Honest, I wasn’t hunting for this story at all.  And while a whole heck of a lot has been made about the quality of the ice at Verizon Center, particularly its role in diffusing the deft passing and slick skills of such a brilliantly drafted and crafted Washington Capitals team and, worse, in causing player injury, I wasn’t on the prowl to dig up old bones.

No, I previously made an effort to investigate the situation further, and was met with the incredulity quite logically predicted by a Conference best 19-3-1 record.  Indeed, how can anyone argue with such stunning success?  And why wouldn’t all efforts be made to advantage the home team and secure its players’ health?

So we happily moved on.  And then, in the course of innocently discussing the slow start of the game on the Island with Chris Clark:

“It was sloppy on both ends.  The ice [at Nassau] was horrible.  You could see it was bouncing everywhere.  Guys were trying to settle it down, still bouncing.  So it was something that — we tried to keep it simple after a while and just get it off of the boards and skate into it.  Which isn’t quite our game, but something you have to do when the ice is that bad.”

Doesn’t sound like the type of game we’d like to see the Capitals play, come playoff time, especially.  In April.  Well, now I couldn’t resist:

To Clark, I tossed a softball to the baseball fan, expecting some diplomatic assent:  “I know a lot of people have talked about the Verizon Center ice.  It seems like it’s been better this year – ”

And Chris just cut me off with an exasperated look that suggested a profound frustration.

“No,” shaking his head.  “It’s the worst.  Today, [again, talking about Nassau] it just stayed wet for a little while.  You could tell with the referees coming out and moving the water around a little bit.  But I still say Verizon, playing on it all of the time, is the worst.”

Just reporting what I heard, folks.