We are in third place in our own division now.
Plenty of time to regain team confidence and health.
But no time like tonight to get back on a better pace of play on the road.
Focus must be on defensive systems; on our penalty kill and our power play.
And on over all team chemistry and vigor and energy for all 60 minutes.
An important away game this evening; tune in on Comcast Sportsnet and wish us well. Thank you.
Click here to learn more. Black Keys too. And the Arctic Monkeys. All on Monumental Report.
A poor performance for us last night.
Against the team ahead of us in the standings in our division.
We are zero for forever on the power play.
But we took a million penalties last night and the Panthers scored 3 times on their power play. So we have that going for us.
This blog post says it all about our road woes.
We are shorthanded- we lack confidence still. We lose concentration and allow a team to score two goals in a row in a 15 second span.
We need to continue to regroup and focus and play as a team; with dedication to a system.
Usually when you score 4 goals you win a game.
We lost 5 to 4.
Onward to better days .
A review – a good one happy to say.
Of Verizon Center.We are working hard to earn your trust and create happiness.
Click here to read this one and thank you.
As we play the best team in the NHL right now – tonight at Verizon Center.
I watched our practice session yesterday – we are in the midst of a pretty radical change of systems and philosophy.
As someone said yesterday, “you can’t play one way in the regular season, and then try to play another way during the playoffs”.
I thought that summed it up quite well.
Now our focus must turn to learning; adapting; with a focus on systems and defense.
It is a long season – we have so much work to do. We must play one game at a time. We must gain some confidence. If the season ended today we wouldn’t be a playoff team. We must be humbled and work hard.
It is like repairing the engines on a plane while the plane is in the air – filled with passengers!
See you all tonight – Go Caps! Thank you.
Another quiet period ends. Below is a copy of the letter we are sending to friends and family. Click here to see a copy of the official news release and a couple of clippings from the announcement, too. Thank you for your interest.
Dear Friends and Partners,
We are pleased to announce the completion of our fundraising for the Revolution Growth fund. We closed on $450 million of capital commitments, more than our target amount, and ahead of our expected schedule. The three of us will lead the Revolution Growth fund and collectively are the largest investors in the fund. We are pleased to be joined by 24 terrific institutional limited partners.
Our focus now turns to the excitement of investing in and building a select number of innovative, high-growth companies. Our strategy will be one of concentration, and we anticipate making ten to twelve investments over the next five years. We will spend considerable time with each company, rolling up our sleeves to partner with great entrepreneurs to build iconic platform companies. As you might expect, we are particularly interested in consumer-centric companies that use new approaches to disrupt large industries. We will seek out entrepreneurs and companies that aim to build lasting, market-leading companies that can be game-changing. We expect to announce our first investment early next year.
The three of us have worked together for more than 15 years. We genuinely like and trust each other, and our skills complement each other. All three of us will be active with each company in which we invest. Indeed, in some ways, the Revolution Growth fund is a “throwback” to the early days of venture capital. We are not just investors, but former CEOs and business builders who have the expertise and passion to be actively involved with the companies we back. By making only a few investments each year, we will have the time to really help the entrepreneurs with whom we partner.
We will look to invest in what we call the “speed-up” stage — when a company is past the venture stage, but not yet to the growth stage. In these companies, there is proof of concept and some early revenues, but not yet mainstream adoption or market leadership. We love helping companies scale and are willing to spend the time necessary to help them achieve their full potential. We will concentrate our capital and time in a select number of opportunities, so we can be highly selective. We expect that our typical investment will be $25 – 50 million, which will generally enable us to be the largest and most influential investor.
While our visibility and reach is national, we will generally focus on investments in the Eastern United States. We believe there are great entrepreneurs building great companies all over the country, so we will focus our attention outside of Silicon Valley. We are all very excited about the potential of backing promising entrepreneurs and helping them build special companies.
Revolution Growth fund will be the primary investment focus for each of us. Ted will, of course, continue to be active with his sports teams, and Steve will continue to spend time on public policy issues related to entrepreneurship and will also continue to make earlier-stage venture investments, but for all of us, Revolution Growth fund will be the main event for our business building activities.
We are grateful for the friendship and partnership you have shown us over the years, and we hope we will have the opportunity to work with you in this new endeavor. You can learn more about Revolution Growth fund and our efforts at www.revolution.com/growth. Needless to say, if you run into companies that you think can change the world, let us know!
Steve Case Ted Leonsis Donn Davis
Be careful Caps fans – for street closings near Arena because of Christmas tree lighting. See details here. Ba Humbug.
Thank you for welcoming Dale Hunter so warmly back to DC.
He has a lot of hard work ahead of him.
We added a new defensive coach last night to the team as well see release here.The team must adjust now to a new evolving system – a new voice – a new mind set. Change is all around.
We played a little tentative but better last evening; we took one baby step towards being a better defensive team.
You know we are in a tough spot emotionally when we crow about NOT letting up any 2 on 1 or 3 on 2 breakaways.
We have hit the reset button.
We have a day of practice today and then get ready to face the Penguins on Thursday night at home.
See you then and there. Go Caps!
About the only thing I wanted to post about this weekend was this: thank you to Make A Wish Foundation; and thank you to Ellie Carney – it was a true honor to meet you. Click here for this heartwarming story and video. A big hug to the entire family too – for your courage and your dedication.
Gratitude. We just completed a long weekend to give thanks and express gratitude.
It’s never easy to let a coach go, and Bruce was a popular personality who helped turn around our franchise. Despite what transpired on the ice this year, I always will be thankful for Bruce’s time with the Capitals and will remember him fondly. He is a great coach who I’m confident will land another spot in the NHL. Unfortunately the shelf life of a coach is short; Bruce was the fifth longest tenured coach in the league. That’s amazing to me.
Here is the news release announcing Dale Hunter as coach. Dale was a tenacious player and great leader. The reins are his, and we are here to support him. More on Dale later, but first I wanted to express my appreciation for Bruce and what he has meant to our franchise and our community – he not only won games but also created a tremendous brand awareness for us locally as well as nationally and even internationally.
I am very grateful. Bruce was instrumental in the team’s success over the last four seasons. He won four division championships, a Presidents’ Trophy, an Eastern Conference banner, two playoff series and coached us to our best records in team history during the regular season. He also won a coach of the year award and holds the record for winning 200 games faster than any coach in NHL history. He is a good man. Thank you for four great years. I appreciate all you did for us as a franchise. I am grateful to you and your entire family.