Above, please check out CSN Washington’s brand-new promo for the Washington Capitals upcoming season entitled “The Race For The Cup.” The commercial, which is inspired by the movie Inception, features clips of Alex Ovechkin cross-checking Brooks Orpik, John Erskine knocking out Chris Thorburn, & Bruce Boudreau leaping maybe 4 inches. If this doesn’t get you excited for the Caps Home Opener – which is now only 33 days away – I’m not sure what will.

And just as a friendly reminder, make sure to keep your schedule clear Friday, September 10th at 10am. That’s when individual tickets go on sale for the Capitals upcoming season. Let’s be honest with ourselves, we all know that every home game this season is going to sell out. So make sure to cancel that friday business meeting first thing tomorrow morning or you’ll be sorry!

The two kapitans, Ilya Kovalchuk and Alex Ovechkin

Sunday per Champion.ru, Washington Capitals Superstar Alex Ovechkin and recently-signed New Jersey Devil Ilya Kovalchuk held a charity hockey game at Sokolniki Arena in downtown Moscow. The reason? To raise money for the children affected by the terrible wildfires in Russia this summer. The high-scoring match ended in a 13-13 tie and raised 13,870,000 ruble or $451,900 American Dollars for the children’s fund.

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Andrew Gordon Answers Our Readers’ Questions: Part 1

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A few weeks ago while the blog took a week hiatus, we asked if any of you had questions for player-turned-blogger Andrew Gordon. And boy did you! Tonight we present to you the first five answers out of the ten best questions we received. Also, make sure to check out the photos in this entry. They are from Game 6 of the 2010 Calder Cup Finals where the Hershey Bears celebrated the franchise’s 11th AHL Championship. The photos are from Gordo’s digital camera that he had on the ice. Take it away, Andrew!

Hi, everyone! Looks like this will be my last blog of the summer. Training camp is right around the corner, and once that hits my focus will be on hockey, not writing! I’m going to try to answer all these questions as best I can, but keep in mind some of them would take me forever to fully explain, so I’ll try to cover as much ground as I can without making this a complete yawner of a read. Thanks for reading!

tfirey asks, “Gordo: I have a lot of questions about how pro athletes train (as it’s a world that I’ll never know — alas!). Can you tell us what you do in your workouts? Are any exercises hockey-specific, as opposed to standard endurance and strength-building? How does your routine change throughout the year?”

Thanks for the question, tfirey.  All players have different things they like to do to prepare for upcoming seasons. It’s kind of a trial-and-error thing. The majority of us have had trainers growing up, in junior, in college, and at various pro levels.  They each have their own philosophies and training methods to get a player to the optimum level of fitness.

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Oh look! It’s another adorable promo. This time featuring everyone’s favorite Caveman Captain, Alex Ovechkin. In the above clip, Ovechkin joins the Capital One Vikings on the ice to help prepare customers for the end of the Chevy Chase Bank name. I’m not sure how checking a viking through the glass is gonna help me with said transition, but boy am I entertained. And God, Ovi’s gap-toothed smile at the end there connects with my inner bro-ness in a way some of you will never understand.

Anyways, let us know what you think of Sasha’s acting chops in the comments below! I’m sure we all agree this is Oscar worthy material, no?

S/T to Wyshynski and long-time RMNB reader Michelle (Thanks!)

What Is Alex Semin Worth In Fantasy Hockey?

As close as we could get to Alex Semin in a Fantasy!

“Is it October yet?” takes a back seat to “Is it Draft Day yet?” for us Fantasy Hockey poolies. We eagerly wait to draft Ovechkin or any other Capitals our forwards, defensemen and goaltenders and trash talk our way to victory! However, one player’s value seems to be fairly uncertain: Alexander Semin. ESPN has him ranked as the 8th best player overall for your fantasy team, while Yahoo’s Puck Daddy ranks him 33rd. We here at RMNB try to answer the most important question facing you on draft day: What is Semin worth in fantasy hockey?

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Ovechkin Speaks!

Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

A full week after his first appearance on Russian radio this summer, Alex Ovechkin made his second appearance on the radio station Mayak, Saturday.  Ovi spoke with Regina Sevostyanova and their conversation covered a variety of topics including Russia’s failure at the Vancouver Olympics, how the Russian National Team should respond in Sochi, and the dreaded smoking scandal.

Below the fold, we translated the Sports.ru article which did a transcription of the interview.

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NES Ovechkin: Stick Of Fire, I Score Goal

Enjoy. Created by clockwize. S/T to Puck Daddy.

Is Mathieu Perreault A Clutch Player?

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Some think Mathieu Perreault is a no-brainer to start the year at #2 center whose points-per-game (PPG) would increase in the NHL as much as it did in the AHLdespite there being significant proof to the contrary. Others think he could score 45 points, which I think is high based on what we have seen from him so far in his career.

In fact, if we look at Matty P’s AHL stats they translate to 4G/9A/13P in 21 NHL games. His actual 2009-10 stats in Washington were: 4/5/9 in 21GP. Weird, huh?

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Mike Knuble And Fine Wine: Both Better With Age?

Will Mike Knuble have a career year at 38?

It’s no secret that Mike Knuble is a fan favorite not only among Capital fans, but around the NHL in general. He’s a hard-working winger who lurks in front of the net, regularly crashes the crease and & capitalizes on rebounds in front of the net. This garbageman-mentality helped him score goals at a higher rate in 2009-10 (.42 per game) than in any other season in his career. And he did it all at the ripe age of 37.

But we here at RMNB are worried. Should Mike Knuble’s age cause us to temper our expectations in 2010-11?

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Does Everyone Need More Bradley?

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Everyone Needs More Bradley, right? Whether Matt Bradley was scoring game winning goals, working the PK against some tough competition, staying out of penalty trouble or just plain acting like a superhero, the Caps definitely needed more of it.

But do all players benefit from playing more with Brads?

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