At the Rink - Caps Media Day

Yesterday morning, the day Caps players had to report for training camp, was also Washington's season-beginning media day. I was there when Jose Theodore, Brooks Laich, Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Knuble and Brendan Morrison, as well as George McPhee, took the mic for some questioning.

A fair amount of the material from the day will go into various preview and preseason articles at DC Sports Box, but I wanted to share a few nice nuggets that probably won't make the articles:

-Brooks Laich has dubbed new teammate Brendan Morrison "Shifty," for some moves the center pulled in informal scrimmages this past week.
-Not only did Mike Knuble remember Piney Orchard (Washington's practice facility prior to Kettler) from his time as a visiting Red Wing in 1998, he remembered that it was both "dingy" and "dark." (Disclosure: I used to play summer hockey at Piney and worked in the pro shop for a couple months, and Knuble is telling the truth)
-When Knuble commented how much he was looking forward to playing with Washington's world-class players, he was staring directly at Alexanders Ovechkin and Semin, who were on the ice at the moment (not that it's any surprise)
-Many of the players were sporting Under Armour shirts with the phrases "Get Ready" and "Its Our Time" bookmarking an image of the Stanley Cup on the back.
-Among other duties, all the players took time to sign about 50 feet of jerseys, sticks and other merchandise. A couple players (I saw Brooks Laich and Boyd Gordon, among others) took time to sign for small groups of fans stationed at both ends of the staff/media-only sections.

Okay, I'll admit that section felt a little more tabloid-y than expected, but I still plan on From the Rink to be one of, if not the primary, content type for this blog. Specific game information has a place in game reports,, more in-depth reporting in feature articles, but some of the 'lighter side' stuff is the thing that makes people love hockey, and professional sports, and I'm all for that.