Lepisto scores! Lepisto scores! Wait... that's not a good thing?

Normally, watching Sami Lepisto score in overtime would be good times for Caps (and Bears) fans, but if you're a fan of USA hockey it's the last thing you wanted to see this morning. Caps farmhand Sami Lepisto ended team USA's run 3 minutes and 59 seconds into overtime, sending Team USA packing and moving Finland into the semifinals of the tournament for the third straight year.

IIHF Brawl for it all, part II

Fate clearly has a sense of humor. After crushing Norway 9-1, the US will play their first elimination of the IIHF world championships tomorrow... against Finland.

The whole US-Finland "brawl" thing

Earlier today while I was at work, my girlfriend sent me the following email:

"Subject: US vs. Finland hockey tournament debacle

Did you hear about this? Talk about poor sportsmanship--- bad call or not, how embarassing..."

When I saw her later, she asked why I hadn't emailed her back on the subject. It turns out she'd read this AP article on a link from AOL, which detailed the US team's 3-2 loss to Finland and a supposed cheap shot by Dustin Brown on Jussi Jokinen with time running out. I explained to her that I wanted to see the play before I commented on it.

After seeing the play and ensuing altercation (video below), I can say while the hit by Brown was illegal (shots to the head are automatic penalties in international play) he had every right to make a physical play on Jokinen. Brown was covering back defensively to keep Jokinen from potting an empty net goal, which is type of play the US expects from its youngsters. He lined up Jokinen for a big hit, which should not be unexpected as the game was not over yet and separating his opponent from the puck was the best way to prevent him from scoring. There would be nothing at all for the Finns to complain about had Jokinen's momentum not been slowed by the US defensemen's initial check, as Brown would have leveled the Finn with a perfectly clean check.

And as for the ensuing "brawl" (IIHF term for shoving match), the Finns have nobody to blame but themselves. They grabbed and pulled on the US players, as players in the European game like to do. But this time, Anssi Salmela took it a step too far and starting throwing punches, which he would immediately regret. He probably expected David Backes to throw a couple punches with his gloves on and back away. How very wrong he was.

Backes kept from throwing any big bombs and kept his gloves on until the moment Salmela dropped his gloves. Salmela didn't know it, but he was now in very big, very real trouble. Three Backes punches and a bloodied nose later, Salmela was holding on for dear life.

So just to clear it up, it was the Finns that turned a two minute minor into a rinkwide shoving match, and Anssi Salmela has no one to blame for the black and blue marks surrounding his eyesocket but himself.

Interested...

Huet's agent to the Caps: "We're interested."
Caps to Huet "We're interested too."

Of course I totally made the second quote up, but I imagine it's pretty accurate.

The Russian Machine... two sport star?

Evidently it's not just hockey coaches who recognize Alex Ovechkin's physical play! Fresh off being named a finalist for the Lester Pearson award (given to best player in the NHL as judged by the players), it looks like other professional leagues are taking notice!

Sadly, this isn't far off from how most mainstream media outlets cover hockey.


NHL Star Called Up To Big Leagues To Play For NFL Team

Your Hart Trophy winner, er, finalist

Per the NHL, the Russian Machine has been named a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy (along with also rans Evgeni Malkin and Jarome Iginla), which is awarded annualy to "the player judged to be most valuable to his team" by the members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

If (when) Alex wins the award, he would be the first player in the Capitals history to be named regular season MVP. He would also be the second Russian (after Sergei Fedorov) and 6th European born player (Stan Mikita, Fedorov, Hasek twice, Jagr, Forsberg) to receive the award.

If you need a reminder of why Ovechkin deserves the award (yeah, right) the NHL's summary on the Machine is below:

"Ovechkin, a first-time Hart nominee, tallied 112 points (65 goals, 47 assists) in 82 games, capturing the Art Ross Trophy as NHL scoring leader and Maurice Richard Trophy as the League’s top goal scorer. He also led all players in power-play goals (22) and game-winning goals (11). Ovechkin set the single-season NHL record for goals by a left wing, surpassing Luc Robitaille's 63 with Los Angeles in 1992-93, and his 65 goals were the most by NHL player since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. Ovechkin scored 51 of his goals in the 61 games after Bruce Boudreau was named head coach Nov. 22, pacing the 37-17-7 run that carried the Capitals into the playoffs."

Finalists for the Jack Adams Award for Coach of the Year will be announced tomorrow. Don't be surprised if, despite the amazing season he had, Coach Boudreau is left off the list. It seems asinine, but there are already some sportswriters who have already let slip that they refuse to vote for a coach in his first year with a team. Whatever. I think Coach B is probably too busy househunting for a long term living space in DC to be concerned about it.

That's enough of that

Onward to the consolation bracket IIHF World Championships, where just about a third of the Caps roster is expected to play.