John Walton Hockey

Sun, Jul 19th, 2009 9:33:00 am

CAMP WRAP FROM ARLINGTON

The Capitals concluded its 2009 Development Camp on Saturday with a scrimmage at 10:00 a.m. at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia. There’s something inspiring about seeing a full hockey arena on a Saturday morning in the middle of summer, and that’s exactly what we got when we walked into the K-Plex yesterday. Not only were there a lot of Red, White and Blue sweaters and shirts being displayed in the seats, but there were also several folks making the trip from central PA who were proudly wearing the Chocolate and White as well.

We took in the first period in the bleachers, sitting with Washington’s VP of Communications Kurt Kehl and watching Michael Dubuc again steal the show. Dubuc scored two first period goals for the White team, lifting his camp scrimmage total to a team leading seven lamp-lighters. A guy who was among the last cuts from Hershey to South Carolina last fall, Dubuc got the attention of a lot of people this week in Arlington. You have to believe his stock rose this week among the powers that be. Also interesting in the first period on Saturday was the move of Joe Finley to forward for a few shifts. Depending on what the Bears have to open the season with, the thought of a 6-7, 250-pound forward that plays with some snarl is intriguing to say the least. Something to keep in mind as September rolls around.

The second period found us in Blogger’s Corner, which is also known as the staff lunchroom above the ice in the Washington front office. We watched from behind the glass, and I got to chat for a bit with John Keeley, Frank and Liz Chang and Gary Kriebel from On Frozen Blog to catch up on things. I’m always very impressed with the OFB folks and the coverage they put together, but never more so than during something like this. They did their live blog of the events of yesterday http://tinyurl.com/mea7oc which if you didn’t follow as it happened, you can read the recap of what you missed. Near the start of the second period, we were visited by Caps owner Ted Leonsis as he made his rounds around Kettler. No owner in sports has done more to advance social media and hockey coverage in the 21st century than Leonsis, a fact I reflected on as he visited with us. Some teams shy away from new media; Leonsis embraces it. He’s doing a lot of good not only for the Capitals, but for the game of hockey itself with his progressive thinking and attitude. It was nice to talk with him for a bit yesterday.

It wasn’t all hardcore pucks in the second period on Saturday. My son Jack found the bubble hockey game in the front office lobby at Kettler. After a quick game with him, Caps mascot Slapshot was just walking in and took over for me as I went back out to watch the scrimmage. Really. It looked like something out of an ESPN commercial. I just wished I had a camera to chronicle the event for history. Cool stuff.

Third period, we made the shift again, this time downstairs with Tim Leone from the Patriot-News, the rest of the Washington press corps and Bruce Boudreau. With assistant coaches Bob Woods and Dean Evason on the benches, Bruce was freed up to watch the game elsewhere. So watch with the media he did. BB was holding court most of the third period with us, with many laughs had by all. It’s tough to believe it will be two years in November since he left Hershey for D.C., but he’s still the same guy with the press folks in the big city. As the scrimmage broke up, he was getting ready to head out to Canada for hockey camps, a charity golf outing and a radio gig. Bruce will be guest co-host on Monday morning on The Fan 590 www.fan590.com with Gord Stellick from 6:00-9:00 a.m. You can listen live here, and I strongly recommend you do if you can.

Of course, one of the highlights was seeing our coaches beyond Bruce in their new roles. Bob Woods in his Washington track suit directing traffic on the bench for the White Team. New Hershey Head Coach Mark French on the Blue Team bench with Dean Evason. I got to chat with Troy Mann, our new assistant for a bit yesterday as well. Good to see them all, and yesterday just reaffirmed what I thought from the day Woody got the call to the NHL. It’s good to promote from within. I’m really happy for Woody and Frenchy, and I’m really looking forward to see what Mark does with our team this fall.

After a trip to the team store (where we ran into VP/GM George McPhee on the way out), it was time to head back to PA. It is quiet on the hockey front now until September, but it was a great midsummer treat to take in the future of the Caps and catch up with old friends. A few more weeks of summer, and it will be time to go again. Like I said yesterday on my Twitter page (@jwaltonhockey), the future is still very bright for the Capitals. It promises to be another exciting season.