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Stats Centre
We are working on an archive of matches, stats and players from BIH in the past few years.
Getting ready for Monday night
The 4,000 empty seats were a big giveaway, if one were needed. It may not sound like many in an arena that holds nearly 19,000, but in this town it's a very noticeable amount. Only five months earlier Verizon Center was full-to-bursting. The public address volume turned up so loud the whole building shook. A bowl-shaped bank of people decked out in red, with complimentary rally towels in hand. I was one of the lucky ones on that night. It was game six against the Rangers and the big guns came to play. Mike Green, Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin made the Blueshirts wish they hadn't bothered with the trip down I-95. Then the bubble burst, Tampa Bay swept the Caps and Gallery Place became prematurely silent once again.
There is no need to worry, however. There is no crisis in Washington. The empty seats just happen to be the calm before the storm. Unfortunately for many fans, that calm is pre-season.
I'm tempted to say I was one of the unlucky ones on Friday, such was the low-key nature of the Capitals second home exhibition match-up. The crowd tried to get into the game, and the players huffed and puffed, but it just wasn't the same. The arena volume was low. The rally towels had disappeared. There were even some neutral fans decked out in shirts foreign of the teams on the ice (an annoying occurrence normally found a mile down the Green Line at Nationals Park). Even the ever- reliable big screen was a let down, with no pictures of the new signings. This made me feel especially bad for Troy Brouwer, as he picked up two assists.
Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to moan. At least the lines for concessions were shorter than normal (even if the prices were the same), and I didn't pay the $50 face value for the ticket. Also, despite it being pre-season, people still turned out in their droves to support the only team in D.C. with a realistic chance of glory (mediocrity sums up the rest, apart from the awful Wizards).
I am therefore optimistic that by the time Monday night comes around (my first regular season game of the year) the cobwebs will be gone from players, fans and the big screen alike. The first time Ovechkin ploughs into Victor Hedman should make doubly sure of that. Then we'll be just six months away from the noise level inside Verizon Center being a giveaway for the time of year. I, for one, cannot wait.
0-3 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-5 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-4 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-2 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
- Adam Walker
- Alex Birch
- Andy Pierce
- Chris Gent
- Christopher Beal
- Craig Simpson
- Dave Simms
- Elliott Stanley
- Gareth Chalmers
- James Broughton
- James Gordon
- Katy Madgwick
- Luke Catterson
- Mark Briggs
- Mark Duell
- Mat Young
- Patrick Smyth
- Promotion
- Russ Morrell
- Seanna Murdock
- Stephen Dowson
- Stewart Roberts
- Tom Forster
- Vicki Smart
- William Lyon
