Alex Ovechkin stands next to 12-year-old cancer survivor Anthony Holley during the national anthem. (Photo credit: Ned Dishman)
Cancer affects millions of people every year and is truly an awful disease. So on Saturday night, while the boys in red battled the Detroit Red Wings, the Caps held Hockey Fights Cancer Night, joining in a league-wide program to raise money for cancer research and treatment. During warm-ups, the team wore special jerseys with Hockey Fights Cancer patches and lavender outlining around the names and numbers, representing the official color of the initiative. The sweaters, which were signed by their respective player, were then auctioned off to fans at the community relations booth.
Just before hitting the ice, Joe Bowser of the Warrior team was asked what their strategy was to beat the Congressional squad, “Just show up,” he joked. He later added, “And we promise to pay our taxes on time.”
Rep. Quigley of the Congressional Team waits for another shift. (Photo credit: Craig Brownstein)
The rain didn’t do much to dampen attendance at Kettler last night and the stands held a raucous crowd, primarily Warriors boosters. But it was the Obama address to the Joint Session of Congress that kept a number of elected officials away. But as per usual in this town, the hard work (and scoring) was done by the staff. Rep. Mike Quigley was the sole elected official to play last night. We thanked him for the time he gave us earlier this week when we previewed the game. Just before taking the ice, and maybe a bit torqued on how we characterized him, Quigley looked at us and said, “Pugnacious?” Mustering every bit of confidence that 15 years at C-SPAN will give a guy, we looked him square in the eye and replied, “What – did we spell it wrong?”
Next Thursday evening, September 8, was going to find the PuckBuddys at Kettler (on assignment for RMNB!) covering the game between the USA Warriors Ice Hockey Team and the Lawmakers, made up of members of Congress and their staff.
We’ve been doing interviews this week with the Warriors’ coach and players, only to find out this morning that there may be a scheduling complication.
It seems nothing is easy in Washington anymore. The tiff between President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner that pushed the President’s Joint Session address on jobs to Thursday evening may affect the charity game. We’ll stay in contact with the Warrior front office and share developments as soon as we learn more.
The Warriors are an amazing group of guys, and we look forward to sharing their remarkable stories. The congressional team? Meh. You know who we’re rooting for.
On August 28, 2011, In Charity, News, By Ian Oland
Alex Semin signs autographs for the kids in attendance.
This past Wednesday, Alexander Semin held a workshop for kids of the Sokol Hockey School in Podgorny, a southern Siberian town about 25 miles from his birthplace of Krasnoyarsk. The winger spent the day showing the young players everything from the basics — improving their shooting, skating, and passing — to how to warm-up like an NHL player.
The Lakers’ Kobe Bryant greets John Carlson before the match. (Photo credit: Chris Gordon)
As a member of the Washington Capitals, John Carlson is no stranger to lighthearted games of soccer, often playing along with his teammates to warmup before taking the ice.
But on Sunday, he joined in a pick-up match with meaning, participating in the Mia Hamm Foundation‘s annual Celebrity Soccer Challenge, held this year at Kastles Stadium in Southwest D.C.
The game, put on by Hamm and her husband, former MLB star Nomar Garciaparra, encourages people to join the bone marrow donor registry while raising money for Children’s National Medical Center. It was started in honor of Hamm’s late brother, Garrett, who passed away from aplastic anemia, a bone marrow condition, in 1997.
Despite Washington, D.C. setting a record high temperature of 102 degrees Saturday, it was a perfect day for hockey as over 40 players and over a hundred visitors gathered at Kettler Capitals Iceplex for the 4th Annual Dave Fay Memorial Game benefitting Hockey Fights Cancer. Former Caps Yvon Labre, Gord Lane, Paul Mulvey, Gary Rissling, and Alan Hangsleben joined players from across Maryland and Virginia to honor the long-time Washington Times hockey writer who passed away in 2007 after 12-year battle with cancer.
This signed Mike Green jersey will be up for auction.
Logo and illustration by Ian Oland
Eight months ago, we celebrated our first year anniversary with a party hosted by Front Page Arlington. It was a huge success, as over 150 lovely readers came out to hang with us. That night we even did some good by raising $1,000 for Love146, a charity near and dear to the heart of friend-of-the-blog Samantha Casey.
Since that party went so well, we decided, “Ah, what the heck! Let’s have another one.” So next Saturday, March 12, our blog will be hosting our second shindig wondrously titled RMNB Party 2: Electric Boogaloo. (You can thank Neil for the name.) This year’s celebration will once again be held at the Front Page restaurant in Arlington, VA and we’ll be there meeting and greeting with our readers from 6pm until midnight.
Because some of you have already asked, RMNB Party 2 will be an all ages event and anyone and everyone is welcome to attend (well, not everybody). You can RSVP on our Facebook page here.
The Caps may have had trouble scoring lately, but on Saturday afternoon players were racking up scores by the hundreds. Then again, the game was bowling. Karl Alzner, Matt Bradley, Jason Chimera, Eric Fehr, Boyd Gordon, Matt Hendricks, DJ King, Mike Knuble, Jeff Schultz, David Steckel, Brooks Laich–plus their wives, girlfriends, and children–took part in “Bowling with the Caps” at Lucky Strike Lanes in downtown DC. The event was all for charity, raising over $60,000 for the Chris Walsh Cancer Survivorship Fund at Virginia Hospital Center.
It was a great time,” Hendricks said. “It’s a lot of fun to get out there and mingle with the fans for a good cause.”
