The Capitals are just over a week away from the start of the regular season, with puck drop on Friday the 13th against the Penguins at Capital One Arena, and a lot of people are ‘going to be along for the Ovi ride’ in JP Finlay’s words as Alex Ovechkin creeps closer to the NHL’s all-time goal record.
One guy that will be on the ice with Ovi at times is Trevor van Riemsdyk, who could probably upgrade from his admitted iPhone 5 that delayed his appearance on BMitch & Finlay Wednesday by a couple hours…but he’s a little busy learning some new systems as he heads into the year.
“Been a good camp so far, obviously, new coaches in the building bringing some new energy and some different kind of structure to our game,” van Riemsdyk told JP and Brian, “but it’s always nice to get back from a long summer to be with the guys again. And at this point, I think everyone's, ready to get the regular season underway.”
One guy who Trevor has long played with AND against, the latter just last night, is his brother, James, who scored a goal in the Caps’ OT win over the Bruins and is still loved even though Trevor took a minus being on the ice for that goal.
“I take it as a compliment that you said I’m just as good as him, but yeah, that was really cool,” Trevor said. “We’re a family of three boys, and there were a lot of fun times in the basement and in the driveway playing hockey, and playing against James is obviously always a thrill – he gave me a minus there on his goal so I would’ve liked to have seen him blow it wide for my own sake – but I’m happy for him. He seems to be enjoying it up in Boston, and I actually live like 40 minutes from there in the summer, so if he needs to get out of the city, he can swing by my house. I'm happy for him, and yeah, there'll be some more battles this year for sure.”
Trevor has played in Chicago, Carolina, and Washington, so he’s seem some hockey-crazy atmospheres, but what does he expect come next week when Cap One is once again open for business?
“In Chicago they all go nuts during the anthem, that’s their thing, so that was pretty cool to see as a rookie, and in Carolina, as we got better and better, the crowd just kept getting louder and louder and it was cool to see that transition,” he said. “But yeah, Washington, I’ve been on the other side of it where you feel like you're getting swamped under and the crowd's into it and you feel like there's no stopping them – so to be on this side of it where the crowd’s on your side, it's definitely one of those buildings that's really, really hard to play in when we've got things going. Hopefully, everyone’s rocking the red and we get started on the right foot.”
With a new coach and a new system, it’s a new era, and they want to kick it off the right way on the ice, too.
“Obviously everyone was extremely disappointed with how last year went, not making the playoffs, so we want to get that figured out, and I think the mindset here is just get off to a good start,” van Riemsdyk said. “Last year was not acceptable, but I don't think you really want to go into it thinking all the way down the line. We have a veteran team and, you know, a good start to a season can really set you up for the long run, while a bad start can really put you behind the eight ball and kind of make you feel like you're chasing it the whole year. So I think we just want to focus on these first 10 games or so, and make sure we're getting off on the right foot playing the right way, but also finding a way to get good results.”
Take a listen to van Riemsdyk’s entire call-in above – the first of what should be a weeky segment with BMitch & Finlay – and get some thoughts on Ovi and more as well!
