Kolzig’s farewell marks the end of a special era

In the aftermath of the Washington Capitals’ Game 7 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup playoffs, I ran into Olie Kolzig waiting for the elevator to leave Verizon Center.

He was standing there waiting with the man who had replaced him in goal — Cristobal Huet.

Kolzig shook my hand, and I said to him, “I really don’t know what to say.”

He said something about how they had gotten close and things just didn’t go their way, but I wasn’t talking about the game. I knew Olie Kolzig was leaving Verizon Center for the last time as a Washington Capitals player.

Thursday he confirmed to The Washington Post he won’t be returning. He still wants to play, and he most likely still can play. But it is the end of an era in this town — the Kolzig era.

It is an era not noted for championships and celebrations. It is an era, though, noteworthy because of the humanity, character and class that this 6-foot-3, 225-pound goaltender brought with him to Washington sports.

“I’ve always admired Olie Kolzig, first as a fan and then as an owner,” Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said in a statement. “When I got to know him on a personal level, I was even more impressed. He is a charitable person and a great man, and I genuinely appreciate all he has done for this organization and this region. If he decides to continue his career with another team, I will respect that decision, and he will be missed. In my mind, however, he always will be a Washington Capital.”

Consider the time that the 38-year-old was the face of the franchise — he had been with the organization since 1989 but was the starting goalie since the one glorious 1998 season, when he led the Capitals to the Stanley Cup Finals to this past year — there was nobody on the sports scene in this town who was bigger in the locker room and in the community.

Kolzig was the voice of authority in the Capitals locker room while he was in goal. He commanded tremendous respect as a fiery, inspirational leader, and as a competitor around the league.

Off the ice, he was a leader in community service as well. It has been well documented that his son Carson has autism, and Kolzig established the Carson Kolzig Foundation for Youth Autism, as well as one of the co-founders of the Athletes Against Autism, created to raise awareness of autism and to support research. Two years ago, he won the NHL’s King Clancy Memorial Trophy for humanitarian service.

On the ice, he has left behind an impressive personal legacy. In the 1997-98 season, Kolzig led the Capitals to the Eastern Conference championship and became only the 10th goalie in league history to record four shutouts in one postseason. He won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie in 2000 and was a two-time All-Star.

Kolzig owns the franchise goalie record books, holding the career record in wins (301), ties (63), games played (711), minutes (41,261), save percentage (.906), shots against (19,873), saves (18,013), shutouts (35) and assists (15).

His numbers had slipped the past two years, with a 3.53 goals against average two years ago and 3.00 in 2006-07 — the highest numbers since he began starting in the nets in 1998. After Bruce Boudreau arrived in Thanksgiving this season, Kolzig began seeing his playing time split more with backup Brent Johnson.

Then, when the Capitals obtained Huet from Montreal in late February, it was the end of Kolzig’s playing time. Boudreau went with Huet, the hot goalie, down the stretch as the Capitals won 11 of their final 12 games to make the playoffs for the first time since 2003.

When Huet struggled in game three of the first round against the Flyers, and then when the Capitals dropped to 3-1 in the series, it seemed as if they would consider going to Kolzig, given his playoff experience and the fact that the smaller Huet was being knocked around by Philadelphia. But Boudreau showed no such inclination, and when the Capitals were ousted in Game 7, it was the end of Olie Kolzig as a Washington Capital.

Story Continues →