Steve Mason and Spring Football

Ian Clark lecturing during 2011-12 training camp

You might ask yourself, 'what in 'tarnation does Steve Mason have to do with Spring Football?'  And I would say, 'the answer is obvious, Ian Clark'.  At which point the discerning reader might discreetly start punching in '911' to call the guys to bring the coat with the long sleeves.  And, as I write this, I gird myself for the firestorm of criticism.  But, I am one of those glass half full guys, admittedly.  But please keep in mind as a season ticket holder, I've seen A LOT of Steve Mason performances, in person.  I've shouted at a few of 'em on TV too.  I get it.  It would be best to have the goal tending situation be locked up solid.  The theory that Mason has been given plenty of rope is sound.  But there's 30 teams that need solid goal tending and only about 15 legit starting goal tenders, according to Vancouver's coach.  And there's that contract!  Eeesh!  What does Mason make this year, $3 million??  So we have to face up to the fact that it's entirely possible he will be here all year.  And that he is only 23 years old.  When did Tim Thomas bloom into a Vezina trophy winner?   And to throw in a rhetorical question, would you consider Tim Thomas to be a draft bust?  But I digress.

I have to get back into the importance of Spring Football.

DBJ's 5 Thoughts on Game 20: Calgary

Curtis Sanford Third Jersey Pads

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT - The Dark Blue Jacket, in its long commitment to public service would like to warn the public that Curtis Sanford's Third Jersey Pads have some real WOW!! factor.  We would not want anyone to be un-prepared for this.  And now, back to our regularly scheduled program, the Dark Blue Jacket's 5 thoughts on tonight's 4-1 win by the Columbus Blue Jackets over the Calgary Flames.

1. The Eraser - The CBJ are not a dramatically better team than they were four games ago.  But Curtis Sanford erased many of those mistakes with a great deal of aplomb.  I really liked the way Sanford controlled the pace of the game, and shut things down by gloving the puck when things got too hairy.  Well done Curtis! You are instilling a confidence in the team that is palpable.  I saw mistakes by veteran centers (Carter) and young defensemen (Nikitin) erased by Sanford.  It is now time to start the Masterson discussion.  Please pardon me for a moment while I rant.

HEY BLUEJACKETS!  LETESTU, NIKITIN, AND MARTINEK ARE ALL BLUE JACKETS NOW!  HOW ABOUT SENDING NHL.COM PICTURES OF THEM IN BLUE JACKETS JERSEYS!!

Rant complete.  Thank you for your patience.

The other thoughts after the jump.

They Must Learn to Hate Losing More Than Anything

- Ken Hitchcock, Former Coach of the CBJ 

Old logo, to keep it step with the rest of things!

In the waning days of his coaching stint with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Ken Hitchcock uttered the title phrase regarding his players, many of whom remain the core players of today's team.

After a solid start, best in franchise history, his team had imploded in December, and spiraled out of control.  The fans were calling for the coaches head.  Sound familiar?

Remember folks.  We're not talking about Wiz, Carter, or Prospal.  We are talking about Nash, Umberger, Vermette and Brassard here.  The core players.  And this is what the Hall of Fame coach uttered about his players, as he viewed the handwriting on the wall for his coaching job - These players must learn to hate losing more than anything else.

There are real reasons why the core of this team has not learned this lesson.  But it this team is ever going to have the long term success they want to have, they have to learn to hate losing with a burning passion.  We are in the middle of that learning process right now, and it really doesn't matter how many games they lose, or whether or not we make the playoffs this year.  It matters that the core of this team learn to hate losing more than anything.  Because that is the pre-requisite for becoming a successful franchise.

That's not the dirty play I intended!

Matt Calvert and RJ Umberger at practice

Big stick tap to Light the Lamp for publishing the reaction of the Wild fans and media.

Let's compare James Wisniewski's excuse: 'I was defending myself';

to

Pierre-Marc Bouchard's excuse:  I meant to slash Calvert on the hands, but he lifted my stick!

No matter how you cut it, that is a dirty play with intent to injure.  The slash to the hands has been an area of focus for officials for the last few years because it has only one intent, to injure a player, ESPECIALLY if that player does not even have the puck.

I don't care if he has a 9 year career of unpunished, er, clean play.  That is a dirty play any way you examine it. And from now on, he is a repeat offender.

There's only two ways to police this stuff.  Either the Shanahammer does it, or you need to revoke the instigator rule and reserve a roster spot for an enforcer.  Given the events of this last summer, the league has opted to police the game itself.

Eliminating the slash to the hands, much less to the face, will not diminish the game we love.  It will eliminate dirty play.  Check the rule book.  Its always been that way.

GO JACKETS

The Opener - Nashville 3, CBJ 2

Hopes for an Undefeated Season Crushed

Radek Martinek on the opening drape

What's that you say? No team has ever gone undefeated in the modern NHL?  Not even the Redwings, or the Penguins?  Oh.  Well that's not so bad then.

Ok, on a more serious note, on the the re-cap.  The Nashville Predators rolled into town with a solid team that went deep in the playoffs last year.  The Preds are built on solid defense and outstanding goal tending, and we saw a healthy dose of that last night as the Predators beat the Blue Jackets 3-2.

The game was really pretty equal in many respects.  The new look CBJ has really upgraded the forward position, but our defense without Wiz remains a work in progress.  The contrast between the teams was pretty stark.  The CBJ are still adjusting to all the new faces, which is normal.  The Preds looked like a team that was used to playing with one another.  On paper our forwards are better than theirs, but their defense is better than ours.  At the end of the day, the winning goal was scored on a defensive gaffe that allowed a Nashville shooter, Matt Halischuk fire an unchecked shot from the top of Steve Mason's crease with 39 seconds gone in the third period.  That ended up being the deciding goal.

Part V: The Dark Blue Jacket's Definitive History of the CBJ

The Howsonian Era -  The Later Stagnation Period to the New Reformation!

The Columbus Blue Jackets Cannon Logo

Arrrggghhh!  This thing has me by the throat, and the puck drops tomorrow!!  Must....blog......harder....    OK, ok, focus.

We last left this tale at the end of the glorious 2008-09 season, when the Columbus Blue Jackets lifted the playoff stigma from their resume, and made the post season for the first time.

By virtue of their strong showing, they picked 21st in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, selecting Defenseman John Moore.  In the off season they parted ways with Freddy Modin, Michael Peca, and Jason Williams.  Optimism was high, the pundits largely picked the squad to finish where it had the previous year, much as they are picking the 2011-12 CBJ to finish where they did last year (shocking newzzzz!)

Part IV: The Dark Blue Jacket's Definitive History of the CBJ

The Hitchcock Restoration

A Columbus Blue Jackets Civil War Logo

Ken Hitchcock was coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets from November 22, 2006 to February 3, 2010.  He is the winningest coach in Blue Jackets history, compiling a record of 285 G, 126W, 123L, and 36OTL.  Depending on how you fall out on your view of the shootout, he is the only coach in CBJ history to have a winning record.

In my last post I made the assertion that although many names had changed, the talent level of the team plateaued at about the 2003-04 level.  As evidence for that, I point to Ken Hitchcock's coaching record.  Prior to coming to Columbus, as a head coach he had never coached a team in the NHL for the entire year and not made the playoffs.  That is, until he coached the 2007-08 CBJ squad.

Don't get me wrong.  I think he was kind of fond of that team, because he believed that the team had maxxed out.  That they had given him everything that they had.  But it wasn't enough, they simply lacked the talent to be a playoff team.  But I am jumping ahead.

Ken Hitchcock's coaching career for the CBJ served as a bridge between two General Managers, Doug MacLean and Scott Howson.  As such, Coach Hitchcock holds a very important place in CBJ history.

Cannonfest Note

The Columbus Blue Jackets have obligingly posted a real nice note about Cannonfest, along with Skraut's videos.  Check it out.

The Dark Blue Jacket's Definitive History of the CBJ

We here at the Dark Blue Jacket are eagerly awaiting the beginning of training camp, and of course, dying for content, just like everyone else.  When the words 'storied franchise' are spoken, the Columbus Blue Jackets is not the franchise that comes to mind.  But with the beginning of our second decade in the NHL, we have a history.  For better or worse.  So it seems appropriate at this time to review where we have been.  With that in mind, we bring you The Dark Blue Jackets Definitive History of the CBJ, a multi-part series designed to tide us over to the start of training camp.  Sure hope this works, the waiting is killing me.

The Inaugural Season - Our Lovable Bums

The Columbus Blue Jackets initial team logo

The first season of the Columbus Blue Jackets had arrived for the 2000-01 NHL season. The NHL has come to Columbus, Ohio!   You can still smell the new car smell in Nationwide arena.  The team ends the season with 28 wins - 39 Losses, and 9 ties and 6 overtime games for a total of 71 points.  It would be 2005-06 before we saw another CBJ team achieve that point total.  This was good for a tie for 4th in the Central Division, and 13th in the Western Conference.

Many Blue Jackets fans still think of this period with a sort of soft, fuzzy feeling.  The team rallied late in the season with an all out, team effort game in spite of their noticeable lack of talent.  Ron Tugnutt sets a record for most wins by an expansion franchise goalie.  This team won the admiration of their fans for their pluck, and their effort.  It was long before those good feelings wore off.  Doug MacLean, the President and General Manager had pulled off a significant accomplishment.  The launching of an NHL franchise in a place that had only seen minor league hockey in the past.

A good time was had by all!

Steve Mason: "Sanest Move" and other anagrams

A blog I occasionally read is Wrap Around Curl, written by a fan of the WHL's Spokane Cheifs. One of her recent posts titled "Fun in English Class" is about hockey player name anagrams... which are hilarious. For fun I decided to try out the Blue Jackets' names. Try yourself here. I bolded some of my favorites... and some were just funnier in all caps.


Mathieu Garon: toughest mania
Steve Mason: sanest move

Mike Blunden: nimble, nuked
Jared Boll: do bell jar
Derick Brassard: sacred drab irks
Chris Clark: slick charr
Derek Dorsett: retorted desk
Kristian "juice" Huselius: juciest shriek in usual
Derek Mackenzie: zanier, meek deck
Maksim Mayorov: I'm my savor amok
Andrew Murray: unmerry award
Rick Nash: arch sink
Samuel Pahlsson: phalluses man so
RJ Umberger: GRR! BUM JEER!
Antoine Vermette: to retentive amen
Jake Voracek: cave! ok! a jerk

Mike Commodore: I'm crooked memo
Jan Hejda: hajj dean
Rostislav Klesla: overkill lasts as
Marc Methot: met to charm (too true!)
Nathan Paetsch: a path enchants
Kris Russell: SKULL RISERS
Anton Stralman: not smart annal
Fedor Tyutin: tidy fortune

I think my favorite non-Blue Jackets anagrams are Luongo's (goon or trouble?) and Heatley's (hey neat lady!). Post any other fun ones you find/think up/discover!

Update: More!

Columbus Blue Jackets: JUMBLE SUCKABLE SCOUT (from Q); ABLE TO SUCK MUSCLE JUB (from Jim)
Stinger: Resting (from Q)
Rick Nash: Cash Rink (from wrap around curl herself)
Ken Hitchcock: check on thick (ahahhahaha)
Scott Howson: NOW COSTS HOT!
Claude Noel: Ace, dull one!

Let's Take a Different Approach to CBJ Blogging...

Hello CBJ boys & girls (and non-CBJ blog-lurkers)!

After much thought about what to blog about in the absence of DBJ (thank you for the opportunity, by the way), I have decided not to add yet another voice to "what ails the Blue Jackets". Fire Hitch, trade Huselius, bring Filatov back, send Mason to Syracuse... whatever! Frankly, the arguments are all running together after such a sad stretch of play this season. I'll leave those decisions to Scott Howson.

So what to write about? There are four topics about which I would consider myself *uberly-knowledgeable*: hockey, coffee, miniature pinschers and marketing. So, while I sit here with my minpin (Puckey) while drinking a cup of coffee (yum!), I will discuss hockey marketing.

About a year ago, I wrote a blog discussing the numerous reasons that the Blue Jackets should hire me in their marketing department. Obviously, no one in the CBJ offices read the blog, because I do not work in their marketing department. So I will use this platform to re-hash (in a nice & respectful manner, of course) a couple of the many, many, many gripes that I have with the existing Blue Jackets marketing.

I admit, I love the Civil War concept for the Blue Jackets! Nationwide Arena boasts a Civil War-era cannon that commemorates Ohio's enormous role in the Civil War. GREAT!!! They ask us fans to "Carry the Flag!" I'm carrying it!!! But why stop there?

Let's "Carry the Flag" from the moment the Arena doors open until the final victory *BOOM* of the cannon! And that can start with the Pepsi Power Patrol. Nothing says "Civil War" like driving out onto the ice in a dune buggy shooting t-shirts into the crowd, eh? I get that Pepsi is a sponsor and needs to be incorporated into the mix, but come on... I can't even go into the IGS Energy Blimp. I just can't. Now, the Boom Jackets are a nice touch, but 10 drummers (or however few there are) just isn't much of an impact. Have at least 50 drummers all around the arena on every level of the arena all playing at once.

Speaking of music... the current music selection is brutal - almost painful. Keeping with the Civil War theme, how cool would it be to hire a local punk band and have them do a couple remakes of Civil War songs? Think about it - the team skating out to a high-energy, pumped up version of Battle Hymn of the Republic or Battle Cry of Freedom - it would be something completely unique to the Blue Jackets... something that would tie into the theme and give them an identity. And the crowd would love it!

And let's not stop with the entrance song. Let's give certain players their own theme song! Let them hire a local girls' band to do a fresh, "hip" remake of Hey, Mickey! and whenever Rick Nash scores a goal, let Hey, Ricky! blast through the crowd! Each time Jared Boll beats the snot out of someone, play Animal I Have Become! Whenever Steve Mason makes a killer save, I want to hear Brick House! I can't be alone here, right?

The best way to get people in the seats at Nationwide is through quality publicity. Quality publicity. They really missed a terrific publicity strategy this year. Coming off of the first ever playoff run in franchise history, interest in the team was at its peak. Wouldn't a series of commercials with a relevant and funny storyline featuring the "Young Guns" (which could easily be part of the Civil War theme) have been great? They could have filmed eight commercials at once in the off-season, and released a new commercial each month from September through April. I know that these guys aren't actors and that they don't all have a major grasp of the English language, so make them like silent movies... problem solved! And they really shouldn't limit the existing commercials to Fox Sports Ohio - chances are, if you are watching Fox Sports, it is because you are watching the Blue Jackets games already (No offense to Access Cavaliers). Get them on some mainstream channels in prime time!

That's a good start, CBJ Marketing folks... no?

If you are still reading... first, THANK YOU! Let me tell you a smidgeon about my CBJ self. I have been a Blue Jackets season ticket holder since day one. I was sitting in the same seat at the Inaugural game that I sit in today. I have been through an awful lot with this team, and I am extremely passionate about them. I am not a fan who threatens to turn my tickets in unless a coach gets fired or a player gets traded... the Blue Jackets are MY TEAM. I will vehemently support any player who is fortunate enough to wear a Blue Jacket's jersey. You could say that I am "dug in."

By the way, the boys beat Edmonton 4-2. Hopefully they will Carry the Flag into Calgary and return home with a second road victory.

Until next time...

PuckeysMom :)