Posts by Ian Oland

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About Ian Oland (@ianoland)
Oland, a 2006 graduate of UMBC's art school, is a co-founder of RMNB and serves as an editor, publisher, and author. During his time with RMNB, he has done features for the Caps' TV show CRL, written a story for the print edition of the Washington Post, and helped first-report the Chelyabinsk meteor in the English language. Oland's favorite blog memories include raising enough money to get reader Ryan Ellis into a NASCAR race with a RMNB sponsored car and holding the Stanley Cup for the first time. Follow Ian: Twitter | Instagram

Tic-Tac-Toe: Reviewing Keith Aucoin’s Goal Against the Leafs
Keith Aucoin goal

Photo credit: Graig Abel

Saturday night, during the Capitals’ 4-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, future AHL hall-of-famer Keith Aucoin scored his first NHL goal of the season, and his first since October 24, 2009. For those who are counting, that’s 854 days.

“It’s been about two years now, I think, since I last scored a goal,” Aucoin said with a smile to The Washington Times’ Stephen Whyno. “It’s only been 10, 11 games, but it feels like forever, and it was nice to finally get one and help the team win.”

General Manager George McPhee, clearly unimpressed by his feat (or more likely saving cap space ahead of tomorrow’s trade deadline), sent Aucoin back down to Hershey early this morning.

Coiner’s goal was so pretty, it deserves a closer look. Let’s set the scene. After going down 2-0 to the Caps within the first five minutes and then 3-0 by the second period, the Leafs were left scrambling to climb out of a hole. The play starts at 5:13, with the Caps in possession of the puck in their own zone.

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By Ian Oland 12 years ago

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Video: Michal Neuvirth Robs Gunnarsson, Save of the Year Candidate

Photo credit: Nathan Denette

During the second period of the Capitals-Leafs game, Michal Neuvirth denied Toronto’s Carl Gunnarsson with a flashy glove save that deserves a spot on this week’s highlight reel. Video is below the jump.

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By Ian Oland 12 years ago

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Evgeny Kuznetsov Travels to Germany to Have Knee Examined

Friday night in Chelyabinsk, Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov suffered what appeared to be a nasty knee injury in Traktor’s 2-1 win over Spartak. Kuznetsov, who can be seen writhing in pain for several minutes, was stretchered off the ice and immediately taken to the hospital.

While many news organizations in Russia speculated that the 19-year-old had torn ligaments in his knee, an MRI was conducted and Traktor’s official team website claimed that the test came back negative. It also said that their star player should be good to go for the KHL playoffs, which begin next week.

Now it appears Kuznetsov is seeking a second opinion.

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By Ian Oland 12 years ago

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Evgeny Kuznetsov Suffers Apparent Knee Injury, Stretchered Off Ice (Updated)

Update 1:50pm: Traktor’s website says Kuznetsov should only miss a week’s worth of time and will be ready to play in the KHL’s Gagarin Cup playoffs on March 1st.

In the final minutes of Traktor’s 2-1 win over Spartak, Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov was checked by defender Andre Benoit near the corner boards. According to Soviet Sport’s Pavel Lysenkov, Kuznetsov was badly injured on the play. He “fell down, was yelling, slamming hands against the ice, and was in terrible pain.”

The 19-year-old KHL superstar was then stretchered off and taken to a hospital for a MRI.

After the game, Traktor coach Valeri Belousov told the media that Kuznetsov may be done for the year.

Video of the hit that caused Kuzya’s injury can be seen below the jump.

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By Ian Oland 12 years ago

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Punch This Face: RMNB’s Posters and Mask for Rene Bourque

Backstrom after taking an elbow from Rene Bourque. (Photo credit: Clydeorama)

Did you think we were over this? We’re not.

Nick Backstrom has missed 22 games since absorbing Rene Bourque‘s elbow to his head on January 3rd. He has not skated in practice, and there is no timetable for his return. The Capitals have gone 8-11-3 without Nick Backstrom and are no longer among the east’s top 8. We’ve talked about Bourque endlessly and we even made a Punch-out style video about him, but hell no we’re not over this yet.

Neither is the team. Earlier this month, Brooks Laich told the Washington Post, “I don’t think our guys are ever going to forget what happened.”

The Capitals return home on Friday after a floundering road trip. There’s no reason to believe that any recent trends will magically reverse, so we’re encouraging this sideshow. And that’s why we’re debuting our new campaign for Rene Bourque: PUNCH THIS FACE.

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By Ian Oland 12 years ago

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Video: The Hit That Supposedly Injured Alex Ovechkin

It’s difficult to pick out just one low point of Washington’s 5-0 blowout loss to Carolina on Monday, but if there’s any sight guaranteed to make a Caps fan’s heart sink, it’s Alex Ovechkin limping to the locker room.

There was a great deal of confusion as to what actually happened that night, but Dale Hunter set the record straight Wednesday morning — Ovechkin is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

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By Ian Oland 12 years ago

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Evgeny Kuznetsov on the Cover of Russia’s PROsport Magazine

While the Capitals were busy looking for answers after getting flat-out embarrassed by division rival Carolina 5-0, across the globe Russia’s most popular sports magazine was preparing to remind them what’s in their future in high-quality, glossy color. 19-year-old Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov was chosen to be the cover athlete for PROsport Magazine’s March issue, which officially hit the newsstands on Monday.

Kuznetsov, who can be seen gazing back vulnerably at the reader, is wrapped in both a fashionable wool hat and tan scarf in the artistic cover. The publication also did a feature story on Zhenya to go along with the photos and described it as such:

At the age of 19, [Kuznetsov] became the brightest of the KHL’s new stars. Many think that he will put on a show in another league, but guys from the ChTZ District are never in a hurry and don’t ask anyone for anything. They just come and take what’s theirs.

In the accompany article, Kuznetsov reveals that he’d continue playing hockey in Russia if a team offered him a 10-year deal. He also says that, “I talked with Washington this season, now there is a pause. Tractor has made an offer, but I’m still waiting.” Fun.

Below the jump, check out a humorous behind-the-scenes video of Kuznetsov’s shoot, and the photos inside of PROsport’s March issue.

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By Ian Oland 12 years ago

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Video: Evgeny Kuznetsov Sings “Pink Roses” by Veselye Rebyata

Photo edit: Ian Oland

Everybody has skeletons in their closet. For instance, when I was six years old, my dad showed up to one of my school assemblies dressed up as a globe for Earth Day. He wore blue tights, a big giant globe costume, and I just realized that no power in the world is going to make me finish this story here.

One of our Swedish commenters, Dodagarenik, forwarded us a video of Evgeny Kuznetsov that might come back to haunt him.

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By Ian Oland 12 years ago

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Video: Alex Semin Dives Face-First to Block a Shot
Alex Semin

Six minutes and twenty seconds into the Capitals nationally televised game against New York, the Rangers entered Washington’s zone with what looked to be a 2-on-1 break. That is until Alexander Semin busted his butt to get back. Sasha Minor, who normally shies away from blocking shots or any type of physicality for that matter, then dove face-first in front of a Brian Boyle slapshot and turned it away with his left wrist.

Video of the play is below the jump.

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By Ian Oland 12 years ago

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Video: Jeff Halpern Checked Head-First into Winnipeg’s Bench

Photo credit: Mitchell Layton

Some nights, watching hockey is fun. Other nights, it’s a gut punch and you wonder what you’ve done to make the hockey gods so mad. Tonight, the Caps got out to what seemed to be an insurmountable 2-0 lead, their second consecutive shutout well within grasp. Awesome, right? Then Brooks Laich’s stick freakishly broke on the PK and Winnipeg scored while up three men. 12 seconds later, Dustin Byfuglien rifled a slap shot from the red line that deflected off 10,000 people including Goat, Horn Guy, and Wes Johnson’s mic and bounced in. You gotta be kidding me.

The play that perhaps best summed up the night, though, was a hit that came with under a minute left in the game. You probably missed it. As Jeff Halpern dumped the puck into the Jets’ zone, everybody’s favorite Kazakhstani giant, 6’7” 245-pound Nik Antropov, left his feet and knocked Halpy head-first into the Winnipeg bench. Check it out below the jump.

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By Ian Oland 12 years ago

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