Early Monday morning , DC101’s Elliot in the Morning interviewed Brooks Laich. Before practice, Laich talked extensively about Dale Hunter, the system he’s bringing to Washington, the firing of Bruce Boudreau, and the awkwardness surrounding Dennis Wideman’s almost-hat trick.
Below the jump, I’ve transcribed a good chunk of the two’s talk.
Kuznetsov is stopped on a breakaway at 1:55. His two shootout goals can be seen at 3:45.
Taking a tenuous 2-0 lead into the third period, Traktor Cheylabinsk unraveled in the final minutes against host Avangard Omsk on Sunday. First, 4:31 into the final frame, the KHL’s leading goal-scorer, Roman Cervenka, scored on a cross-crease pass to bring Avangard within one. Then ten minutes later, Omsk’s Yegor Averin scored on a broken play in front of Traktor’s net to force overtime.
Photo credit: Fred Chartrand
Alex Ovechkin’s had a tough year. He’s failed to find consistency in his game. He’s been benched, seen the coach that benched him get fired, and trails Jason Chimera in goals. He’s been criticized by almost every big-time NHL columnist in the country. Even future Hall of Famer Teemu Selanne has been asked what’s wrong with Ovechkin.
Tonight, however, we saw the first real flash of the old Ovi. You know– that creative, “you will not effing stop me from scoring even if you set up a brick wall in front of the goal and tie both hands behind my back” Ovechkin. In the third period against the Senators, with the game tied 2-2, the Caps started a breakout from behind their own net. And then Ovi decided he felt like scoring.
Let’s review.
Boudreau and Gordon look on from the bench. (Photo credit: Debora Robinson)
Photo credit: Mark J. Terrill
You couldn’t write a better script. After 24 games under head coach Randy Carlyle, Andrew Gordon had not scored a goal and the Ducks were among the worst teams in the NHL. Enter Bruce Boudreau. In the second period of Gabby’s coaching debut with the Ducks, Gordo netted his second career NHL goal — his first since December 21, 2010, which he celebrated by kissing Marcus Johansson — knocking in a rebound off of a Ben Maxwell shot past Ilya Bryzgalov. As NHL.com’s Dave Lozo observed, Gordon is probably the first player in NHL history to get his first career goals on two different teams with the same coach.
If you follow me past the jump, you can check out video of his goal.
Well, that didn’t take long. Three days after being fired by the Washington Capitals, Bruce Boudreau has landed in Anaheim to be the new head coach of the Ducks. He replaces Randy Carylye, who helped guide Anaheim to a Stanley Cup in 2007.
Two days after re-joining the Capitals as head coach, Dale Hunter made his first big change by naming Jim Johnson as an assistant late Tuesday night. Johnson — a former bruising NHL defenseman who played in 829 career games (121 as a Cap) — will replace Bob Woods who was in his third year with the team. Johnson accumulated over 100 penalty minutes in seven of his 13 seasons in the NHL and has coached before. During the 2009-10 season, he was an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He then took over the head coaching position mid-season for the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals putting up a 15-5-0-2 record in 22 games. With the Capitals’ defense floundering and ranked 28th in the league in goals against, the move certainly makes sense.
The most interesting part of the hire, however, is the fact that Hunter and Johnson actually fought each other twice during their NHL careers. Hockeyfights.com has video of their second bout from November 18, 1992 which I’ve embedded above. Hunter brutalizes Johnson in the scuffle landing eight-straight punches before the fight is broken up by the linesmen. Boys will be boys.
Your boy Dan Steinberg found some old posters celebrating Dale Hunter’s 1993 return to the Caps after a 21-game suspension. Now that Dale is the team’s head coach, we’ve recreated those posters.
The mondo link below will download a PDF, which fits an 8.5 x 11 page perfectly. Download the file and print a few dozen of these bad boys out (on recycled paper, obvs) to pass out to everyone you see in Chinatown. Let’s make some noise tonight and make Huntsy feel welcome.
DOWNLOAD THE DALE SIGN
Pdf (213kb)
Crash the net.
Former teammates congratulate Hunter as his number is retired. (Photo credit: Linda Spillers)
Back at Piney Orchard, only a handful of fans would come out to watch the Capitals practice– usually just the locals.
One day– a million years ago, my brother and I were sitting in the stands watching Mike Eagles and Steve Konowalchuk take an optional skate before leaving the ice. A few moments later, we heard someone cursing nearby. “F%$#ing thing!” the voice boomed.
“I call him fat #$%&* and 10 days later he fired.” (Photo credit: Patrick McDermott)
It’s okay. We understand.
Not everyone was a Capitals fan in the 1990’s. Some of you weren’t even alive. You’re not expected or required to know the ins and outs of Bonzai, Langway, Hunter, and Chris Simon (who Peter stubbornly demands be included in Mt. Capsmore). When you heard that the Caps named Dale Hunter their newest head coach, you might’ve said something like, “That name sounds familiar.”
It’s O.K.
There are lots of good descriptions of Coach Hunter out there already– articles telling the achievements of a hard-nosed Cap with as much talent leveling hits as scoring goals, his number’s retirement and ascent to Verizon Center’s rafters, and his last decade serving as head coach and owner of the OHL’s London Knights.
We’ve prepared a multimedia crash course designed to show you — not tell you– everything you need to know about Dale Hunter.
