Last Tuesday, RMNB profiled Braden Holtby and introduced everyone to his oh-so-eccentric “Holtbyisms.” A few thousand hits later, our post now floats in the top ten Google hits for “Braden Holtby.” Alright!
Follow-up time!
I. Spot Starts
During Monday’s media session before the Capitals nationally televised game against the Boston Bruins, Bruce Boudreau dropped a bomb on us.
Per @TarikElBashir: “Coach Bruce Boudreau hinted in his pregame media session that the team has discussed calling up G Braden Holtby to start tomorrow in Pitt.”
And then…
Per @cmasisak22: “Calling up Holtby could absolutely be Boudreau playing mind games, but he didn’t back down after being pressured about it.”
It sounds crazy, sure, but might the Capitals reward their fourth-string goalie for his superb season, allowing him to make his NHL debut in a nationally televised game with the team’s most-hated rivals: Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins? Tune in to Versus tomorrow and find out. Oh, Bruce. You so crazy.
II. Kamikaze Pokechecks
What typifies a goalie’s on the top of his game? Storming out of the crease and challenge opposing shooters! Well, Braden Holtby must have been feeling a wee bit cocky on January 23rd against the Manitoba Moose, because in the video below (provided to us by Derek Meluzio), Holtby frantically skates almost all the way out to the blue line to dive head-first and poke check a potential breakaway away from the attacking player. I haven’t seen this kind of blatant disregard for the goalie’s crease since Patrick Roy went for a stroll with the puck past the red line in a game against the Rangers one decade ago.
A replay of Holtby’s Kamikaze Pokecheck comes around the 17 second mark. The speed, the determination, the reckless abandon for his body. I dig it.
III. The Holtby Shuffle
Friend-of-the-Blog Erika Schnure (DChi606 on Twitter) visited the Giant Center Sunday Night and took in Hershey’s final regular-season home game of the season. She shares with us something we’ve missed in our previous stories, one of Braden’s strangest superstitions. Ladies and Gentleman, we proudly present The Holtby Shuffle.
The Holtby Shuffle consists of Braden aggressively skating in place during the entire National Anthem and at times during the second video – hastily throwing his arms and shoulders backwards to loosen up his torso. Do you find yourself rhythmically chanting “GO! GO! GO!” like me?
And to our friends North of the Border, don’t worry. Holtby flips out during “O, Canada,” too.
In conclusion, we here at RMNB hope GMGM and Bruce Boudreau do the right thing and give this tenacious youngster a shot to prove himself in the red, white and blue. Come on coach, just one game? We think it makes sense to rest Semyon Varlamov and Jose Theodore considering it removes any possibility that the Penguins will gain any kind of psychological edge on your dynamic duo heading into the playoffs. And hell, let’s test the mettle of one of our top goaltending prospects and see what he’s got. It couldn’t hurt. Sink or swim, he’ll be alright.
Anyways, if you have any more Holtbyisms to share with us, you know the drill: Put them in the comments below! Looking forward to tomorrow!
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