The Hockey Stop

In the Twitter age, it is a rarity to witness something as special and emotionally riveting as HBO's recent four-part reality series "24/7 Penguins-Capitals: Road to the NHL Winter Classic." The series that Caps owner Ted Leonsis calls "landmark television" is exactly that. It transcends the two teams involved, professional ice hockey and sports in general to achieve something magical that everyone on the planet can identify with on some level.

That is why I think "24/7" deserves consideration for an Emmy Award (not that HBO needs anymore hardware on their already crowded shelf). I hope HBO Sports nabs as many kudos as possible for "24/7" not just because of the quality of the production, but for what it has done for the fastest sport in the world in terms of bringing in new fans and gaining a new level of respect from people who before watching it might have easily dismissed ice hockey as some niche sport played by rural Canadians.

So as a hockey fan I'd like to say a big thank you to Home Box Office for promoting the sport like no other medium can. I hope the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences takes notice.

In case you missed it, here are all four episodes:

I'm one of the millions of unfortunate souls who missed last night's premiere of HBO reality series "24/7 Caps/Pens: Road to the Winter Classic."

Of course, seeing Ryan Getzlaf's big toothy grin after scoring the overtime goal for Anaheim to send Washington to their seventh straight loss didn't exactly put me in the mood to watch HBO chronicle the Caps' losing streak and Pens' winning streak.

But nearly 24 hours later and after reading one glowing review after another online, I can't wait to see this show and Caps coach Bruce Boudreau's cuss-filled tirades, which apparently put Jets coach Rex Ryan to shame. Thankfully, HBO is airing a bunch of repeats, and the first episode is available anytime to purchase On Demand.

Click here for the full HBO schedule with all the upcoming airings of "24/7."

At least the Pens lost to the Rangers last night for their second straight defeat. It would be nice if the tables were turned for the next episode this Wednesday night with the Pens going on a losing streak and the Caps hopefully starting to win some games again. With Atlanta and Tampa Bay only two points behind Washington with 38 points, they need every win they can possibly get. And the red-hot Flyers are leaving both the Caps, the Pens and the rest of the league behind. They are sitting pretty at the top of the league standings with 47 points.

Today, the NHL unveiled an artist rendering of what Heinz Field will supposedly look like at 1 p.m. on New Years Day, when the Washington Capitals face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the annual Winter Classic.

Now, I expect there to be a lot of Caps fans in red Ovechkin jerseys at the game. Many fans will surely make the short trip from Washington to Pittsburgh to take part in the festivities.

But from the looks of this drawing, Caps red is drowning out the Pens' black and gold. In fact, it almost looks like an outdoor version of the Caps' home arena -- the Verizon Center. I'm sure this was unintentional, but nonetheless, for those who notice, it is another small match fueling the big fire raging in the buildup to what promises to be one of the most viewed games and hopefully one of the most exciting games in the history of hockey.

Anyway, take a look and judge for yourself. Is that a lot of red in the stands?

In case you missed it last Saturday night, here is the 12-minute preview of the upcoming HBO reality series "24/7 Caps-Pens: Road to the NHL Winter Classic."

Of course the game lived up to the hype. It seems every time these bitter rivals tangle that fans are treated to some fantastic hockey from both sides.

But my how the tables have turned. With their come-from-behind shootout victory over Pittsburgh tonight, my Washington Capitals have won all three games against the Penguins this season.

When I was growing up as a Caps fan in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, there were two constants every spring -- the Cherry Blossoms would bloom along the Tidal Basin and the Caps would lose to the Pens in the playoffs.

For so many years the Pens had our number and the number of fans from Western Pennsylvania filling up half of the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland was just plain embarrassing. Bus after bus would roll into the Capital Centre parking lot and unload thousands of black-clad fans with Lemieux or Jagr on the back of their jerseys. And more times than not they would celebrate another playoff series win over the Caps.

But change has come to Washington and I'm not talking about Obama. While Pittsburgh beat Washington in seven games last year to eventually win the Stanley Cup, the Caps have their best chance in a long time to finally silence all those obnoxious Penguin fans.

Owner Ted Leonsis and General Manager George McPhee have been nothing short of brilliant in building the pieces of this team to shape a Stanley Cup contender.

Now we have the answer to the hated Penguins. They have Crosby, Malkin and Staal. But we have Ovechkin, Semin and Backstrom. They have Fleury. But we have Theodore, who played tonight like the Hart and Vezina winning goalie that he is.

And instead of half of Pittsburgh busing down to D.C., the Verizon Center rocks the red every home game. The Caps have some of the most passionate fans in the NHL as is evident when every seat is taken and the VC becomes a sea of red.

The ultimate goal is to win the Stanley Cup, but I hope the Caps get to face off against the Pens in the playoffs this year because after years of suffering at the hands of Pittsburgh, it's about time for some sweet, sweet revenge.

Highlights from tonight's game courtesy of NHL.com:

Whether or not the Washington Capitals have what it takes to win the Stanley Cup this year remains to be seen (Pens and Devils in the East and 'Hawks and Sharks in the West are tough tasks to say the least).

But Cup or not, the Capitals reached a significant milestone tonight in the history of the franchise -- their 5-1 home win against the Ducks was their eighth straight, which is the team's longest winning streak in 26 years.

There is still a lot of hockey left to play this year, including the Vancouver Winter Olympics, but right now the Capitals are the best team in the NHL, or at least the best team in the Eastern Conference. Washington is tied with Chicago and positioned only two points behind San Jose for the league points lead with 76.

All streaks must come to an end at some point, but for long-suffering Washington, D.C. sports fans (think Redskins, Wizards and Nationals) this is a moment to savor.

This lonely Caps fan in the City of Angels is definitely enjoying it.

Maxime Talbot scored both Pittsburgh Penguins' goals and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 23 shots including two critical saves as time wound down in the third period to secure a 2-1 victory over the Red Wings and spoil a chance for Detroit to win their second straight Stanley Cup, fifth in 12 seasons and 12th overall.

The Penguins became only the third team in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup in Game 7 on the road and the first team since 1971.

And Pittsburgh did it without Sidney Crosby, who was injured by a hard check in the second period and missed most of the third period. Evgeni Malkin, who led the playoffs with 36 points, won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason MVP.

After the win, 43-year-old Penguins owner Mario Lemieux celebrated on the ice with 21-year-old Crosby, the youngest captain to win a Stanley Cup.

The Penguins overcame a mid-season coaching change (rookie Dan Bylsma replaced Michel Therrien) and 2-0 series deficits to both the Washington Capitals and Detroit Red Wings on their way to the team's third title.

In other hockey news, the Hershey Bears, the Washington Capitals' top affiliate, won their 10th American Hockey League title with a 4-1 win over the Manitoba Moose, the Vancouver Canucks' top farm club, on Friday night. The Bears won the Calder Cup Finals series 4-2. Rookie goalie Michal Neuvirth made 24 saves and was selected playoffs MVP.

The Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins play Game 6 at Mellon Arena Tuesday night to determine if the Wings will win the Cup or the Pens will send the series back to Joe Louis Arena for a deciding Game 7.

Since I work on a newspaper website for my full-time gig, I decided to peruse the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Detroit Free Press websites to find out what kind of online coverage they have.

So as a fun aside to the action on the ice I present the inaugural Stanley Cup Final city newspaper championship: PG vs. Freep.

PEDIGREE: The Post-Gazette was founded in 1786 while the Free Press was first printed in 1831. However, the Free Press has received eight Pulitzer Prizes while the Post-Gazette has yet to nab the coveted newspaper award.

Advantage: Detroit Free Press in a blowout. Pulitzers trump longevity.

SITE LAYOUT: The Penguins page on Post-Gazette NOW has a clean and organized look to it. Nice mix of video, stories, blog posts and photos. But perhaps the best feature of the site is the "Motown Breakdown" section, which aggregates headlines from the Free Press website and provides links to the stories and columns. It's a good thing for Penguins fans their team isn't so generous with the Red Wings, although some might argue they gave away Game 5 in which Detroit pounded Pittsburgh 5-0.

The Wings section of Freep.com is less polished. It has the look and feel of an amateur blog from Number1Osgoodfan.com. There is too much blank space on the left column and story scroll down is entirely too long. The site simply doesn't do justice to the defending Stanley Cup champs.

Advantage: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by a wide margin.

MULTIMEDIA: Post-Gazette features a scrollable video section at the top of the site that provides clickable access to the multimedia page with original video production, editing and reporting plus a virtual tour of the Penguins' new $290 million arena.

The Free Press site has some nicely packaged video with original production, editing and reporting. The difference is that you are able to watch the videos from the Red Wings landing page instead of having to click through to another page. There is a poignant video feature titled "Common Enemy" about the similar booming histories and current economic struggles of the two cities, one a center of the auto industry and the other a steel town, both trying to make a comeback and holding onto hope in these difficult times.



Advantage: Tie. Both sites have solid multimedia content.

CONTENT: Lots of great original reporting on both sides. Seth Rorabaugh's Empty Netters blog and contributions from general sports bloggers, columnists and reporters all provide comprehensive and insightful analysis of the Stanley Cup Finals from the Penguins' perspective.

Helene St. James' blog on Freep.com keeps Detroit fans up-to-date on the latest happenings. But it is long-time Free Press columnist and best-selling author Mitch Albom ("Tuesdays with Morrie") who is able to put it all in the proper perspective.

Advantage: Detroit Free Press. Mitch Albom. Enough said.

INTERACTIVITY: Post-Gazette has a Q&A section in which fans can submit questions to Penguins beat writer Dave Molinari. Fans can also upload photos to the site, participate in live chats, buy Penguins collectibles and sign up for mobile alerts. There is even a fan landing page called "The Icehouse" with printable cheer cards, games and more.

Visitors to the Free Press Wings page are able to comment, blog and share photos if they sign in first. There is even a photo contest in which fans submit images of their homemade posters. There is also a poll, but it is related to the Tigers, not the Wings.

Advantage: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. There is much more to keep fans engaged.

FUN FACTOR: The Post-Gazette features two poorly designed games, one lame beat-the-goalie game and the other a tiresome punch-the-Detroit-player takedown game.

The Free Press features a creative, hilarious and graphically pleasing game called "Smack a Penguin," which was designed by Free Press cartoonist Mike Thompson. Players use a hockey stick to smack as many penguins as possible within a 30 second time limit. The little penguins pop out of holes on the ice. The cartoon penguins are harder to hit than Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin barreling down the ice on a breakaway.

WINNER: Detroit Free Press. But only because of the "Smack a Penguin" game. Overall the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is a slightly better site. Now back to smacking penguins ...