Fantasy hockey for a blind homer

I signed on for an online fantasy hockey league for the first time. The league has a few Caps fans (including Clydeorama) and is aptly named "Schultzie." My team name is The Alzner Beards mainly because there was a 20-character limit on team names, and I couldn't use "You Win Some, You Clitsome."

I'm admittedly one of those bandwagon Caps fans (although I was at Glen Hanlon's last game and Boudreau's first home game) and my hockey knowledge outside of the Capitals is limited but improving watching "NHL On The Fly."

We had a live draft, and I did absolutely zero preparation. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? Well, I've been in a fantasy baseball league for the past three seasons and prepared exactly the same way ... and finished 2nd, 2nd and 4th, respectively, over the past three years. I used to be a HUGE baseball fan but my interest has slowly waned since the strike ended the 1994 season. So in comparison, my knowledge on baseball was probably even less when that league started than my knowledge on hockey now.

Yahoo does help you "cheat" a little by ranking all the players so all you have to do is click on a player and click "Draft" when the time comes. I also had another browser window opened and checked the latest news on potential players. Chuckled a bit when somebody drafted Mark Streit ("He's out 'til February, dummy!") and knew not to touch Kyle Okposo (he's hurt too ... the poor Isles).

The secret to my success in fantasy baseball was watching trends during the season, especially on players who were in the free agent pool. My teams rarely resembled the teams I drafted, especially with the case of pitching, so I'm hoping to translate that success into hockey.

Anyway without further adieu, the 2010-2011 Alzner Beards:

Offense:
Zach Parise - Anze Kopitar- Chris Stewart
Ryan Malone - Jason Spezza - Joe Pavelski
Andrew Brunette - Travis Zajac - Mike Knuble

Defense:
Mike Green - Kris Letang
Lubomir Visnovsky - John Carlson

Goalies:
Henrik Lundquist - Kari Lehtonen

Bench:
David Booth (LW)
Jack Johnson (D)
Antti Miettinen (RW)
Mike Fisher (C)

Only three Capitals, and where I drafted them was probably about where anybody else would have drafted them. Although with Carlson, I told myself that if he was still available and I had one D to fill, I was going to take him.

Are they good? I don't know. Never heard of Lubomir Visnovsky until last night (although my scouting-on-the-fly has him on the top PP unit with Anaheim and Ryan Getzlaf, Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry), but it's a long season and I can release people if they start to suck.

Ovechkin vs. Boychuk, tonight!!!

Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk is on the roster for tonight's preseason tilt at The Phonebooth against the Capitals. You remember Johnny Boychuk, right?



Hard to find motivation for a preseason game, but there ya go.

Pictures without words

First time seeing the Capitals in the pre-season, so I commemorated the event by finding the most un-marred piece of glass at Kettler and took some pictures. Here are a few, but they all can be seen here.


Practice begins at 11:15 sharp and not a minute (or four) before!!

Best hockey fight ever

The video cut off before Matt Bradley skated in and pummeled the bigger kid who knocked Mazza down.

"Pick on somebody your own size!! Oh and tell your mommy and daddy to recycle or your daddy's next."

Russian Machine never shows public display of affection

(One of my favorite "Pulp Fiction" references.) Ian from Russian Machine Never Breaks and Michael Jenkins from Comcast Sports Net at the official Michael Jenkins Fan Club Party (seriously, he has a fan club).

Actually, there might be a little more "Brokeback Mountain" bromance going on!

Ryan Getzlaf vs Bobby Ryan

From the NHL awards show:



Good thing they didn't see who had the biggest head because Getzlaf's noggin is like Sputnik. I'm not kidding, it's like an orange on a toothpick.

I'm trying to tell you now it's ...

Wait for it. It's worth it.

Bear essentials

Ovechkin vs Laich for the IIHF World Championship belt

Laich of course wouldn't have gone after Ovi because he knows Matt Bradley would have arrived with his super speed and given him a beat down.

See you on course

In the "I couldn't have said it better myself" department, Jamie Fitzpatrick of about.com writes:

Despite scoring ten points in seven games in Washington's stunning loss to the Canadiens, Alex Ovechkin was called out as a flawed player who needs to develop, and compared unfavorably to Crosby, who now stood "Alone at the Top."

Now those same Canadiens have sent the NHL's poster boy packing - and Crosby managed half as many points as Ovechkin.

So will he get a similar scolding?

Or will the media coddle its favorite, as Crosby-haters have so often claimed?