Ilya Samsonov may be married now, but he still has a special place in his heart for Vitek Vanecek.
On Tuesday, the Czech goaltender was named the Hershey Bears’ player of the week after posting a shutout and back-to-back victories.
In the comments of the Instagram post announcing the news, Samsonov congratulated his former teammate.
Yes, it included the kissy face emoji.
There were many wonderful tiny moments during the Hershey Bears’ world record-breaking Teddy Bear Toss at Giant Center, Sunday night.
One of my personal favorite exchanges was when goaltender Vitek Vanecek and defenseman Martin Fehervary switched roles and Vitek started shooting Teddy Bears at Fehervary with his goalie stick.
The Hershey Bears held their annual Teddy Bear Toss Game Sunday night at Giant Center. 45,650 stuffed animals rained down onto the ice, breaking the world record they set last season of 34,798.
Stanley Cup champion Christian Djoos, who was sent down to the AHL earlier in the day by the Capitals, scored the historic Teddy Bear Toss goal.
By Ian Oland and Cara Bahniuk 2 months ago
The Washington Capitals have made a flurry of roster moves ahead of a potential Garnet Hathaway suspension for spitting.
Wednesday morning, the Capitals announced that star center Nicklas Backstrom, in a surprise, will miss the New York Rangers game with an upper-body injury. Nic Dowd and Carl Hagelin remain out. In corresponding moves, the Capitals placed Carl Hagelin on the long term injured reserve list (eligible to be activated Dec. 2) and Nic Dowd on injured reserve (eligible to be activated Nov. 21).
Ilya Samsonov gave up four goals on 39 shots during the Capitals’ 5-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens Friday.
Saturday morning, the Caps’ backup netminder was sent down to Hershey, but not for the reason you might think.
By Ian Oland 2 months ago
A significant portion of the Washington Capitals roster has returned to DC over the last few weeks to participate in informal practices at MedStar Capitals Iceplex leading up to the first day of Training Camp on September 12.
But many of these players, and some who still remain at home, are using the Labor Day holiday weekend to do one final trip with their loved ones before the start of the season.
Here’s what your favorite players (and PA announcer) are up to!
Jake the đ is back!
Wednesday afternoon, Vitek Vanecek posted to his Instagram Story showing that both he and his close friend Jakub Vrana are back in DC. Vrana will soon join star players like Braden Holtby, TJ Oshie, John Carlson, Nicklas Backstrom, and Evgeny Kuznetsov who have been participating in informal skates at MedStar Capitals Iceplex over the last few weeks.
2018-19 AHL All-Star Vitek Vanecek hasn’t received much buzz to be the Capitals goaltender of the future despite strong play in the minor leagues. The reason is due to 2015 first-round pick Ilya Samsonov, the team’s top prospect, who is considered one of the best goalies not in the NHL.
Despite the rivalry, the two goaltenders — one Czech and the other Russian — formed an unlikely and close friendship with the AHL’s Hershey Bears last season. The two call each other “Boss” and “Big Boss” in Russian and earlier in the season Samsonov credited Vanecek as one of the people he is closest with on the team. Vanecek recently described their relationship as “great.”
âWe help each other,” Vanecek said in an interview posted by isport.cz and translated by Alexandra PetĂĄkovĂĄ. “When weâre in the goal, we always want to win. Weâve never argued once.
âHe even invited me to his wedding, but unfortunately, I couldnât make it,” Vanecek added. “Ilyaâs English isnât very good yet, so I tried to help him in America. We talk to each other in Czech and Russian. We curse too, I know some bad words in Russian now.â
But that doesn’t there aren’t hard moments and an intense, friendly competition going on.
Washington Capitals goaltender Vitek Vanecek is currently attending a training camp in Jihlava, Czech Republic with the Czech national team. The other goalies attending the sessions include David Rittich (Calgary), Jakub Ć karek (Islanders prospect), and Daniel VladaĆ (Bruins prospect).
While there, Vanecek did an interview with the Czech newspaper PrĂĄvo (which was reposted by sport.cz) and revealed what it was like joining the Capitals as the team’s third goalie for a small part of their 2019 playoff run. He also shared a funny story regarding future Hall of Famer Alex Ovechkin.
On a day where the Capitals have been shoring up their bottom-six forwards with new signings Richard Panik, Garnet Hathaway, and Brendan Leipsic, general manager Brian MacLellan also secured depth in goal for the Capitals and for Hershey.
Capitals announced on Monday that goaltender Vitek Vanecek has signed a three-year, $2.15 million contract with the Capitals, the first year being two-way, while the final two years will be one-way with the Capitals.
By Elizabeth Kong 7 months ago
