Not five minutes ago, over in the Machinist, Peter was griping about CSN not posting their video of Alan May at Friday’s alumni game. Then Ian found it.
On January 7, 2011, In Video, Winter Classic, By Russian Machine Never Breaks
On January 5, 2011, In Winter Classic, By Peter Hassett
Bleep dat bleep up
On January 2, 2011, In Game Recap, Winter Classic, By Ian Oland
Ovi tackles his teammates after Mike Knuble's second period goal. (Photo credit: Dave Sandford)
Photo credit: Gregory Shamus
After a year of build-up and three glorious episodes of HBO’s 24/7, the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins finally met at Heinz Field in front of 68,111 loud, screaming fans to compete in the 2011 Winter Classic. Much like the 39 games before and the 42 games to follow, this game counted the exact same amount in the standings: two points.
But both you and I know it meant waaaaaay more than that. You could see it in how the Caps played, celebrated and spoke after the game. This was the biggest game they had ever played in their NHL careers. And it showed.
At 8:17pm the first puck dropped. It would then take over twenty-two compelling game minutes to see the 2011 Classic’s first goal. In the second period, Marc-Andre Fleury made a routine stick save along the ice on Alex Ovechkin. Kris Letang then took the rebound and alertly flung the puck up ice where he found a streaking Evgeny Malkin. The Capitals’ defense, caught on a bad change, allowed Malkin to go in all alone on Semyon Varlamov. Malkin went five-hole and the the Penguins took a 1-0 lead.
On January 1, 2011, In Photos, Winter Classic, By Ian Oland
On January 1, 2011, In Artwork, Winter Classic, By Ian Oland
Rachel Cohen, RMNB’s resident illustrator, made this awesome sign for tonight’s game. Please make sure to keep a look out for her during the national broadcast. She will be holding this sign proudly all night. Most importantly, now that we’re less than an hour away from the game…
LET’S GO CAPS!!
After Caps practice concluded today, players and team members were treated to a free skate in which they could bring their friends and family onto the ice. The one person who seemed to have the most fun was none other than Alex Ovechkin, who celebrated the Russian New Year on the Winter Classic ice at 4pm.
Ovi began the free skate by pulling his non-hockey-playing brother Mikhail along with a stick. Next, he set his sights for Alex Semin’s young niece and gave her a trek across the ice on top of his shoulders. After noticing a few kids throwing a football around, Ovechkin got into the action and threw the ball to the kids the entire length of the ice. Several times the bouncing football almost hit one of the NHL Network’s reporters on live TV. Finally, Ovechkin concluded his skate by giving George McPhee’s son, Graham, a wedgie we’re sure he’ll remember for life.
Since we figured you’d want to actually see all of this, the photos and video are below the jump. Enjoy.
On December 31, 2010, In Video, Winter Classic, By Ian Oland
Sasha Minor talks about the conditions of the ice, how to stay focused, and who came to Pittsburgh to support him with the NHL Network’s Alyonka Larianov.
On December 31, 2010, In Video, Winter Classic, By Ian Oland
Mike Green‘s friends from Calgary got engaged at center ice after the Capitals concluded their Winter Classic practice. Above Jeff Leachman and his future wife Lindsey, tell the story.
On December 31, 2010, In Photos, Winter Classic, By Ian Oland
Your new desktop background: The entire Caps’ roster smiles for the camera ahead of the Winter Classic. Click to enlarge. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
On December 31, 2010, In Video, Winter Classic, By Ian Oland
Above, are highlights from the Caps Pens Alumni Game where the two-period exhibition ended in a 5-5 tie. One of my favorite All-Time Capitals, Peter Bondra, tied the game in the final few minutes with a wicked slap shot from the middle of the circles. In Bonzai’s post-game scrum with the media, he revealed that the scrimmage actually got quite intense.
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