OVERTIME PLAYOFF HOCKEY. It either leads to absolute elation or complete despair....after the initial thrill or agony one lets out a "WOW"... then five minutes figuring out what exactly happened... then a half hour trying to guess where you go from there. Wednesday was disappointing but not deadly for the Capitals. Despite being outshot 34 to 18 in regulation the Caps were able to get a late power play goal and force OT...the fact that they had barely half the shots the Penguins had was somewhat troubling...and GM George McPhee expressed his displeasure in the officiating (7 power plays for Pittsburgh and only 2 for Washington in game three and a 17-9 advantage over the series for the Penguins).
LETS HEAR IT FOR THE BOY!--Simeon Varlamov's magical postseason continues, especially when you consider the rookie played only 5 regular season games for the team. He's already surpassed that in postseason starts, something not seen since 1971 when Ken Dryden guided Montreal to the Stanley Cup after starting just six regular season games for the Habs. I'm not saying the 21-year old is the next Dryden...but he's a primary factor in the Caps playoff run and a nice piece of the future's foundation in DC.
Footloose aside--my uncle and aunt from Seattle were in town the other week and somehow we touched upon the topic of Kevin Bacon...so naturally I responded with quips ranging from "yeah, he's been working so hard" to referring to Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick's marriage as "almost paradise--how could they ask for more". I kept waiting for either of them to call me out but each thought I was being serious...up to and including "maybe he's no Romeo, but he's her lovin' one man show...". I wanted to stop, but they kept on treating my lyric ripoffs as actual thoughts (I drew the line at "where's the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds?")... Needless to say, my cousin's husband was doubled over in the next room. Hey, we all need a hero...
STECKEL SHINES--despite Alex Ovechkin's hat-trick in game two and five goals overall the Caps most impressive skater this series has to be David Steckel. Years ago at minor league Hershey he garnered a reputation as a solid regular season player who upped his game bigtime during the postseason. Not only has he lit the lamp twice during the Pittsburgh series--he's been a solid faceoff man (61% in game three) and has made the Penguins work extra during every one of his shifts.
BACK TO BACK--WHAT ELSE CAN YOU SAY? The Caps and Penguins play Friday and Saturday night... making things even more intriguing. Can the loser get off the mat quickly and refocus? If game four goes to overtime, how dead will the legs be Saturday at Verizon? Last year the Caps won a game six in Philadelphia before falling in overtime the next night. There we go again--it all comes back to OVERTIME PLAYOFF HOCKEY.
MANNY OUT, AROD IN...baseball's soap opera carousel takes another turn as Alex Rodriguez' return to the Yankee lineup loses a bit of its thunder as Manny Ramirez gets a 50-game suspension for violating the game's anti-drug policy. Evidently the drug he was given by his doctor deals with estrogen...estrogen?
It took me a while to welcome Manny to the fold after he demanded to wear #24...Dwight Evans-the epitome of class and dignity wore that number proudly in his tenure and I was upset to see the number so quickly passed out to a hired gun. Manny begrudgingly earned my trust and respect as a prolific hitter, delivered two cherished world titles-- only to waste a lot of it last summer when he decided he wanted out. My reaction to his suspension? He took at least fifty games off last year while playing for the Red Sox.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment