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Ryan Ellis’s hockey-themed car at Pocono Raceway gives him third best finish of Xfinity Series season

LONG POND, PA — Smart pit road strategy at Pocono Raceway gave Ryan Ellis one of his best finishes of the 2023 season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

The Ashburn, VA native and noted Washington Capitals fan finished 18th at the Explore The Pocono Mountains 225, giving him consecutive top-20 finishes for the second time this season.

Austin Hill won the race in overtime after a thrilling shootout with JR Motorsports’ Josh Berry, who is graduating to the Cup Series in 2024.

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By Ian Oland 2 months ago

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This is probably the most proud I’ve ever felt doing this site

Tonight marks the end of something even though the Calder Cup Finals will play on next week in Coachella Valley. Saturday night marks the Hershey Bears’ final home game of the season at Giant Center. It’ll also mark the final game I’ll cover in person as a beat writer this season. That’s been weighing on me and I wanted to morph back into LiveJournal Mode to explain.

For those who are longtime followers of the site, you know that me leaving the sanctity of what Alan May so kindly calls My Mom’s Basement is rare. We’ve been credentialed by the Capitals for over a decade, but the beat writer role is one I’ve always personally avoided — even though I’ve had great interest and been very curious about it.

Understand my perspective. I’m not a professional beat writer; I didn’t go to journalism school (though my brother gave me a great education) and being in-person in that role has never been that fun for me. When I’ve tried it out, I’ve found it harder to write quickly and in a way that is approachable to our readership. Imposter syndrome creeps in – especially when Teemu Selanne chucks a Gatorade bottle past your head and towards the trash after an overtime loss. And honestly, in my heart, there’s no competing with the other journalists who did go to school and do this every day for a living. I don’t want to imitate anyone. I don’t want to be fifth best at anything. I want to be best at whatever I do.

That thinking of mine went unchallenged for years until now.

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By Ian Oland 3 months ago

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Hershey Bears provide special ticket offer to RMNB readers for Game Five of the Eastern Conference Finals

We here at RMNB are into doing unprecedented things and for Game Five of the AHL’s Eastern Conference Finals, we’ve teamed up with the Hershey Bears on a special ticket offer for you, dear reader.

For the discounted price of $25.50 per ticket, RMNB readers can sit in the lower bowl for Game Five between the Hershey Bears and Rochester Americans at Giant Center. Yes, you could watch the Bears’ punch their ticket to the Calder Cup Finals for under $30. You’ll also get a free 2023 Hersheypark Pass as Wednesday is a Hersheypark Pass Giveaway Night.

One more thing! And to me, this is the really cool part. The first 75 tickets purchased through this FEVO link will also come with an invitation to participate in the Bears’ Fan Tunnel before the game where you can fist-bump the players as they take the ice.

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By Ian Oland 4 months ago

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The 10-year anniversary of the Chelyabinsk meteor: How it impacted RMNB and Evgeny Kuznetsov’s experience

Ten years ago, RMNB had one of the biggest and most transformative days in its history and for me, it’s part of the magic and lore of the site. I also think, in some way, it’s a reason why some of you heard of us or read us now.

On Valentine’s Day in 2013, the Washington Capitals defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning at Tampa Bay Times Forum, 4-3. Like we had done for the last three years prior, we covered the game on the site. The Capitals were led by a two-goal performance by Eric Fehr and a game-winning goal by Jay Beagle. Braden Holtby made 27 saves in the victory. Alex Ovechkin did not score or register a point.

But little did we know, by the sound of the final horn, our blog’s writing for that night was just beginning due to an event halfway across the world.

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By Ian Oland 8 months ago

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Something positive

From my perspective, watching the Capitals this year has had a different vibe than any season since we first started blogging in 2009. I have sarcastically joked behind the scenes with our contributors that I only write fluffy, fun things and over the last few weeks, it’s been draining writing analysis piece after analysis piece trying to diagnose what’s going on.

Doing this site, for me, is a passion project. Our mission statement is to make hockey as fun to read about as it is to watch. I fell in love with the team at a really young age. I have never really missed any of the games — either at the arena or watching on TV — since then. I play hockey. I wear it. I talk about it all the time. This site was a hobby that allowed me to express, selfishly, my creativity, but also my joy towards the sport and the team.

But I just want to be upfront with you right now: I’m not really having too much fun with covering the team right now. The reality is: there hasn’t been much fun to write about. The interviews are mostly not fun. The team has durability issues and lots of injuries. That’s not fun. Watching games at times is punishing — in my opinion, both the style of hockey that is being played and the execution. Me, an actual practicing optimist, does not see much hope for the rest of the season even if there are injured players that are coming back soonish. The playoffs, while not out of reach, will require a long run of very good hockey to make. It’s hard to guess what’s next this year, but it does not seem like a Stanley Cup or a parade down Constitution Ave is that thing.

And wow!! That’s incredibly depressing for a post that’s titled Something positive. But all of that mush at the top there is why I’m writing this piece in the first place.

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By Ian Oland 10 months ago

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Evgeny Kuznetsov attends Development Camp scrimmage, sits with first rounder Ivan Miroshnichenko and Alex Alexeyev

The most newsworthy moment of the Development Camp scrimmage was perhaps who was in the stands watching it.

Evgeny Kuznetsov attended the game. The Capitals’ first-line center, rocking a Bart Simpson hat backward (like this), sat inconspicuously in the third row of a mostly empty section 117 with Capitals’ 2022 first-round pick Ivan Miroshnichenko, who was unable to play due to a recovery from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and the team’s top defense prospect, Alex Alexeyev.

Kuzy’s daughter Ecenia also joined him at the game.

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By Ian Oland 1 year ago

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RMNB’s newest sweater, a Pride jersey, is available on preorder through Friday, April 22

RMNB released its first hockey sweater in December to celebrate our 12th anniversary as a blog. The jersey was so popular that we decided to design another through our partners, Men’s League Sweaters.

This time, we’re honoring our diverse community of readers and several of our important contributors over the years with a pride sweater. There is also a donation component for two LGBTQ+ charities.

RMNB’s Pride sweater can be preordered for $125 though Men’s League Sweaters here.

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By Ian Oland 1 year ago

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‘Breakfast !!’: The tale of @RMNB

Editor’s note: This is a special story from our friend Ben. You can follow Ben on Twitter. This story was originally written like two years ago, but it took forever to actually use the thing mentioned in the story.

This is a story of a RMNB miracle. The twitter handle for this beloved site has been @russianmachine since its inception. That is because some genius snatched the @RMNB handle back in 2007, probably with hopes of getting famous. We know this because his one and only tweet was this:

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By Ben Scarbro 2 years ago

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Sale extended one day! Today’s your last chance to get RMNB’s first edition sweater.

RMNB’s first sweater has been a hit. So much so, we’re extending the sale by *one extra day* (today) just to be extra nice because we’re in the holiday spirit. You can purchase one here.

Our partners in this project, Men’s League Sweaters, are taking the orders, printing, and fulfilling them.

We created these to celebrate our 12th anniversary as a website. BLOG PUBERTY HERE WE COME!

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By RMNB 2 years ago

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RMNB’s first hockey sweater is available to buy for a very limited time

When we first started RMNB 12 years ago, we never thought we’d grow to have a community this passionate and kind. And we certainly never thought we’d become a daily website that covered news in real-time with a talented group of contributors.

Over the last decade-plus, we’ve (accidentally) broken Russian meteor news, serenaded coaches with songs of love, been on TV (this was fun), and sponsored NASCARs. We’ve hosted dumb parties and lost even dumber bets. We’ve tried our best to cover our favorite hockey team as honestly, passionately, and enthusiastically as possible.

Now, to celebrate our 12th anniversary and our final year before blog puberty, we’re delivering on a piece of merch that has long been requested but its logistics have long flummoxed us. Until now.

Meet RMNB’s first hockey sweater! (Buy here.)

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By RMNB 2 years ago

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