Here are some photos from today's training camp over at Kettler. The Capitals opened camp to a large crowd at Kettler that even some of the players were surprised to see.
More+Last January, Capitals defenseman Mike Green underwent surgery for a sports hernia after being sidelined with a groin injury for most of the 2011-2012 season. He returned to action for the Capitals' playoff run but was clearly not completely healthy. A year later, Green has totally recovered from the surgery. The long absence from a grueling NHL schedule allowed Green to mend completely. "I think that [with] the season not starting on time I've had a chance to kind of heal from my surgery. I've been training hard, so I'm ready." Structure is a large part of a professional athlete's life both during a season and in the off season, and NHL players had been missing that component during the lockout,as teams were not allowed to run official team practices. Green said even though he skated during the lockout, it was significantly lacking structure. "For us to get back on...
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Early notes from AM practice: Caps not skating this morning are Brooks Laich, Mike Ribiero, and Braden Holtby. Marcus Johansson took the day off as well. Among the Caps on the ice are Nicklas Backstrom and Wojtek Wolski, who arrived from Toronto yesterday, Jack Hillen, and Joey Crabb. Mike Green, who has taken the last two days off, is also skating today. Goalie Michal Neuvirth, who has been battling a cold, is on the ice as well. 20 players total took part in the skate. Training camp is set to officially start Sunday, after a 113-day lockout.
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The Capitals are back at Kettler skating. Doesn't that just have a great sound to it? Read more for news on training camp Friday.
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Here is a transcript directly from Ted Leonis' personal website in which he apologizes for the lockout. Read it in full here.
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The moment we've all been waiting for is here. Gillette finally allowed Alex Ovechkin to grow a beard - for their latest commercial of course.
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Pavel Lysenkov, a sports reporter for Sovietsky Sport in Russia, happened to run in to former Capitals goaltender, Semyon Varlamov, at the Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow Oblast, Russia. Varly, who now plays for the Colorado Avalanche, and his two dogs, were actually there to see off Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings. We would provide a translation from the transcript but it would be a reallllly rough Google translation (we provided it anyways. Check below). Reference original article by Lysenkov (@plysenkov on Twitter).
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The lockout is finally over and the last of the domestic lockout players are leaving Finland this week. There were total of 32 NHL players, who visited the SM-Liiga (Finnish National League) during the NHL lockout. Read more on the summary of how the NHL players made an impact in SM-liiga.
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With the lockout comes fresh new ice to get hacked up by monster truck shows, sub par bands, equestrian events and more importantly the circus. In a official press release by the Capitals, construction of the ice is set to happen Wednesday, January 9th. WOOOO!
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After a humiliating 8-1 defeat to Jokerit on Saturday, HIFK returned to action this evening. They had won tonight's opponent Blues, two out of three times this season. The teams were separated by two points as Blues was on the 9th place in the league right after HIFK. Read more here.
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