The NHL has announced another lockout. What are the Washington Capitals to do? Well…form a band of course! After Coach Boudreau makes the dreaded announcement, the Capitals come together to form a brand new band to keep themselves busy and to keep their fans happy. Hard work and determination propel the Capitals to superstardom…but things get complicated when two young women find themselves falling in love with some of the players. Friendships will be tested as various players make some of the biggest mistakes of their lives. As things threaten to collapse around them, will the Capitals pull through together or will they fall apart completely? What happens when the NHL season restarts? Will the team be able to move past their differences, complications and mistakes or will the team be forced to restructure entirely?

"This seriously cannot be happening again," said Mike Green, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief.

"No one needs to panic," said Capitals Coach, Bruce Boudreau as he addressed his team in the locker room of the Kettler Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia, "This is just how things are going to have to be…for how long I don't know. It looks like…like there won't be any hockey this season."

Curses and cries of shock echoed through the locker room as the players absorbed Boudreau's message. The Coach sighed as he turned to leave the locker room. It was probably best that he left his team to deal with the news on their own for now. He himself needed to figure out what he was going to do during the lockout. It had been about six years since the NHL lockout had occurred and the league thought it would be the end of the dispute. However, the same issue had arisen once again and the players found themselves suddenly without jobs for the NHL season.

"Everyone just take it easy," said Jason Arnott, trying to be the sensible one of the group, "I'm sure everything's going to be okay. It sucks right now but it's not like we all just lost our jobs or anything."

Matt Bradley scoffed at that, "Yeah right…do you remember what happened the last time this went down? The restructured the whole damn team! They got rid of Peter Bondra then."

The team began to murmur anxiously as they contemplated what this could mean for all of them.

"Yeah but we sucked back then," argued Jason Chimera, "We had to restructure back then…now we don't suck. Maybe they'll just wait this out and we'll start again next year."

Ovechkin cursed loudly as he threw his helmet across the locker room, "Damn it! What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

"Yeah what do we do now?" asked Nicklas Backstrom, "Do we all go back home?"

The players looked around at each other with sadness in their eyes. They had all just arrived from their respective countries and did not want to leave one another so soon.

"What else can we do?" asked Mike Green, looking dejected, "It's not like any of us are that good at anything else…we're hockey players. What the hell else can we do?"

"You can play the drums," suggested Alex Semin, trying to be helpful.

Brooks snickered, "Define 'play'."

Mike pretended to punch his best friend, "Shut up…I just need a little more practice. I don't have time to really do much with the drums during the hockey season."

"Well you have time now," continued Semin, "And Brooks, you can play the guitar. Ovechkin can sing hard rock songs pretty good…Carlson can play the electric guitar and I play acoustic. Backy's good at the keyboard."

Mike raised an eyebrow at Semin, "What are you trying to get at, Sasha?"

Semin shrugged, "I mean…maybe we could all practice for a while and maybe if we get good enough…form a band? That might appease our fans. They're all gonna be so pissed when they hear the NHL is going through another lockout. Maybe hearing they're favorite players in a band would help?"

"Hell, that's not that bad of an idea," added Matt Bradley, "I'm pretty good with a sound board. I can run the sound systems…Arnott said he used to do theater back in the day. Maybe you could do the lighting Jason?"

Arnott nodded, "Yeah…yeah sure. If you guys actually manage to pull this off count me in."

"Hey! I used to be in a band in high school," piped up Mathieu Perreault, "I was the DJ…I used to make all sorts of mixes and stuff. I can do that!"

"Sounds like we got ourselves a band," said Mike Green with an excited grin on his face.

"We got a lot of work to do," added Ovechkin, "But…I think we can pull this off."

"I say we hold practices in the mornings like we do for hockey," said Semin, "Then the afternoons we can practice on our own and work on whatever we need to individually."

"Should we ask Boudreau to be our manager?" suggested Backstrom, "The poor guy's gonna need something to do."

"And McPhee and Smitty," added Brooks Laich, "McPhee's gonna be so bored…and Smitty can take care of us if anyone gets sick or has any injuries."

"This could very well be the best idea you have ever had, Sasha," said Brooks Laich as he put an arm around Alex Semin's shoulders.

Semin just smirked, "I try…what can I say? When you got it, you got it!"

The team laughed as they started planning their first practice. Although there wouldn't be a hockey season this year, at least they found something to keep them busy and to make the fans happy.

But little did they know what was in store for them in the future…

…

Please Review!