Caps v Habs (Mar 31st)

Tonight was the return of Nick Backstrom.  As everyone on the CSN crew let us know.  14 times.  The Caps came out flying and took an early 2-0 lead before completely disappearing until the shoot out where Hendy and Semin got us the win.  Neuvy kept us alive all night long and made some incredible saves.  Buffalo lost which gives us a 2 pt lead with 3 games to go.  Lets finish this season strong!  See below for the CSN crew:

Third Star (1 pt):

Carol Maloney. Came out with a lot of energy for the second intermission, perhaps in an effort to make up for the Caps’ lack of motivation in the second. Wasn’t rocking the red, but at least she was in blue, and if we’re being honest, just about any color of any kind would have scored her some serious points after Brent Harris’ umpteen different shades of gray in the first. Seriously Brent, your commentary is solid, but get a more interesting suit, or at least a snazzy tie. The gray is so drab and depressing. But right, this post is supposed to be about Carol Maloney.

Carol gave us a nice long look-in and fairly comprehensive coverage of the Sabres/Leafs game tonight, and made sure to make note of the playoff implications of that game on the Caps. Always a nice thing to remind us of this time of year.

Second Star (2 pts):

Smokin’ Al Koken.  Koken was a busy man tonight.  He had a pregame interview with Knuble, handled the intermission interviews, had two bites of the nite segments with the assistant coaches, and did a post game interview with Neuvy.  I really enjoyed his interviews with Beagle; which featured a replay of his goal, Hendy; in which you could feel the intensity coming off of number 26, and Neuvy; his post game comments were adorable and showed how much he cares about the team.  Koken disappeared from the scoring sheet for awhile during the middle of the season but ever since that game in which he and Rob Carlin switched places he has really seemed to step his game up. 

First Star (3 pts):

Alan May.  What can we say that hasn’t been said about this man.  His pre game coverage was solid as normal and he gave Hendy a shoutout for his great shootout skills.  In the Post game Alan May was the first man to heap tons of credit onto Neuvy and followed this up by talking about Semin and Matty P.  Finally, he gave Hendy some more credit for his tough play and shootout skills.  Basically everything positive that I thought about the Caps tonight May touched on and did so in the order that they deserved to talked about.  Neuvy, Matty Semin, and Hendy.  He did a great job not letting us forget about all the things the Caps did wrong tonight and need to improve upon if they want to finish off this push to the playoffs.  May proved tonight why he is on top of the standings and why he aims to keep it that way. 

Last Star (-1 pt):

Locker. Oh, Locker... Him and Joe B were at it again pregame and in the first, making sure to inform us how terrible MTL has been on the road, how crappy their season has been off the ice, and how bad their record was when trailing after the first period. And wouldn’t you know it, the Habs managed to claw themselves back into it and take the game to a shootout. The announcer jinx strikes again. Got some slight bonus points for coining Hendy’s awesome new nickname (“Paralyzer”) and resulting obvious theme song, but, well, if I’m being honest, Locker played himself into last place early on tonight when he predicted the Great Satan (also known as the Pittsburgh Penguins) to win the Stanley Cup this year. For shame, Locker, for shame. Not sure what’s going on with him of late; despite his strong performances throughout most of the season, he’s dropped the ball a couple of times lately and as a result looks to be playing himself out of competition for the top spot and handing it to Alan May.

That's all we have for tonight.  May made a strong statement that he intends to finish the season on top.  Two games to go until we reach the end of the AOTI race.  Stay tuned and thanks for reading!  

Caps v. Habs (Feb 24)

I swear this hockey team is like Jekyll and and Hyde at home and on the road. After laying two major eggs in Carolina and Ottawa that had me convinced this team was toast, they went out and relatively dominated the (admittedly weak) Canadiens on the back of a 2-point night from Chimera, a beautiful one-timer from Ovie, a meeting of preparation and opportunity for Perreault, and a strong goaltending performance from Neuvirth with his parents in attendance. I love watching this team win, but I can't help but be a little bit worried this is going to convince McPhee he doesn't have to sell on Monday (which he absolutely should, regardless). Anyway, onto the scores!



Third Star (1 pt):
Carol Maloney. Loved Carol’s first intermission report on Evgeny Kuznetsov’s potentially devastating injury during a KHL game today. Liked the fact that we got a prospect report instead of highlights, especially because I’d been waiting for an update on Kuz’s status since the news of his injury broke earlier today. Carol informed us that preliminary MRIs came back negative and the injury didn’t look that serious, so thanks for that. She probably could have scored higher, but she struggled a bit going over the Devils/’Nucks highlights in the postgame show. Hopefully that’ll improve as she covers more hockey in the future.



Second Star (2 pts):
Michael Jenkins, wearing a vest. Jenkins came on for the second intermission wearing a snazzy vest and an awesome red-and-blue striped tie. Rocking the Red AND Blue? That’s above and beyond the call of duty right there. Ran through the Devils/Canucks highlights with enthusiasm. Solid performance and excellent style choice lands Jenkins the second star.



First Star (3 pts):
Al Koken. Smokin’ Al was a busy man tonight, rocking 5 interviews (that I saw, anyway). Also doesn’t hurt his case that he interviewed my three favorite players. During the first period, he did his “Bite of the Night” with Jim Johnson, who always has a good quote. Spoke with AotI favorite Mathieu Perreault during the first intermission, and opened with a joke about how “Scoring with your stick is better than scoring with your face,” and asked about the importance of scoring first. For the second intermission, Koken spoke with a rather winded-looking Ovechkin, who seemed out of breath while he answered Smokin’ Al’s questions. Koken asked him whether the Caps were having more fun out there, and that was helping their game. Ovechkin responded that there was no fun before the game because they needed to focus. After the game, Al interview Michael Neuvirth and discovered that Neuvy’s parents were in attendance tonight. Also sparked a cool moment when he asked Neuvirth how important the home crowd was to the team. Neuvirth gave the fans a shout-out, saying that the team appreciated our support and needed us to bring it every night, which of course evoked a roar from the crowd. Koken topped off his night by interviewing Jason Chimera in the locker room. Chimmer talked a mile a minute, so I didn’t really catch any of it, but Koken did make sure to ask him about the fun-factor of tonight’s game, and Chimera responded much the same way Ovie did.



Last Star (-1 pt):
Surprise, it's Chuck Gormley! I actually turned on the game a little late tonight, so I missed Chuck's bit. So, since I didn't get to see it firsthand, I'm going to go ahead and let the commentariet over at the Japers' Rink Gameday Thread take it away for this one...

"Can someone with strep throat go visit Gormley?"
-wickedwitch

"The awkward is back with Gromley"
-BetterOffWith28

"I can’t believe I unmuted my TV to hear Gormley. Bad timing on my part."
-bathwithtoaster

"Chuck Gormely is the worst sports announcer in front of the camera, ever."
-Brainumbc

So there you have it, folks. It's not just us.

We'll be back tomorrow when the Caps take on the Leafs at Air Canada Center. Still not sure if I want the Caps to win. On the one hand, well, I'm a fan, so I want them to win. On the other, I don't want anything that can possibly make McPhee think this team is okay to happen before Monday. G'night.

Caps v Leafs (Dec 9)

Revenge game for the Caps who got a beat down at the hands of the Leafs on a HNIC not so long ago.  Since this is the first game post I thought I'd explain how things will work.  After the game I will pick the three stars of the broadcast team.  First star gets 3pts, second star gets 2pts, third star gets 1pt.  Everyone else will then get a mention but will receive no points.  The person who did the worst on the night will receive last place honors and a -1pt.  I'll keep track of point totals and at the end of the season we will see who is the champion of the Comcast Sportsnet crew!

First Star (3pts):

 
Giving it to Smokin Al Koken.  He interviewed Backstrom to start the game and, despite the fact that Backstrom seems to hate him, had the balls to interview him again during the second intermission.  Had a couple appearances where he was all about talking defensive players ice times.  He made his usual appearance interviewing assistant coach Jim Johnson during the "Bite of the Nite" but then went crazy on us and later in the game interviewed other assistant coach Dean Evason in another "Bite of the Nite".  Two bites in one night?  I'm pretty certain that has never happened ever.  He also interviews Dennis Widemen during the first intermission break and D-wides went on to score a hatty (or did he?), so that's something.  For some reason Smokin kept referring to the power-play as "specialty teams", which sounded weird.
 
Second Star (2pts):

Alan May.  Came in after the game ended to enlighten us in regard to the Cap's power-play success.  His telestrator was not working but did that fluster May?  No.  In fact, Fuck No.  He just kept on explaining the plays and acting like the telestrator WAS working.  Guess what?  His will power made the telestrator start working.  After that he shared a funny joke with the announcer team that had everyone cracking up.  LOLs were had by all and May finished the post game in typical fashion.

Third Star (1pt): 

The last scoring spot for tonight's game goes to Chick.  Did a good job breaking down some highlights during the second intermission break.  For some reason his voice sounded really cool and downright distinguished tonight which helped him earn the last spot in his limited work.  I have a theory why he sounded so good but more on that in a bit.

Other Participants (0pts):

-Rob Carlin.  Hosted post game with Alan.  Didn't add a whole lot but didn't get in Alan's way.  He did stop everyone's fun by moving the broadcast along in the middle of everyone laughing at Alan's joke.

-Carol Maloney.  No idea who she is.  Can't remember seeing her at all this season.  She stumbled out of the gate during the first intermission break but handled herself well after that slip up.  She did the immediate post game and completely messed up her sign off.  She was really falling all over her words as she came into the home stretch.  One thing I learned about Carol, her voice is really really annoying.  Maybe that is why she never gets on TV.  Maybe that's why Chick sounded so good tonight?  Just a theory.

Last Place (-1pt):

No surprises here.  If its a home game you can pretty much count on an appearance from everyone's favorite Capitals insider Chuck Gormely.  Was on camera for less than a minute.  Couldn't string two sentences together without fucking up and misspeaking.  What was his big time breaking insider information that he delivered in a monotone voice devoid of any passion or soul you ask?  That John Carlson and Karl Alzner play defense together.  Also they are pretty good.  ...No Shit. 

Points totals so far:
Al Koken: 3
Alan May: 2
Chick Hernandez: 1
Chuck Gormely: -1
Everyone else: 0