Olie will be missed by Caps’ fans

By Brian Hunsicker

Published: May 10, 2008

Just like that, we bid farewell to Washington’s most-tenured athlete, Capitals goalkeeper Olie Kolzig.
Olie, we knew ye well. And we were glad to have done so.
Kolzig’s contract is set to expire; he’s told multiple media outlets that he’ll be elsewhere next season. This, realistically, was the only possible outcome since the Caps’ deadline deal for Cristobal Huet. There is no reason to keep three goalies — Kolzig, Huet and Brent Johnson — when one of those roster spots could be used to fill needs in another area.
His final appearance for the Caps was a 5-0 loss in Chicago on March 19, a loss that ended Kolzig’s three-game winning streak.
How metaphoric: A tenure known for positives, on and off the ice, ends in a sad, unusual way.
Even when the Capitals were backmarkers, like they were in the final season before the strike of ’04-’05, Kolzig was a constant. Back when they were contenders in ’97-’98 when they were swept in the Stanley Cup finals by Detroit, Kolzig was a constant.
He was and, we thought, always would be. Until now.
The shutout to the Blackhawks, however, cannot be our enduring memory of Kolzig. There was simply too much other success, too many other ways he endeared himself to the community.
He and wife Christin founded the Carson Kolzig Foundation, which supports treatment and awareness for those afflicted with autism; Carson, their son, is one of them. Kolzig also a founding member of Athletes Against Autism, which has organized current and former pro athletes in the fight against autism.
That he happened to be a successful professional athlete merely gave him a bigger platform to address the more important aspects of life. And that he spent nearly all of his working life in this region — or all of it, if he decides to retire — endeared him to the area.
His final stats as a Capital: 685 starts, over 41,000 minutes logged, eight games over .500 (301-293-63), 2.70 goals against average.
But simply reducing his career to a win-lost percentage or his average production would be a great injustice. Kolzig meant more to this region than any number could possibly tell.
Though he’s as good as gone from the Capitals, he’ll have a legacy here that long outlasts his career.
Forgotten? Hardly.
Brian Hunsicker is a staff writer for the Potomac News & Manassas Journal Messenger. Reach him at 703-878-8048 or via e-mail at .