Tarik,

It's pre season, there has been NO advertisements for the game, and the caps have a tough time selling tix for regular season games.

That said, if i didn't have work, i would have so been there!

Pre-season doesn't count. Why should anyone care? We're saving ourselves for the Real Thing.

maybe if they made the game free like a certain team theyre playing tonight, more people would have showed.

Gotta pay back that 50 million, no wait, DC tax payers are.

Flash seems to be doing alright. I'm happy with his play enough to say he should be given a chance.

who is it that columnists think should attend events like this? People that live a 1/2 hour or more away? That have kids with activities like sports or scouts? That just don't want to spend their money on a meaningless preseason game?
I, for one, am tired of sports reporters telling us that we should support team X. You know, the now trite line of "They should be getting much better support than they are in that town!!"
Well - why? I'd like to know what exactly is the reasoning behind a statement like this...and as a huge, very involved, supportive, money-spending sports fan, why I am made to feel guilty by guys that are supposed to report not pontificate...
I mean, what exactly are the teams doing to earn my loyalty and my time and money?

Sorry, T, not necessarily directed at you. I hear this stuff way too much anymore.

I've been to a few regular season games that weren't much better.....

The Caps haven't been advertising these games very much, so the low attendance isn't a suprise to me. Maybe if they offered any seat in the building for 5 bucks they'd get more people. Lets us plebians experience the lower bowl.

Marksman, the NHL is a business--if you want a team in your town, you go to their games...it's that simple. Secondly, the comment was not directed at people with other commitments, but rather a statement as to the number of our fans vs other teams in the league.

If they win (in the regular season) people will come. It's that simple.

Oneal

That was the first time I ever watched a game online. Pretty cool but I wish the audio feed was synched up with the video.
Or was I doing something wrong?

The Caps used to at least give tickets to partial plan holders. I live in Delaware and have an 11 game plan and wasnt offered a freebie to see the snoozing Carolina Hurricanes.

If they were to have offered tickets I would have gladly made the drive

Lighten up, Marksman. "Pontificate," WOW! I'm impressed.
Don't get your panties in a knot over it.(smile) I know EXACTLY where you're coming from. And, you're right on the mark. It's good to know there're others out there unafraid to "Tell it like it is."

youre a bandwagon hater

I pray that Greenie has done enough to shut up all those so concerned with how many times he can be sent to Hershey without going through waivers. If GMGM has the sense he should have been born with, it's a no - brainer ( At this point ) whether or not Mike has earned a roster spot. OF COURSE HE HAS.
Quite frankly, I'd be more than a little happy if they could find a sucker willing to take Pothier and Eminger off their hands. That would be wonderful!!! Let's rid ourselves of the wanna be's and the eternal "Prospects" and kick some butt!

They're EXHIBITION GAMES. I HATE that I'm forced to buy the stupid tickets for "games" that don't matter.

I looked into going tonight, actually, but the price was too high for good seats. I dont want to be in the upper level on a night that only 4500 people show up. Why not, just once, sell preseason tickets in the lower sections for $10. Its preseason, it gets every one excited for whats coming, it would fill the bottom section, sell merchandise and make at least as much money as the 4500 that are showing up. Any takers?

As a season tix holder for both Caps and the damn skins, I can say I don't go to either ones preseason games. I pay for them (against my wishes) so my part is done.

When the games count, I'll be there. Until then I can wait, its just preseason.

Wow, that was a great screen. It's almost clearer to watch the big screen than to watch what's going on on the ice! I definitely could see the puck during the replays. Wow!

Making an issue of pre-season attendance? Congrats, Tarik, you're the housewife in the Tom & Jerry cartoons, screaming in terror and standing on a chair at the smallest issue you see.

I'm just saying...

No fans, but everyone was having fun. Thats what matters.

I was there, and it was a kickass game - regardless of whether or not it counted in the standings. Those who were there were rowdy and loud, despite being few in number.

That said, no, it was not advertised properly at all, and I agree that they should have brought the prices down a whole lot further, or had more free ticket giveaways. What's the harm?

For what it's worth, I also swung by the box office to buy tickets to the home opener and had trouble finding three decent seats together in the upper bowl. Gonna be a good crowd that night.

Reported attendance was 8,376... I'm guessing they counted season ticket holders regardless of whether or not they showed.

HolyOlie - It's tickets distributed, not butts in seats that get reported. Has been that way for a long time. That means all tickets sold and given away are counted.

That being said, I haven't seen large crowds at any preseason game that has been broadcast. They're never well attended. There's too much competition for the entertainment dollar right now, and since it doesn't count, most people don't care

I wanted to take someone who is on the fence about hockey but the price was too high. Why pay season rates for a preseason game?

Observations- Great screen, pretty cool! Good time's downtown, but driving New York Avenue, terrible. Tarik, are they having problems with the ice? It seemed like a lot of guys were going down or loosing edges. Some were going back, I would imagine getting repairs. Is the ice that bad? Also, did anyone else see Hanlon snap in the third when the Canes started their run? He needs to get some sun. Did he work in a mushroom cave during the off season?

I've played at the Verizon center, its kind of an open secret around hockey players in the area that the Verizon center has the worst ice pretty much ever.

Preseason games should be free to help develop interest in the game among people who might not normally give hockey a chance. Target customers who are unlikely to be hockey fans with giveaways. Divide the rest among season ticket holders and an allotment for non-plan-holders who are willing to come to the box office to get a pair of free seats. Should get a good mix of people who are willing to check out hockey and a crowd of true fans to cheer and to keep down the echoes in the Phone Booth.

I didn't know about the preseason game at home tonight until like 2 hours ago. But I did buy tickets for opening night 3 hours ago. So I am still a good fan.

I'm with the pre-season = cheaper tickets. They'd make more money if tickets were cheaper and they had fans in their building buying food and merchandise, where they get you bad anyway.

Especially the pre-season opener. Shell out tickets by the boatload for free even just to fill the place. Get people excited for the first season in a long while that we'll be competing in our crappy division...

I had bad withdrawal over the summer, so I was glad to go to the game, and it was a good one. The new screen is awesome. I was disappointed with Semin's play. Look confused to me at times, not sharp yet. Ovie is still a delight to watch. He really loves to play. I agree that this game was poorly advertised. I heard that opening night is about sold out. New white uniforms looked great. And WE WON!

Green has a two way contract, he won't have to go through waivers.

Am I the only one who thinks the new uniforms are terrible? Except for those SWEET arm patches. Why go back to the 70's/80's logo??? Go back to the menacing black & gold! Everything looks current except for that terrible logo... it is worse than the Canuck's 3rd jersey. I find myself looking around for Dino Ciccarelli, Mike Gartner, or Bob Carpenter! I am not a nostalgic person... obviously... and yes, I will be calling the fashion police before the next game. BTW - I've played at Verizon too - ice SUCKS!

I heard some complaints after the game about the soft ice.

Comments about the new screens from ice level-Row B(ignore if you weren't there):
1. The penalty information is hard to read because of the background. They should black that out like the score and the time remaining.
2. The ribbon looks good, but they didn't have a time and score inset until the second period. Its nice to be able to get that info in several places. Similarly, they need to bring back the time of day clock. Yes, I own a watch, but I like to be able to keep track of the time when the game lingers.

The top 9 forwards look set to me. With Brashear a lock on a spot on the 4th line, you've got Suds, Clymer, Bradley and Steckel all angling for two spots. I thought Steckel looked ready; Boruque did not. Klepis and Laich don't have the goods.

D will be a mess. Pothier looked less than stellar, but has to be a top guy. If I had my way, Green, Schulz and Erskine would be 5-7. Emmo and Boomer can go away.

When the price reflects the meaning of the game then maybe people will show up. Why is it the team does not have to play the entire team but the fans have to pay so much?

I am ok with that as long as reporters are not getting upset at the attendance. Now if the season starts and people do not show up after the "partial" mid tier upgrade this off season I can understand getting upset.

First off, it was 90 degrees yesterday. Of course the ice is going to be terible. Secondly, pre-season attendance isn't just down in Washington, Boston had a game last week that drew about 4,000. Chicago played a game the day before that maybe had 2,000. It's preseason. Nobody cares. Finally, when are some people going to get of this crap about Pothier. If you actually watched the game last night, you could easily see that he was one of the best defensemen on the ice, hands down. Oh, and one more thing, Steckel is a monster on the PK.

I watched the game over the web last night. First time I've done that with hockey. There was no sound for the Caps game, although there was sound for the other game. That was a problem, but the bigger problem is the price of the season package. Baseball gives you every single game for about $80 per season. The NHL gives you a partial selection of games and charges twice that. The NHL has exorbitant ticket prices, a TV package that most Americans don't get, and inflated web prices. What other league does such a thorough job of keeping its fans away from its product?

In re the game: I thought Green looked great, and so did Kozlov. I live on Long Island, and I'll tell you that we're going to love Poti and Kozlov. They are very underrated players.

As someone who has worked with many a scoreboard in many a sport, I liked how this one was laid out. Though it looked like they were still working some of the bugs out (it what preseason is for), they had it looking good.

I too would like to see a time of day clock, I kept looking for it on the front of the 400's, just not there!

The sound system was pretty good, felt like we were in a dead spot over in 103 but with all new "toys", sometimes it's hard to play with just one right away. These guys know what they're doing so I know by Opening Night--if not sooner--everything will be running 100%.

I was at the game last night in the lower bowl. The crowd was sparce, but the intensity from those who were in attendance was awesome! I know my friends and I had a blast!

As far as the bad ice: I wondered why Semin fell four times during warm ups, the bad ice explains it...

By the way, the reason the ice was so bad is that it was just laid down on Monday night.

Tarik,
Question about Green. I know from yours and other accounts he's looked real good and I'm a big fan of him (and have been since meeting him at the draft). But if Poti, Morrisonn, Jurcina and Pothier are pretty much locked in as the top four, that leaves Boumer, Erskine, Eminger and Green fighting for spots 4-7 (assuming we can agree Schultz and Pollock will be sent to Hershey). If Green makes the team, who doesn't? Are they okay with cutting Boumer, who I assume would return to Sweden? Or would they try and send Erskine through waivers to Hershey (knowing he surely would clear)? Don't the Caps need Erskine's toughness on the blueline, even if he's in the 7 spot?

That brings us to Eminger. If they can find a trading partner for Eminger, they could send him through waivers to Hershey. But they risk losing him for nothing and even if he clears would they really want Eminger's poor attitude and work ethic around the Bears? IMO Eminger was a huge detriment to the Pirates in his time in Portland before the lockout.

As much as I like Green, and he seems to have earned a spot, he is waiver exempt for one more year. Couldn't he start the season in Hershey until they can figure out what to do with Eminger and be the first call up when needed? Seems like this is a tough spot for McPhee to be in.

I read a bunch of people talk about Eminger everyday on these boards....why does everyone hate him so much? He is 23! Defenseman aren't wingers, they take time to develop. He has 4 season in the NHL, why would anyone want to trade a defenseman who is 23 and with that much time under his belt? The Bruins got rid of Morrison and Jurcina because they weren't "developing" at exactly the same age that Eminger is now, and how did that work out?

On that note, Clymer, Bradley, Sutherby (who played more games than Eminger and had the same number of points, while playing offense and is two years older), Erskine, Boumedienne, Motzko, Klepis and Laich can all go play in the ECHL for all I care.

I tend to agree with Rob regarding Emminger. I honestly believe that he is going to break out this year. Hanlon himself (see Tarik's article) said that Emminger was pushed to the NHL too quickly, with not enough time to develop in the AHL.

It will be interesting to see how everyone on this board (and others) reacts if Emminger is traded and blossoms on another team. Based on the comments here and on other boards and knowing how fans in DC are I am sure everyone will be crying for GMGM's head...there certaintly won't be any admission of being wrong.

On another Emminger note...it's interesting how almost all of the Caps preview pages mention Emminger as an important cog...are these folks not doing their research or do they know something we don't?

What a sweet goal by Green last night! He is way better than Emminger

The reason a bunch of previews list Eminger as important is because this is the age when most defenseman break through.....also the reason why it would be VERY easy to trade him, because a lot of GMs/scouts can tell that he'll be pretty good.

There's no way I'm going to a Capitals pre-season game. You must be out yo mind. I'll be glad when these games are over so that I can start finding good deals for the opener on CL!

New screens were nice. The one thing I didn't like was the logos 'ghosted' behind scoreboard. It made it hard to read the stats at a quick glance. Scores and stat info should be easy to read. The logo backgrounds/gradients made it too busy.

DC has the worst ice? Nahh, MSG will always have the worst ice of all. At least we don't have holes in our rink. I don't really see the Phonebooth getting much bettter in the ice department anytime soon. Between hockey, 2 basketball teams and all of the other stuff the ice is never going to get enough of a break to get real hard.

Next week is going to be interesting for Hanlon and GMGM. Alot of hard choices to make.

IMHO, the person who we should be clamoring to be rid of is Pothier, NOT Eminger. I honestly don't think that Pothier is one of the top 6 D-men on this team (Poti, Morrisson, Jurcina, Eminger, Green are at least equal... some clearly better now, or will prove to be within the next few months.... Schultz and Erskine provide an element of size and reach, another area where Pothier comes up lacking). Bottom line is that he's weak in his own end, and we now have other players that can skate and move the puck better than he can.

Problem is, GMGM is not going to admit that he's paying 2.5 million over the next few years for a guy that is no better than a 6 or 7th Dman. Unfortunately, we'll probably end up getting rid of Eminger (and watching him blossom elsewhere)because of McPhee's pride and commitment to #2.

By the way Erskine is terrible. He was so out of place last year. No reason to keep him around just because he is big, when we already have talented players in Mo-Jurica-Shultz that are all about 9 feet tall.

And for Hater, how can you not like the new Uni's? Best in all of hockey.

***ONLINE NATIONAL MARKETING BLITZ***

OK, I've spotted Capital advertising on such national websites like Drudge Report and Fox News and from local websites from Chicago and West Palm Beach.

Does anyone know what the deal is with this marketing blitz? Why are the Caps advertising season ticket deals to people in the midwest and Florida?

At this very moment at Drudge Report is an ad for the season opener(which I'll be at) where you play a game, trying to score one past Ollie. The link of course takes you to the Caps website.

I think it's part of Leonsis's major plan to turn the Capitals into "America's Team". It may also be a Dan Snyder-esque way of pushing merchandise throughout the country. Personally, I love it.

I think this would be an interesting story for Tarik to report on.

Any thoughts????

Watched the game last night on nhl.tv - not very impressive either, and the audio feed coming from the caps had a 15 or 20 second delay making the whole experience a bit challenging. Kind of like someone having to explain the punchline of a joke.

In any event, Emminger didn't have his best game, but we need to cut him some slack here as it was his first appearance. Hopefully, he'll improve over the remaining 3 games. Schultz on the other hand had another tough game, missing a crucial pass to the crease resulting in a Williams goal for the Canes. Schultz has one thing going for him - reach. He needs another AHL season and alot more muscle to grow into his body in order to be the Caps Zdano Chara - maybe three years from now.

Adding that kind of strength will make him formidible, add quickness and get his physical game where it needs to be. In a way, Jeff is where Emminger was three years ago. Yes the Caps can use him, but are they expecting too much too soon?

Time will only provide the answer to this riddle.

Scott,

I too noticed the advertisements on different sites. I'm not a tech guru...probably as far from it as one can be...but my thought was that the advertising company may somehow utilize cookies to see what sites the user has visited and then determines which advertisements you should see.

Maybe I'm just wearing a tinfoil hat...but it seems plausible no?

I could understand having soft ice w/ it being just laid and the weather. After thinking though, it seemed like the Caps had a tougher time with the ice. Goldmember, aka #92, looked like he was having problems.

I'm not a huge Pothier fan by any means, but to say he isn't a top 6 D-man (or really a top 4 as things stand TODAY) on this team is absurd. Before I get into the stats (and I LOVE to argue with facts, rather than just stating my opinion and leaving it at that), there was a great quote last year from an Ottawa Senator saying how losing Pothier was a major loss to them. I think that says something about the type of player Pothier is.

And now it's time for stats! First, I will admit that Pothier isn't a #1 d-man, and he isn't paid like one either. He's paid like a top 4 d-man, which I absolutely think he is. He led Caps defensemen with 28 points, 11 more than the 2nd highest scoring defenseman. He led the team in blocked shots with 140.

Yes, he was a -11. However, compare that to look at Eminger (-14), Green (-10), and Erskine (-13 -- in 29 games...yikes!). All that said, take this into consideration: he was the Caps overall leader in minutes played per game. To me he was asked to do too much.

Down the stretch last season (the last 11 games, as his playing time went down thanks to the high minutes played by Jurcina) he had 6 points and was +5.

In my opinion, Pothier is going to be a good 2nd PP unit guy and he is going to be a good top 4 d-man this year.

I'm going to state this right now, Brian Pothier is going to make a lot of people eat their words this season. Jeff, you're right. Pothier is not a #1 defenseman. Never was. He was thrown into that role last season because nobody else was available. This year, instead of playing against the opposition's top line, he'll be out there against their second or third lines. That's a far more manageable situation for him. And if you watched the game last night, you could easily make the argument that he was the best defenseman on the ice for the Caps. This is a good guy who loves the team, loves the area and wants to be a Cap for a long time. Yet some people are all over him because he doesn't play like Scott Niedermayer. Pothier will be just fine if people just give him a chance.

I think the sites capture your IP address and identify it as belonging to the DC area. Then they provide you with local advertisements - Caps

Dear Jeff,

If last year's stats were the only important factor with regards to which players should be in the lineup this year, teams would start training camp with 23 guys, not twice that many. God knows, that would save a lot of trouble in terms of getting guys into game shape and establishing rapport and chemistry.

I understand the cookies and IP address scenario, but my brother in Palm Beach Gardens, FL is experiencing the exact same thing. He's also a big Panthers fan so I guess that would go against the IP and cookie theories.

Aybee,

Obviously last years statistics are not the only thing that determines who makes a team. But at the same time, pre-season games only mean so much. I have nothing against Mike Green, and I hope that his offensive game from the pre-season continues because we need offense from the blue line (and it'd be fantastic to get 41 goals and 82 assists from him -- heh), but he also is averaging a penalty per game. There was a reason his ice time was limited last year...he took some bad penalties (Eminger took a lot more) and did not always pay attention to his defensive responsibilities. Check his 3rd period ice time sometime...he was often riding the bench for a reason. Obviously he's had time to mature, and hopefully he has and can earn one of the last 2 spots. But he hasn't proven himself yet (nor has Schultz, Eminger, etc)...Pothier has.

People are entitled to their opinion, but there is no way that the Caps are better off with Pothier not on the opening night roster.

Apologies for the non-hockey content, but to answer a few of your questions:

Blank - You are correct. It's based on IP addresses.

scott rivette - The thing about IP addresses is that they don't necessarily nail down your geographical location accurately - just the registered location of your service provider. That's probably why your brother is seeing them. Using that sort of technology is a good way to hit local customers, but you'll always have misdirected ads going out of the area, especially with the larger providers.

Exhibition hockey games in a southern city with 80 degree temperatures in September. As a life long hockey fan and player (never any good) I find it surprising that there were so MANY people at the game last night. We paid almost $5000 for a pair of season tickets and are forced to spend an extra $210 on 3 meaningless games. Is the team trying to build the sport or squeeze its most important fans? If the NHL really wants a southern presence, here is what it needs to do:

1) Start the season two weeks later and end it two weeks earlier. That will allow us to at least feel colder weather that signals hockey season is here.

2) Shorten road trips so there are not 3-4 home games in 1 week and then none for 2 weeks. We could go to almost 1 game a week all year, but 3 in a week is silly. The extra travel expense to the team might be made up with more attendance.

3) Include the preseason for free for all season ticket holders, not just the brand new ones. If the tickets were free, I would have had no trouble giving them away to a friend who could go and thus the team would have seen some support. At $35 bucks a pop, there was little or no demand to see an exhibition game and many tickets went unused.

The Caps are still way under the salary cap, yet prices are near the top of the NHL. Some money was spent in the offseason and this year will be better, but please don't put it on the fans for not showing up to a summer exhibition hockey game.

I don't work for Ted so don't accuse me of being a plant, but Caps ticket prices are not even close to the top of the league. Last year there were 20 teams with higher average prices. You can check it out at this site:
andrewsstarspage.com/NHL-Business/ticket-prices.htm

By the way, I'm a STH and I agree that we shouldn't be forced to pay for exhibition games but that seems to be the way of life in pro sports.

NHL preseason games aren't as big a ripoff as Redskins preseason games. But I wouldn't pay for either.

I don't think the Caps can expect people in this market to show up for pre-season games when ticket prices are so high. They would gain so many more regular season fans if the pre-season games were free. That's how you get people interested and that's how you get people to come back.

BOO HISS to the negative Nates and Nellies! I agree with Tarik - I was there and will be again on Friday! We should all support our team!! Whether it "counts" or not, it is still a blast, and I am sure the team appreciates it. LET'S GO CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

scott rivette, has your brother ever visited the Caps web site? It's my understanding that the cookie they place on your computer is read by the advertising program running on other web sites, and that's why you get Caps ads. It's not just the IP address that does it. The cookie identifies you as someone who is interested in the Caps, so you get Caps ads.

Tarik, do you go to many preseason games? That was one of the largest crowds I've ever seen at a weekday preseason game. heck that was probably the biggest preseason crowd I've ever seen that wasn't against Philly.