Game 69/Boston: My Take

The Columbus Blue Jackets, in dire need of two standings points to grow their slim playoff hopes, only grabbed one point in losing to the visiting Boston Bruins, 3-2, in a shootout.

The crux of the game was the David Krecji cross-checking penalty at 15:24 of the 3rd period.  The Jackets were up 2-1 and looking to put the Bruins away.  Instead, the Bruins made a reasonably fast conversion off an intercepted Derick Brassard pass and nailed home the dreaded short-handed goal to tie it up.  I won't say it was "game over" at that point, but the CBJ lost a lot of mojo.

Observation from practice

For the first time in way too long, the Dark Blue Toddler and I ventured down this morning to Nationwide Arena to check in on the Columbus Blue Jackets' open practice in anticipation of tomorrow's tilt with the streaking (7-1-2 in their last 10 - Yow!) Los Angeles Kings.

When reached for comment about practice,
the Dark Blue Toddler stopped on the stairs to say,
"Up! Up! UP! Down! Down! DOWN! Hockey! Boom!"

The visit was punctuated by a pre-practice breakfast with DBT at the Arena District's Sunny Street Cafe on Nationwide Boulevard, where we redeemed a Groupon and he gnawed on perhaps the largest "dinosaur" pancake that I've ever seen.  (They apprently pour the batter into a 8-inch long dinosaur mold, kinda like a cookie cutter for pancakes.)  Of course, the DBT is the discriminating type, so he ate my home fries instead.  At least I got coffee.  And Sunny Street is a great way to kick off your CBJ practice morning.  Nice folks, fast service.

As for practice, I got pretty much what I've come to expect with the little man.  DBT runs the stairs and the rows nonstop (only stopping to tell me what row letter I've parked in to monitor him while he tears around sections 114 and 115), and I get about 15 minutes of actual observation during a one-hour practice.

Most notable from practice was who was NOT out there: Steve Mason.  We now know that Mase has bronchitis and a "minor" pulled groin (how such a muscle pull can be "minor" is beyond me).  With that, and no goalie callup from Springfield, we were treated to the CBJ equipment manager in net.  I think I got a taste of what the diminutive Darren Pang would have looked like between the pipes for the Blue Jackets.  Actually, the guy did OK considering they weren't pushing him too hard out there.

(Somewhat) Tanned, rested and ready for the second half

My two week "All-Star Break" has ended, and I'm back in the States after a great, long vacation with Mrs. DBJ, the Dark Blue Toddler and DBT's grandparents.  As you can see, the CBJ ball cap (with a stylishly pre-weathered bill) has seen a little bit of fading from the sun at 20° 37' 0" N / 87° 4' 0" W.  It was great, however, to see the many other hockey fans down so close to the equator.  There were tons of Canadians out there, worshiping the sun during the day and watching CBC and TSN hockey of their favorite teams all night long at the open-air sports bars under palapa roofs.

Two week vacations are a gift from God.  If you ever can figure out a way to combine both the money and vacation time from your jobs, I highly recommend such a break.  It's soul-cleansing.  On a one-week vacation, you're travelling for two days and don't really start mentally "unpacking" from The Real World for a couple of days, so that means you only really get two - perhaps three - days of true relaxation.  In a two-week vacation, you can add a whole seven days to the decompressed time.  And it's really good...I find that you don't dread returning home after a two-week vacation like you do after a one-week vacation.

But enough of this self-indulgent crap.  You come here to read about the Columbus Blue Jackets, not my ruminations on how long one needs to air out the mental dirty laundry.  So let's catch up on what happened while I was away...

Game 43/Phoenix: My Take

Finally home after a winless, four-game road trip, the Columbus Blue Jackets failed to capitalize at Nationwide Arena and lost, 4-3, in regulation to the Phoenix Coyotes.

The callups once again made their mark.  Matt Calvert played in his second straight game (Surely, no insult to those who were on the roster on opening day...) and drew a critical holding call in the waning minutes of the game.  Grant Clitsome, fresh off the plane from Springfield, swapped in for the maddening Anton Stralman...and was refreshingly competent.  Not fantastic, but simply competent.

Post-Minnesota thoughts (Plus 2 more)

So the Columbus Blue Jackets squeegied the Xcel Energy Center ice with the Minnesota Wild last night in what appeared to be, more or less, a battle of NHL-caliber rosters.  Surely not as exciting as the scrubs pulling out the shootout win at Nationwide this past week, but one has to remember that this is a town that revels in the glory of a (mind-numbingly boring) 70-3 Ohio State football win over MAC cellar-dwellers East Nowhere State.  So a wire-to-wire dismantling is good for the fine folks of Columbus.  Kinda cleanses the pores, if you will.

As for the game performance, I was like everyone else and had to listen live on radio.  (And I have Insight for my cable now, meaning I didn't get to watch the replay on NHL Network because...Insight doesn't carry NHL Network.  Sigh.)  My impressions, like nearly all of those who have offered online commentary of the game, thus is filtered through the eyes and words of George Matthews and Bob McElligott.  Fortunately for CBJ fans, George and Bob are pretty good at calling a game - especially once one gets used to George's awesome play-by-play quirks.  (But Bob really doesn't need to do John Madden impressions.)  I've found that I more or less agree with a lot of what they're saying, so let's take their impressions as gospel.

Sounds to me like the Sammy Pahlsson-anchored third line will be shifting from a liability to a strength this season.  Pahlsson has his game on, perhaps spurred the addition of Ethan Moreau.  Moreau also appears  to be playing well (despite my lousy call from the other Minnesota game).  Both guys had goals and assists.  This bodes well going into the regular season, but coach Scott Arniel hopefully will take caution with whomever he pairs with those two as to augment - and not break up - the chemistry that is growing.

Time to step up: Grant Clitsome

• Defenseman
• 25 years old, 2nd year in National Hockey League
• $550,000 cap hit 
• 0.9% of Columbus Blue Jackets salary cap
• Contract expires at end of this season
• 2009-2010 numbers: 11 games played, 1 goal, 2 assists, 3 points, +/- of zero, 6 penalty minutes, 14:44 avg. time on ice

Does Grant Clitsome have the stuff to make a
serious run at a full-time CBJ roster spot?

Talk about a guy at the crossroads of his hockey-playing career.

Grant Clitsome is 25 years old.  After one year of juniors, he took the college route to the NHL, playing all four years for Clarkson University in New York, an ECAC school.  Clitsome then went straight to the Columbus Blue Jackets' (then-) AHL affiliate in Syracuse, perhaps an indicator that his skill level was sufficient to bypass a stint in juniors.  He then played one full season for the Crunch in 2008-2009.  I'm not sure that one can call him a late bloomer, but he's certainly not a child prodigy.

Had the Jackets not decided to jettison their pricey veterans nor experienced debilitating injuries to the likes of Rusty Klesla in 2009-2010, Clitsome might not have seen the bright lights of Columbus until this forthcoming season, if at all.  Instead, he put in 64 games in Syracuse and then played in 11 more for the Blue Jackets at the end of the season.

By most accounts, Clitsome did nothing to hurt his case for NHL playing time while in Columbus.  He doesn't appear to be a playmaker or scorer, but he did get 5 goals and 15 assists in Syracuse last season in addition to his 3 points during his time in Columbus.  Simply put, he's never going to make the Blue Jackets forget about the likes of Tomas Kaberle...but he's also not going to make Scott Howson pop a handful of Tums every time he hits the ice.