Capital Team

COLLEGE PARK -- Although there would be players with bigger bodies, names and reputations on the court, 6-foot-1 guard Anwar McQueen was confident in his ability going into last night's 20th Capital Classic."

Linda Taylor became a Washington Capitals fan at the Piney Orchard Ice Rink. The former softball coach at Archbishop Spalding High School occasionally brought her son and daughter to team practices there, and they met Peter Bondra, who played with the Capitals for 14 years. Now with the Atlanta Thrashers, Bondra is a down-to-earth guy who, after Capitals practice, taught Taylor's children how to shoot a puck and hold a stick. He also answered the children's questions. "He was just like a regular Joe coming off the ice," Taylor said.

Pete Budko doesn't recall the 1977 game, because his memories are mostly about a European tour that followed and teammates that included a guy nicknamed Magic.A lack of playing time in 1985 couldn't diminish the thrill Bernard Royster got out of playing in a game he twice paid to attend in middle school.The 20th version of the Capital Classic goes off tonight at 8 at Cole Field House, showcasing some of the nation's top high school basketball players. Baltimore has had a high profile in the game: Keith Booth will be the seventh player from Dunbar and the 19th from the Baltimore area to participate, following in the footsteps of Budko and Royster.

WASHINGTON -- It hit with the force of a flying puck.Overnight, this city has turned itself into a hockey town. For years, the Washington Capitals were a source of derision and apathy, not pride.No matter. As the team fought its way this week into the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in its 24-year history, new fans, along with old loyalists, joined the cheering squad for this team faster than you can say "bloody nose.""It's the Stanley Cup -- you've got to be excited," said Andrea Min, 25, a systems analyst from Arlington, Va. "Everyone here is following the team, even if they didn't care before."

COLLEGE PARK -- The 19th annual Capital Classic, this area's showcase for some of the best high school talent in the nation, had a familiar face and his star shone the brightest.Dunbar high school All-American Donta Bright scored a game-high 26 points, earning the Most Valuable Player award for the Capital All-Stars.Unfortunately for Bright, help from his teammates came a bit too late as the U.S. All-Stars held off the Capital team, 103-102, before a crowd of 10,092 at Cole Field House.Behind Bright's first 13 points, the Capital team had a 50-41 lead at the half, but the U.S. All-Stars scored the first 12 points of the second half to take a 53-50 lead.

LANDOVER -- Johnny Rhodes figures he still has a little work to do, Wayne Bristol realizes he has a lot of work to do, and Cherokee Parks looks ready.Rhodes and Bristol, two guards headed for the University of the Maryland were on the losing end while Parks was on the winning team last night, as the U.S. All-Stars ran away from the Capital All-Stars, 114-89, in the 18th annual Capital Classic before 10,002 at the Capital Centre.Rhodes, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Washington's Dunbar High, was one of just a few bright spots for the Capital team, which led at the half, 47-44, before being routed.

This year's Capital Classic already had a strong local flavor with three area players on the Capital team, and now it has even more of a taste of Baltimore: Loyola's Jerry Savage will coach the U.S. All-Stars."

COLLEGE PARK -- Sitting in pain on the trainer's table 10 minutes before game time, Dunbar's Donta Bright was unsure whether he would participate in the 19th annual Capital Classic."

COLLEGE PARK -- Sitting in pain on the trainer's table 10 minutes before game time, Dunbar's Donta Bright was unsure whether he would participate in the 19th Capital Classic."

Who has been No. 4 Southern's toughest opponent this season?According to Southern coach Meredith Smith, it's not Dunbar, Annapolis, Cardinal Gibbons, Coolidge or Dunbar of Washington, the teams that beat the Bulldogs (14-4).Smith says his team's toughest opponent has been officials."We win on the floor, but we can't beat the whistle," Smith said after last Tuesday's 75-57 win over Lake Clifton. "The only team team that beat us [in which] the difference wasn't at the free-throw line was Dunbar.

Old Mill Senior High School and the Washington Capitals have joined forces to raise money for a former Old Mill student who needs a new heart.Lacy Chenoweth, 16, has been suffering from heart problems since birth.Lacy, who would have ended his first semester as a sophomore at Old Mill this month, has been waiting for a heart transplant since September."It's a pretty sad story," said Kevin Randolph, a counselor at Old Mill. "It didn't take a whole lot of prompting on our part."The school is trying to sell 100 Washington Capitals tickets for a Jan. 26 game against the Buffalo Sabres, said Mr. Randolph.

The agent for unsigned forwards Peter Bondra and Michal Pivonka yesterday made a new offer to the Washington Capitals, saying the two players could be back on the ice for a total cost of "about $3 million.""Our offer would pay Peter less than Joe Juneau, but give him the capability of earning more," said Rich Winter, who represents both Bondra and Pivonka. "We've also back-ended it so that the lion's share of the burden will come after the team has moved into their new building."Capitals general manager David Poile said he will respond to the offer today.

COLLEGE PARK -- Although there would be players with bigger bodies, names and reputations on the court, 6-foot-1 guard Anwar McQueen was confident in his ability going into last night's 20th Capital Classic."

Pete Budko doesn't recall the 1977 game, because his memories are mostly about a European tour that followed and teammates that included a guy nicknamed Magic.A lack of playing time in 1985 couldn't diminish the thrill Bernard Royster got out of playing in a game he twice paid to attend in middle school.The 20th version of the Capital Classic goes off tonight at 8 at Cole Field House, showcasing some of the nation's top high school basketball players. Baltimore has had a high profile in the game: Keith Booth will be the seventh player from Dunbar and the 19th from the Baltimore area to participate, following in the footsteps of Budko and Royster.

As a starting hitter on Severna Park High's volleyball team last fall, Jen Conner helped the Falcons (19-0) capture the Class 4A state title.When Conner enters her junior year in September, the 5-foot-9 16-year-old will be one of four returning starters from that squad. And if her summer league success on the Capital Volleyball Club's 16-and-under Blue team is any indication, county rivals may be in for a tougher time than they had last year.In the recent Junior Olympic National Championships in Albuquerque, N.M., Conner and Severna Park teammate Julie Kasprzak, also entering her junior year, helped the Capital Club's 16 Blue team place 29th in a 64-team field.

COLLEGE PARK -- Sitting in pain on the trainer's table 10 minutes before game time, Dunbar's Donta Bright was unsure whether he would participate in the 19th Capital Classic."

It was reported incorrectly in yesterday's editions that the last basketball player from a Baltimore high school to participate in the Capital Classic was Bernard Royster of Cardinal Gibbons in 1985. Thomas Jordan of Lake Clifton participated in the game in 1987.The Sun regrets the errors.St. Frances' Devin Gray, who had an emergency appendectomy March 15, will not play in tomorrow's Capital Classic.According to St. Frances coach William Wells, Gray has been instructed by doctors not to play for three weeks.

COLLEGE PARK -- The 19th annual Capital Classic, this area's showcase for some of the best high school talent in the nation, had a familiar face and his star shone the brightest.Dunbar high school All-American Donta Bright scored a game-high 26 points, earning the Most Valuable Player award for the Capital All-Stars.Unfortunately for Bright, help from his teammates came a bit too late as the U.S. All-Stars held off the Capital team, 103-102, before a crowd of 10,092 at Cole Field House.Behind Bright's first 13 points, the Capital team had a 50-41 lead at the half, but the U.S. All-Stars scored the first 12 points of the second half to take a 53-50 lead.

COLLEGE PARK -- Sitting in pain on the trainer's table 10 minutes before game time, Dunbar's Donta Bright was unsure whether he would participate in the 19th annual Capital Classic."