Photo by @cnichols14 of the District Sports Page.

We headed down to Kettler today to see how number 28 was spending his 28th birthday. We expected a low-key, downbeat practice after last night’s 5-0 loss to the Devils. That turned out not to be the case — and Alex Semin in particular seemed to be in a good mood.

Towards the end of practice, assistant coach Jim Johnson gathered members of the first and second power play units and had them working on a one-timers drill. Johnson stood to one side of the ice, and the players ran through the drill on the other side. For the first few minutes, it went about as you’d imagine. Then Alex Ovechkin wound up for a big shot, missed the puck, and fell to the ice face-first.

Semin thought it was funny. Like fall-down, roll-around-on-the-ice and not-be-able-to-breathe funny.

The drill continued. After a few minutes, Semin got up off the ice and was passed the puck again by Johnson. He fumbled the attempt. Then on his second try, Troy Brouwer made the drill a bit more difficult.

Not sure Sasha liked that too much. First, Semin — doing his best Paul Bunyan — attacked Brouwer’s stick like he was chopping firewood. Then, he backhands the stick fifty feet down the ice. Not satisfied with that, Semin races Brouwer for possession of the stick. Unsuccessful, the birthday boy leaves the ice and heads back to the locker room.

Alex Semin angry as he leaves ice

— Chuck Gormley (@ChuckGormleyCSN) March 3, 2012

Angry? Didn’t look it to me.

Two days after re-joining the Capitals as head coach, Dale Hunter made his first big change by naming Jim Johnson as an assistant late Tuesday night. Johnson — a former bruising NHL defenseman who played in 829 career games (121 as a Cap) — will replace Bob Woods who was in his third year with the team. Johnson accumulated over 100 penalty minutes in seven of his 13 seasons in the NHL and has coached before. During the 2009-10 season, he was an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He then took over the head coaching position mid-season for the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals putting up a 15-5-0-2 record in 22 games. With the Capitals’ defense floundering and ranked 28th in the league in goals against, the move certainly makes sense.

The most interesting part of the hire, however, is the fact that Hunter and Johnson actually fought each other twice during their NHL careers. Hockeyfights.com has video of their second bout from November 18, 1992 which I’ve embedded above. Hunter brutalizes Johnson in the scuffle landing eight-straight punches before the fight is broken up by the linesmen. Boys will be boys.

So did Hunter ever fight the other assistant currently on his staff, Dean Evason? The answer — amazingly — is yes. During his time with the Nordiques, Hunter dropped the mitts with Evason three times in the same game on December 31, 1985.

Finally, I wondered if Capitals’ General Manager George McPhee — who was given the nickname “The Undertaker” for his after-whistle antics — had ever dropped the gloves with any members of his new coaching staff.

Sadly, after some thorough research, McPhee never did. He did, however, fight one of Dale’s three brothers, Dave, on February 2, 1985 when he played for the Rangers. Also notable: GMGM has fought Rick Tocchet, a player he traded for on March 1, 1997.

And that’s why I love hockey.

S/t to @GlobalCapsFans and @TheStevePatrick for both tweeting us the video.