GDT: Caps vs Blackhawks 7pm

[Raikkonen]

I want to see what we have next year. Good signs with Mantha. Need him to do well so we can trade him.

I see many lazy plays where he casually does bad pass or something and the puck is lost

Kuzy doing the same is infuriating even more

 

[SherVaughn30]

Nice afterburner for the OV goal. Even when Jones tried to wrap around the stick to interfere OV's stoutness brushed it off, heh.

Protas needs to be in the lineup the rest of the year.

AA looking good needs to be in the line up. Enjoy the pine Irwin.

AA would have been playing all season if not for stupid Lavi's/McCarthy's must deployment of Irwin.

 

[SherVaughn30]

Hawks really want Bedard

Either them or the Flyers will end up with him because Bettman and the NHL Brass need to make sure one of those 2 hockey markets get revived again.

 

[RandyHolt]

@RandyHolt - I remember the 101 Boot Stompers! Saw some good fights in that section. They’d stomp. Someone would yell at them. Turned around grabbed someone and pounded the shit out them. USAir Areana… good times!

Yep it was best to blend right in with them and they were a friendly bunch in my experience. It was a fun & I liked the 2 times I was in 101 but they were a little scary to some I am sure. I have a vivid imagine burned into my long term memory bank of their duct taped boots and I've never seen that anywhere else. I should have asked for tape to do my clean white "Tennis" shoes to blend in further.

Gotta shoutout to the modern day Tinman as you don't see Willy sat down like that often. It was cool seeing Strome and Ovi having his back. The Oshie hit was the best.

I was damn glad my son got to see an Ovi goal clear as day - kept saying he tricked the goalie. Yes son he went to the backhand & we'll practice tomorrow. You all know at a game if you aren't paying attention you can easily miss how a goal was scored. You can't even expect an 8 year old to even know who scored when they DO see a score. Yep the tyke will be sporting his brand new $120 classic willy jersey at school today.

Replays at the arena remain TERRIBLE. Like worse than ever. I may have to fire off an email.

 

[trick9]

This was the second-last easy game we'll have this season so i'm not going to complain over 6 goals and a W. Especially with trade value points for Mantha, Kuznetsov. Hopefully for Backstrom and Carlson too but i know better already.

We are holding the cards on who is going to make the WC spots in the East.

I'm happy with picking #10 or #11 and i wouldn’t say no to the Penguins missing the Playoffs.

 

[RandyHolt]

Great stuff, RH! Happy Anniversary!
It's amazing ... Timo Blomqvist with a fighting major? I didn't remember any, but I checked on Hockey Fights and the Finn had a bunch of 'em ... including one in a game v. the Rags against a certain G McPhee. Timo Blomqvist @ Hockey Fights

Thanks! I definitely remember Timo having the odd fight and would hold his own. Finns are pretty f***ing scrappy but can see why you may not remember him dancing often with the likes of Stevens Holt and all the other goons doing the heavy lifting. Back then its almost like everyone would have the odd fight except for those chasing the coveted/dreaded lady byng.Timo was no Larry Murphy....

Because Murphy wouldn't fight he'd get the whoop cheer EVERY time he'd touch the puck for season after season (for newer fans). That was so f***ing rude to do to our own player. A puck mover he was way ahead of his time since Dmen were supposed to be slow and tough for us blood thirsty fans. How awkward was that - in all of sports I cannot recall a teams fan base so incessantly harassing one of their own. Maybe it was those 101 hooligans that started it. Glad he got his cup. Back to my Vancouver story 40 years ago, I think Harold Snepts used to get the HAROLD cheer. On the road.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Didn’t get to see much of the game because I had my own but it’s nice to see Carlson, Backstrom, and Ovi back on the scoresheet. As frustrating as this season has been we’ve been fortunate to have a rock solid 1C, 1D, and 1LW for a decade+.

That said, it is funny to see that Backy had 1G + 1A in a 6-1 win and he’s still a -1. I know PP points don’t count so I understand how and why it happened but it’s still odd to see on the scoresheet. Oddly, no one was better than a +2 yesterday.

 

[Empty Goal Net]

Thanks! I definitely remember Timo having the odd fight and would hold his own. Finns are pretty f***ing scrappy but can see why you may not remember him dancing often with the likes of Stevens Holt and all the other goons doing the heavy lifting. Back then its almost like everyone would have the odd fight except for those chasing the coveted/dreaded lady byng.Timo was no Larry Murphy....

Because Murphy wouldn't fight he'd get the whoop cheer EVERY time he'd touch the puck for season after season (for newer fans). That was so f***ing rude to do to our own player. A puck mover he was way ahead of his time since Dmen were supposed to be slow and tough for us blood thirsty fans. How awkward was that - in all of sports I cannot recall a teams fan base so incessantly harassing one of their own. Maybe it was those 101 hooligans that started it. Glad he got his cup. Back to my Vancouver story 40 years ago, I think Harold Snepts used to get the HAROLD cheer. On the road.

Here's my take/recollection on the origin of the Murphy "whoop": Most likely due to crappy ice, there were several times that the puck would bounce away from Murphy as he skated up the ice, sometimes leading to an odd-man rush by the opposing team. At Cap Centre, I sat with a STH group on our 2x defending blue line (Sec 108, iirc), and the seemingly all-to-frequent puck bounces led us to do a "whoops" cheer after he'd lose the puck. Over time, we and others would anticipate the errant puck movements, and "whoops" would begin as Murph skated up ice, before he'd lose the puck (which he often did not, but that didn't matter). Eventually, more and more attendees began to take part, the "whoops" became a "whoop," and Murphy rather unfairly became the target of mild derision. It's unfortunate that he was moved, because all of us would've outgrown the whoops cheer and found someone else to heckle. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

 

[RandyHolt]

Here's my take/recollection on the origin of the Murphy "whoop": Most likely due to crappy ice, there were several times that the puck would bounce away from Murphy as he skated up the ice, sometimes leading to an odd-man rush by the opposing team. At Cap Centre, I sat with a STH group on our 2x defending blue line (Sec 108, iirc), and the seemingly all-to-frequent puck bounces led us to do a "whoops" cheer after he'd lose the puck. Over time, we and others would anticipate the errant puck movements, and "whoops" would begin as Murph skated up ice, before he'd lose the puck (which he often did not, but that didn't matter). Eventually, more and more attendees began to take part, the "whoops" became a "whoop," and Murphy rather unfairly became the target of mild derision. It's unfortunate that he was moved, because all of us would've outgrown the whoops cheer and found someone else to heckle. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Thanks for sharing. It is a part of our history and needs to be shared for posterity.

I figured he got the call for basically not being the steady eddie defensemen type. Offensive defensemen were more apt for a defensive zone lapse or turnover.

 

[Silky mitts]

Here's my take/recollection on the origin of the Murphy "whoop": Most likely due to crappy ice, there were several times that the puck would bounce away from Murphy as he skated up the ice, sometimes leading to an odd-man rush by the opposing team. At Cap Centre, I sat with a STH group on our 2x defending blue line (Sec 108, iirc), and the seemingly all-to-frequent puck bounces led us to do a "whoops" cheer after he'd lose the puck. Over time, we and others would anticipate the errant puck movements, and "whoops" would begin as Murph skated up ice, before he'd lose the puck (which he often did not, but that didn't matter). Eventually, more and more attendees began to take part, the "whoops" became a "whoop," and Murphy rather unfairly became the target of mild derision. It's unfortunate that he was moved, because all of us would've outgrown the whoops cheer and found someone else to heckle. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Thanks for sharing. It is a part of our history and needs to be shared for posterity.

I figured he got the call for basically not being the steady eddie defensemen type. Offensive defensemen were more apt for a defensive zone lapse or turnover.

That's why I always defend offensive defensemen here or at games - the cautionary tale of running a Hall of Famer about to hit his prime out of town.

 

[Empty Goal Net]

That's why I always defend offensive defensemen here or at games - the cautionary tale of running a Hall of Famer about to hit his prime out of town.

Murph was still relatively young - he was 22 when he joined the Caps - so his decisionmaking most likely got better as he gained NHL experience including after he left the Caps.

I do take issue with the "running ... out of town" perspective. I doubt David Poile, Dick Patrick, or Abe Pollin did any whooping, and one or more of them are the ones who made the decision to trade Murph. We don't know whether the "whoop whoop" cheer had anything to do with the trade decision.

 

[Silky mitts]

Murph was still relatively young - he was 22 when he joined the Caps - so his decisionmaking most likely got better as he gained NHL experience including after he left the Caps.

I do take issue with the "running ... out of town" perspective. I doubt David Poile, Dick Patrick, or Abe Pollin did any whooping, and one or more of them are the ones who made the decision to trade Murph. We don't know whether the "whoop whoop" cheer had anything to do with the trade decision.

How was he supposed to play effectively when you've got thousands of people reminding you they're waiting to see you mess up at home?

 

[Empty Goal Net]

How was he supposed to play effectively when you've got thousands of people reminding you they're waiting to see you mess up at home?

a. He's a professional who can tune out the crowd
b. How do any of us know what the "thousands of people" had in mind during their whooping? (I'm guessing that many if not most of the people who scream "Oh" during the anthem before Caps games don't know the origin of that audience participation feature, either.)

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

How was he supposed to play effectively when you've got thousands of people reminding you they're waiting to see you mess up at home?

That was a franchise shakeup trade…he just happened to be a valuable piece and he had shown signs of cracking under pressure too often with us. I’d still make that trade today. Loved Dino and Rouse was rock solid defensively. Certainly stung a bit to see Murphy have a long career with lots of postseason success.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

a. He's a professional who can tune out the crowd
b. How do any of us know what the "thousands of people" had in mind during their whooping? (I'm guessing that many if not most of the people who scream "Oh" during the anthem before Caps games don't know the origin of that audience participation feature, either.)

I’d wager, at least 1/2 of the crowd had no clue what that chant was for, much less the origin. Then they figured it out and did it to Hatcher, Gonchar, etc over the years….

Here's my take/recollection on the origin of the Murphy "whoop": Most likely due to crappy ice, there were several times that the puck would bounce away from Murphy as he skated up the ice, sometimes leading to an odd-man rush by the opposing team. At Cap Centre, I sat with a STH group on our 2x defending blue line (Sec 108, iirc), and the seemingly all-to-frequent puck bounces led us to do a "whoops" cheer after he'd lose the puck. Over time, we and others would anticipate the errant puck movements, and "whoops" would begin as Murph skated up ice, before he'd lose the puck (which he often did not, but that didn't matter). Eventually, more and more attendees began to take part, the "whoops" became a "whoop," and Murphy rather unfairly became the target of mild derision. It's unfortunate that he was moved, because all of us would've outgrown the whoops cheer and found someone else to heckle. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Very cool, thanks for sharing.