First of all, sorry if this is a terribly obvious question, I'm from Blacksburg (SW Va) and have never attended a Capitals practice. I'm going up to DC on thursday with my dad and we will be staying in Manassass on Thurs night...We have tickets for Friday's game against TB, but I'd really like to take my dad to the practice on Fri. morning...I'm assuming it's an optional skate, so I had two questions.

Firstly, do many players show up for the optional morning skates the day of games? I wouldn't even mind seeing 5 players out there, both my dad and I are pretty avid hockey/Caps fans so the whole experience would be a treat.

Secondly, is it difficult to get into the Caps practice? Are they very crowded/should I get there early? I was just planning on driving to the Ballston mall and finding my way to Kettler from there.

Again, sorry if these are obvious questions, I just wanted to make sure I can pull this off on Fri morning and figured you guys would know for sure!

Thanks