Celebrate Fan Appreciate Week at Kettler Capitals IcePlex

What makes a true hockey fan?

The following from Canadian Hockey Humor:

It's Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, and a man makes his way to his seat right at center ice. He sits down, noticing that the seat next to him is empty. He leans over and asks his neighbor if someone will be sitting there."No," says the neighbor. "The seat is empty." "This is incredible", said the man."Who in their right mind would have a seat like this for final game of the Stanley Cup playoffs and not use it?" The neighbor says "Well, actually, the seat belongs to me. I was supposed to come with my wife, but she passed away. This is the first Stanley Cup we haven't been to together since we got married in 1967." "Oh ... I'm sorry to hear that. That's terrible. But couldn't you find someone else, a friend or relative, or even a neighbor to take the seat?" The man shakes his head "No. They're all at the funeral."

And this week, you can be a true hockey fan and celebrate Fan Appreciate Week at the Kettler Capitals IcePlex, conveniently located right on top of the Ballston Mall.

Public Skate and Viewing Party
April 4, 7:30 - 9:00 PM
Fans will be able to watch the Capitals face off against the Atlanta Thrashers on a giant video screen while taking part in an open skate at the new practice facility in Arlington, Va. The event will also feature a visit by a current player and an “Enter to Win” on-site contest for a pair of tickets to the Capitals season finale on April 7.

Capitals Alumni Game
April 6, 7:05 PM
Friday, April 6, will feature an exciting Capitals Alumni “Black & White” game that will also held at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. Participating alumni will include Rod Langway, Sylvain Cote, Craig Laughlin, Bobby Gould, Pat Peake, Pat Ribble, Lou Franceschetti and Alan May. Current Caps Tomas Fleischmann and Mike Green will be on hand to sign autographs from 6-7 p.m. The alumni will take the ice at 7:05 p.m.

See below for the greatest goal ever scored, by the one and only Alex Ovechkin.

Public Skate at IcePlex

I just returned from checking out the public skate session at the IcePlex in Ballston. My general impression - it is just so cool that this is in Arlington! (no pun intended on the "cool" ... ice ... get it ). It was crazy packed, holiday music was playing; it was just a great fun atmosphere.

Some details: I don't recommend these daytime public skate sessions during the holiday break. There were a kazillion kids there - which if you have kids, might be good; for me, not so good. Crowds are fun, but personally I prefer it to be more adult oriented. Kids can be fun to watch, but this was almost all kids. There are plenty of other options though including some adult only sessions - just check at the schedule at www.kettlercapitalsiceplex.com.

So, I highly recommend you checking it out. The facility is really nice and ice skating is really fun and it's just really exciting that we have this in Arlington. OK, I probably sound a little overboard here, but really it's fun.

See you on the ice!

CAPS practice?

Yesterday, after checking out the CAPS schedule online the day before, I headed over to the Kettler Capitals IcePlex in Ballston to check out their practice - free and open to the public.

Except when I got there, no one was on the ice. So, I asked the nice person at the desk and she said that practice had been cancelled that day. I suspect that had something to do with their massive collapse against the evil Penguins the night before - I don't know, just my speculation. So, I dropped my head and left.

So, that to say, two things:

1)CAPS practices are free and open to the public at Kettler Capitals IcePlex in Ballston. You can view the schedule online -times are usually around lunch so it makes a good lunch break.

2) Before heading over there, you might want call the facility first or check the website again.

All together now ... "C-A-P-S CAPS, CAPS, CAPS"