With Ovechkin leading the way, Washington a trendy playoff pick
His hockey club is poised to build on last year’s explosion of enthusiasm. Fans turned Verizon Center into a cauldron of noise during a late-season playoff run. Season ticket renewals and sales are up. Corporate sponsorships remain steady despite the economic downturn.
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But as the Capitals prepare for a 2008-09 season with soaring expectations, team owner Ted Leonsis thought back to darker days during a media luncheon at Verizon Center on Tuesday.
It was a late-season home game in 2003-04, the year before the infamous NHL lockout. Leonsis rose early for a dawn flight to New York for a business meeting. He flew home later that night and raced to Verizon Center, where his beleaguered team was already down three goals. The opposition quickly added another, inciting a furious fan to run up to Leonsis’ box and berate the owner about how much of his hard-earned money was being wasted watching a terrible product.
“I [yelled back], ‘I feel the same way. I killed myself to come back [into town] for this,’” said Leonsis, who that season made the painful decision to trade his team’s established veterans, including all-time leading scorer Peter Bondra, and undergo an arduous rebuilding process.
That phase seems over for good now. Led by charismatic star left wing Alex Ovechkin, the reigning NHL most valuable player, Washington is a trendy pick to win the Southeast Division title and make a deep run in the postseason.
That quest begins Friday night with the season-opener at Atlanta. Whether it leads to a Stanley Cup remains to be seen. But with Ovechkin on board and a host of homegrown young players anything seems possible for a club that won 37 of its final 61 games last year. Over a full season, that is a 104-point pace, something the Caps have accomplished just once in the team’s 34-year history.
“We made the playoffs and we lost in the first round,” Leonsis said. “This year we’ve got to make the playoffs and improve on last year. And then I think culturally we’ll expect that we’re a playoff team [every season]. Once you get over that [hump] anything can happen.”
Caps notes
» Forward Alex Ovechkin left practice early on Tuesday with an undisclosed lower body injury. He is expected to play in the season-opener Friday, however.
» Forward Alex Semin is also expected to play Friday. He did not practice at all Tuesday because of illness.
» The Caps open 2008 with three games in four days. Friday Washington faces Atlanta on the road, Saturday is the home opener vs. Chicago and Monday the Caps play Vancouver at Verizon Center.
