frame. First, Thomas frustrated 30-goal scorer Alex Ovechkin, who misfired from point-blank range and fanned on the rebound. Then, Capitals defenseman Mike Green was assessed a double minor for high-sticking while the Washington bench simultaneously was whistled for too many men on the ice.
The Bruins wasted little time taking advantage of the two-man advantage. Boston captain Zedno Chara drilled a slap shot from the top of the circle past Olie Kolzig, who had been knocked down by defenseman Jeff Schultz, to put Boston ahead 2-0.
Chara, with help from teammate P.J. Axelsson, also did a solid job of shutting down Ovechkin, who has gone two games without a goal for the first time Nov. 5-6.
"We hit three or four posts," Ovechkin said, shrugging. "Some luck. Good for [Thomas]."
Center Michael Nylander added: "We had to win this game. We had lots of chances to score goals, but we didn't put the puck in. Thomas played extremely well. He made big saves at key times. But we still have to put the puck in the net."
The first 30 minutes of Thursday's contest was a goaltender duel between Kolzig and Thomas. Kolzig and the Capitals, though, blinked first.
Boston center Marc Savard burst out of the penalty pox and outskated Green to the puck deep in Washington's zone. Savard then finished the play with a shot from the slot that eluded Kolzig and put Boston ahead 1-0 at 13 minutes 35 seconds of the second period.
The low-scoring, tight-checking game was quite a departure for the Capitals, who were coming off a home-and-home sweep over Eastern Conference-leading Ottawa by the scores of 8-6 and 6-3. But Tuesday's win proved costly, and the effects still were being felt in Boston.
Semin is suffering from a tailbone injury and did not travel with the team; Poti has what the team is describing only as an upper-body injury but did travel to Boston. Now Pothier is day-to-day.
"When you have two excellent players out, you miss them," Boudreau said.
Despite the injuries and lineup upheaval, the Capitals held their own in the first period. Neither team scored in the opening 20 minutes, but the Capitals had Kolzig to mostly thank for that. He made several splendid stops, including a pad save on Marco Sturm late in the session.
Sturm was staring at an empty net after taking a centering pass from Philip Kessel, but Kolzig slid across and turned back Sturm's attempt with his right pad.
"We were all over them the first half of the first period," Kolzig said. "Then we started getting a little too cute with our passes. I don't know if we got ugly enough, with enough traffic in front of the net and getting shots on the power play. I thought we were a little too passive."
Capitals Notes: Nicklas Backstrom was named the NHL's rookie of the month yesterday after amassing five goals and nine assists to help the Capitals go 7-3-3 in December. . . . Right wing Chris Clark missed his 16th game with a strained groin muscle.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
CAPS GOALIE REPORT: OFFENSE ON FIRE, TENDING COULD CLEAN UP
The Caps are on fire as of late and Kolzig is playing well behind the squad, but he could still clean up a little. The Caps past 2 games, both wins, are fantastic but there is still plenty to look at having given up 6 and 3 goals.
Red Line had also noticed that Kolzig has not been strong on situations in tight and on breakaways / shootouts. Kolzig, being a bigger goaltender, tends to back in a bit too much both on scrambles in front of the net and on breakaways / and shootouts and react. Because of this tendency he has been burned a few times due to the choice of not challenging the shooter enough or at least standing his ground.
In any event, Ollie is getting the wins and is stopping the shots that should be stopped for the most part but is going to need to clean it up down the stretch when goals get tight. More to come next time.
Also UPCOMING....Why Red Line does not like the sweep check to the stick side..
Red Line had also noticed that Kolzig has not been strong on situations in tight and on breakaways / shootouts. Kolzig, being a bigger goaltender, tends to back in a bit too much both on scrambles in front of the net and on breakaways / and shootouts and react. Because of this tendency he has been burned a few times due to the choice of not challenging the shooter enough or at least standing his ground.
In any event, Ollie is getting the wins and is stopping the shots that should be stopped for the most part but is going to need to clean it up down the stretch when goals get tight. More to come next time.
Also UPCOMING....Why Red Line does not like the sweep check to the stick side..
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