Tire change a Capital good deed

Capitals center Brooks Laich staged a one-man fan appreciation night Wednesday after Washington was eliminated by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the NHL playoffs.

Capitals fans Mary Ann Wangemann and her 14-year-old daughter, Lorraine, were already upset as they headed home from the game in Washington, D.C., then a flat tire left them stranded on a bridge.

They called for roadside assistance, and moments later an SUV pulled over.

Laich got out dressed in a suit and offered to help. They immediately recognized him.

He spent about 40 minutes changing the tire, according to voices.washingtonpost.com.

Laich also apologized to them for the Caps' loss, the first time that a top-seeded team has been eliminated by a No. 8 seed after taking a 3-1 lead in a best-of-7 NHL playoff series.

"When you think about what he was going through yesterday, just the disappointment ..." Wangemann told the newspaper Thursday. "Given everything else going on in his life, I just thought it was really remarkable. I want people to know it."

■ HAIRY HUSKIES -- The Connecticut baseball team's 22-game winning streak -- the longest in the program's 114-year history -- ended Wednesday with a 7-3 loss to Central Connecticut State, meaning the superstitious among the Huskies can finally resume shaving or get their hair cut again.

First baseman Mike Nemeth, UConn's best hitter, had facial hair that looked like an infield in need of watering, wrote Ivan Maisel of ESPN.com.

■ RACE FAN, NOT RACIST -- Douglas Story received a letter last week from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles after it decided to recall his license plates, which feature a logo for the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Some groups claimed the vanity plate, which read "14CV88," had coded references to Adolf Hitler; 14 was thought to symbolize a 14-word phrase attributed to an imprisoned white supremacist, and "88" was thought to stand for a double letter "H" -- the eighth letter in the alphabet -- as in "Heil Hitler."

Story, who says he has Jewish relatives, explains the plate design he selected was to honor a forefather who served in the Civil War.

The numbers have nothing to do with Hitler or Nazis, he said, but instead salute his favorite NASCAR drivers: Tony Stewart drives the No. 14 car, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. drives the No. 88.

■ FORE, NOT FOREPLAY -- Tiger Woods missed the cut Friday at the Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte, N.C., a day after shooting 2 over par to break his streak of 21 rounds at par or better.

The golf superstar, who is trying to recover from the stigma of a sex scandal that turned his life upside down, had an unfortunate explanation for Thursday's round.

"I had a lot of issues out there trying to figure out where my balls were going to go," Woods said.

Wasn't that why he went to rehab?

COMPILED BY JEFF WOLF
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL