Caps v. Jets (Mar 23)

So you know how we pulled out some silver linings from last night's loss to Philly? Well, no such good feelings tonight, as the Caps blew a 3-0 lead and missed an opportunity to stomp on the Jets' collective jugular. At least CSN was on form. It's a rare night when Dave Johnson and Alan May are together and neither of them wins a star, but, well, I missed the pregame show, so there it is. Also honorable mention to Locker for taking the time to sign some autographs during the game. While doing color commentary. Because he's just that fucking awesome.


Third Star (1 pt):





Brent Harris. No idea who this guy is. Never seen him before. A quick glance at his CSN Washington profile page has him as “Comcast SportsNet's voice for the Baltimore region's sports scene.” So what the hell was the dude doing covering a hockey game? I have no idea, but despite the fact that he had on the most drab and colorless of suits, his calls of the Rangers/Sabres and Florida/Edmonton highlights were pretty good all around. Didn’t stumble over any names or anything, and he made sure to note the standings implications. Can’t really ask for much more than that. Except maybe a red tie or something.


Second Star (2 pts):





Kelli Johnson. Did basically the same thing as Harris, but takes second by virtue of the fact that A) she did it before he did, and B), she was rocking a bright red t-shirt AND lipstick. That’s some team spirit. Too bad the Caps choked anyway, but not for lack of trying on Kelli’s part.


First Star (3 pts):





Al Koken. Either Smokin’ Al read our review of Carlin’s performance last night and came out with the intention of putting his job in a stranglehold, or he was just straight terrified of Alan May and wanted to get back out of the studio ASAP. Regardless, Koken was on his game tonight, interviewing not one, but BOTH assistant coaches, and also had an (admittedly brief) chat with AotI fan-favorite Matheiu Perreault during the second intermission. That’s the way to give the people what they want, Al.


Last Star (-1 pts):





Chuck Gormley. Because no matter how many times he tries to drop his name in one pitch, Alan May is not his friend. Also, I just don’t like him.


Bleh. That is all for tonight.

Caps v Canes (Mar 6th)

So I initially thought tonight's game started at 8 for whatever reason and therefore missed the first period and intermission.  That said, I watched the rest but didn't take very details notes on the CSN crew cause I was really into the game.  You know since every game for us is basically a must win now.  Yeah, unfortunately we didn't get that memo because we lost.  Yes we had a late surge to send the game into overtime.  Yes getting a point out of tonight is nice and helpful.  However, a win and two points would of been much nicer.  This team needs to get it together, fast.

As far as the CSN scoring tonight like I said I didn't take my normal detail notes.  I'm still going to give people points cause that's how it goes around here but tonight is going to be short, sweet, and from the gut.  Here goes nothing:

3rd Star (1 pt):

Joe B and Locker.  Sure this sounds like a cop-out.  Whatever.  Both dudes had really awesome ties.  Joe B had a cool purple color scheme going and Locker had a colorful striped tie that looked holographic.  Also they both performed their jobs decently.






2nd Star (2 pts):

Smokin Al.  This dude interviewed a lot of people tonight.  His interview with The Browser (TB20) was pretty funny.  He also interview some military representatives on military night so that was pretty cool.  Nice on you Smokin.

1st Star (3 pts):

Kelli Johnson.  She handled the second intermission.  She wore red (easy points with us).  She had a cool necklace (also easy points).  I haven't seen her in awhile (we missed you!).  She didn't mess up.  That's what we expect from our top stars.  Okay, its probably not ALL we expect from our top stars.  Alan May probably could of taken this spot.  Hell, The Jenkins (who I think handled the first intermission) most likely could of been slotted in here cause he has been on fire (in a good way) lately.  But I didn't see Jenkins tonight (my bad dude) and Alan May always scores all the points.  People might say that is stupid logic.  They might say this is no way to run a blog.  To those people I apologize.  Tonight, for whatever reason, I decided I liked Kelli the best and tonight that was enough to earn her the 3 point spot!

Last Star (- 1 pt):

The sun rises in the east. The capitals break the hearts of their fans.  Chuck Gormley fails at his job.  These are all things that I hold to be true.  Sure I missed the first period.  Sure I didn't see Chuck actually mess up or suck tonight.  At this point I don't really feel the need to justify giving him the -1.  You and I both know what to expect when Gormley comes on screen and he has never disappointed.  Sorry I missed your air time tonight Chuck, but not really.  Minus one for you sir.

So there you have it!  Sorry for the rushed and thrown together nature of tonight's post.  These losses are really starting to take their toll.  Hopefully the team does better next time out, hopefully I do better next time out, hopefully you keep reading.  Please keep reading.  In other sports-teams-I-like news I watched the Orioles play the Pirates in spring training and they lost 10-3.  So I got that to be excited for after hockey ends.  Wahoo!

Thanks for reading,
-Dru

Caps v Canes (Jan 20th)

Tonight the Caps went on the road to play the Canes.  This is a game the Caps should of been able to win and really could of used a win to solidify their place in the standings.  Alas that was not the case.  The Canes pitched a 3-0 shutout and it seemed like the only Capital who decided to show up was Voko.  Guess what, the Caps were on CSN tonight, bumping the Wizard's down to CSN+!  This is something we have been calling for here at AOTI for awhile now and we would like to take full credit for getting the Caps off the forsaken and poorly lit CSN+.   It really sucks that the game the Caps finally get onto the main station was tonight.  Come on, after all the work we put in for you guys you lay an egg like this?  Not cool.  Your making us look like idiots and we don't need any more help with that!  O well, the Wiz didn't do so great either so I guess we'll call it a wash but if the Caps get sent back to the dark, dingy recesses of CSN+ they got nobody to blame but themselves.  Next game is on Sunday against the Pens.  You know what that means, its going to be an NBC game.  We might get another awesome game coverage by JMU2012, or we might not!  Enjoy your weekend and our take on the CSN crew's performance from tonight!

Third Star (1 pt):

Kelli Johnson.  In Kelli’s second appearance she only handled the immediate post game.  She ran through some Pens/Habs highlights smoothly and was very steady energy wise.  Last time we saw Kelli I knocked her for not showing enough energy when the Caps were doing well but tonight she was able to remain very engaging even though the Caps were awful.  The second half of her spot was Wizard’s highlights.  Normally, talking about not-hockey is a no-no.  However, on a night where we were absolutely mortified at the Cap’s performance on CSN it was nice of Kelli to show us the Wiz blowing a ten point lead and losing over on CSN+.  It might not feel great to be a Caps fan tonight, but thanks to Kelli we can all take some joy in the fact that we aren’t Wizard’s fans.

Second Star (2 pts):

Alan May listed his three keys do the game during the pregame show: Outshoot, crisp breakout passes, and limit the Canes’ speed between the blue lines. The Capitals did none of these things. They were outshot (by 50%) for the I-don’t-even-know-what-number-anymore consecutive game under Hunter. The breakout passes were terrible. Too much time pinned in our own zone was a problem for the I-don’t-even-know-what-number-anymore consecutive game under Hunter. And the Caps sure as hell didn’t limit the Canes’ speed through neutral. Hell, they had more goals on our powerplay than we did. And after the game, May admitted that he chucked his phone across the room after one-too-many Caps miscues. And that, in a nutshell is why we here at AotI adore Alan May. Not only is he a studly, informative commentator, but he also manages to connect with us as hockey fans. He’s not afraid to get emotional, whether it be in victory or defeat. I know I was about ready to break something at times tonight. He does a great job of saying what we’re thinking, except with way more actual hockey knowledge than we possess.

First Star (3 pts):

When Smokin’ announced he would be doing postgame highlights, we made a pact among ourselves. Since tonight was a pretty blah night for the commentators, and even more blah for the players on the ice, we decided that if Koken could come up with a non-Vokoun Capitals highlight, we’d give him the first star. He managed to pull not one, but TWO Capitals chances out of that shitstorm, one featuring Mike Knuble hitting the post, and another featuring Eakin picking up Halpern’s rebound and putting it back on net. Both highlights from the fourth line, which about sums up how the Caps played tonight.  I also have a special place in my heart for anyone who gives the “babysitting line” some attention. (Eakin 20yr, Matty P 24yr, Knuble 39yr)

Other Participants (0 pts):

Joe B: Complained at the lack of fire wagon hockey.  Games just aren’t as fun to call as they used to be Joe B?  Also told us we would be seeing Rob Carlin post game, when in fact it was Kelli Johnson who is very much not Rob Carlin.

Locker: Not much to say about his performance, just a standard night at the office.  You could tell he was not happy with the Caps lack of shots though post game as he talked with May. Also, I can’t help but feel like Joel Ward is probably not the best guy to ask about how to avoid having your shots blocked.  

Last Star (-1 pt):

Rob Carlin.  On a night where there were no really stand out performances from the CSN crew Rob gets the short end of the stick.  He handled the first and second intermission breaks solo tonight.  He never made a huge mistake or was even that bad running through the highlights.  What lands Carlin in the bottom tonight was his complete lack of energy that he brought to the table.  There have been nights where Carlin has been my favorite guy on the CSN crew and I have been hoping he gets more shots at running the intermission breaks.  Unfortunately, the nights that Carlin is on his game are also the nights when the Caps are playing well.  Carlin’s performance is directly linked to the team on the ice and he really needs the Caps to be playing well to feed off their energy.  If Carlin can figure out how to put in a good effort on nights like this when the team seems to be sleep walking then he may be able to take his work to the next level.  Admittedly this is a difficult thing to master, keep your head up Rob!   

Thanks for reading and don't forget you can follow me on twitter for more AOTI goodness and other random thoughts @dru90.

See the top right for complete standings at this point in the season.  We also just added a new poll on the right hand side of the blog so YOU can vote for YOUR favorite CSN personality.

Caps v Flames (Jan 3rd)

On a night where the Caps could get back into the playoff picture with a win they did not dissappoint.  The came out and dominated the Flames and got the W.  Also Mike Green is finally back but Nick Backstrom took a nasty elbow to the head and is being evaluated.  Hopefully everything is okay with him!  The CSN crew had a newbie in their ranks tonight for the coverage.  Read about it below!

Third Star (1 pt):

Kelli Johnson.  She is a new face to the CSN broadcast crew for Caps games.  After some quick research I found out that she normally serves as the CSN field reporter for the Redskins.  I guess since that gig is over for the time being she has been brought on board to do some Caps coverage.  She handled the second intermission break and smartly wore bright red to score some easy points.  She did a good job with the highlights and didn’t make any mistakes, which is impressive for a newbie.  She came off as very professional and never seemed like just a pretty face/ airhead.  She really reminds me of Jill Sorenson in her delivery, very professional but lacking emotion.  However, some of that lack of energy could be due to it being her first time out with the Caps crew.  It is notable that she showed a lot more energy in the CSN show after postgame live and raised Chick’s energy level as well.  I expect she will be getting more opportunities now that the Skins are done and I think she will be able to put in a consistently good effort and grab better finishes now that she has her first one out of the way.

Second Star (2 pts):

The second star goes to Rob Carlin.  He was in his normal spot alongside Alan May for the Pre and Post game coverage.  During the pregame, Carlin set up May nicely to talk about all the major points of interest for the game.  He brought up what Green’s return meant to the team and how it would impact specific players like Hamrlick and Orlov.  He also gave Hamrlick some well deserved praise for his nice play of late.  Carlin also brought up the goalie fight between Voko and Kipper and touched on Iginla’s pursuit of goal number 500.  In the post game Carlin came out excited.  He talked about Ovie’s great performance of late and uses a nice “back down in Chinatown” rhyme to throw the coverage back over the Joe B and Locker.  Carlin tag teams the game highlights and does a nice job.  Carlin seems to feed off of the Caps successes.  When the team is playing well and winning Carlin takes his performance to another level and really shines.  If he can figure out away to bring that same energy and passion to the broadcast even when the team is playing poorly he’s going to move up in the standings quickly.    

First Star (3 pts): 

Alan May.  Solid performance tonight for CSN’s resident hockey tough guy.  Did a good job during the pregame show covering all of the stories and topics along side Carlin and doesn’t get stuck talking only about Mike Green’s return.  He telestrates and makes it look so easy.  Really, Alan May telestrations look effortless whereas Locker makes it look like a struggle.  Alan’s keys to the game tonight were for the Caps to be better than the Flames at everything.  Can’t argue with that logic!  Favorite part of the pregame coverage from May was he saying “I wouldn’t mind seeing a fight tonight” in response to Carlin’s comments about the Voko-Kipper fight.  During the postgame May does a nice job hitting on the high and low points of the Caps performance.  He also went through the game highlights with Carlin very smoothly.  He makes sure to give Voko his due, on a night when really nobody else mentioned his great performance.  May talks about how Ovie has been hot as of late and gives credit to Hunter for giving him a lot of ice time, something he says Bruce did not do.  Carlin tries to make it seem like him and May are best buds by making a comment about watching the game together.  May shrugs him off and gives him a look that says “its our job to watch the game and yes we were in the same room, but we are not friends”.  May ends the postgame show with a crack about Carlin forgetting his suit and having to borrow one.  May takes no prisoners!  He also takes the lead over Locker in the Action on the Ice standings.

Other Participants (0 pts):

Smokin Al Koken: Handle the interview duties.  No Bites of the Nite and lost out of an intermission interview because of Joe B's interview with the head of the AHL.

Chick:  Came out flat tonight.  Picked it up as the night went on but not enough to get into a scoring spot.  Saw him pulling double duty doing the Wizards game.  If I was forced to watch that team I would be a little flat myself.

Joe B:  Part one of the dynamic Mike Green is back duo.  Mentioned that Green was back from injury 20+ times.

Locker: Part two of the dynamic duo.

Last Star (-1 pt):

Chuck Gormely.  I think some criticism has reached Chuck’s ears.  Maybe he’s reading this blog.  I suspect someone told him people think he sucks and has zero personality because he tried to change it up tonight.  He really tried to put in a better performance when Joe B tossed the broadcast over to him in the 1st period.  Unfortunately, for Chuck this meant that he just talked real fast and slurred his words.  Soon enough the good old, slow and monotone Chuck was back.  He told us that he was talking about Iginla on his blog and his chances at the Hall of Fame.  I seriously doubt that Chuck has heard of Iginla before tonight because he didn’t have a lot to say about the dude.  If you don’t have at least a minute of material you can use when talking about Iginla then how are you a professional covering the NHL.  Chuck felt that Iginla wasn’t good enough to fill up his brief time sport so h crammed another topic in.  His second piece of super insider and breaking news was that there is a thing called the Winter Classic and it might come to Washington at some point.  This is a topic that any halfway decent Capitals fan has heard once or twice before.  While I appreciate that Chuck tried to do something different tonight, he still feel on his face with his topics and delivery.  ‘atta boy Chuck, welcome back to the bottom.

Points of Participants to date:

Alan May: 12

Locker: 10

Joe B: 7

Carlin: 7

Smokin: 3

Chick: 2

Kelli: 1

Chuck: -4

See the complete standings in the top right of the page!

Hope you enjoyed the post.  The next Capitals game is against the Sharks at 10:30pm on Saturday.  Saturday also happens to be my birthday.  If anyone out there has been dying to take a crack at covering the CSN crew for a game I'd be willing to give them a shot at doing Saturday's game.  Its away so there won't be to many people to keep track of.  If interested leave a comment or shoot me a tweet @Dru90 and we can work something out.  See you Saturday.