As Dynamo Moscow and the rest of the KHL are on a break, it was only a matter of time before pictures of Ovechkin would surface of his where abouts. Based on sightings, he became chummy at an MMA fight (Battle of Moscow 9) earlier today (12/16) where he was seen sitting with Maria Kirilenko, Joe Rogan and a Russian DJ. Ovi stepped up into the ring during a the event in Moscow, Russia as the result was read donning a Mike Tyson tee. The match was between former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski and Mike Hayes in which Arlovski was declared the winner. Ovechkin and his girlfriend Maria Kirilenko take pictures with their table mates Joe Rogan (looking elsewhere) (Photo via iamgeegun) Research credit goes to The Luke Thomas tumblr
In case you missed the meteor shower last night, here at HS we are all about astronomy right now. Who better to have breaking news involving hockey and astronomy than one Bryzlightyear. Ilya Bryzgalov, Philadephia Flyers goaltender and professor of the universe, recently visited the Cosmonaut Training Center and met Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and tried on a space suit, saying, "I like Darth Vader is from 'Star Wars.'" All of this was documented by the Russian TV Channel 'Russia 24'.
Adam Oates along with Monumental Sports helped shop for toys at a local area Toys R Us to help local area charities with providing toys to less fortunate kids during the holidays. It's not confirmed at this time if Oates was using this time to also shop for his favorite lego set. According to the Caps press release, 428 toys were gathered outside of the Verizon Center before the AHL Showcase late last week.
A huge disappointment at Tampere. Ilves tops HIFK 1-0 despite the support of thousand HIFK fans.
After the win on Friday, HIFK traveled to Tampere to face Ilves. Some thousand fans had also traveled to Tampere to give their support. Ilves' season has been a bad one. The team is stuck on the last position in the league troubled also with financial problems. However earlier this week Ilves got major reinforcement to its roster, as Daniel Paille (Boston) joined the squad on Wednesday. Max Talbot (Philadelphia) had joined the team earlier in the autumn.
A glimmer of light for HIFK during dark times. Perreault & Perrault dominate on power play. HIFK wins HPK 4-2. HIFK's 1 and 4 from last 5 games was the starting point for tonight's game. With few key players still missing from tonights roster, the crowd at Helsinki hand't too high hopes for the game. Only 6751 spectators showed up tonight (total capacity at 8500)
Galiev's goal against the Everblades was pretty goad. So good in fact, the Reading Royals took to Twitter to try and rally their star power contacts to convince ESPN to get Galiev's goal onto the infamous top 10. Memorable sports feats are apart of this exclusive club including Jordan dunking on someone, Pete Sampras winning trophies while embarrassing someone on the court. The list goes on. Now Stanislav Galiev, be proud. You are #9 on ESPN's Top 10 for this week!
Going into the AHL Showcase, emotions were on their own roller coaster ride to the promise land of potentially seeing NHL hockey being played at the Verizon Center in the near future. The Bears and Admirals were just here to warm up the ice since optimism was running high for the majority of Wednesday leading up to the match. Fans lined up, the house was sold out*, and hockey was back being played in DC. The last time the AHL was in town to play a match was back in the Caps Centre in 1979
From John Carlson's twitter : What up @Holts170 (with picture above loaded in) Well, it must have been bittersweet to see the guys hit the ice if you were John Carlson who snapped a photo of your 2012 Playoff heart throb and new dad, Mr. Braden Holtby at Kettler this morning. Holtby "Oh hey Carlson, what are you doing here?" Carlson "I.... I.... I JUST WANNA PLAYYYY!!!! PLEASEEEE!!!" As you should know, he is in town for tonight's match at the Verizon Center against the Norfolk Admirals. It will be a bit weird since the Bears are the away team tonight, and will consequentially be gearing up in the visitor locker room at the Verizon Center. Just kidding, they ended up being the away team and geared up in the Capitals locker room which may have been even more of a reason for Carlson to help move gear out just to get a glimpse...
Going to watch the game tonight and get your 1 game semi-professional hockey fix in before the holidays? Here are a couple of things to be aware of for tonight. First and foremost eat/drink/be merry pre-game and post-game at your favorite local bars/restaurants. As we covered before, hockey is the life and blood of Chinatown. With no hockey, businesses are struggling to keep the lights on so as your gift for the holidays, buy beer and food and tip your waiter/waitress/bartender handsomely. Secondly, there will be a toy drive being held by the Salvation Army. Now onto other details about tonight (and other info you can drop when having a conversation with someone that seems to know what they are talking about) The game will start at 7 pm and will air on CSN (we are thinking no Joe B or Locker but we can only hope). Doors open at 6...
It was an all too familiar story for HIFK this season. SaiPa outskated HIFK to take an easy 3-1 win. Perreault assisted HIFK's only goal on power play on a pass to Joel Perrault (no direct relation other than they are good friends). HIFK had 6 key players missing from the roster tonight, including the team captain Ville Peltonen. Surely that was a factor to the poor performance, but not an excuse.
