And now…a history lesson.

Famous Power Outages in Recent History

Northeast Blackout of 1965 – occurred on November 9, 1965, and affected Ontario, Canada as well as Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York, and New Jersey. Around 25 million people and 80,000 square miles were left without electricity for up to twelve hours due to a maintenance area a few days beforehand.

New York City Blackout of 1977 – began on July 13 when lightning struck Buchanan South, a substation on the Hudson River, tripping two circuit breakers in Westchester County. It resulted in city-wide looting, arson, vandalism and rioting.

1998 Auckland Power Crisis – a five-week long power outage in the central business district of Auckland that occurred when a series of power cables, some well past their replacement date, failed.

Northeast Blackout of 2003 – a widespread power outage caused by a massive power fluctuation that occurred on August 14. Although power was restored to most homes within 24 hours, it was the most widespread electrical blackout in history at the time, affecting an estimated 10 million people in Ontario and 40 million people in eight U.S. states.

Power Failure in the Dome – the Washington Capitals squander a nine minute power play, including a five minute major during which they could have scored at will without losing the extra-man advantage.

So as history shows, some power outages are acts of god, others merely acts of human stupidity. Let’s try and minimize the latter tonight, shall we? As the saying goes, those who fail to learn the lessons of history…are doomed to be held without a power play goal in Phoenix.

2 Minutes with…the Great One and the Gr8 One
It’s a special edition of 2 minutes today, as Alex steps in to help CC out to interview one of the game’s all-time great players. This should go smoothly…

Alex Ovechkin: So, Wayne – you win lots of Cups, score lots of unbelievable goals. Do you think if you play in NHL today, you could do that?
Wayne Gretzky: Maybe – the game is really different now and-
AO: Is faster now, yes? I’m fast. I probably beat you if we skate right now.
WG: …well, yes, but you’re 23 and I’m 47 so-
AO: You saw my goal last time we are here, yes? It was sick. Sick goal, I don’t even know how I do it. You had a good view from bench, yes?
WG: I guess it was a pretty good goal, but-
AO: But I don’t care about goal, I want Cup. You win lots of Cups, Wayne.
WG: Four, Ovie.
AO: Four. That’s unbelievable, Wayne. How many when you didn’t play with Mark Messier?
WG: …wait, what does-
AO: It was none, I think, yes? And how many did he win without you?
CC: Ovie, be nice.
AO: Two, yes? Two. Wow. Doesn’t that suck?
WG: Look, I’m one of the greatest players ever – I don’t have to put up with this from some punk kid!
AO: Hey, how is wife, Wayne?
Gretzky storms out; Ovie grins triumphantly.
CC: That wasn’t very nice, Ovie. You could have taken it easy on him – he is a legend, after all.
AO: I just have fun with him! Don’t worry, Grandpa will forget all about it tomorrow.
CC: I suppose…
AO: Yes. Here, have an ice cream cone. They’re unbelievable.