Tag: Washington Capitals

At 51, Donald Brashear is still fighting, and we can’t look away
Sports

At 51, Donald Brashear is still fighting, and we can’t look away

WENDAKE, Quebec — The line reaches across the lobby to the glass door entrance 15 minutes before warmups for a hockey game in a low-level pro league just north of Quebec City. We pay $12 a ticket at a table next to the Wendake Sports Complex pro shop, where a game-worn Black Jack No. 87 jersey carries the name of the league’s most famous player: BRASHEAR.He played in 1,025 NHL games and amassed 2,635 penalty minutes during his 17-year career. He earned more than $16 million as one of the league’s most feared enforcers for the Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers.He is now almost 52 years old and we are here to see the famous fighter go another round.Donald Brashear is the marquee attraction. He is the Wendake Black Jack capta...
What’s behind Alex Ovechkin’s scoring decline? Breaking down his offensive drop-off
Sports

What’s behind Alex Ovechkin’s scoring decline? Breaking down his offensive drop-off

Fifteen goals. That’s all Alex Ovechkin is on pace to finish the 2023-24 season with at this rate.Ovechkin’s never finished a season with a measly 15 goals. He’s never fallen below the 20-goal marker, not even in condensed seasons. And now, for the first time in his career, he’s gone 13 straight games without a goal. The five goals he has at this point aren’t even all that impressive — only three were scored with a goaltender in net.Even if 38-year-old Ovechkin is far removed from his prime, this is a stark, unexpected decline for one of the greatest goal scorers of all time. So, what’s behind the aging superstar’s drop-off? Is this harsh reality the new normal? Is there a chance he can turn it around in the second half of the season?The elephant in the room is his age. Not every player m...
‘For the District?’ Yeah, right; Ted Leonsis will take Wizards, Capitals angst across the river
Sports

‘For the District?’ Yeah, right; Ted Leonsis will take Wizards, Capitals angst across the river

WASHINGTON — The Prince of Potomac Yard spoke of water.“When I first came to this site,” Ted Leonsis said Wednesday, “and stood on top of the roof of the building next door, and looked over, we forget the power of having two rivers flow right into this community. And, iconic real estate is incredibly important. We have access — you can see the Washington Monument from here, Washington, D.C., the border’s one-and-a-half miles from here.”That must be cool! So nice that the billionaire owner of the Wizards and Capitals will have a swank view of the Potomac and Anacostia confluence from his soon-to-be floor-wide offices in Alexandria, where he will center his entertainment and sports empire. It would be unfair to say he literally will be looking down upon the people who are financing his Jerr...
Jaromir Jagr, the Hockey Hall of Fame and an impasse with no end in sight
Sports

Jaromir Jagr, the Hockey Hall of Fame and an impasse with no end in sight

TORONTO — Standing in the shadows of plaques honoring the greatest players in hockey history, a pair of this year’s Hockey Hall of Fame inductees took a moment to reflect on the greatness of a former teammate who can’t yet be found among those represented in a room called the Great Hall.“As a rookie to come into the league and get that experience to play with Jaromir Jagr, that was a very cool experience,” said Henrik Lundqvist, the legendary New York Rangers goaltender. “I was probably 10 or 11 years old when he was dominating the league, and then you get that opportunity to play with a legend like that. It was great.”“He’s truly one of the elite players to ever put on skates,” added Tom Barrasso, who twice won the Stanley Cup alongside Jagr with the Pittsburgh Penguins. “He’s incredible...
After Adam Johnson’s death, will ‘stubborn’ NHL players embrace neck-protective gear?
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After Adam Johnson’s death, will ‘stubborn’ NHL players embrace neck-protective gear?

A little more than a year ago, T.J. Oshie read a story about a young boy who was cut in the neck by a skate blade during a youth hockey game. Almost instinctively, Oshie reached for his phone and contacted his partners at Warroad, the hockey apparel company he helped found six years ago. What started as a way to create undershirts that weren’t itchy and irritating had developed into a safety-conscious business that helped develop new, cut-resistant fabrics to protect players’ wrists and Achilles tendons.Now, Oshie wanted turtlenecks to protect the most dangerously exposed part of a hockey player’s body — their neck, and the carotid artery within. Sure enough, Warroad came up with a sleek turtleneck with its “tilo” design, which includes cut-resistant panels built into the fabric.It worked...