(photo by Brian Murphy)

[Editor's note: This is part two of a magazine-style feature story on Washington Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner. For part one, click here.]

Once the initial warm and fuzzy feelings had come and gone after defenseman Karl Alzner was drafted by the Washington Capitals in 2007, reality set in that there was plenty of work to be done.

Just because Alzner donned a Caps sweater for a photo opportunity during the draft didn’t actually mean he was a lock to make the opening day roster.

“It was tough to start out in Hershey,” he said. “I had dreams of playing in the NHL, so when I got sent down to the minors, it was really tough to handle. Especially with the situation I was in – being the seventh defenseman during camp. Normally NHL teams take seven defensemen. I was kind of getting excited thinking I could be on this team and then I get sent down because of cap issues and stuff, so it was difficult to let it all sink in and just start playing hockey again.”

While it might not have been his first choice, Alzner was sent to the Hershey Bears – the American Hockey League’s most storied franchise. It might have been a tough pill to swallow initially, but Alzner now admits the move was a blessing in disguise.

“It ended up being incredible for my career,” he said. “I think the best way to gain experience is to win because it’s tough to lose games and get better. You’re so worried about doing everything the coach says and everything else that you don’t necessarily do the things you need to do in order to get better.

“The coaches in Hershey gave me the green light to do anything I wanted to do,” Alzner continued. “I didn’t always take full advantage of that, but I definitely tried to do a few things I normally wouldn’t. Looking back, Hershey was a great place. I’d love to go back some time – not to play, because I want to be in the NHL – but I’d love to go back to visit.”

While Alzner’s NHL career was delayed, he’s at least able take solace in winning back-to-back Calder Cup championships with the Bears.

“It’s still frustrating that I could have been in the NHL for maybe two extra years if things were a little different,” he said. “But it was a blessing in disguise. I never would have been the player I am now if it wasn’t for Hershey.”

After playing in just 30 games in 2008-09 and 21 games in 2009-10 with the Capitals, Alzner has been a mainstay on the Washington blueline this season.

In fact, because of injuries to established defenders such as Mike Green and Tom Poti, Alzner has played in all 76 games this season – averaging just under 20 minutes of ice time a night.

“You just see a confidence,” said Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau of Alzner. “He’s no longer a guy that’s worried about getting sent down to the minors. He just plays and he’s as steady as we have back there. He’s had a great year.”

Alzner’s teammates have noticed a change in the youngster as well.

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(photo by Kyle Mace)

[Editor's note: As most of you know by now, I am the editor of Hail! magazine - a free digital publication dedicated to the Washington Redskins. In each issue, we run in-depth feature stories designed to help local sports fans learn more about the athletes playing for their favorite football team.

Since it's the offseason and there's nothing but drama involving the owners and players, I've decided to turn my attention to the Capitals. So this is part one of a magazine-style feature story on Caps defenseman Karl Alzner. Please enjoy and check back tomorrow for the second chapter.]

While it might have taken a bit longer than anticipated to get to the National Hockey League, Karl Alzner got an early start to his hockey career – lacing up his skates and joining a league before his fifth birthday.

Of course, hockey is such a way of life in Burnaby, British Colombia that the Washington Capitals rookie defenseman would have gladly started his playing days even earlier if he could have.

“Right away, as soon as I first stepped onto the ice, I was in love,” he said. “There wasn’t ever a time when I wasn’t sure if hockey was for me. There were obviously times when I didn’t want to go to practice because I was too tired or I wanted to hang out with my friends, but it was something I wanted and needed to do.”

During the good old days, when Alzner and friends passed time by playing pond hockey, the youngster pretended to be Steve Yzerman or Joe Sakic – two standout centers who also came from British Columbia.

“I know I’m nothing like those guys, but those are two players I really looked up to,” Alzner said. “There wasn’t ever one person who I saw and said, ‘I’m going to try and play like that guy’ though. I mean, I liked Scott Niedermayer a ton and he’s my favorite defenseman, but I don’t play that way.

“So while I was initially drawn to a player like him,” he continued. “Once I began to watch and understand the game more, I was more drawn to someone like Nicklas Lidstrom – someone who plays smart and solid defensively. Don’t go out there and try to fight or crush everybody. Just play a more frustrating game for your opponent.”

Embracing that mentality has served Alzner well. So well, in fact, that he was drafted in the first round, fifth overall, by the Capitals in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

Being such a high draft pick, it wouldn’t be a stretch to think that a young player as gifted as Alzner would automatically assume it’s a foregone conclusion he was in the express lane to the NHL.

But the 22-year-old swears he never assumed his dream was within reach until he was selected to represent Team Canada during the World Junior Hockey Championships in 2006-07.

“That was the year before I was drafted,” he said. “Once that happened, I felt I had a pretty solid chance of making it.”

The experience gained from playing for his country at such a young age – not to mention the gold medal that came with it – is easily one of Alzner’s most cherished moments on the ice.

“To be honest, my first year in juniors, I got lucky,” Alzner said. “I played a lot and I was playing with guys like Ryan Getzlaf and Dion Phaneuf. All I’m thinking is, ‘These guys are way, way better than I am right now. There’s no way I’m going to make it.’”

Alzner had one assist and two penalty minutes in six games for Team Canada, but the statistics are irrelevant. Once he made the final roster, Alzner finally believed that the NHL was a real possibility.

“I still have a sign in my room that I made when I was six or seven years old that says I will make the NHL,” he said. “Obviously it was something in my head as far back as then as something that I wanted to do. I’ve just been fortunate that I was put into good situations and I worked as hard as I could.”

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(photo by Greg Fiume)

As if the Washington Capitals didn’t have enough on their plate heading down the stretch with injuries sidelining a slew of their top-end talent, some news came out yesterday afternoon that will no doubt be a topic of conversation moving forward.

Courtesy of Dmitry Chesnokov of Yahoo! Sports, Caps fans learned that oft-injured goalie Semyon Varlamov might not necessarily want to stick around Washington for the long haul. Here’s exactly what Chesnokov posted:

#Caps Varlamov’s Russian agent says “a few elite KHL clubs are interested in Semyon” and that Varlamov “is considering the possibility.”

Now look, I fully understand that this is simply an agent doing what an agent is supposed to do, but forgive me if it rubs me the wrong way.

The way I look at it, and the way the team’s front office has chosen to look at it, is that the Capitals have one of the deepest goaltending rotations in all of hockey with Varlamov, Michal Neuvirth and Braden Holtby.

While some have foolishly suggested that the Caps would be better off trading one of them away, general manager George McPhee has gone on the record in saying he’s not interested in moving any of the talented trio.

His stance appears to be, give each of them all a chance at the starting job here in D.C. and may the best man win. And really, that’s all you can ask for if you’re a player.

Just give me a fair shot. Put the proverbial ball in my court and give me a chance to sink or swim. That way, if I don’t win the job, I only have myself to blame.

Now, everyone seems to understand that except agents. And in this case, it seems that this particular agent is mighty nervous because Neuvirth and Holtby have both excelled while Varlamov is once again sidelined thanks to the most fragile groin since Fred Taylor’s heyday.

Coming into the season, the Capitals had no clear cut choice as their top goalie. Varlamov and Neuvirth were given first crack at it and if both faltered, then the team would either have to give Holtby a try or go outside the organization to bring in a veteran.

Again, both Varlamov and Neuvirth started the season on even footing. If anything, Varlamov had a slight edge because he’d started 28 regular-season and 19 postseason games for the Capitals prior to this season compared to Neuvirth, with 19 regular-season starts and no NHL playoff experience.

But Varlamov simply cannot stay healthy for any length of time. He went a month without action (from Oct. 21 through Nov. 24) due to injury and, most recently, he’s been out of the lineup since Feb. 20 because his groin is apparently made out of gummy bears.

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(photo by Paul Bereswill)

It’s never wise to overreact to the results of one regular game, but fans of the Washington Capitals should definitely think twice before getting overly excited after the team’s 5-4 shootout win against the Philadelphia Flyers.

For starters, the Capitals got outplayed for most of the evening. The Flyers dictated play and were much more physical throughout the contest, but were done in by porous goaltending.

Philadelphia’s rookie goalie Sergei Bobrovsky looked overwhelmed for the get-go – letting in a softie by Caps center Nicklas Backstrom and then failing to get set as Mike Knuble crashed the net.

Bobrovsky gave up a powerplay goal to defender Dennis Wideman in the second minute of the second period and Philly had seen enough. He was given a seat and backup Brian Boucher was inserted into the game.

Had “Bob” played an even remotely average game, only one of those three goals would have found the net and the Flyers likely go on to win in convincing fashion.

Fortunately, the Flyers got below average goaltending while Michal Neuvirth was able to make several key stops for Washington and that was the difference.

But had this been an actual playoff game, there is no shootout. The game simply goes to overtime until one team prevails.

Anyone who watched from the second period on knows the Flyers were the more aggressive team on the ice. Even when they trailing early, Philadelphia had the momentum and there’s little reason to believe that would have suddenly changed had the game not ended in favor of a glorified skills competition.

The Caps, for whatever reason, were content to sit back on their heels as players simply hopes they were able to weather the storm. I kept waiting for Matt Bradley or Matt Hendricks to drop the gloves in hopes of waking up their sluggish teammates, but even those two sparkplugs failed to deliver.

Another reason why Caps fans should be just as worried as Flyers fans about this contest is that too many players were no-shows.

Sure, Alex Ovechkin, Jason Arnott, Mike Green and Tom Poti were all sidelined due to various injuries and ailments, but players like Alexander Semin, Marco Sturm and Brooks Laich were all content to be passengers on this evening.

Revisionist history will suggest that Semin scored the game-clinching goal in the shootout and therefore had a good game. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

With much of the Washington firepower out of the lineup, the Caps needed Semin to show up. But because Philadelphia loves playing an extremely physical brand of hockey, the enigma known as Sasha was a nonfactor.

Let me be clear on this – Semin got hit a few times early and vanished.

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(photo by Brian Murphy)

With nine games remaining in the regular season, the time is now for the Washington Capitals to turn their attention to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Sure, there’s still an outside chance the Caps could overtake tonight’s opponent – the Philadelphia Flyers – and finish the regular season as the top team in the Eastern Conference for a second consecutive year, but that shouldn’t be a priority.

After all, the Capitals have managed to get bounced from the playoffs each of the last three seasons while having “home-ice advantage.”

Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Montreal each came into the Verizon Center and won a Game 7, so maybe switching things up isn’t a terrible idea.

Getting healthy and mentally prepared for a postseason run should be the only concern – which is why I’m completely on board with resting captain Alex Ovechkin now.

He’s won everything there is to win in the regular season. He’s been an elite regular season player since the day he came to Washington.

But careers aren’t defined by regular season accomplishments and accolades. As Ovechkin very well knows, legends are made in the playoffs.

Which would you rather have: a 50-goal scorer who suffers a first-round loss or a 30-goal scorer who is still playing meaningful games in the first week of June?

Yeah, me too.

And the same holds true for the Caps as a whole.

This isn’t the WNBA. The Capitals don’t need to raise a banner into the rafters to celebrate that fans show up for their games.

Bruce Boudreau’s Capitals have had plenty of regular season success (going 183-77-38 the last four years). But, at 13-15, the team’s playoff record is a lot less sparkling.

So there’s no reason whatsoever for players to max themselves out during the last nine games of the season in hopes of winning the conference or keeping ahead of Tampa Bay in the division.

Just last season the Flyers were the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference and they got hot at the right time and made it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals.

No one cares what seed they were when they started. No one remembers that Philly had 33 less points than Washington when the regular season came to an end. The only thing that matters is where you finish in the playoffs.

But a few things need to happen for the Capitals to have any real chance during this postseason.

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(AP photo)

It’s no secret that my team of choice when it comes to collegiate sports is Virginia Tech.

Well, for reasons that remain unclear, the NCAA hates the Hokies so once again they were left on the outside looking in once March Madness began.

With no real team to root for in the Big Dance, I was relegated to the status of “casual observer” until my brother convinced me to join him on the Virginia Commonwealth bandwagon.

Since he’s set to graduate from VCU this May (and therefore knows more about the tournament’s most surprising team than 99 percent of us), I asked him to provide a guest blog on the top 10 reasons why D.C. sports fans should embrace the Rams.

Without further delay, here’s his list:

10. Admit it; everyone loves an underdog as proven by George Mason’s 2006 Cinderella run that swept the nation. But Mason is old news now and their season ended with a beatdown. Jumping on the VCU bandwagon now allows you to feel like one of those cool indie kids who listens to underground music no one has ever heard of.

9. I realize seeing black and gold uniforms creates a negative association in many of your minds thanks to a terrible hip hop track, but look at it this way – it’s a lot less creepy when one of the VCU basketball players is hanging out in a college bar than when Ben Roethlisberger does it.

8. Shaka Smart is, simply put, really fun to say.

7. VCU’s most famous alumni are David Baldacci and Robb Spewak from the Don and Mike Show … so clearly this year’s hoops team is all we have.

6. The VCU Rams already have more meaningful wins than the Washington Nationals since they relocated from Montreal.

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(photo by Richard Wolowicz)

Imagine, if you will, it’s Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

After years of disappointment, the Washington Capitals finally get their act together to make an extended postseason run and they are one game away from raising hockey’s finest hardware.

As the puck is about to be dropped at a packed Verizon Center, coach Bruce Boudreau sends out a starting lineup of the following individuals: forwards Nicklas Backstrom, Jason Arnott and Eric Fehr, defensemen Mike Green and Tom Poti and Semyon Varlamov in net.

Those six players, with a solid mix of youth and experience, would be a formidable challenge for any opponent. And yet, none of those six players was able to take the ice in the deciding moments of last night’s 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

Simply winning a game without that kind of firepower in the lineup is tough. For the Capitals to have won nine consecutive games while having to constantly shuffle the lines because of a rash of injuries and ailments is almost unthinkable.

And somehow, that’s where we are with the Caps. Boudreau seemingly has a new lineup to deal with on a nightly basis, but the players that are available continue to find ways to get the job done.

Of the six players I mentioned earlier, Fehr was the only skater to actually play in the game. But an “upper body injury” knocked him out of last night’s game in the second period. This, of course, is bad news for a guy who already missed 22 games due to a shoulder injury earlier this year.

At some point, you’ve got to believe that all of these mounting injuries will catch up with the Capitals. But in Montreal, the injury-riddled Caps found a way to defeat a red-hot goaltender (coming into the game, Carey Price was 5-1 with two shutouts, a 1.17 goals against average and a .965 save percentage in March) in front of a rowdy hometown crowd.

The nine-game winning streak is the third longest in franchise history, and the current six-game road winning streak ties the team’s top mark.

Of course, just one season ago the Capitals won 14 consecutive games, so this isn’t exactly uncharted territory for Washington’s most consistent winner.

Which is why I’d like to pause for a moment to provide a little perspective on the Capitals. Too many fans have spent too much time this season wringing their hands and stressing out over every little bump in the road, when the truth is this Caps team deserves better.

I mean, let’s take a quick look at the other teams in town and see just how often they’re able to rattle off nine wins in a row.

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