Eric Fehr's 2 goals propel the Capitals over Penguins ~ Winter Classic

The Winter Classic, from Pittsburgh is in the books and the Washington Capitals have emerged victorious.  The Caps defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1.  The hero of the game was Eric Fehr.  Fehrzy had 2 goals and

70,000 fans sat in the rain and "cold" at Heinz Field.  Penguins' Evgeni Malkin scored first.  ****  Here's one of my better pictures of Malkin from May 2009. 

Mike Knuble scored for the Caps to tie the game at 1.  Fehrzy handled the rest.

If you're not a Caps fan, you may not have known Eric Fehr's name.  Well, hopefully now ~ you won't forget it.  Living in the DC area, I run into a lot of the Washington Capitals.  The ones I've met have been friendly and appreciate their fans.  ****  Here's a pic I dug up from 2007, with Eric Fehr.  Nice guy.

Capitals and Penguins meet again on February 6, 2011 at the Verizon Center.

By the way, I had no idea Caps coach, Bruce Boudreau, went to my high school...  At least he looked like he did with his "varsity" jacket...  Just kidding!

C---A--P-S!!!  CAPS! CAPS! CAPS!


THE WIRK

Washington Capitals defeat the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2 in OT

Today the Philadelphia Flyers were in town to take on the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center, and guess who was sitting pretty 2 rows behind the Caps bench...  Yep, this girl.  My friend (i.e. who my brother and I have known since we were maybe 6 years old and moved to the DC area about a year ago), Scott, told me (i.e. and another childhood friend who was in town) at dinner last night, that he had never been to a Caps game before.  I couldn't believe it.  It's been about a year since he moved to the DC area and he hadn't seen the Caps in action?!?!  Well, that's just unacceptable, so I took it upon myself to rectify the situation.

Before the game, I told him that I thought the final score would be 3-2, and that the Caps would win.  YES, I was right.  Don't believe me?  Why would I lie?!?!  I told you I was somewhat psychic...

I decided that for this game, I wanted to sit at center ice near the Capitals bench.  Normally I like to sit towards the side that the Caps shoot twice, but since this was my first game of the season I just wanted to focus on taking some good shots of the players.  Plus, since it was my friend's first time at the game, I wanted to make sure he got a good look at Alexander Ovechkin.  Ovechkin was relatively quiet during the game, but I managed to get some great shots.

Ovechkin up close

 Eric Fehr scord a goal in the 1st period to tie the game at 1.  It was Fehr's third goal for the season. 

Alexander Semin scored in the 2nd period to tie the game at 2. 

 Fehr and Semin sitting on the bench, taking a breather.

Up close, near the action

Sure enough, Mike Green came to the rescue in overtime and scored to give the Caps the win. 

My first hockey game for the season is now "in the books".  The Caps now have a record of 10-4, and continue to lead the Southeast Division.  GO CAPS!!!!

THE WIRK

Fight, Overtime, Hat Trick ~ Capitals defeat the Canadiens in Game 2

On Thursday night, I watched an exciting Montreal Canadiens v Washington Capitals game, that ended with the Caps losing in overtime.  I watched the game on TV and regretted not being in attendance at the Verizon Center.

Determined to not make the same mistake twice, I hustled my way over to the phone booth and sat pretty in section 104 for Game 2 of the series.  If you're a Caps fan and you missed last night's game, you should be ashamed of yourself.  Plain and simple.  You probably even hate yourself right now...

Last night's game in one word, can be summarized with, "UNBELIEVABLE".  Thanks to Metro's delays, I was about 5 mins late to the game.  Yes, I took public transportation.  It's ridiculously convenient to the arena, and the prudent thing to do.  Just my luck due to service delays, by the time my ticket was scanned, Montreal had scored.  The scoreboard read 1-0, and the bad were guys up.  Next thing you knew it was 2-0.  Great.  Jose Theodore was yanked out of the game, and Varlamov was placed in goal.  New goalie, new game...  Finally, still in the 1st period, we got on the board thanks to Eric Fehr, who scored his first goal in the Playoffs.

Time elapsed, the Canadiens caught fire and next thing you knew the Habs were up 4-1. 

With a 3-goal deficit, things weren't looking good for Caps fans, but unlike in basketball games where it appears there's going to be a blowout ~ Caps fans stay.  The entire arena was "Rockin the Red" and no one was going anywhere.

During the game, I was texting scoring updates to my friend in Canada, who couldn't watch the game, since he was at a business dinner.  Each time I'd text him that his Habs had scored, I'd receive the same response, "OMG".  Even he couldn't believe it! 

If you can't beat them, why not fight them, right?!?!  I mean, this is hockey...  So, in the 3rd period, Caps fans were treated to a fight when Tom Poti and Scott Gomez decided to mix it up.  Told you this game had everything for a hockey fan..

Fight ~ the Habs, Scott Gomez and the Caps, Tom Poti

Sure enough, the Caps were able to find their offense and John Carlson scored his first goal of the Playoffs.  Carlson's goal tied the game at 5, and we were heading into OT.

So many stories can be told about Saturday night at the Verizon Center, but the hero of the game was Nicklas Backstrom who notched a hat trick and led the Caps to victory in OT!

Hat Trick!!!

On the way home from the game, I ran into someone I knew on the train.  Actually, the minute I got on the Metro I heard someone yelling my name.  Imagine my surprise to see that it was a guy wearing a mask.  "Mask guy" was creeping people out on the train and drunk from the DC United soccer game.  He couldn't tell me if DC United had won, but needless to say no one bothered me on the train, while he was next to me.  Yes, I have strange friends.

Go Caps!  Game 3 is on Monday in Montreal, at 7PM.

THE WIRK