Canada Trip Leg Two: Montreal

Hello from Montreal! After arriving on the train, host, Habs fan, and awesome blogger Amanda picked me up to head to her place. After dropping off my luggage and picking up our gamewear, we wandered down Ste-Catherine for a while, checking out the shops and battling the pedestrian traffic. We then stopped to have a nice Thai dinner and brought our own wine, but were expecting three people, not just the two of us (the famous Julie had a previous engagement go long) and so we had two bottles of wine with us. We had to bite the bullet and down the both of them ourselves. So, needless to say, we were more inebriated than we'd planned before the game.

The restaurant was only about two blocks from Centre Bell, so we walked over for the game. I had plenty of fans cajoling me on my choice of attire (a Mike Knuble Winter Classic jersey), but none in a harmful or personal way. Most of the comments were a good-natured "hey, you're wearing the wrong jersey" which of course wasn't too much of an issue for me.

 

Centre Bell is lovely, however the concourses are quite narrow, which is only a problem during intermissions when it feels like a human cattle drive. We were seated in the very last row, but at center ice. The press box is suspended over the upper sections so there was sometimes an issue seeing the top of the jumbotron from our seats, but again, as we were in the last row, there was no one to complain about us leaning forward. Or standing up and dancing to the arena DJ like idiots.

As to the game, it was like seeing a different team from the previous night. I was happy to see Marco Sturm get his first goal as a Cap, and I'm probably one of the few fans who can say they've seen Braden Holtby's first and second NHL shutouts in person. Holtby was outstanding. He still makes some rookie mistakes, but he's gotten a lot better about minimizing his mistakes and absolutely robbed some Canadiens. Oh, and, Bell Centre Holtby Shuffle.

the menu at the Habs tweetup, with each special named after a player

After the great game, we went to the Habs tweetup, where people had been gathered to watch the game. I met some tweeps I know, and some I didn't, and then we ventured off to another nearby bar. Lo and behold, Kirk Muller was at the bar in a back room. I got to shake his hand, and then later on I was standing talking to someone, and Muller rubbed my shoulders to get by me. I about died.

So, in general, Saturday was much better than Friday. But I've had a great time on my trip, and I'm sad to be leaving Montreal tomorrow to head back Stateside. But I'm glad that the Caps were able to redeem themselves for my trip!

Countdown to Canada

In case you haven't heard me squealing about it forever, I'm headed to Canada in just two days to visit my first non-Verizon NHL arenas, and watch the Caps while they're away in Ottawa and Montreal this weekend. The trip is courtesy of American Airlines frequent flyer miles and some generous tweeps who are hosting me, as well as showing me the sights and accompanying me, the enemy, to games.

It will be my first visit to Ottawa and Montreal, and my first time at an NHL game not taking place at Verizon Center. I will be attending games at not one, but two legendary arenas, Scotiabank Place and Centre Bell. I've never before been in "away team" territory, but I will have a Sens fan and a Habs fan, respectively, with me at the games.

I'll be blogging and posting photos of my adventure as I go behind enemy lines as a Caps fan and see the game from another side. Plus, you know, plugging how gorgeous Ottawa and Montreal are.

I'm looking forward to meeting so many people that I've talked to for ages but never seen in person. And I hope you'll all bear with me and maybe live vicariously through me this weekend. I'll also of course be constantly posting to Twitter during my vacation.

Stay tuned!

What's Wrong with the Caps?

 photo by Jonathan Newton/the Washington Post Photo

The Caps have tied Montreal in the series at 1-1, but they have played notably poorly in their first two games.  What do the Caps need to do in order to win this series?  Here are my very own "keys to the game."

Solve Halak

Luckily, we already know how to solve Jaroslav Halak, but now the Caps need to actually do it. Eric Fehr's breakaway goal is a perfect example of where Halak is weak - high blocker side.  When Halak goes into the butterfly on lower shots, he's near unbeatable.  The Caps need to avoid shooting so low and shoot higher in order to best him.  Both Carlson's and Backstrom's goals were high glove side.  We solved Henrik Lundqvist last year (remember high glove side?) so Halak can be solved too.

Solve the Habs D

Especially after the first two games, it's become abundantly clear that the Habs D is, well, really freakin' good.  Hal Gill is a) enormous and b) leads the league in blocked shots in this postseason (he blocked 9 shots in Game 1 alone).  Jaroslav Spacek was a major problem for the Caps in Game 1.  Andrei Markov has also been excellent thus far.  This one is a little bit tougher to solve, but at least in the case of Hal Gill, he's not very fast.  Bruce Boudreau may want to consider putting speedy guys like Jason Chimera and Éric Bélanger on the ice against Gill.

Caps Goaltending

While José Théodore was outstanding in Game 1 with some sparkling saves, he allowed 2 goals in the first 2 shots last night.  The first goal was embarrassing, and you could chalk up the second goal also to some poor defensive moves.  Pulling him in favor of Varlamov was absolutely the right call, but who to start in Game 3?  Theo has been solid all year, but many are saying start Varlamov, who has a great playoff record but was shaky during this regular season.  Coaches will want to keep an eye on both in practice and definitely rotate the goalies to keep them fresh.

Top Line Must Improve

This definitely improved last game, as Nicklas Backstrom notched a hat trick in OT.  Ovechkin had a goal and a helper, but Bruce may want to consider putting Alexander Semin on the top line instead of Mike Knuble.  Both Knuble and Semin have not been effective so far in the playoffs, so shaking up the top line might benefit both of them.  Obviously Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin can get too cute, but other times, they're outstanding.  It could be worth it to try out the line combination and see if it can spark the offense we all know they can produce.

No one knows what Bruce Boudreau and the Caps might do, but they can't continue playing as they are right now and expect to move on in the playoffs.  Game 3 is tomorrow night at Bell Centre in Montreal.  We'll see what happens.

Caps and Bears Playoff Schedules

So the Caps and the Bears are both entering the first round of their respective playoffs this week.  Hershey will face the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and Washington will face the Montreal Canadiens.  Unfortunately, a couple of their games are at the same time, so perfect your multi-tasking, Caps/Bears fans!

Hershey:
Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 14 – Bridgeport at Hershey, 7:00
Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 16 – Bridgeport at Hershey, 7:00
Game 3 – Sat., Apr. 17 – Hershey at Bridgeport, 7:00
Game 4 – Sun., Apr. 18 – Hershey at Bridgeport, 3:00
*Game 5 – Wed., Apr. 21 – Bridgeport at Hershey, 7:00
*Game 6 – Fri., Apr. 23 – Hershey at Bridgeport, 7:00
*Game 7 – Sat., Apr. 24 – Bridgeport at Hershey, 7:00 

Washington:

Game 1 - Thu., Apr. 15 - Montreal at Washington, 7:00
Game 2 - Sat., Apr. 17 - Montreal at Washington, 7:00
Game 3 - Mon., Apr. 19 - Washington at Montreal, 7:00
Game 4 - Wed., Apr. 21 - Washington at Montreal, 7:00
*Game 5 - Fri., Apr. 23 - Montreal at Washington, 7:00
*Game 6 - Mon., Apr. 26 - Washington at Montreal, 7:00
*Game 7 - Wed., Apr. 28 - Montreal at Washington, TBD