Washington Capitals Training Camp, Day 3

After a weekend of baseball, it was time to head over to Kettler on Monday and check out the first weekday of Caps camp. For some reason I didn't think they'd use up both rinks so I brought my skates along and dressed for the possibility of landing on my rear end. So I felt less than my best when Caps TV announcer Joe Beninati walked by. He is always dressed up. I ended up saying nothing of substance and then apologized for saying nothing of substance so I never said anything of substance even though, of course, two minutes later streams of intelligent observations and questions came to mind. So tack on another tongue-tied, less than impressive meeting with a local celebrity to my list.

Another lesson learned- don't leave your ipod on the rink wall because Matt Hendricks was so happy he scored he jumped against the glass and down it went to the luckily for me, carpeted floor. Mathieu Perreault also felt the need to toss a puck to the glass at the level of my face. I have been a fan of his for a while now, but I may have to reconsider.

By now most of the people I saw playing in Group B have been cut, but then they were working hard:

Just before they wrapped up, Group A started on the Capitals Rink so I moved over there. Schultz made his way from B to the locker rooms through the main door right in front of me, towering in his skates. Then Perreault, Hanson, Joel Ward and Braden Holtby decided to cut through the center doors but had to wait for a break in action.

A shot of Braden Holtby for the Holtby's Honeys Twitter/Tumblr:

The big names were in this group:

First close-up shot of DJ King for the year.

I don't know why, but he is my favorite. Maybe because I'd be a fighter too. Probably because he has a lot of hustle and energy in practices and never gets the chance to play regularly and I hate when people get screwed over for no real reason.
Wednesday addition: Alan May singled him out for his hard work in the first pre-season game. I was glad to see that.

The goalie on the near end of the rink was Philip Grubauer. I was impressed with him during the rookie camp and he seemed to be holding his own just as well against the big guys. He had a strong glove and the only shots that got past him for the longest time were by DJ and Ovie high and stick side.

Does Sasha care? Honestly, I don't know.

 I think the main question is, does Boudreau care? That one I'm still working on.