The centrepiece was to be a game featuring Sidney Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins and Alex Ovechkin's...

The centrepiece was to be a game featuring Sidney Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins and Alex Ovechkin's Capitals in Washington. The concept was to capitalize on the profile hockey will gain in the United States from the Vancouver Games by featuring Crosby and Ovechkin, the NHL's top two TV attractions, in a special venue in the U.S. capital - possibly the National Mall.

The Globe & Mail, pouring cold water on my hockey wet dream

over 2 years ago Scott in Shaw 25 comments 0 recs |

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They’re going to regret that when Canada and Russia face off in the Gold Medal game…

by sincitycapsfan on Jul 15, 2009 6:56 PM EDT reply actions

Given our inconsistent weirdo winter weather, I don’t know how they could ever schedule an outdoor game here.

Rockin' the Red in Section 412

by boutros23 on Jul 15, 2009 7:00 PM EDT reply actions

make ’em play on the sculpture garden rink!

by RedBirdie on Jul 15, 2009 8:58 PM EDT up reply actions

Never! Flyers-Pens on the Sculpture Garden rink. They’ll lose at least three players each with season-ending injuries…

by EmilyB on Jul 16, 2009 8:10 AM EDT up reply actions

Yay!

“Always Look On The Bright Side of Life”! (dang, what’s the escape sequence for those little music notes?)

by war_capitals on Jul 16, 2009 11:10 AM EDT up reply actions

Not sure on a Windows machine, but the HTML code is ♪ for a ♪ , ♫ for a ♫ and ♬ for a ♬.

"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Delores Ibarruri

by gotsparkly on Jul 17, 2009 5:17 AM EDT up reply actions

To be fair, March is better than New Years if they’re doing an outdoor game here. I guess.

by brs03 on Jul 15, 2009 8:59 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m no expert, but it seems to me the biggest risk to an outdoor game is rain. It’s not a problem keeping the ice frozen with the refrigeration equipment even if it’s warm outside, but warm water constantly falling onto the ice has got to be a major problem. So far, they’ve been lucky with the weather, but even Boston could get hit by unseasonally warm weather.

As to this supposed rumor, eh. Come on, this is the first we hear of it, and the story says hey we had an idea but nixed it? This is such a non-story. To get a game on the Mall, I’m thinking needs not one, but two years of planning, what with the security issues and all.

by gfcaps fan on Jul 15, 2009 9:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Yep. That’s why they could do an outdoor game in Vegas if they wanted, but DC is probably a no go without huge luck (which you can’t depend on) or an off season weatherwise (which you can’t know far enough ahead of time)

by brs03 on Jul 15, 2009 9:41 PM EDT up reply actions

we're never getting an NBC game

if Sid and the Pens can’t get them to show us…. NOTHING else will either.

by nuftjedi on Jul 16, 2009 8:48 AM EDT reply actions

… does your heart break at the idea of never getting to watch Pierre McGuire and Mike Milbury try to call a Caps game? Mine doesn’t. I’ll take Joe B and Locker any day.

"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Delores Ibarruri

by gotsparkly on Jul 17, 2009 5:19 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. As a season ticket holder, I’d be at the game. I won’t be at every game, but you can be sure I’d be at a Sunday afternoon game. So, in that regard, I won’t be watching at home, so it doesn’t matter. If I was going to be watching from home, absolutely, positively, I’d rather listen to Joe B and Locker. It’s the principle of the thing. How can you draft a schedule that only gets the two time league MVP on national broadcast TV when we’re playing Pittsburgh? NBC isn’t paying the league a thing up front, so they shouldn’t get that kind of veto right. How much could the advertising revenue possibly differ between a 1.0 and a 1.1 rating? And if they actually knew what they were doing, they could be bringing more eyeballs to the broadcast.

by gfcaps fan on Jul 17, 2009 9:20 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Put my thoughts into words. Thanks.

/recd

by Yoshietree on Jul 17, 2009 9:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Outdoors in DC

The only way that an outdoor game could be played in DC is if there is an area that can seat 20,000 plus and be covered up in case of rain. Alas, that venue doesn’t exist here. It also doesn’t exist in Pittsburgh if the Caps are playing the Pens.

Now a relaunch of Washington vs. Detroit at Ford Field, which can be indoors or outdoors and seat over 70,000… Certainly the game would outdraw any Lions football game, and you know there, is a history of Washington beating Detroit in their football stadium that dates back nearly half a century….

Let's go Caps!

by MikeL-Pivonka on Jul 16, 2009 10:03 AM EDT reply actions

Ford Field, to the best of my knowledge (its been a few years since I’ve been in that rather boring and generic monstrosity) is indoors-only.

by RedBirdie on Jul 16, 2009 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions

That’s my understanding as well.

by David Getz on Jul 16, 2009 10:16 AM EDT up reply actions

Aw come on, I’m sure engineers could figure out a way to make it open-air for at least one game.

Now getting the roof back on — that would be the challenge…

by Gould Old Days on Jul 16, 2009 10:43 AM EDT up reply actions

The only way that an outdoor game could be played in DC is if there is an area that can seat 20,000 plus and be covered up in case of rain. Alas, that venue doesn’t exist here. It also doesn’t exist in Pittsburgh if the Caps are playing the Pens.

They don’t need to cover the whole venue, through, only the playing surface.

by David Getz on Jul 16, 2009 10:16 AM EDT up reply actions

But then there’s wind to consider. Pretty soon the roof is so big it blocks the sightlines from the stands…

by Gould Old Days on Jul 16, 2009 10:44 AM EDT up reply actions

I was only thinking in terms of the build up to it. Obviously there’s the chance of rain during the game, but that hasn’t seemed to have dissuaded the league from having it in other locations with an open roof.

I mean, heck, winter in Buffalo you never know what you’re gonna get.

by David Getz on Jul 16, 2009 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions

How about RFK? I’d think the 400 and 500 levels would give you some great sightlines.

by Kerry Fraser's Hairspray on Jul 16, 2009 10:23 AM EDT up reply actions

I was thinking nationals stadium… but I’d be down for RFK..

It wont be long before we get to play in a winter classic… I cant decide if i’d rather we hosted it (so I can be lazy) or we traveled (so I can travel.) Guess thats why I have the NHL to make important decisions for me!

Strange as it sounds, we do own TVs in Russia - Simeon Varlamov

by JustJeff on Jul 16, 2009 12:41 PM EDT up reply actions

yeah, the prospect of watching hockey from the outfield bar……..very tempting. good sight lines even if the place is, visually, a bit dull.

I still think the Panthers guy had the best idea: host it at Camden Yards, Caps vs. Flyers. That would have been beautiful.

by RedBirdie on Jul 16, 2009 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions

As an STH I hope it’s an away game, I’d rather not have them waste a home game on it. Sure it’d be an experience just to be there, probably worth traveling to, but as far as a pure hockey viewing experience goes it’d likely be pretty crummy in person unless you got somewhat lucky with your seats or they picked an especially well-shaped venue (and I have no idea if there are any).

by brs03 on Jul 16, 2009 1:10 PM EDT up reply actions

Or use binoculars :)

"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Delores Ibarruri

by gotsparkly on Jul 17, 2009 5:19 AM EDT up reply actions

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