The kid is so good. Yet, he is still a kid and will probably continue to get better. DC has never been a good hockey town. Its a football town through and through. No matter where the Redskins play, people will travel. Most suburban Md. hockey fans dont like traveling into DC. Maybe the Capitals should have moved to Landover and not the Redskins. :)
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Capt.,
I've heard that argument about the location of the arena. I think the problem is that there are just fewer places where hockey works.
-- Bill O.

Last night's game and the Caps have been anything but quiet since they got the new coach. The Sun probably thinks it quiet because they never cover anything related to our closest local hockey team. We have a good chance to get into the playoffs after being last in the league and no one's watching! At least the Washington papers minimally cover them.
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AC,
I sympathize with local hockey fans having come from an area where the NHL is popular but coverage isn't the issue. The game just has limited appeal in a fair amount of the U.S. That's why it's on Versus. But Ovechkin is a great exciting player and a good guy.
-- Bill O.

There is actually a large hockey segment of fans in Md. They live in the Wayson Corner, Crofton, Davidsonville and Annapolis area. The last thing they want to do is stay in DC for several hours after working and then trying to get home. Or they get home and the last thing they want to do, is travel back to DC. They are also not too pleased with the Capitals moving out of Odenton as their training facility.

ovechkin is the best all other americans suck

Ovechkin is a Russian native.

Sorry Bill, but the Capitals have been selling far more tickets than just 14k a game since Bruce Boudreau took over. I've been to several games this season and the atmosphere is far different than 2 or 3 seasons ago. Although I live in Baltimore, I still attend a half-dozen games a year. I used to have season tickets, but that was back in their days at US Air Arena in Landover (but at least Verizon is accesible by Metro).
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Randy,
You might want to note a blog entry that's going up soon. In that, I note that the Caps attendance has been much better the last six to seven weeks. Another reader pointed it out. Attendance has been about 17.75K for the last eight dates ... now remember, that would mean that attendance for the firsrt two dozen dates were then considerably less than the 14.9K overall average but it certainly is a step in the right direction. Does it mean we're looking at a substantial change. We'll see. Thanks for writing and sharing your observation to go along with the stats.
-- Bill O.

Have you been to a game at all this year? The turnaround since Hanlon left has been nothing short of amazing. Not only that but you forgot to add Backstrom and Green and Semin into the blog. While AO may be the face of the Caps now I would have to disagree about him carrying the team. These guys are learning to play together and all have improved under BB.

The Caps are like 90% of pro sports teams. Their attendance is tied to their success. If (perhaps when, given their young talent) the Caps become an elite team, they'll be in the top ten in NHL attendance. There's a buzz around Ovechkin and this team now and regardless of what happens the rest of this season, I don't think it is going away. The team is on a major upswing and attendance will follow. That has already been demonstrated by the attendance in 2008 during their playoff run.