Just about a week ago it was announced the Atlanta Thrashers were to be sold to True North Sports & Entertainment and, with NHL board of governors approval on June 21, would move to Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Hockey loving fans in Canada have been ecstatic ever since, while the Southeast Division was upset, or better yet, will be geographically challenged for at least a season.
This tweak in proximity can actually prove to be a good thing for the Washington Capitals.
From Katie Carrera’s blog post on Capitals Insider:
The length of a round-trip flight to Winnipeg from Dulles airport is 2,460 miles, according to webflyer.com.
Three trips to Manitoba may be inconvenient but some additional exposure to the Canadian atmosphere can do the boys in red (well, white since they’ll be on the road) some good.
MTS Centre - New NHL home
Even though the Tampa Lightning are a solid team, and knocked the Caps out of the playoffs this year, they do not have a fan base as consistently passionate and raucous as will welcome the Caps in Winnipeg, no matter what the name of the team is.
Read this Winnipeg Free Press article to see the eagerness and desperation that has been building up and will explode in the MTS Centre night in and night out: Season ticket wait list capped at 8,000 following 17-minute sellout.
It was Tampa Bay’s head coach Guy Boucher, early in this year’s playoffs, who said, “I always believe it’s not about momentum. It’s about desperation.”
That feeling and the chip on the shoulder that fans, who had their team stolen previously, will create an electric atmosphere that the Caps will have to endure and produce in multiple times.
Currently there are intense regular season games on the road in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Montreal and Boston, but is there a regular season environment when Washington visits a Southeast Divisional opponent? Carolina?
Winnipeg, the city if not the team, will test the Capitals and prepare them better for the post-season better than any other divisional rival has over the past 4 years.
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Don’t forget Atlanta gave the Caps fits as it was last year. These will no doubt be tough games for the Caps.
@alagarts – you are 100% correct in that. I almost went down that path as well, but decided to focus on the new environment for now since they will have a new GM and could make moves between now and the time the boys head up there to play. But no doubt they didn’t make life easy on us as the Thrashers last year, especially early in the season. Thanks for reading and even more for commenting. Go Caps!
“[Tampa Bay] do not have a fan base as consistently passionate and raucous as will welcome the Caps in Winnipeg.” Desperate as the fans may be in Winnepeg, that is not a factual statement. Next fall why don’t you go to both the St. Pete Times Forum and then also the MTS Centre and try to objectively guage your statement? Until then all you can do is speculate or look ignorant.
SE Division teams get a lot of heat for not being “traditional hockey markets,” but they have also won 33% of the Stanley Cups since the year before the lockout, so I think flying in under the radar is fine by them.
Also – the Caps treat any and all games against Montreal and Boston the same as any other game in the regular season. There is no special intensity against those opponents. I’ll give you Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, though – those are always great games.
Hi Scoops. First of all, thanks for taking the time to read my post.
You make a great point regarding St. Pete Times Forum and MTS Centre. I have yet to visit Tampa for a game and it is probably unfair to assume the atmosphere based off of television. What I will stand by is my belief that the populace as a whole in Winnipeg hold hockey more important than the city of Tampa, even if both cities have great die-hard fans. Having traveled with NFL teams for numerous years, I know first hand there is a different feel and intensity some cities offer, even if every stadium is sold out.
I agree that the SE Division is talented, and I was cheering for the Lightning after they eliminated the Caps in order to “keep it in the family,” but on ice battles are different than dealing with the entire “building” at the same time – which starts with the morning paper and local newscasts – and their coverage of the home team as well as the match-up. Again, this is an assumption so maybe I am being ignorant, but I’m figuring newspapers and television stations in Manitoba will devote more resources and hence have more thorough and critical coverage as a whole than most SE teams.
As for Montreal and Boston (and I really think Toronto can be thrown in the mix as well) – those are games that are often spotlighted on either Hockey Night in Canada, Versus or some other spotlighted viewing option. It is my opinion that players, especially the likes of Mr. Ovechkin, turn it up a notch in those scenarios, especially when they know they see those teams less during the regular season.
It is exciting to get your well-educated hockey feedback and I hope I was open and fair in my response, even if we see things a little different. But when I do make my way to Tampa for a game this year, you can be sure I will document the experience and share my take…and if the experience calls for it, will kindly accept your “told you so.”
Go Caps!