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Conspicuous Absence
by Alanah McGinley on 04/24/08 at 12:06 PM ET
Comments (3)
From Tarik El-Bashir at the Washington Post,
...just hours after an excruciating overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, one absence was conspicuous.
Veteran goaltender Olie Kolzig had cleaned out his locker stall and left the building, skipping the mandatory meeting. He did not speak to reporters. After Monday’s 3-2 loss at Verizon Center, he stripped his name tag off of his locker stall.
Kolzig, a fixture in the Capitals’ net for a decade before being essentially replaced by trade-deadline arrival Cristobal Huet, did not play after a 5-0 loss in Chicago on March 19. In recent weeks, Kolzig seemed increasingly detached as Huet led the Capitals to the franchise’s first playoff berth in five years. Kolzig, 38, did not return a message left on his cellphone, and his agent, Art Breeze, declined to describe his client’s thought process, other than to say: “The choice will be Olie’s as to where he plays next year...”
continued... with more post-season Capitals talk (reg. required)
Update 1:20pm ET: El-Bashir hears from Kolzig and updates at his blog,
First, Kolzig said he doesn’t want to give any interviews for a few days as he collects his thoughts. He said he obviously has some decisions to make and will talk soon.
Second, he also said he didn’t remove his nameplate from his locker stall at Verizon Center out of anger. He acknowledged that the Caps’ Game 7 loss to Philly could “possibly” have been his last game in Washington, so he wanted to take the nameplate as a memento. He plans to frame it with a jersey.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Washington Capitals | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: olie+kolzig,
Comments
It doesn’t sound like he has a lack of goodwill - he’s probably just very thoughtful over such a sudden end to the season.
I’d want a memento of such a long period with one team, too. It doesn’t happen very long, and seems to have been very important to him.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 04/24/08 at 02:11 PM ET
It’s nice to have the clarification on the nameplate issue, but I’m still wondering why he skipped the mandatory meeting.
It’d be a shame for him to leave on bad terms, since most around here do think so highly of him.
Posted by capsredarmy on 04/24/08 at 02:23 PM ET
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I hope Kolzig is not burning ten years worth of good will over a single twenty game stretch. He may not have a future as a Caps goaltender, but I can’t see why he wouldn’t have a role with the organization in the future even after he plays a couple more seasons.
Posted by Hockey1919 from Montreal on 04/24/08 at 01:58 PM ET