Tuesday, January 17, 2012

2011-12 Hockey Road Trip: Game Five - Washington vs. Carolina

Washington Capital vs. Carolina Hurricanes
Verizon Centre; Washington, D.C.
5/00pm; January 15, 2012

Washington def. Carolina 2-1

It's been a beautiful weekend of weather in Washington D.C. and I feel like I'm far more versed in American history after we travelled to Mt Vernon, the estate of the great George Washington on Saturday and to Antietam, Maryland today. Antietam was the sight of a bloody battle during the Civil War, that was featured in the amazing movie Glory, with Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington.

Then it was back to D.C. for a south-eastern conference match-up between two teams who recently fired long-standing head coaches. The Caps are a great team to watch, and their fans are among the best in hockey. I personally love to see Alex Ovechkin skate. He is the sort of sweet-skating player who looks dangerous on every single shift, and only ever a curl and drag away from breaking open the game. I guess in the NHL world you're either a Crosby fan or an Ovechkin fan. I'm definitely squarely in the Ovi Camp. Watching the Great Eight play is one of the great joys in all of hockey.

It was Kids Day at the Verizon Centre and every single person in attendance - unless you were there as a 'Canes fan, of course - was treated to a superb goal-tending effort from Caps goalie Tomas Vokoun, a native of the Czech Republic who came across from Florida during the summer to much fanfare. Tonight, Vokoun made good. He spent the entire sixty minutes robbing the Hurriances, stopping a whopping 43 of 44 shots in the 2-1 victory. Vokoun was just about the only reason the Caps won, stretching their home record against South Eastern Conference opponents to 6-0-0. Washington registered twenty less shots on goal.

We also saw Alexander Semin ripping a shot from the top of the circle that popped the waterbottle on Cam Ward's goal - is that the most exciting play in hockey? - and the first career goal from another Russian, Dimitry Orlov, but it was all Vokoun all of the time for the Capitals, who sent their sell-out home crowd happy, and probably feeling pretty good about their situation between the pipes. It was perhaps the greatest goalie effort that I've seen in person.

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