The Capitals have assigned Ben Clymer to their farm team. For two years, Clymer has provided the Caps with leadership, toughness and first hand knowledge of what it’s like to win a Stanley Cup. This year and next year, he’ll take that knowledge to the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears. Clymer joins Stanley Cup winner Joe Motzko, whom the Caps signed this summer as a free agent and demoted over the weekend, in giving the…
The Capitals have re-signed pugilistic defenseman John Erskine to a two year contract. After Donald Brashear, who is in a category of his own, Erskine is the team’s best fighter. Erskine’s sixty-nine penalty minutes in twenty-nine games last season show he was not afraid to demonstrate his combative skills. While Erskine began last season in Hershey, playing for the Bears of the American Hockey League, he earned a promotion back to the NHL and stayed…
That’s right. Caps are in the finals! Admittedly, the Capitals are not in this year’s Stanley Cup Finals. That honor is shared by the Anaheim No-Longer-Mighty Ducks and the Ottawa Senators. However, many Capitals are still in the finals. No, we’re not talking about Ottawa’s Antoine Vermette, who was only a Capital for one beautiful summer day, when the Caps claimed him off waivers and then traded him right back to Ottawa. We’re not even…
Last week we reported that seven guys who played for the Capitals this year are now tearing up the American Hockey League playoffs with the Hershey Bears. Over the weekend, the Bears beat the evil Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins two more times, taking a 3-0 lead in the best of seven East Division Final series. The Bears weren’t the only Capitals beating up on less talented players, though. Alex Ovechkin spends his summer vacations playing in the…
What’s that, reader? You thought the hockey season had come to a merciful end? You thought that Caps players like Mike Green, Jeff Schultz, Jakub Klepis, Eric Fehr, Alexandre Giroux, Dave Steckel and Frederic Cassivi had shown they belong in the minor leagues, and would now spend the summer playing golf and healing unspecified injuries? Well, smartypants, you got the first part right. All those Caps players do belong in the minor leagues, and…
Written by DCist Contributor Eli Resnick Several recent Washington Capitals draft picks and free agent signings have combined their efforts to take their team on a five-game winning streak, tightening the defending champions’ hold on the league lead. Their team, of course, is the Hershey Bears, the Caps affiliate in the American Hockey League. However, far from a random factoid, this is terrific news for the Capitals, who can’t always get by on the heroics…
Written by DCist contributor Eli Resnick Last year’s Washington Capitals were bad at everything. This year’s team, while still decidedly bad at many things, has some distinctly strong aspects. For instance: they ice-skate very quickly; they have several decent offensive players and a loaded power play; and, oh yeah, they’re insanely tough. We’re not just talking about a team loaded with Hanson Brothers indiscriminately pouring violence on opponents, teammates and fans alike. We’re talking about…
