Washington Capitals

Peter Bondra, the right wing of the Washington Capitals, grew up waiting for his brother, Juraj, to bring him his used hockey sticks. "I was always so happy with his stick," Bondra said after a recent game. "I'd be asleep, but would hear him come in and I'd get up and go ask him, `Did you bring me a stick?' " Most of the time, Juraj, who played professional hockey in Czechoslovakia, did bring his younger brother what he wanted, only to see him take it and work diligently to curve the blade.

1st Mariner Arena will host the second Baltimore Hockey Classic next fall when the Washington Capitals play the Boston Bruins in an NHL preseason game on Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. "The Bruins coming to town makes this a special event," said Frank Remesch, general manager of 1 s t Mariner Arena. "That same night, the Orioles play the Red Sox, which adds to the spice. People can root against Boston twice. " Two years ago, in the first Baltimore Hockey Classic, the Capitals lost, 2-0 to the Nashville Predators before an announced crowd of 11,082.

1st Mariner Arena will host the second Baltimore Hockey Classic next fall when the Washington Capitals play the Boston Bruins in an NHL preseason game on Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. "The Bruins coming to town makes this a special event," said Frank Remesch, general manager of 1 s t Mariner Arena. "That same night, the Orioles play the Red Sox, which adds to the spice. People can root against Boston twice. " Two years ago, in the first Baltimore Hockey Classic, the Capitals lost, 2-0 to the Nashville Predators before an announced crowd of 11,082.

Few people were walking around downtown Laurel Tuesday evening, but at Main Street Sports Grill, nearly every seat at the bar was taken for happy hour. Since April marks the start of Major League Baseball play, the multiple flat-screen televisions behind the bar were showing ESPN's highlights from games across the nation. However, come 7 p.m., ESPN would be replaced by coverage of two games, one featuring the Baltimore Orioles, and the other the Washington Nationals. Laurel is sandwiched between Baltimore and Washington, about a half-hour drive away from either city, and at Main Street Sports Grill, baseball loyalties were divided between the two teams.

HockeyWashington Capitals -- Traded C Kevin Miller to the St. Louis Blues for D Paul Cavallini.

Flyers: After a 3-2 loss to the Washington Capitals Sunday, Philadelphia is 0-2-2 in its last four games and 1-6-2 since Jan. 3.

Baseball4Utah Pioneers (PSFL) -- Named John D'Ottavio coach.HockeyToronto Maple Leafs -- Recalled F Kevin McClelland from St. John's (AHL).Washington Capitals -- Sent C Tim Bergland to Baltimore (AHL) on a 2-week reconditioning assignment.

BasketballLos Angeles Clippers -- Re-signed G Gary Grant to a two-year contract.HockeyHartford Whalers -- Sent G Mario Gosselin to AHL Springfield.Washington Capitals -- Recalled G Rick Tabaracci from AHL Portland.

The Baltimore sports scene is blessed with a bunch of talented bloggers who bring their unique perspective to the conversation. Each week, I hope to chat with one of them in a regular feature called Blogger on Blogger.  This week, we exchanged emails with Peter Hassett, who blogs about the Washington Capitals for Russian Machine Never Breaks . MV: The first couple of months of the season were not friendly to the Capitals, but they...

A little more than a month ago, the Washington Capitals called a players-only meeting in search of a wake-up call. Off to the fourth-worst start in franchise history at 2-8-1, they sat in last place in the NHL, five points out of a playoff spot. They've gone 8-5-0 in the 13 games since the meeting, at times showing enough noticeable improvement to suggest that things were finally starting to come together under first-year coach Adam Oates. But after losing to the Islanders and Rangers this weekend, the Capitals have little to show for their modest progress.

It took until the fifth try and the eighth day of the season, but the Washington Capitals finally managed to put together a complete game under the guidance of first-year coach Adam Oates and come away with a victory. Fueled by contributions from every corner of the lineup, from Alex Ovechkin through to Joel Ward and John Erskine, Washington played a smart and aggressive brand of hockey to defeat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2, on Sunday afternoon at Verizon Center . It was the only reward the Capitals wanted after days of making gradual progress in getting up to speed with their new coach and new system.

The first game full of errors, poor defensive coverage and careless penalties could easily be shrugged off as growing pains for a team with a new coach and new system. Maybe even the second, too. But as the Washington Capitals foundered for a third straight game, stricken with a familiar brand of self-inflicted calamity, the question became not when they would put everything together but if. Undone once more by a plethora of untimely penalties, inept special teams play and a downright lack of cohesion, the Capitals lost, 4-1, to the Montreal Canadiens at Verizon Center on Thursday night, dropping to 0-3 on the year.

No one expected the Washington Capitals' season opener to be perfect. Not after just six days to learn a new system from a new head coach, not when there's chemistry to establish, communication to pin down and players on the roster without professional game experience in eight months. Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, each of those elements played a role as the Capitals fell, 6-3, in Adam Oates' debut as coach. There were plenty of little miscues, especially defensively, as players struggled to identify assignments or regroup when caught out of position.

Capitals Report: Laich probably out for season opener Saturday     Washington Capitals forward Brooks Laich missed the first formal practice under coach Adam Oates on Sunday, and it's likely he will miss the start of the start of the season as well, according to TSN's Bob McKenzie . Laich has been nursing an apparent groin injury, which he is believed to have suffered while playing in Switzerland during the lockout....

Capitals Backstrom seeing specialist for neck injury Nicklas Backstrom is visiting a specialist in Michigan after suffering a neck injury while playing in the Kontinental Hockey League during the lockout, a Washington Capitals spokesman confirmed. Backstrom has not played since suffering the injury Dec.26 in a game with Dynamo Moscow. The Swedish center returned to North America on Sunday and was at the Capitals' training facility in Arlington, Va., on Monday, but has since traveled to Michigan.

Lacrosse U.S. U-19 men rout Germany in quarters The U.S. under-19 men's national team breezed past Germany, 22-2, on Wednesday in a quarterfinal at the Federation of International Lacrosse U19 World Championships in Turku, Finland, setting up a rematch with the Iroquois today. Matt Kavanagh led the way with four goals and two assists; Connor Buczek added four goals, and Kyle Keenan had two goals and three assists. The Iroquois (3-1) beat the Americans, 15-13, on Tuesday in both teams' final game of pool play.