Interview

Olie Kolzig: Ovechkin’s Going to be a Very Happy Hockey Player Under Oates

On January 17, 2013, In Exclusive, Interview, By Ian Oland

Photo credit: Chris Gordon

Olie Kolzig is remembered as the greatest goalie in Capitals history. A staple in Washington’s net for over a decade, Kolzig led the team to their only Stanley Cup Finals appearance and became one of the franchise’s most beloved players. These days Kolzig has a different role. In his second year as associate goaltending coach, Kolzig spends his time mentoring the club’s young netminders in both minor leagues. The influence of a veteran has apparently rubbed off on the players– Caps goalie Michal Neuvirth recently added the German goalie’s likeness to his mask, a gesture Kolzig deeply appreciated.

On Sunday, I spoke on the phone with Olie The Goalie, who was in Hershey scouting the Bears game. As the NHL season approached, Kolzig gave me his thoughts on the Caps goalie duo, the distractions Braden Holtby faced last season, and what he sees next for Alex Ovechkin. He even told me what he thought of Tom Poti‘s return to hockey and what that could mean for the organization.

The Lockout’s Worst Casualty: Karl Alzner’s Deleted Twitter Account

On January 17, 2013, In Interview, By Chris Gordon

Alzner, left, seen here not tweeting. (Photo credit: Chris Gordon)

The NHL lockout caused many casualties. Games, fans — all lost to the sport for years to come. No loss, however, was bigger than Karl Alzner‘s Twitter account. After some tense exchanges with fans on the site in early December, Alzner deleted his profile. It had been a wild ride. Washington’s number 27 brought pictures of his dogs and the living room they destroyed. He tweeted pictures of his dogs. And sometimes even his dogs.

“I told him to grow up,” fellow Twitter user Joel Ward (@JRandalWard42) told RMNB’s Ian Oland when asked about the disappearance. “I hope I can get some of his followers on my team.”

Tagged with: best-of • Joel Ward • Karl Alzner

Brooks Laich on his Time in Switzerland: Flaming Helmets, Laich Buttons, and Lots of Roughing Penalties

On January 16, 2013, In Exclusive, Interview, By Chris Gordon

Laich’s official team photo.

Laich (right) gets into a tiff and loses his flaming bucket.

Brooks Laich is not an NHL player. He’s a hockey player.

The Wawota, Saskatchewan native has played seven seasons in the National Hockey League, scored 116 goals, and tallied 278 points. He makes six and half million dollars a year. But that’s not what drives him. It’s his love of the game. He first stepped on the ice at five months. He began skating when he was two years old. By five, he was playing minor hockey. Laich lives for the sport. And when it didn’t come around to Washington last September, Laich wanted to go somewhere where they were playing the game.

“I grew up loving the game of hockey, not loving the NHL,” he said at the time.

So on September 28, Laich signed with Kloten Flyers of the Swiss National League A. Ten minutes away from Zurich by train, Kloten (pronounced k-LOOOO-ten as Laich is quick to point out) is city of around 20,000. It’s hockey team has been around since 1934, 40 years before the birth of the Washington Capitals.

Laich suited up 19 times for Kloten before the owners and the Players Association reached an agreement to end the lockout just before 5 a.m. on the morning of January 6. He had some good games and he had some bad games. He got hurt once. Then he got hurt again, an injury that could cost him the first two weeks of the NHL season. But, to be trite, it was an experience the 29-year-old will never forget.

“I loved it,” Laich told RMNB recently in an otherwise deserted Capitals locker room. “I loved every second of it.”

Tagged with: Brooks Laich • Kloten Flyers

Olie Kolzig is Honored, “Feels Old” After Michal Neuvirth Has Him Painted on New Mask

On January 15, 2013, In Exclusive, Interview, Photos, Video, By Ian Oland

Photo credit: Chris Gordon

Over the summer, Swedish airbrush artist Dave Gunnarsson released photos of the new goalie mask he painted for Michal Neuvirth. It was a thing of beauty and something all Capitals fans could appreciate.

One side of the mask features images of Neuvirth’s hometown along with a portrait image of Czech goaltending great Jiří Holeček. On the other side there’s an action shot of Olie Kolzig, the franchise’s leader in wins, juxtaposed with the old Capitals dome logo and stars.

The gesture was not lost on Kolzig, now an associate goaltending coach for the Capitals and technically one of Neuvirth’s coaches.

Tagged with: Mask • Michal Neuvirth • Olie Kolzig

Protest Jerseys: Caps Fans Wear International Gear to Express Disgust with NHL, Capitals

On January 14, 2013, In Interview, Training Camp, By Ian Oland

James and Shannon show off their jerseys at Front Page Arlington. (Photo credit: Ian iPad)

On Sunday, the Washington Capitals officially opened training camp at Kettler Capitals IcePlex in front of about 1,000 raucous Caps fans. There wasn’t an empty seat in the bleachers, and rows of red-clad fans, four to five people deep, surrounded the rink. It was as if the lockout never happened.

But there were some fans not in red. They stood out from the pack, and that was intentional.

Tagged with: NHL Lockout • Protest Jerseys • Ted Leonsis

Did the Lockout Help Alex Ovechkin Gain Endorsements in Russia?

On January 8, 2013, In Interview, News, By Chris Gordon

We’ve heard plenty about the economic impact of the lockout on the players — the salary cap, hockey-related revenue, pensions. All of that can be a little mind-numbing. But there’s another factor at play for a few elite players: the effect of the lockout on their brand and their endorsements. There is obviously less demand for a guy like Steven Stamkos if he isn’t on the ice. While big-time players make the majority of their money from a few long-term deal deals, the possibility (which we almost experienced) of going a year and a half without any commercials and other sources of income isn’t something to overlook.

But what if you’re an international star like Alex Ovechkin, who spent the previous four months playing in the country where he’s arguably more popular than he is here? After all, Ovi’s appeal is limited in America. Hockey is by far the smallest of the major professional sports and athletes don’t generate much interest outside the cities they play in. In Russia, however, Ovechkin is a something of a national hero, not just a great player for the local team. There’s a case to be made, then, that Ovechkin could have actually made more money in his homeland than if he were in the NHL, both in salary and endorsements.

Tagged with: Alex Ovechkin • David Abrutyn

Mark French Dishes on Adam Oates’ New System, Stan Galiev’s Struggles, and If This is the Best He’s Seen Braden Holtby Play

On January 7, 2013, In Hershey Bears, Interview, By Ian Oland

Photo credit: Ian iPad

Over the offseason the Hershey Bears saw several key veterans sign elsewhere, such as future AHL Hall of Famer Keith Aucoin, 2011-12 AHL leading scorer Chris Bourque, and fan-favorite enforcer Joel Rechlicz. The team also had to deal with a peculiar problem due to the lockout: two head coaches, Mark French and new Caps bench boss Adam Oates. Capitals general manager George McPhee mandated that Hershey learn Oates’ new system, so that the organization’s minor league players could be used to it by the time NHL games started being played. All this change has seen the team scuffle to a .500 record through 34 games this season (16-16-1-1).

But now things are starting to look up. Before it was announced that the lockout had been lifted, Hershey had been getting its best goaltending of the year from Braden Holtby, who was recently named AHL player of the month for December. Stan Galiev, who had been struggling with his transition from junior hockey, is starting to look more comfortable on the ice and more worthy of his #29 prospect ranking from Hockey Prospectus. The organization also has a surplus of quality goaltenders in the ECHL knocking at the door of the AHL: Philipp Grubauer and 2012 seventh-round pick Sergey Kostenko.

On Saturday, after the Bears’ 3-1 loss to the Binghamton Senators, I asked French if this is the best he’s seen Braden Holtby play, if the sky is the limit for Riley Barber, and if Caps fans should be worried about Galiev’s early season struggles.

My full Q&A with French is below the jump.

Tagged with: Adam Oates • Braden Holtby • Cameron Schilling • Mark French • Mattias Sjogren • Philipp Grubauer • Riley Barber • Sergey Kostenko • Stanislav Galiev

Injured Dmitry Orlov Should Begin Skating This Week

On January 6, 2013, In Exclusive, Injury, Interview, By Ian Oland

Dima sits with the other Bears scratches during Saturday’s Bears game. (Photo credit: Katie Stansbery)

When Dmitry Orlov came out of the tunnel for the AHL Showcase game last month, he was excited to see fans back at Verizon Center. It was the reason why, in his opinion, he played the best hockey of his season. The AHL gamesheet says that the 21-year-old defenseman recorded two shots on goal that first period, but Dima remembered it being closer to four or five.

Unfortunately, as he confirmed to me on Saturday night during the first intermission of the Bears/Senators game, Orlov suffered an injury after absorbing a hit from Emerson Etem. Due to team policy, Orlov would not reveal the nature or location of his injury.

After spending two weeks recovering, Orlov has begun riding an exercise bike and lifting weights. According to Hershey Bears head coach Mark French, Orlov is close to getting back on the ice for practice again.

Tagged with: Dmitry Orlov • Injury • Mark French

Nicklas Backstrom’s Agent: Injury Could Be Week-to-Week

On January 1, 2013, In Interview, News, By Chris Gordon

Photo credit: Dynamo.ru

Playing overseas may keep some NHL players in top form during the lockout but the dreams of their general managers are haunted by a nightmare scenario — a serious injury to a star player.

Last Wednesday, Nicklas Backstrom was involved in frightening episode, in which he was checked from behind while playing for Dynamo Moscow. Backstrom, who missed three months last season with a concussion, went headfirst into the boards and left the game after trying to play one more shift. Dynamo called the injury a “neck bruise” and said the pivot should be good to go by the next game. As of the weekend, Backstrom saw at least two doctors, and a Russian newspaper report speculated that Nicky had traveled to America due to the injury’s severity. According to Nicky’s Swedish agent, Gunnar Svensson, that’s not true.

Tagged with: Dmitry Orlov • Injury • Nicklas Backstrom

Sergey Kostenko Reveals His New Mask and the Story Behind It

On December 5, 2012, In Caps Prospect, Interview, Photos, By Ian Oland

During Capitals Development Camp this past July, seventh round pick Sergey Kostenko came to America for the first time in his life. Despite not knowing a lick of English, the 20-year-old Russian goaltender was impressed by how the organization treated him. So much so that he negotiated out of his KHL contract with Metallurg Novokuznetsk to sign an entry-level contract with Washington a few days later.

“They take a very good care of the players here [in America],” Kostenko told RMNB’s Igor Kleyner during an interview in Reading, Pennsylvania, where Kostenko is rehabbing a shoulder injury with the ECHL’s Reading Royals. “Even the smallest things, like they asked me in Washington: ‘do you want to get your mask painted?’ And I said, ‘of course!’”

Tagged with: Sergey Kostenko

Russian Machine Never Breaks

Olie Kolzig: Ovechkin’s Going to be a Very Happy Hockey Player Under Oates

The Lockout’s Worst Casualty: Karl Alzner’s Deleted Twitter Account

Brooks Laich on his Time in Switzerland: Flaming Helmets, Laich Buttons, and Lots of Roughing Penalties

Olie Kolzig is Honored, “Feels Old” After Michal Neuvirth Has Him Painted on New Mask

Protest Jerseys: Caps Fans Wear International Gear to Express Disgust with NHL, Capitals

Did the Lockout Help Alex Ovechkin Gain Endorsements in Russia?

Mark French Dishes on Adam Oates’ New System, Stan Galiev’s Struggles, and If This is the Best He’s Seen Braden Holtby Play

Injured Dmitry Orlov Should Begin Skating This Week

Nicklas Backstrom’s Agent: Injury Could Be Week-to-Week

Sergey Kostenko Reveals His New Mask and the Story Behind It

Got A Hockey Tip?

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