CrossFit training in the driveway is a thing at D.J. Smith’s home.
Hockey people aren’t so different from anyone isolating with loved ones during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Smith, the Senators head coach, is a great example of a father, husband and hockey man trying to juggle a bit of work, some fitness, parenting and general boredom as he isolates at home in Windsor, Ont., with wife, Christie, and children Colton, 16, and Brock, 3.
On a video conference call Wednesday, Smith said a typical day for him starts around 6 a.m., the waking hour of the couple’s three-year-old son.
From there, the new daily routine for Smith goes something like this: Either he or Christie will get up with Brock, see that he is fed and kept entertained. And by later in the morning, the family does CrossFit workouts in the driveway or garage, mostly programs Christie has found online, since CrossFit gyms, like nearly everything else, are closed.
“She tells me (the routines) and I just kind of do them,” Smith says.
While the couple misses their restaurant outings, Smith says he is probably in better shape without his favourite dining haunts, whether in Ottawa or on the road. Nearly all their food is home-cooked now.
“She keeps me in check,” Smith says.
Most afternoons, Smith will take little Brock out for a car ride for a change of scenery. Often the coach will make a call to Senators general manager Pierre Dorion just to check on things. Nights are spent trying to find new programming on Netflix. Join the club, coach.
Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman talk to a lot of people around the hockey world, and then they tell listeners all about what they’ve heard and what they think about it.
‘The fear hadn’t set in’
Of all the NHL teams that shut down operations one month ago, none had quite the experience of Smith and the Senators. The Senators and Los Angeles Kings played the final game before the stoppage, on March 11 at the Staples Center.
The Senators had played in Anaheim the night before and in San Jose the previous Saturday, March 7. As the Bay Area was at the time the epicentre of the outbreak in the United States, Smith said it was somewhat eerie walking around San Jose, where the usually bustling downtown sidewalk streets were quiet. But otherwise, there were no outward signs of a pending pandemic.
“The fear hadn’t set in,” Smith said. “San Jose was a little bit lighter but when we were in Anaheim everything was normal. Anaheim and LA were living life as normal. There was the odd mask you could see before we left, but the world as we know it today wasn’t evident.”
And yet, because of modern communications, players knew what was coming. From their phones they had heard the NBA was postponing its season due to a player testing positive. Some wondered if that March 11 game versus the Kings would even happen.
“It certainly was a different atmosphere than any other game I’ve been a part of,” Smith said. “We just waited for direction from the league. “Once the NBA cancelled their games, we knew we wouldn’t be far behind.”
Since returning to Ottawa, seven people on the Senators charter flight have tested positive for the coronavirus, initially two players and broadcaster Gord Wilson; then three more players and one staff member. Smith said all are doing well and are on the “other side” of the virus now.
“I’m glad our organization is doing well but it certainly was a scary time,” Smith said.
After isolating in Ottawa for more than two weeks, Smith and his family went home to Windsor, where there have been major concerns as well. Smith said that seven local seniors’ homes have been hit with COVID cases.
“That’s the big thing here right now,” Smith said. “If your mother or father, grandmother or grandfather was in there you’d realize just how real it is. It has hit home here in Windsor pretty good.”
Ready if called upon
Smith has no idea if the NHL will resume the regular season, skip ahead to a playoff schedule, or cancel everything, but if there are any games for his non-playoff group to play, he doesn’t think the Senators would need a long training camp.
“I think we’re at an advantage there, we’re such a young team,” Smith said. “Young guys can get going quickly.”
Likewise, regarding injury concerns of a sudden restart to hockey, Smith feels that more veteran teams trying to get into playoff shape in a hurry will find that a challenge.
Time for Ottawa’s ‘next step’
Senators coaches were in contact with each other by phone on a daily basis up until last week. As for watching team video, Smith says he and his staff watch their own team to the point of “exhaustion.”
“We know our team inside and out,” Smith says. “What’s more important to me now is watching what other teams are doing. And what can we steal from what the best teams in the league are doing.”
In particular, Smith wants to see his team get better on special teams. The power play started horribly, improved and then tailed off. The penalty kill had been pretty good but also faded at the end.
Smith’s overriding message to his players, especially the young core players like Brady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot and Colin White, is a change in mindset from a rebuilding team to a contender.
“Whether we play this year or next, our mentality has to change,” Smith says. “It’s time for us to take a step. How big a step that is, we’re going to find out. But we certainly need to take a step mentally, with the Tkachuks, Chabot and Whites etc.
“You watch the best teams, the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals, for example, when they come to the arena they expect to win every night. I think every team wants to win every night, there’s a difference between wanting to and knowing that you can win every night.”
Senior Writer Ryan Dixon and NHL Editor Rory Boylen always give it 110%, but never rely on clichés when it comes to podcasting. Instead, they use a mix of facts, fun and a varied group of hockey voices to cover Canada’s most beloved game.
Proudest moment of the season
Asked if there was any one game of which he was most proud, Smith pointed to a string of home games the Senators played in November. From Oct. 23 through Nov. 27 the Senators were 7-1 on home ice and counted wins against teams like Boston, Tampa Bay and Philadelphia.
“That has to be the Ottawa Senators going forward,” Smith said. “You come in and we expect to beat you in our home building. We were hard to play against. We were tough. We fought. We had energy. We scored goals. We blocked shots. All the things we had to do.”
For a brief moment, one month of the season, the Senators were playing winning hockey, cheering for one another and pushing each other.
“We were in the middle of the pack, and you could see how much energy winning brings to the room,” Smith said. What followed were a string of injuries on the blue line and the Senators fell back in the standings.
But it was a glimpse into what could be when Ottawa’s roster improves.
Smith added that his greatest source of pride was his team’s commitment to working hard, in games and practices.
Hogberg came a long way
Asked to name an individual who progressed the most in 2019-20, Smith cited goaltender Marcus Hogberg, who wasn’t even with the NHL team out of camp but stepped in to become the de facto No. 1, due to injuries to starters Craig Anderson and Anders Nilsson. Nilsson suffered a concussion and Smith isn’t sure of his current status, but hopes this long break will help him heal. Ditto for injured defenceman Mark Borowiecki, who suffered a torn ankle ligament on Feb. 13.
Also named by Smith for their progress were Tkachuk, for his will and determination, and Chabot, who stepped up his defensive play in the second half.
“He showed me he can play the big minutes and face the other team’s best guys,” Smith said.
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‘Proud’ of Colton, drafted by OHL Knights
Smith was congratulated by reporters for son Colton getting selected in the second round, 25th overall in the recent OHL draft by the London Knights. Colton plays forward for the Kanata midget AAA Lasers, coached by ex-Senators Shean Donovan and Chris Phillips. Donovan is also a player development coach for the Senators.
“It’s such a proud moment,” Smith said. “He started playing hockey when he was four years old, and he had ups and downs. Every time he grew his skating wasn’t very good. Then he grew into his body and was good again.”
Smith credits Donovan for developing Smith’s son and many others. Donovan had three players picked in the top 25, and his own son, Jorian Donovan, went sixth overall.
Smith laughed at the prospect of his son playing with the Knights, the sworn enemy when he was coaching the Windsor Spitfires.
“I certainly hated the London Knights growing up, I hated coaching against them but you must respect the fact that Mark and Dale (Hunter) do a phenomenal job,” Smith said. “They continue to have NHL prospects and players come out of there. They continue to outwork people in the league.”
All in all, Smith couldn’t imagine a better place for his son to get an opportunity to be a pro hockey player.
“Our whole family is proud,” Smith said, “and now it’s up to him to get to work.”
The president of the suspended Russian Olympic Committee said Tuesday he plans to step down after six years in charge.
Stanislav Pozdnyakov’s statement comes just over two months after a delegation of 15 Russians competed at the Paris Olympics as “Individual Neutral Athletes” without the national flag or anthem as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The athletes did not represent the ROC, whose IOC recognition was suspended last year, and Pozdnyakov had been sharply critical of the neutral rules.
Pozdnyakov said in a statement on the ROC website that a board meeting next month was expected to set a date to elect his replacement, who would likely take office shortly before the IOC too elects a new leader.
“The geopolitical challenges that our country faces dictate the need for optimization and centralization of the management of key areas of activity, including elite-level sports,” Pozdnyakov said. He added that “the role of the state nowadays is important as never before” in supporting athletes and sports events.
Pozdnyakov is a former Olympic fencing gold medalist who holds the rank of colonel in the Russian military.
Russian athletes have not competed under the country’s national flag at any of the three Olympic Games during Pozdnyakov’s six-year tenure as president of the ROC.
For the pandemic-delayed Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 and the Winter Olympics in Beijing the following year, Russians competed under the Russian Olympic Committee’s name and flag as part of the fallout from long-running disputes over doping cases.
Johnny Gaudreau’s Columbus teammates have been given a few options for how to handle their emotions during the Blue Jackets’ home opener.
If you want to cry, cry.
If you want to laugh, laugh.
The only rules — play the game the way “Johnny Hockey” would, and with him in mind.
An emotional night awaits in Columbus on Tuesday, when the Blue Jackets host the Florida Panthers. It will be a night of tributes to Gaudreau, the Blue Jackets’ star who would have been entering his third season with the club and 11th NHL season overall, and his brother Matthew Gaudreau. They were killed on Aug. 29 when police said they were struck by a suspected drunken driver while they were riding their bicycles on a rural road in New Jersey on the eve of their sister Katie’s wedding.
“It’s such an unprecedented thing and something that obviously none of us wanted to go through, and nobody ever wants to go through it,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said Monday as final preparations for the celebration of the Gaudreaus were being made. “But we have to.”
The 31-year-old Gaudreau wore jersey No. 13 for the Blue Jackets. Matthew Gaudreau — who was 29 and played five pro seasons in the American Hockey League, East Coast Hockey League and in Sweden — wore jersey No. 21. All 32 NHL teams are wearing decals on their helmets with 13, 21 and the letter G on their helmets through Oct. 24. USA Hockey has a similar tribute for its teams at all levels this year.
On Tuesday, the “13” tributes will be almost everywhere. Both the Blue Jackets and Panthers will take the ice for warmups wearing jerseys bearing the name Gaudreau and jersey number 13; those sweaters will be auctioned and raffled off to benefit the John and Matthew Gaudreau Foundation. There’s “13” on the ice behind the goals. All fans in attendance will receive a “13” patch, the ones Blue Jackets players will be wearing on their jerseys this season.
And they say the game starts at 7 p.m., but really, puck drop is at 7:13.
“Whatever they need,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Monday. “Whatever the fans need, whatever the team needs to start that healing process, we’d be proud to be a part of it.”
Gaudreau — all of 5-foot-9 and 165 pounds — was a star at Boston College before making it to the NHL, his debut coming in Calgary’s finale for the 2013-14 season. His first goal came on his first shot in his first game, and his star only kept shining brighter from there.
The player who fished the puck out of the net after Gaudreau’s first goal was Sean Monahan, his teammate then in Calgary and his teammate now in Columbus.
“I saw it firsthand. He had an impact on so many people,” Monahan said. “I mean, players that played against him are a fan of his and watch him and study his game and try and be like him.”
Monahan likely never aspired to be a donkey. Going forward, the Blue Jackets will clamor to be called one.
Johnny Gaudreau used that term — “donkey” — freely and endearingly around friends and teammates. The Blue Jackets have had a celebration for about a decade where the player of the game gets to wear a Civil War-style kepi hat, the recipient selected by the previous player recipient. The kepi is retired. The player of the game now gets a donkey hat. Monahan was the first to receive it.
“I’m really happy that we’ve kind of switched it up,” Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. “I think it’s fitting for us. It was a great idea. And, you know, we wish the little guy was still here calling us that, But Monny is the right guy to get that the first time, for sure.”
Guy Gaudreau, the late brothers’ father and a longtime coach, was on the ice with the Blue Jackets for practice in Columbus on Monday and planned to be back for morning skate on Tuesday. Members of the family will be at the game. The tributes will not stop with this game. They’ll keep going, one way or another, for years to come.
“There’s going to be some tough moments, no doubt about it,” Gudbranson said. “We still miss him.”
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — More than a decade ago, Alex Ovechkin won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP during his first season playing right wing instead of his usual left. The next year, playing in the same spot, he scored a league-best 51 goals.
“I’ll take it right now,” Ovechkin said.
So would the Washington Capitals, who might get a spark from Ovechkin shifting to the right side for their second game of the season Tuesday against Vegas. Coach Spencer Carbery downplayed the move as an adjustment to balance out the lineup, but it could have a big impact as Ovechkin at age 39 chases Wayne Gretzky’s career goals record.
“I think it’s a small change,” Carbery said. “I find him on both sides of the ice a lot, and so left, right, it’s not a huge deal to me.”
Ovechkin joked, “Maybe I’m going to play goalie.” No, that will be Logan Thompson against his former team, the Golden Knights, who traded him in the offseason following a difference of opinion on his role with the organization.
After a 5-3 loss to New Jersey in the opener, Carbery moved Aliaksei Protas to top-line left wing — Ovechkin’s spot for the better part of his 20-year career in North America — alongside center Dylan Strome.
“We just mix it up,” Ovechkin said. “We still have options to find out combinations. It’s the beginning of the year, new faces on the team, so we have to find the right combinations, right chemistry, so that’s what we’re trying to do right now.”
Ovechkin played right wing in the lockout-shortened 2013 season and then again in 2013-14 when Adam Oates coached the team. Oates thought the right-handed-shooting Ovechkin had been on the wrong side all along.
Five goals in his first 16 games was a rough start, then Ovechkin scored 27 in his final 32 to get Washington into the playoffs.
“I have experience to play there, but it was a long time (ago),” Ovechkin said. “You start on the left or right, it doesn’t matter because in the game you’re coming from offensive zone to (the defensive) zone and you stay on the right side. So, play basically most of the time there — left or right.”
Thompson faces Vegas
The schedule worked out for Thompson to get the net against Vegas following Charlie Lindgren starting against the Devils, with Carbery and goalie coach Scott Murray wanting to split the first two games of the season.
It also gets a potentially emotional night out of the way early on, after Thompson wanted more playing time and got a change of scenery with the trade at the draft in June.
“I think we were just at two different points,” Thompson said. “Me being still younger in my career, I just wanted a different opportunity.”
Thompson in training camp made a pointed comment about the Golden Knights taking credit for goaltending and jokingly wondered if he could even play in the league elsewhere. The Capitals expect the way things ended for Thompson to be a source of motivation this season.
“I will caution him to channel that,” Carbery said. “If you want something so bad, sometimes it goes the other way. But he’s the type of guy that he’s a fiery guy and loves to compete, and so this will be no different for him.”
Roy out
Washington brought in a handful of new players during the offseason, including Jakob Chychrun and Matt Roy to revamp on defense. One game in, Roy is already out after getting injured Saturday and leaving early in the second period.
“Definitely not ideal to lose him in the first game, for the game itself and then for the foreseeable future,” Carbery said. “I don’t think it’ll be crazy long, but he’s going to miss a decent amount of time.”
Dylan McIlrath gets the first chance to fill in, so the Capitals can keep their balance of three left and three right shots on the blue line. Roy’s absence will also mean more ice time for Trevor van Riemsdyk and No. 1 defenseman John Carlson, who played more than anyone else in the NHL last season.
Up front, Jakub Vrana, who made the team after attending camp on a tryout, is expected to replace Sonny Milano as part of a shakeup of the top three lines.
