Okay, I’m a blogging machine right now. Writing to you from the cafe car on Amtrak’s Northeast Regional train headed to NYC for New Year’s Eve. Should be interesting. Thanks to the NHL schedule makers for sending the Caps out to California this weekend and making the trip possible. I still hope to catch both games on TV – tonight vs. San Jose and Saturday afternoon vs. Los Angeles – and the Winter Classic on Friday, of course. But my twitter updates may be limited. Will be back at Kettler Iceplex on Monday for the Caps’ next scheduled home practice.
Just because he’ll get lost in the shuffle after Mike Green’s exclusion from Team Canada, a few thoughts on forward Tomas Fleischmann. He was named to the Czech Republic roster early Wednesday morning. Not a huge surprise now. But Fleischmann had to overcome some serious obstacles to get here. He suffered a blood clot in his leg after blocking a shot during last spring’s playoffs and that became a serious problem after a long flight home to the Czech Republic once the Caps were eliminated.
Fleischmann was limited for most of the summer. He worked on building his upper body strength, but had to skate by himself. No contact whatsoever thanks to the blood thinners employed to break up the clot. He was finally cleared for contact in October and after a short rehab stint at AHL Hershey didn’t miss a beat when he returned to the Caps’ lineup. He scored two goals in his second game back on Oct. 30 against the New York Islanders. Fleischmann has 14 goals and 10 assists in just 28 games and is poised to set career highs in both categories after a breakthrough 2008-09. (19 G, 18 A).
Fleischmann joked earlier this week that sometimes during practice – or even off the ice – the Caps’ Olympic hopefuls rag each other about the upcoming tournament. “Yeah, I’ll get you in the Olympics!” players will yell at each other. Much like the United States, the Czech squad is a dark horse for a medal. Florida’s Tomas Vokoun gives them a solid goaltender with Atlanta’s Ondrej Pavelec his backup – he’s just happy Jeff Schultz was not a candidate to make Team Canada. Seven solid NHL defensemen make up the eight-man Czech blueline, including Toronto’s Tomas Kaberle and Ottawa’s Philip Kuba – though there’s not much star power there. The forwards also lack a true superstar – unless you still want to count Jaromir Jagr, now in his second year playing in the KHL at age 37. I won’t. But Fleischmann, Patrik Elias (New Jersey), Martin Havlat (Minnesota) and the resurgent Tomas Plekanec (Montreal) are all nice weapons up front.
“If it’s put together right we have a very, very strong team,” Fleischmann said. “We’ve got a great goaltender. I think the main thing is great “D”, too, you know? We can build on that and go from there and see what we can do…Chemistry is important. It’s only 10 games or something like that. You need to have fun with your teammates. And then it’s that quarterfinal game that decides if you succeed or not. That one is all about the matchups.”
