Team Maryland and Team Virginia pose after the game (Download the high-res version)

Despite Washington, D.C. setting a record high temperature of 102 degrees Saturday, it was a perfect day for hockey as over 40 players and over a hundred visitors gathered at Kettler Capitals Iceplex for the 4th Annual Dave Fay Memorial Game benefitting Hockey Fights Cancer. Former Caps Yvon Labre, Gord Lane, Paul Mulvey, Gary Rissling, and Alan Hangsleben joined players from across Maryland and Virginia to honor the long-time Washington Times hockey writer who passed away in 2007 after 12-year battle with cancer.

The game — raising over $4,500 for cancer research –certainly didn’t have a shortage of great moments. Our favorites include Dave Fay’s widow, Pat, starting the festivities off with a ceremonial puck drop at center ice, Gary Rissling playing with a bloody mouth after a collision on the ice, and Capitals PA Announcer Wes Johnson calling Team Maryland coach Steve Kolbe during the game and telling him to instruct Alan Hangsleben to get in a fight so that he could register a Gordie Howe Hat Trick (the plan was successful)!

Both teams displayed rustiness and a general lack of speed, but what they all lacked in talent was made up for in sheer determination, dirty play, and creative coaching (Kolbe yelled “Shoot!” a lot). In the end, Maryland edged Virginia, 8-7, with the game ending the way all important matches should — a shootout.

Below are the pictures I captured from the day.

(All photographs by Chris Gordon — Click to enlarge)

Dave Fay’s relatives including his widow, Pat (right), come out for the ceremonial drop of the puck.

 Former Capitals Gord Lane and Yvon Labre take the draw.

The action gets underway. 

 Team Virginia, in white, takes a 1-0 lead on Tom Moore’s goal.

Gary Rissling, a former player for the Capitals, Penguins, and the AHL’s Baltimore Skipjacks skates up the ice.

Labre fires off a breakout pass.

Virginia takes a 2-1 lead on Derek Newton’s tally.

 Rissling talks to goalie, OFB contributor, and former Miss Virginia Tara Wheeler.

Virginia nets a goal.

Perfectly legal in a charity hockey game.

If you haven’t noticed yet, Rissling was the star of the show.

Maryland scores.

Rissling and Michael Thomas go at it.

The puck drops on the second period.

Rissling gets clipped up high. No worries though, he’s a hockey player.

Virginia’s goalies Evey Staff and Tara Wheeler share a laugh. 

Wheeler looks on.

Maryland goes ahead, 7-5.

Former Whalers, Capitals, and Kings player Alan Hangsleben laughs on the bench.

John Kosak takes a photo of me, I take a photo of him.

Cliff “The Cataylst” Wilks is pumped after his late third period goal for Virginia to sends the game to a shootout.

Maryland coach Steve Kolbe approves of his plan.

Maryland’s Rick Dade celebrates one of his team’s shootout goals.

Jon Weetmay stops Virginia’s Bill Hardy.

Rissling informs Virginia of their loss.

 Labre shakes hands with Hangsleben.

Kolbe presents the trophy.

D.J. Tim Phillips and P.A. man Wes Johnson pose for a picture.

Before Wes decides to scare the crap out of you and me.

Additional reporting 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.

“Early in the game I know what to expect. When the game went on – the old guys actually brought [the intensity level] up. They started hooking, [playing] old-time hockey. There was chopping at the skates. One guy broke a stick on my leg.”

We’re still awaiting word for if that guy was Mario Lemieux. Paul Mulvey (2), Alan May, and Mark Lofthouse also scored for the Capitals, while Ron Francis, Jay Caufield, Rob Brown, Rod Buskas, and Craig Simpson tallied for the Pens.

For more coverage of the first real event on the Winter Classic ice (sorry, media guys), make sure to check out On Frozen Blog and Capitals Insider who’ll be there all weekend.

Photos

Alan May looks to score as Rick Tocchet smiles in the background.

Peter Bondra shows Paul Coffey that he still has some moves.

Lemieux looks to start the break-out.

Craig Simpson scores glove-side on Don Beaupre. Nothing new there!

Yvon Labre shares a laugh with the Pens bench.

Brooks Laich, err I mean Dennis Maruk, looks for a pass in the Neutral Zone.

Sylvain Cote defends Ron Francis. GET YER STICK UP, COTES!

Peter Bondra celebrates his GTG.

The players salute the 10,000 people in attendance at Heinz Field.

Of course. Mario has to be front and center.

Rumors, and for us Caps fans – despair, fill up most of the downtime until we wait for the puck to drop again in October. Some of us speculate on which UFA will be (re)signed, some of us debate hotness of hockey players with or without teeth and some of us debate who’s sweater should hang in the rafters of The Phone Booth.

Olaf Kölzig spent 16 years as a Washington Capital — including six appearances as their goalie in the playoffs. He owns many of the franchise’s meaningful goalie records (GP, W, SO, Pts, SVs and SV%). Should the Caps honor the now-retired Kölzig by hoisting his jersey to the Verizon Center rafters?

As you would expect, Ted Leonis got this question almost immediately after Kölzig announced his retirement, and posted in his blog:

He was an all-time great for our franchise. He is deeply respected and beloved by all of us but I simply request that we all have the luxury of time. We all need to gain perspective.

Let’s take a look at which jerseys are already retired by the Caps and then see if Olie the Goalie deserves his jersey among them.

The current honorees:

Will Olie's #37 someday join Langway, Labre, Gartner and Hunter up in the rafters?

#7 Yvon Labre. Labre scored the first-ever home goal for Washington and was the team’s captain from 1976–78. Labre is on the Caps career leaderboard for PIMS (#8).

#5 Rod Langway, captain from 1982–93 and also the “Secretary of Defense.” Langway is a HOFer, won the Norris trophy twice with the Caps and was a 6 time All Star. The Capitals competed in the postseason in every one of the 11 years that Langway was with the team. Some credit him as being the franchise’s savior. A no-brainer.

#32 Dale Hunter. Hunter litters the Caps leaderboard – and not just for PIMs (1st): Games Played (4th), Goals (T-9th), Assists (3rd), Points (4th). He was also the captain from 1994–99.

#11 Mike Gartner, HOFer, seven time All Star and on The Hockey News’ list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players (#89). #2 in Goals, Assists and Points for the Caps franchise. It took Gartner 10 years after his retirement to get his number retired.

Oh, the good ol' days.

Clearly, Kölzig is the best goalie ever for the Capitals. His 18,013 saves are about 12,000 more than 2nd place (Don Beaupre) and his 301 wins are the most for any Washington Capital goalie. He also owns many of the franchise’s meaningful goalie records (GP, SO, Pts and SV%).

Kölzig was a fan favorite. In 2004, the Capitals held a vote for fans to determine the top 30 players in the franchise history to celebrate their 30th season in the league. Kölzig’s 2,038 votes led all players.

In the 1997–98 season Kölzig led the Capitals to the Stanley Cup Finals. In the playoffs, he became only the tenth goalie in NHL history to record four shutouts in one postseason. The Caps were swept in four games by the defending champion Detroit Red Wings.

Kölzig also has the distinction of being one of four goaltenders to play a scoreless period during an NHL All-Star Game, having done so at the 2000 All-Star Game. He also played in the 1998 All-Star Game, in which he made 14 saves on 17 shots. His 2000-01 campaign is the only one that would also come close to an “all-star-type season.

In 2000, he won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie after going 41-20-11 with a 2.24 GAA and five shutouts.

So, what do we have?

Out of the four jerseys retired by the Capitals:

Three were captains. The first thing that jumps out at me is that three of the four honorees were team captains.  Because Kölzig was a goaltender, he was never allowed  to officially hold that title, but there was rarely any doubt who led the team especially in the latter stages of his career. Remember, there was a time when Steve Konowalchuk, Jeff Halpern & Brendan Witt held the distinguished honor.

Two are Hall of Famers, one of which is on the list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players ever. Kölzig played in an era that also had Richter, Brodeur, Hasek, Roy and Belfour, so he was never regarded as one of the best goalies ever in the NHL, and I am not so sure he is even a HOFer.

None were Cap “lifers.” Kölzig spent 16 years with the Caps, and during that time, he was a very good NHL goalie, which is why he holds most of the meaningful franchise records a goalie can have for the Washington Capitals.

It’s a tough call. I think there is pressure from fans, more for sentimental reasons than for Kölzig’s body of work on the ice. Longevity certainly is something to be lauded, but it also provides a longer period of time for people to become endeared to an ideal. Kolzig is a fan favorite for sure, but outside of the Vezina Trophy season of 2000, I think retiring his jersey would be more for a PR move than for his contributions on the ice.

Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth will ultimately provide the “perspective” Leonsis spoke about in his blog post, but either way, I don’t think Kölzig should hang among Labre, Hunter, Langway and Gartner.  

Regardless, he sure was one good actor.