Photo credit: Chris Gordon

If you’ve been reading RMNB, you’re already aware of Patrick Wey, a senior blueliner out of Boston College. On Friday morning, the Capitals announced signing Wey to a two-year, entry-level contract.

Wey helped BC win their fourth straight Beanpot Tournament this year as well the Holy War on Ice game against Notre Dame. Wey was named the East’s Defensive Defenseman of the Year and named to the second-team all-stars.

Expect Wey to report to Hershey next season.

Read more about Patrick Wey on RMNB.

Press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – April 5, 2013

Capitals Sign Patrick Wey

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have signed defenseman Patrick Wey to a two-year, entry-level contract beginning in 2013-14, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today.

The 6’3, 210-pound defenseman recently completed his senior season at Boston College, recording career highs in points (13), assists (12), games played (37, tied) and penalty minutes (54) and registered a plus-14 rating this season. Wey helped Boston College to a 22-12-4 record and a berth in the NCAA tournament. He was named a 2013 Hockey East Second-Team All-Star and named Hockey East’s 2013 Best Defensive Defenseman.

In 133 career games with Boston College, Wey collected 33 points (four goals, 29 assists) and 147 penalty minutes. He helped Boston College win the NCAA National Championship in 2011-12 and tallied one goal and three assists in four tournament games. Boston College also won the Hockey East Championship and the NCAA regular-season championship last season as Wey was named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team at the Northeast Regional.

The Pittsburgh native helped the United States win the bronze medal at the 2011 Under-20 World Junior Championship, appearing in six tournament games. Wey was drafted by Washington in the fourth round (115th overall) in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

“What’d you call me?” (GIF by jaybeagles)

Hockey players are accustomed to terrible nicknames; they’ve got a lot. The current iteration of the Washington Capitals includes Patsy (Aaron Volpatti), Crabber (Joey Crabb), and Carly (John Carlson). Now we know Steve Oleksy‘s too, though he won’t be happy with RMNB once his teammates read this. See: Oleksy’s lifelong nickname isn’t Stevie O (as head Adam Oates called him); it’s Binky. And we’ve got the story behind that.

“When I was younger, I was sick and I was in the hospital quite a bit,” Oleksy told me recently. “I called my pacifier my binky, and every time I started crying the nurses would tell my mom to put my binky in. She started calling me that, and then the kids at school caught on, and it just kind of grew with me.”

“That’s been my nickname my whole life growing up, and it’s stuck with me all the way through every level of hockey I’ve played,” he added. “People find out and it catches on. A lot of people back home don’t even know me by my real name, they know me by Binky. It’s kind of stuck with me through the years. It’s not something that I try to hide from.”

The rise of Oleksy — nickname and all — from an undrafted minor league player to getting big minutes with the Capitals is remarkable. He didn’t become a full-time AHL player until this season and was something of a role player even in Hershey. But thanks to a bruised-up Caps blue line and Oates’s insistence on a balancing right-handed and lefty shots, Oleksy has joined what is ostensibly the team’s top pairing– alongside Karl Alzner. He’s now getting more than 20 minutes of ice time a night. In nine games, Oleksy has scored four points, including his first NHL goal.

“As a hockey player you prepare for that,” Oleksy said of his playing time. “I don’t think you should be a hockey player if you don’t want to be on the ice every second of every game.”

“At every level you just play the game,” he continued. “That what I try to do here.”

Still, it’s significant change to go from playing in front of 200 fans in an old barn to starting next to Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom on national television.

“They’re teammates now; I look at them as teammates just like any other,” said Oleksy of his new colleagues. “They joke, they have a good time, they’re fun to be around. When you got a group of guys like that, it makes things a lot easier to play in that situation — you’re not so astounded.”

But back to Oleksy’s nickname, which he seems to have squashed before he got to the pros. It’s currently unknown in Washington’s locker room. According to Braden Holtby, even with the Bears most players didn’t know it.

“It never caught on,” Holtby said. “I think he kept that under wraps in Hershey pretty well.”

A few guys, however, did find out. Holtby was one of them.

“I knew about one time because I was at his house and on his computer it said ‘Binky’s Computer’ or something like that,” he said. “I was like ‘Who is that?’ One of the guys told me. It’s one of those nicknames where it’d be pretty funny if it caught on.”

Yes. It would be funny, but how could it possibly catch on?

Oh. Right. We made a shirt.

(From now until March 23rd, if you buy two RMNB shirts, you get free shipping. Just enter EASTER2013 during checkout.)

Additional reporting and shirt by Ian Oland. Thanks to Rachel O’Brien for the tip.

Photo credit: Kyle Mace of SHOE

News broke on Monday night that the Caps have signed their second fighter in a week. This time it’s Hershey’s 27-year-old defender, Steve Oleksy.

Sweetest Hockey on Earth superstar Kyle Mace writes about Steve Oleksy all the time, so we’re giving him the floor to introduce us to the new Caps’ latest acquisition:

Steve Oleksy (pronounced OH-lexi) is one of the team leaders for the Hershey Bears. This call up is his first shot at the NHL. He leads the Bears in penalty minutes, mostly due to fights caused by sticking up for his teammates. Off the ice, Oleksy is one of the most down-to-earth players you will meet. Very involved on Twitter, Oleksy is the founder and president of Eastside Elite Hockey, a summer hockey league that helps players stay in shape.

The Chesterfield, Michigan native will be a good addition to the Caps blue line. Oates watched Oleksy earlier this season as an assistant to Mark French during the lockout. Don’t be surprised to see Steve throw his body around. Despite being only six feet tall and weighing just 190, he is still a big force on the ice.

Read about Steve Oleksy on SHOE.

Check out Oleksy’s Instagram.

And here’s the Capitals press release:

Capitals Sign and Recall Steven Oleksy from Hershey

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have signed defenseman Steven Oleksy to a one-year contract and recalled him from the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL), vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today.

Oleksy, 27, has recorded two goals, 12 assists and 151 penalty minutes in 55 games with Hershey this season. He currently leads the Bears and ranks third among AHL defensemen in penalty minutes. The 6’, 190-pound defenseman spent last season with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, appearing in 50 games posting one goal, 14 assists and 98 penalty minutes. He also tied for third on the team with a plus-16 efficiency rating.

The Chesterfield, Michigan native was originally signed by Hershey on July 2, 2012. He will participate in Washington’s morning skate tomorrow at 10 am at Kettler Capitals Iceplex and will wear No. 61 for the Capitals.

Orlov catches up with Mike Green at Hershey’s Outdoor Game. (Photo credit: Kyle Mace of Sweetest Hockey On Earth)

Their defensive depth was supposed to be a strength. The plan for the Washington Capitals was to have nine blueliners with serious NHL experience at their deposal, ready to jump into to a game at any minute. It didn’t work out that way. The pair of Karl Alzner and John Carlson has struggled, giving up a majority of the team’s goals against. The other D-men haven’t been much better. Tom Poti has played three games in two years. Mike Green is scoreless. And then there are the injuries. Jack Hillen went down after playing less than four minutes. Dmitry Orlov has been out indefinitely. The Caps have been forced to call up Tomas Kundratek.

So what happened to Orlov, one of the team’s rising stars? While skating for the Hershey Bears in the AHL Showcase at Verizon Center in November, the young Russian absorbed a hit up high from Emerson Etem. He didn’t appear to be favoring anything when he attempted to play one more shift that night, leading many to believe he suffered a concussion. In an interview with RMNB’s Ian Oland, Bears coach Mark French did not confirm or deny that Orlov may have received a concussion on the hit.

“The only thing we’ve said so far — as far as my understanding — is that it’s an upper body injury,” French told Ian. “It’s above my pay grade and above my qualifications to say any more. It’s certainly an upper body injury.”

“Our hope is that once we regroup as a team following the All-Star break he would be able to skate,” said the coach.

This was second time Orlov has been injured this year. A month and a half before leaving the AHL Showcase, he was slammed head-first awkwardly into the boards from behind, causing him to miss about two weeks. French said the injuries are connected.

“It’s hard to answer without the medical knowledge, but to my understanding of it, they are related,” he said to Ian.

According to French, the fastest coach in AHL history to 100 wins, Orlov is progressing after suffering a set-back the second week of January. That week, Orlov tried skating again for the first time since suffering the injury but didn’t feel “good” and “backed off,” in French’s words. Since then, Dima has been riding a stationary bike to work on his fitness as he makes his way back into game shape. The plan is to have Novokuznetsk native back on the ice again next week after the AHL All-Star Game on Monday.

“I think he is getting better,” French said. “It’s safe to say that once he comes back healthy, there’ll be a conditioning period where we’ll have to get him up to game speed. How long that is, I’m not sure. We certainly would like to see him in a week of practice before getting him back into a game.”

“I would expect once he is healthy and goes through a conditioning period down here, that he would be going right up to Washington,” he continued.

Since coming over to North America in the spring of 2010, Orlov has acquitted himself well. After his Russian team was eliminated from the playoffs, he bolted over the pond to play for Bears in their run for the Calder Cup. In 2011, he started the year with Hershey but by November he was playing in his first NHL game. He became a staple on Washington’s blueline over the course of the year, playing 60 games his rookie season while tallying 19 points.

Around the time Orlov came up, however, the Caps fired their head coach, Bruce Boudreau. Orlov, an offensive defenseman, was more suited to Boudreau’s game then the one implemented by Dale Hunter last season, something that preached defense above all else.

“Dale made it work, but it probably wasn’t the best system for Dmitry’s game,” said French, who called Adam Oates’ system “much more up Dmitry’s alley.”

Orlov’s biggest adjustment, though, hasn’t been on the ice. A 21-year-old from Southern Russia, getting used to the language and the culture has been a big undertaking. But now after almost two years here Orlov’s English is better, to the point where we can have full conversations.

“He never really had a true understanding of what you were really trying to communicate,” French said. “He would acknowledge and shake his head like “Yeah,” but you never knew if he was really grasping it. I think now when you can have that dialogue, you can see that he’s truly understanding what you’re saying and it’s probably been the biggest challenge of his development of all.”

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.

Photo credit: Tim Stough / Sweetest Hockey on Earth

A year ago Caps defenseman Tom Poti was considered washed up. After a pestering groin injury and a broken pelvis, which apparently is an actual thing that can happen to a person, his future as a pro hockey player was dubious at best. Fast-forward to January 2013. Tom Poti has recovered. He passed his physical in DC and got sent to Hershey on a conditioning stint. Poti proved himself capable on Sunday night, scoring a power play goal in 5-0 rout over the Whalers.

Kyle Mace at our sister site, Sweetest Hockey on Earth, has the full story on Poti’s big night in Pennsylvania. Read it and then tell me you’re not rooting for the guy to come back to the Caps and do great things.

Photo credit: Jordan Tenenbaum

On December 6th, the Verizon Center hosted the AHL Showcase between the Hershey Bears and Norfolk Admirals. Due to the lockout, it was the first hockey game played in Washington since May 9th, when two current Bears were playing with the Capitals: Braden Holtby and Dmitry Orlov.

While Holtby dominated in the Bears 2-1 victory during the Showcase, Orlov made it through just the first period before leaving the game due to injury. Since then, Orlov has missed ten games– a month’s worth of action. Bears radio announcer and PR man Scott Stuccio told RMNB on Thursday night that the Novokuznetsk-native is not close to returning yet.

With the departure of veteran defenseman Dennis Wideman over the offseason, Orlov was expected to play big minutes on the Capitals third defensive pairing this season. Instead, he’s nursing what seems to be a long-term injury with a possible NHL season nearing. Few details have emerged on what Orlov’s injury is.

To try to figure out what’s going on, I reviewed tape of the AHL Showcase to see if I could pinpoint when and where the injury occurred. After re-watching the first period, I came to a few conclusions.

• Orlov did not leave  a shift early.
• Orlov had no apparent limp and did not favor a leg.
• On Orlov’s second to last shift, he absorbed a body check from two players.

With 4:47 left in the first period, Orlov led the Bears into Norfolk’s offensive zone. As the 21-year-old defenseman cut to the middle of the ice, he passed to a teammate. Then, six-foot four-inch, 250-lbs. Emerson Etem saw the play developing and prepare to hit Orlov. As the two players’ bodies met near the slot, Etem put his shoulder under Orlov’s chin, sending him airborne. Chris Wagner, trailing on the play, then collided with the airborne Orlov, cross-checking him in the head. Orlov fell to the ice, but quickly got up as the referees blew the play dead.

Photo Sequence of the Hit

Zoomed-In Shots

Orlov returned for one final shift, a penalty kill at the end of the first period. On that shift, he tried to block a Patrick Maroon shot from the perimeter. Maroon’s stick appears to get close to striking Orlov’s helmet, but after reviewing replays, I don’t think it hit him.

Orlov then skated off for a shift change, no worse for wear. After going into the Bears locker room, he did not emerge for the second period and has been scratched since.

Photo credit: marlies.ca

The Hershey Bears have long been considered one of the elite teams of the American Hockey League. The Bears have won eleven Calder Cups and had eleven of its coaches and players inducted into the NHL or AHL halls of fame. With its rich history and fantastic arena, the Bears have routinely churned out top prospects and cultivated a huge following, leading the AHL in attendance for the past six seasons. But how do they compare to the rest of the world?

On Monday, Sports.ru blogger Viktor Mayorov tabulated the current average attendance numbers for every hockey team in Europe, which included leagues in Russia (KHL), Germany (DEL), Switzerland (NLA), Austria (EBEL), Sweden (Elitserien), and Finland (SM-Liiga).

The results are below the jump.

European Hockey Home Attendance, 2012-13

1. SC Bern – NLA – 16,296
2. Dinamo Minsk – KHL – 14,214
3. Eisbaren Berlin – DEL – 14,016
4. Kolner Haie – DEL – 12,321
5. SKA St. Petersburg – KHL – 11,785
6. Adler Mannheim – DEL – 10,301
7. Slovan Bratislava – KHL – 9,925
8. Jokerit Helsinki – SM-Liiga – 9,658
9. Hershey Bears – AHL – 9,085
10. Lokomotiv Yaroslavl – KHL – 8,728

Not only does the Hershey Bears’ attendance nearly double Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom’s Dynamo Moscow (5,890 – 37th in Europe), they would be ranked ninth overall among all European teams. Backstrom’s former team Brynas has an average attendance of 6,324, good for third in the SEL (28th in Europe), while Evgeny Kuznetsov’s Traktor Cheylabinsk averaged 7,229 (19th in Europe) and Fillp Forsberg’s Leksands IF averaged 4,860 (4th among all European Minor League teams).

The second most popular AHL team, the Lake Erie Monsters, would’ve fallen outside of the top 20 with an average attendance of 7,184.

Those Pennsylvanians sure love their Bears.

Photo credit: Rachel B.

We shoulda made some PUNCH THIS FACE signs with Gary Bettman’s face on ‘em.

Photo credit: @frankgiblin

Photo credit: @lottapub

Photo credit: @capsoutsider

If you encountered any other protesting fans, send your photos to thecrew@russianmachineneverbreaks.com.

Wheeee!!!!

While Dmitry Orlov is a defenseman who is known more for his offensive instincts, the 21-year-old Russian sure loves to hit too. Last season he crushed Blake Wheeler, Steve Downie, and Lars Eller all with devastating hip checks. And during Hershey’s second game of the season this year, he flipped a dude head over heels. Last night, during Teddy Bear Toss night at Giant Center, Orlov — apparently jealous of the fans — attempted to toss something over the boards too: Norfolk’s Jay Rosehill.

Video

As Hershey’s Ryan Potulny turned the puck over in the third period (on what may be the worst drop pass of all-time), Rosehill ambled up the ice staring at the puck in-between his skates. Um, big mistake. Orlov slowly lined-up the 216-pound enforcer (who’s fought Milan Lucic, Shawn Thornton, and Krys Barch) and stuck his left shoulder into Rosehill’s chest. The collision sent Rosehill’s torso and head flying into his own team’s bench. As Rosehill’s legs met Orlov’s elbows when his ballistic body was at a 180-degree angle, he was sadly stopped from a complete bench-player deposit.

Now excuse me while I go hit the replay button on this YouYube for the next three hours.

The lockout is miserable, but at least we get NHL stars participating in silly AHL promotions. Check out Braden Holtby (front row, second to the left) and Dmitry Orlov (back row, dude wearing the hardhat) doing their best to raise money for the American Cancer Society by showing off new pink t-shirts and sticks. The “Pink The Rink” shirts will be available for purchase at the Bears game on Sunday behind section 117, and the pink sticks they use during warm-ups will be up for silent auction behind section 119.

That’s great and all, but where can I buy that hard-hat Dima’s wearing?

Photo credit: Hershey Bears Facebook page.