Where to begin...

This weekend the East Coast ladies of HLOG joined Rebecca and I for a I-95 HLOG convention. We (Becca, Steph, Ellie, Teka, Pookie and Schnookie) spent most of the weekend in Ballston, watching the Caps practice at K-Plex. We spent the rest of the time drinking until we couldnt feel our faces. If you have not already, I would really recommend heading out there to check the Caps out. The facilities are beautiful (in fact, several of the people we were with commented on how nice the rink is, compared to where their teams practice).

Some highlights from both days:

- Alex Semin was wiping out all over the place on Sunday. At one point, he was just skating around and fell backward before steadying himself with his stick.

---------------

- Nylander looked terrific on the ice. On Sunday, the coaches had the players partially sprinting, and then leisurely skating the length of the ice. A lot of the players, especially the younger ones, were mailing it in. Nylander went hard every time it was his turn to sprint. At one point he and Alex Semin seemed to be racing each other, with Nylander narrowly winning. Considering that Semin is about a decade younger, I was pretty impressed.

- Nylander and Semin were also practicing drills together, and Nylander was really impressive. He handled the puck around sharp turns really well, while Semin was wiping out on the same drills.

------------------

- Milan Jurcina and Jakub Klepis were pretty funny on the ice. They were shooting pucks after practice, and had a little one on one going on. Jurcina used his much larger frame to give Klepis a few friendly shoves, until Klepis grabbed his stick and tried to pull the 245 lb. Jurcina toward him. This didnt work out so well for Klepis, and he ended up with Jurcina pushing him headfirst toward the ice.

------------
------------

- Ovie and Olie had a little rivalry going while playing on different scrimmage squads. Ovie started it off by doing a little boogie once Olie was scored on. Olie did his own little dance when his squad evened it up.

It did my soul good to see some hockey, and I cant wait for the pre-season games next week. I am still playing catch up from this weekend, but I noticed the Caps lost to the Canes in overtime. Considering that we sent a squad that was primarily made up of rookies, and the Canes played most of their regular season players, I am pleased.

On a side note, one of my favorite bloggers has retired (I'm already itching for a comeback). DC Sports Chick is a funny, knowledgeable, and kind blogger, not to mention one of the few females in the DC blogosphere. She will be sorely missed. Thank you DCSC for some great reading.

Side note #2: Eric McErlain has a new podcast.

Pictures courtesy of Teka.