And So It Begins

- Per the Washington Caps' website, the rosters for rookie camp and training camp have been announced. Among the notables on the rookie camp roster are recent first rounders Karl Alzner and Nicklas Backstrom, as well as development camp standouts and Caps prospects like Kyle Wilson, Mathieu Perreault, Luke Lynes, Viktor Dovgan and Andrew Gordon.

The training camp roster includes the usual suspects as well as some new faces, with Joe Motzko and Jason Morgan joining the trio of free agent signings at Kettler. Caps fans will get another look at Hershey boys like Dave Steckel, Dean Arsene, Chris Bourque and Quintin Laing.

Remember, rookie camp opens this Saturday out in Arlington, and selected rookies will be asked to stay and join the 38 veterans when training camp opens September 14th. All on-ice stuff is free and open to the public, so come on out and get your hockey fix!

- Extra, extra - the boys are back in town! WOOOO! Oh, and so is Bondra.

Please don't start. He's just skating with the boys. To quote Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman: "I've got nowhere else to go! I've got nowhere else to go..."

- Also important news: the Caps have new underwear. Read about it at the DC Sports Bog, where resident Gilbert-phile Dan Steinberg continues his freakish streak of Caps news and info. No pictures of the undies, unfortunately, but you can check out photos of some of the other new gear...I guess that's almost as good.

- And finally, our owner is almost - ALMOST - as excited as I am for the season to start, and he's got 10 excellent reasons why. Can't help but agree...will it ever be October 5??