Killer, Coverage and Quotes

- Let it be known that the guys over at onfrozenblog are now officially my heroes – they have posted an interview with none other than Kevin “Killer” Kaminski himself. I was going to comment there but figured I’d been gushing too much on their site already...

I remember seeing Killer play and I also remember being both terrified of him and enthralled by him. He was thrilling to watch – when he lined up a guy for a hit I often found myself holding my breath, almost as if he was going to hit me. It just brings back memories of an era when the Caps were very physical, with the likes of Kaminski, Alan May, Mark Tinordi, Chris Simon, Craig Berube, Dale Hunter, Al Iafrate...old school, old time hockey for sure.

And how much money would you pay to see Killer just completely destroy Crosby with a beautiful open ice hit? Ah, there's a nice image for your Friday afternoon.

- It’s interesting to look at media coverage of a game from all angles and see how the bias, inherent in all hometown beat writers, plays out. Sometimes the reporter just slightly tinges the article with bias, but still presents both sides of the matchup and quotes the players in full context; other times you get those one-sided missives that only show the local opinion.

There is no better representation of this phenomenon than in the media coverage of tonight’s impending match. Simply compare the article by Tarik El-Bashir to the one by Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s John Manasso and tell me who painted a more balanced picture. While the Post article does a pretty good job of laying out the facts of November 22, I felt like the AJC article was just one more tool by the Thrashers organization to fan the flames and sell out a game that maybe wouldn’t have drawn a crowd otherwise. Bring on the overhype.

That’s not to say that Tarik and Dave Fay at the Times haven’t had their moments of biased pro-Caps coverage. In fact, I’d say it happens more often than not, especially with Fay (although his bias tends to be almost anti-Caps, but that’s a different issue). It’s just interesting to see how different the tone of each piece is this time around.

[Edit: I have to amend one of my previous snarky comments about the AJC a bit because I just saw this:

and may I just say...wow. Not that I don't love the Post's efforts to actually feature hockey on the front page, but Hanlon couldn't have been more spot-on when he said the hype is mostly among the fans and the media...]

- I loved this quote by Brashear – I think it sums up the transition the Caps have undergone in the last few weeks perfectly:

"Because we play physical, we get some guys pushing back," said Brashear, an
enforcer who is one of hockey's best fighters. "That gets the emotions going. And we care for each other [awww...Donny!], so things happen. If one guy is in trouble, we are all in trouble."

And tell me you didn’t laugh when you read this:

Asked if he was disappointed Sutton will be unable to play, Brashear said: "I certainly would have had my eye on him. Guys are harder to intimidate because of the rules now.

Brashear then flashed a menacing smile and added, "But I can still find a way."