Kolzig Remains Model of Excellence

There's not much that can rattle Olie Kolzig these days. No matter what the circumstances, he's always ready to give of himself before asking of others. Off the ice, his generosity with Athletes Against Autism has earned him well-deserved accolades.

But on the ice, this year has provided a new challenge for Kolzig: putting himself in the shoes of a back-up goalie that hardly plays. And, as he's done throughout his stellar career with the Caps, Kolzig has found a way to do the right thing.

"The situation is what it is and the worst thing you can do is have a 'pity party' and disrupt the team," Kolzig told RRT today. "I just go about my business and try to keep the guys loose and pumped up. And be ready at the same time. That's really how I try to keep my role on the team."

Cristobal Huet, who has won nine straight games for the Caps and is 11-2 since joining the team at the trading deadline, knows that Kolzig is the Caps' glue.

"He's still a big leader for us even though I think he really wants to play," Huet told RRT today. "He's been a class act with me and when the team was struggling, he was there for support to get the team back on track."

Before Huet arrived, Kolzig was the team's unquestioned top goalie. But since Huet was acquired on Feb. 26 (when Kolzig beat the playoff-bound Minnesota Wild with a 34-save gem), Olie the Goalie has only started six games, earning three wins.

"The situation is that we have three goalies right now and Huey's been playing unbelievable for us. We needed to make a big run here with some wins and [Coach] Bruce [Boudreau] doesn't like to change the lineup, just keep it going with the hot goalie," Shaone Morrisonn told RRT today. "Olie's been great. He's been a great guy in the room, he's been there, and he's ready to go if anything happens. So it's nice to have depth at that position."

Like the great veteran that he is, Kolzig has been mentoring the team's youngsters -- including superstar Alex Ovechkin.

"Ovie's asked me questions and asked me how much different it is [in the postseason] and I let him know that he's going to have a target on his back and he's gotta be ready. It's a lot tighter," Kolzig said. "But at the same time, there's no better time of the season. It's fun. The atmosphere we experienced last week at Verizon [Center] is going to be two, three, four-times as good [during the playoffs] because Philly fans are going to be in there too."

"And at the same time, I said [to Ovechkin], it's just a hockey game," Kolzig continued. "Don't get too excited. That's the worst thing you can do as a young team is have too much adrenaline, too much exuberance and go out there and put yourself out of position. And before you know it, you're down. And so we just got to control our emotions, use them to our benefit. It's a long two months. You can't win it in the first game but you definitely can lose momentum in the first game. So you always want to put yourself in a good spot after the first game."

Clearly, Kolzig has followed his own advice about controlling his emotions. And that's given the 38-year-old goalie another feather to add to his Caps' lore.