The Scope

The Worcester Sharks–pronounced Whoostah Shahwks to their locals, War-chester Sharks to ours–were in town for a two-game series against the suddenly inconsistent IceCaps. Both games saw the ‘Caps blow 3-1 leads. Losing Friday night’s Big 50/50 game 4-3, and Sunday’s Teddy Bear toss game 5-3.

Morgan Murray was there to Live Tweet all the action, and Colin Peddle was there to shoot it.

Friday’s Game Live Tweet-by-Tweet

IceCaps 3 — Worcester Sharks 5

Tweet tweet. Game time. Morgan Murray at Mile One to tweet the $15,000 50/50 night. They hired a band! http://pic.twitter.com/nW3jcCgN

There is also a hockey game. IceCaps vs. Worcester Sharks (pr. whooooo-stah). Santa’s also in the house. Pics w/ the kids & Buddy

By my count there are about 3,000 ppl still looking for a parking spot. The anthem singer was nice enough to stall for them.

Lineup notes: defacto Caps cap’n King is out with a “lower body” injury. The Caps missed him in the last half of last game.

It’s like a M*A*S*H unit in the Caps room. Add King to the list with Holzapfel, Weller, and Albert.

The silver lining to all these band aids out of the line up is more of our favourite Hungarian Kroger, of Szekesfeshervar, Hungary

Ah nerds! Caps get stopped, the play goes the other way and Tommy Wingels sets up Ferriero for a goal. 1-0 Woostah Shawhks. #ohno

Not a strong first 7 minutes so far for the Caps. Wooostah outshooting them 5-1. And O’dell just hurt himself taking a kneeing penalty

Shots are 9-1 now. Pete “The” Mannino is holding the Caps in it.

Garth “Vader” Murray gets the Caps best chance but lofts the backhand over the net. #ohsoclose

PREMEDITATED VIOLENCE! Tommy “the other” Maxwell fights Jimmy “Armpit Punch” Bonneau….

MORE VIOLENCE! Garth Vader fights Gogol “Bordello.” It goes as you’d expect a Garth Murray racket to go. #pain

Garth Murray can make a snowman out of rain. #garthmurrayfacts

It’s a fiesty one folks. And with 5:07 left in the 1st the Caps have a chance on the 4-on-3 powerplay. #putyourglovesbackonandscore

Ye-ouch! A Wooostah dman gets shot in the foot. You can hear him screaming in pain from the press box.

GOAL! Near the end of the pp Ben “the other other” Maxwell blasts a one-timer that’s tipped in by Redmond. It’s all tied up. 1-1.

Somebody forgot to tell Kevin Clark “Kent” he’s only 5’8″. He’s mixing things up with some bruisers and draws a penalty.

Clark “Kent” has been super for the Caps the last few games.

And now, grown men stuff pantyhose with balloons and race down the ice. Sooo complicated. Soooo slow. http://pic.twitter.com/jm5KgpOR

Later the next day they finally start racing. #bringbackthekids http://pic.twitter.com/duQgbH23

The scratched players are in the pressbox tonight. All 7 of them. Add the 4 guys in the Peg and you’ve got half a team. #crowded

GOAL! Redmond with a slapper from the point through a screen 50 seconds in. Goalie didn’t see it. 2-1 Caps. #ohyeah

It’s getting awfully slashy out there.

DOYLE THEME SONG! Ben “New Guy” Maxwell with a nifty 2-on-1 set up for Cormier. 3-1 Caps. #ohyeah

Tommy “Other New Guy”Maxwell is back for seconds. Looking for trouble. Finding it easy. Even the score. His life is a Trooper song

Pig pile behind the net. Somehow Mannino ends up sitting on top of 2 players while the play is going on. No biggy.

The Caps are rolling now. Legs are moving. Passes on the tape. Getting chances. Just can’t seem to find the net. #babysteps

Well ain’t that a kick in the head? Just when things start looking up a Shark shot gets deflected in off a Cap. 3-2 Caps. #ohno

Aw shucks x2. A lively bounce off the end boards ends up on a Shark stick and then into the open net. Tie game. 3-3. #ohno

The 3rd Shark goal was scored by Tony Lucia. Who I thought was whacked in the 3rd season of Sopranos.

KISS CAM! PA guy is still giving a creepy play-by-play. #kisscam

2nd ends tied 3-3. Woooo outshot Caps 10-7 (23-16 overall), but the Caps did look much better.

And now. The sumo shuffle! The 2nd most complicated intermission sport. http://pic.twitter.com/U4ihKo4V

You could cut the tension in here with a knife. Everyone is so excited for this big 50/50. #hockeywhathockey

I’m by no means the authority, but the number of pucks over the glass in this game has to be some kind of record.

Coach McCambridge puts Vader, Cormier and the other Maxwell together on a line. Guaranteed riot.

Ramsay sits for 2 minutes and feels shame for a cross-check. Big, BIG, penalty kill for the Caps. #slapshot

Short-handed 2-on-1 for the Caps, McArdle & Cormier. Shawn Weller nearly climbs down from the pressbox to join them. #soooexcited

There’s 6287 people, plus Shawn Weller, using only the edge of their seats as the Caps go on the power play #soooexcited

Chances galore, but none that count. #holymoly

Boooo. Wooo, Booo. Wingels dingels in a wangel from a scramble in front. Shawhks take the lead 4-3. #ohno

And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The 50/50. $16,541. Enough to put your kids through college, for a few weeks anyway.

The Caps have been all over the Sharks like ugly on an alligator, but they can’t buy a break.

Final 2 minutes. Frantic action. A couple Sharks muff a 2-on-oh. That’s embarrassing.

Mannino pulled for the extra guy. #yikes

Sharks goalie Tyson Sexsmith makes a miraculous save dashing Caps hopes.

Woooostah time out with 32.2 to go. The wave is going. Rammstein is blaring. It’s going to be a wild one.

Now’s not the time for a miscue. A couple of missed passes kill any chance. Woo ices it. Face off in their end.

Neeeeeeeee… Gosh darnnit. Caps lose a thriller. Tough one. But a pretty darned good game. Final score 4-3. http://pic.twitter.com/eJN3yTUu

Mary Brown’s hardest workah: Cormier

3***: 3. Woo’s Wingels. 2. 2-Goal Redmond 1. Woo’s 2-Goal Ferriero

The beauty of a Friday loss is the revenge game. it should be a gooder Sunday aft if it is half what this game was. Tweet ya then.

Sunday’s Game Live Tweet-by-Tweet

IceCaps 3 — Worcester Sharks 4

Hullo Tweeters. It’s Teddy Bear toss day at Mile One for the IceCaps and the Woostah Shawhks part 2. Revenge & Teddy Bears. #sweeeet

King, Holzapfel, Weller and Albert still out hurt. Jaffray, Klingberg, & Kulda still in Winnipeg. Hugary’s Kroger still in

The Salvation Army brass band rocks the anthems. http://pic.twitter.com/ANHBFZhZ

If I was king a band would play all game. No offence to “I’m Sexy and I Know it.” #badsong

Also of note, the string of Finnish goalies with great names continues with Woostah starting Harri Sateri.

Friday’s game was madness. Fighting, slashing, hitting, scoring, shooting, havin’ a time. How will it go with the Teddy Bear crowd.

All Caps early-unlike Friday-shots are 4-0 after 5 minutes.

Woostah’s Friday hero Wingels just took a header over the blue line. Gotta watch those lines, they’ll get ya every time.

VIOLENCE VIOLENCE! Ramsay fights Woo’s Del Monte-heir to a pineapple fortune. Del Monte got it bad, the linesman got it worse.

REMATCH: Tommy “Gun” Maxwell and Jimmy “Jab” Bonneau fight at the next face-off. A lot of face punching. Mostly on Maxwell. #ouch

Bonneau punched Maxwell in the armpit about 1000 times when they fought on Friday. Maxwell did better this time around.

Pete “The Heat” Mannino makes the save of his life shorthandded to steal a goal away from Woostah. #bigsave

I think Woo’s John McCarthy’s skates are dull, and it’s making him angry. He just fell down and then slashed Desantis for a penalty

Caps 1st PP unit has some chances, but chances don’t count.

Redmond takes a slashing penalty with 1 second left in the Caps PP. #somuchforthat

Buzzer beater. Woo’s McCarthy scores a blink before the buzzer goes on a one timer through a screen. 1-0 Woo.

The strangest thing ever. Apparently the period can’t end with a goal. They drop the puck while the ice crew is on the ice.

An interesting twist on the intermission sport. The IceCaps just won a car. http://pic.twitter.com/NmADwOuX

I’m disappointed that Danny didn’t have to dress up in a sumo suit and run around to win that car.

Is the kid riding the zamboni the world’s biggest 10 year old, or the world’s luckiest 40 year old? http://pic.twitter.com/7Sp0euTR

Dance Cam! The creepiest 2 minutes of any intermission. Even worse than the kiss cam.

Mile One is sold out (a few empty seasons seats), but the press box is packed. Standing room only. The free popcorn is gone already

Woo’s Rip Van Winkels bets the Caps D and makes a good move on Mannino. But Mannino makes a better move and stops him. #bigsave

The pride of Szekesfehvar, Daniel Kroger, gets a rare shift and gets blatantly tripped. The fans boo the ref. There is no justice.

Go-go-go-goal! Rosa, Postma, Maxwell all have cracks at the open net. Machacek finally bangs it in. All tied up. 1-1. #ohyeah

The Caps are reading The Night Before Christmas on the jumbotron. It was filmed in Movember. #flashbacks

GOAL! BMaxwell puts on a stick handling clinic and serves it up for Postma’s hardest shot ever. 2-1 Caps. #Topcornerhockey #oheay

FIGHT! Next face off O’Dell fights Woo’s Moon. A light weight bout. Mostly awkward falling over each other. #FightCaps

More premeditated violence. Ramsay goes with Pellach. Big boys. Not much for fireworks.

FIGHT s’more. Garth Vader has had enough. Decides to crush Woo’s Gogol. Gogol not too interested until the ref breaks them up.

Garth Murray can kill two stones with one bird. #garthmurrayfacts #FightCaps

Woostah must have cut in line in front of the Caps at the street meat cart on George last night. These guys don’t like each other.

BMax leads a Caps 4-on-1 after a big turn over caused by a big hit. Harri Caray Satari makes a decent glove save to keep it out.

They just played the second half of the Movember Caps read The Night Before Christmas. It’s more like Nightmare with those staches.

Woo’s McCarthy takes a flimsy hooking penalty. Caps on the PP.

This Ben Maxwell guy sure is good with the puck in traffic. He could play street hockey at Rawlins Cross.

GOAL Caps! Gagnon tips in a nice pass from Clark Kent off the rush. 3-1 Caps. #ohyeah

Pete “The Heat” Mannino is playing like a young Gump Worsley out there. #bigsavesgalore

Woo’s Rip Van Wingels tries to fight KMcArdle. Nothing much happens. Somehow only McArdle gets a penalty. #FightCaps

Mannino with another huge save. And Garth Vader comes to the rescue. McCarthy runs for his life.

A unicorn once kicked Garth Murray. That is why they no longer exist. #garthmurrayfacts

Chaos breaks out at Mile One. The fans go crazy and start pelting each other with giant Teddy Bears. #riot http://pic.twitter.com/uz8aTyqA

Where are the police? It’s madness out there. The band is playing Jingle Bells to try and calm the fans. http://pic.twitter.com/PUIR9G5k

In all my weeks of covering pro hockey I have never seen such a scene. It’s a very sad day for St. John’s. http://pic.twitter.com/86za13Qf

Things are getting back to normal here. Sanity has returned. Save for the hockey game, I mean the fighty game. #FightCaps

Oh. Wait. That Teddy Bear fight was for charity. Oh. OH! Teddy Toss. I thought that was some lingerie thing at the Cotton Club.

Buddy is picking a fight with the net guy. Everyone’s in a fighting mood. Must be all these kids & teddys. http://pic.twitter.com/MRc1Ro8h

Well that was all fun. But now to the fighting on the ice, I mean hockey. The Caps have a long 5-on-3 to kill off (1min).

Anyone want to venture a guess how many staged violent events will take place, aka fights? I’ll take 3. Anyone have the over?

Booooo! Woo scores on the 5-on-3. Raining on a teddy bear parade. Jerks. Guite got it, from McCarthy. 3-2. #ohno

Woo’s Wingels peeved off the Caps last period. Both Murray and Cormier try and goad him into fisticuffs off the face-off.

This game is not for the faint of heart. Of the first 2:45 of the 3rd, Garth Vader has played about 2:30.

Dagnappit! That dirty so-and-so Wingels scores one on the breakaway that bounces off the glass behind Mannino and then in. 3-3 tie.

Haha. Woostah mafioso Tony “Flip Shot” Lucia puts it over the glass for a delay of game penalty. PP Caps.

Woo’s Ferrario takes a run at Clark Kent. Clark won’t back down. They both get roughing penalties.

Spenny Machacek makes a Gretzky-like backhand pass from the corner through a bunch of legs right on Ramsay’s tape. Ramsay misses.

Caps Wiebe with a giant hit on some poor Woo schmo. Loses his stick in the process, but sticks around and blocks a shot. #hustle

BMax-Machacek-Rosa line is a threat to score every shift. Sort of like how Garth Vader is a threat to the other team’s health.

Woops. Woo takes a too many men penalty. It’s pretty much the only way to get one now. The refs have put their whistles away.

The Caps have carried a lot of the play. Yet the Shawhks are out shooting them 38-27. Manninos been outstanding.

Oh no! Disaster! Rosa coughs up the puck in his own end and Tommy Funk & Wingels gets left all alone in front. Beats Mannino 4-3 Woo

Last minute. We need a Teddy Toss miracle.

Ouf! The Caps can’t get control with Mannino pulled. Woo’s Viedensky gets an empty netter with 8 secs left. #frown

I guess you’d call this a–gasp–losing streak.

Hardest working bucket of chicken: Paul Postma.

3***: 3. Woo’s McCarthy, 2. Ben “BMX” Maxwell, 1. Woo’s Tommy Funk & Wingels.

That’s it for the 2011 Caps. They’re on the road until the New Year. Get out there and eat some turkey and I’ll tweet ya in 2012.

Colin Peddle’s photo gallery