2016 DC Blizzard

How WUSA9’s Ellison Barber Lucked Into a Man-On-The-Street Interview with Alex Ovechkin

During the first day of Winter Storm Jonas, a WUSA9 news crew stumbled upon Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin while conducting man-on-the-street interviews. It was the stuff of legend. The future hall of famer, whose game against the Anaheim Ducks had been postponed an hour earlier, was hurriedly getting gas right before the full brunt of the snow storm struck.

What resulted was internet gold. The reporter gasped when she saw who she had approached. Ovechkin, laughing, agreed to do the interview. The resulting video went viral, with national publications like Deadspin, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, Washington Post, Yahoo, and TSN all picking up the story.

The reporter who conducted the interview was WUSA9’s Prince George’s County Deputy Bureau Chief, Ellison Barber, a rising star in the industry. I spoke to her about her experience.

(more…)

By Ian Oland 7 years ago

4 Comments

Alex Ovechkin’s Father Mikhail Shares The Story Behind His Son’s Snow Blower

After Thursday’s game, the Washington Capitals announced that Alex Ovechkin would sit out this year’s All-Star Game due to a nagging lower-body injury. Barry Trotz said Ovechkin had been dealing with the issue since mid-November. Ovechkin joked that he aggravated the injury while clearing snow from his house.

If Ovechkin had been dealing with an injury, Ovechkin’s father Mikhail never knew about it.

(more…)

By Ian Oland 7 years ago

0 Comment

Timelapse of Orioles Park at Camden Yards During Historic Blizzard

Over the weekend, the DMV area saw two to three feet of snow fall in a historic blizzard. Days later, the dig-out continues, especially in Baltimore. The port-city experienced a record-setting snow. Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport reported that 29.2 inches of powder fell from the sky.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Baltimore Orioles released a timelapse video of the snow falling at the most beautiful baseball stadium in the country, Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Take a look.

(more…)

By Ian Oland 7 years ago

0 Comment

Nate Schmidt Joined a Random Snowball Fight, Climbed Up Giant Snow Bank During Blizzard

Photo: @nateschmidt88

When we last heard from Nate Schmidt, the Minnesota native was geeking out over the impending snow storm and naming his personal Caps snowball fight dream team.

On Monday, NHL.com’s Katie Brown caught up with Schmidt after the Capitals’ first practice since the blizzard and asked Schmidt about how he spent his days off. Apparently, the Caps defenseman took to the streets of Clarendon, Virginia with a close friend.

(more…)

By Ian Oland 7 years ago

0 Comment

Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Want to get the VIP treatment from the Washington Capitals? It’s easy. All you have to do is be from outside North America, have your weekend plans to attend Caps game cancelled by a historic blizzard, then randomly bump into Brooks Laich at the White House. Got it?

As unbelievable as that may sound, it’s exactly what happened to a German Caps fan named Daniel, who was in town to see the Caps take on the Ducks and Penguins but had to implement plan B when the NHL postponed the games on account of the snow.

NHL.com’s Katie Brown has the deets from Kettler this morning:

(more…)

By Nathan Burchfiel 7 years ago

0 Comment

What Caps Players Did During the DC Blizzard

Photo: @Kuzya92

Over the last two days, the DC Blizzard dropped two feet of snow in the district and three feet in surrounding areas. The snow forced the cancellation of both Caps’ home games this weekend including tilts against the Ducks and Penguins. That leaves the Caps in a really weird stretch, where they’ll only play one game in 14 days.

Without hockey, the players spent time with their families and messing around on social media. I went ahead and documented it all.

(more…)

By Ian Oland 7 years ago

0 Comment

Alex Ovechkin Uses Snowblower Like He Promised, Compares DC Blizzard to a Moscow Spring (Video)

How has Alex Ovechkin spent his free time during the DC Blizzard? Friday afternoon, we got an early glimpse when WUSA9 interviewed the Russian machine at a gas station filling up a gas can. Ovechkin said during the interview that it was for his snowblower and he planned to help dig out his neighbors because in his words “there’s nothing to do anyways.” What a guy.

On Saturday, Ovechkin, clad in grey sweatpants (of course) and his Russian Olympic coat, took to his driveway and got to work. It was documented in an Instagram post.

(more…)

By Ian Oland 7 years ago

0 Comment

NHL Postpones Sunday’s Penguins-Capitals Game

Photo: Chris Gordon

Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins has been postponed due to a small weather event. This should come as no surprise.

When you woke up this morning, you may have noticed up to 18 inches of snow outside your door. When I stepped outside, there was a near whiteout with the trees swinging heavily in the wind. And there’s more coming. According to The Washington Post’s Capitol Weather Gang the snow won’t stop until early Sunday morning. By then 18 to 30 inches may be on the ground. Wind gusts are expected to reach 50 miles per hour. Roads are impassable, but that doesn’t matter because your car is buried in white fluff. The entire Metro Transit system has been shut down. All of the area’s airports — Dulles, National, and BWI — are closed, making it impossible for the Penguins to get here anyway. There was absolutely no way this game could have been played.

(more…)

By Chris Gordon 7 years ago

0 Comment

Caps beat Ducks 6-2: Virtual Beatdown

The game between the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks was originally scheduled to be played at the usual 7PM time slot. After concerns began to arise regarding a potential snowstorm that was set to hit the Metro DC area, it was pushed up to a 5PM start time in the hopes that they’d be able to squeeze 60 minutes of hockey in before everything shut down. Even that was overly ambitious, with the league ultimately putting the kibosh on the game entirely for the time being. Or so we were led to believe.

Turns it out it was all something of an elaborate hoax, and we were all just pawns in it. Well, except for me. Considering the game was actually set to be played in my bedroom the NHL begrudgingly accepted that I’d need to be in on it for the plan to be seen through fully.

(more…)

By 7 years ago

0 Comment

WUSA9’s Blizzard Coverage Captures Alex Ovechkin Getting Gas

WUSA 9’s Ellison Barber was covering the blizzard this afternoon at a gas station. Looking for concerned citizens to interview, she approached a pair of people by a Mercedes-Benz SUV and asked if she could put them on camera. Lo and behold one of those people happened to be Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin.

You can’t make this stuff up.

(more…)

By Ian Oland 7 years ago

1 Comment

Page 1 of 2