The Capitals wrapped up their development camp Saturday with a Fan Fest and a scrimmage that had not one, but two fights, and went into a shootout. Not bad for a July game.

Goalie Braden Holtby is trying to make a name for himself at Caps developmentcamp. Photo used under a Creative Commons license with dan4th.This week, the Capitals are hosting their annual development camp for top prospects in the system. One of these is goalie Braden Holtby, whose resume has filled out significantly since we last chatted with him during training camp in 2009. Holtby started the season in net for the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays and…

Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau, pictured here at a 2009 training session with Alex Ovechkin. Photo by photopete It became official today: the Washington Capitals will get to play the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2011 Winter Classic at Heinz Field. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman also promised a Winter Classic will come to Washington, D.C. within the next two to three years. Washington Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau says every time he watches a Winter…

Photo used under a Creative Commons license with Garyisajoke.It’s not as hard as netting a game-winner or facing down Steve Downie (after all, we can’t all be Matt Bradley), but covering the NHL’s top team during the regular season is a pressure-filled assignment for the Washington media. Since we get to cast judgments and analyze the Capitals’ play all year, it only seemed fair to ask the players themselves how well we — the media…

This one really hurt. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)I have to admit, I didn’t expect to be writing this story in April. As a crowd of reporters waited outside the Capitals locker room for post-game interviews following last night’s Game 7 loss, it felt like waiting for the dentist. We could hear the cheers from the Montreal Canadiens as they celebrated their 2-1 win on their way to the dressing room. And they had reason to. The…

Semyon Varlamov wasn’t really to blame, but the Caps’ effort wasn’t good enough to put away Montreal last night. Photo by choofly. Washington Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau stopped just short of actually naming a laundry list of guilty parties after his team lost the chance to wrap up their first round series against the Montreal Canadiens on home ice Friday night. Not even the officials were spared. Boudreau wasn’t pleased when a faceoff…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjanicki/ / CC BY 2.0There’s a place on the ice where the NHL’s brightest stars like Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby struggle to match the skill of Washington Capitals center David Steckel: The face-off circle. The 2009-2010 season saw several Capitals dominate the league’s statistical charts and set personal bests, and Steckel was no exception. Along with posting the best plus/minus of his NHL career, Steckel finished second overall in the NHL this season in…

The Verizon Center exploded as Nicklas Backstrom, Alex Ovechkin and Mike Knuble celebrateBackstrom’s winning goal, which capped an incredible comeback to keep the Caps from falling into a2-0 hole against Montreal. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)During a second period Saturday that Nicklas Backstrom called “embarrassing,” the Washington Capitals found themselves down 4-1 against the Montreal Canadiens and waiting for a referee review of an earlier play. Eric Fehr, who had the only Capitals goal at that point,…

Photo by clydeorama.No power play goals, no shots on goal by Alex Ovechkin, and some uncharacteristic moves from Nicklas Backstrom: not much else needs to be said about the Washington Capitals’ 3-2 overtime loss to the eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. It’s hardly a death knell. But the Capitals were sober enough in the locker room that Boyd Gordon, who had four hits against the…

The Mystics announced today that guard Alana Beard will undergo ankle surgery next week and will probably miss the entire 2010 WNBA season. That puts the Mystics bench without their team leader in points per game for the past five seasons. Last season, Mystics Head Coach Julie Plank called her a “franchise player.” General Manager Angela Taylor included the following statement in the Mystics’ press release: “We are disappointed for Alana because she is committed…