Morgan's thoughts on Game 11 against the Ducks

Columbus Blue Jackets 3  - Anaheim's NHL team - 4

The Blue Jackets played host the Anaheim Mighty Ducks of Anaheim who are Ducks that are Mighty.  Tonight's game offered a little bit of everything: a great first period, a "Blue Jackets of old" second period, a good hit called right, a good hit called wrong, plenty of bewildered fans bleating "Rule 614" and an overall feeling of watching this game through a "WTF just happend" haze.  Nationwide arena was sprinkled with 10,524 adoring home fans who spent the final 2 periods playing the role of quasi emotional co-dependent.  <snark alert> The Ducks came into town with an 8-3-0 record, clinging to glory years with some old dudes on their team.  They should really start looking forward. <end snark>

Wherein Gallos Steals Toronto's Mojo

My R-Bar hat with Gollum's Frodo's (oops) finger still thrust through it...

We arrived in a driving rain after a journey of more than 1400 miles (don't ask, it won't make sense) to the very heart of hockey here on middle earth.  We came for many reasons, mostly to move my buddy's boat, but also to take away that which has launched the Maple Leafs to an uncharacteristically good start this year.  It can't be the firing of Brian Burke, since he built the team.  It must be some dark power that makes them rise from the pits of suck in which they have been mired these many decades.  Thus, the journey had a level of risk that would daunt the hearts of lesser men.

By way of a diversion, my companion was not a hockey fan.  This served to confuse the many guardians of the game that we would encounter.  It would seem that all he was concerned with was moving his boat from

The baleful eye of Sauron watches the ramparts through
which we must pass...

Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. This would prove to be useful many times.

After we had transferred our gear to the boat in the driving rain, we proceeded to the restaurant to refresh ourselves.  The place seemed to be well lit and alive, which looked good.  We entered, and I looked at the posted menu.  Holy smokes!!  By amazing good luck, we had stumbled into none other than Don Cherry's Restaurant, in Port Colborne, Ontario.  A hockey bar if ever there was one.

We proceeded up the steps to the second floor restaurant, with the image of Don Cherry glaring at us with each steps.  Perhaps it was me, but I felt that his eyes followed our every step.  Fortunately, my buddy's disguise as a successful businessman helped divert attention.  I was

Fair and Balanced

Predictably the "national" hockey media's reports on last night's Blue Jackets v. Maple Leafs affair is pretty much tilted towards all the things the Leafs did wrong. In reading the recaps this morning the only thing the Blue Jackets did correctly was score a shorthanded goal. The rest of the game it seems the Jackets just watched the Leafs bumble around the ice.

Of course if you were there or watched the game on TV, you probably noticed the Jackets did a little more than watch the Leafs make mistakes. They spent a fair amount of time forcing the Leafs into situations to make those mistakes.

Coming into the game, we were warned of the Leafs' speed. How it would be just like Montreal's (it wasn't). How the Jackets better be ready for it (they were). The local beat writers even put together a blog post, "Preparing for the Pace" meant to prime us for what was about to come barreling into Nationwide Arena.

Then the game started, and for the first 3 minutes I thought all the warnings were correct. But, following the first 3 minutes the Leafs had tallied 1 whole shot on goal and the Jackets were keeping them outside quite a bit. Then the speed tables turned.

In a hurry.

Quickly.

In a rush.

All puns intended.

The Jackets hit the gas, hard.

1st Period, 4:16 - TOR D. Clarkson Hooking against N. Foligno

A power play goal followed that, and the natives were happy. (The few thousand Leaf fans in the stands, not as happy.) The forecheck followed. Blue Jackets all over the puck, all over the ice. Pressure, speed, more pressure, and skating.

Boone Jenner gets a step to the outside and...

1st Period, 11:54 - M. Rielly Holding against B. Jenner

No power play goal followed that one, but the first period ice was quickly tilting the Jackets way. When the horn sounded to signify the end of the first period, the Jackets had a 1-0 lead on the scoreboard and a 16-5 lead in shots on goal.

2nd Period, 13:40 - M. Rielly Tripping against N. Foligno
2nd Period, 19:51 - N. Kadri Hooking against B. Comeau
3rd Period, 17:09 - D. Bolland Tripping against M. Gaborik

That's 5 minor penalties, 5 power plays for the good guys, all resulting in classic "oh crap he's about to blow by me" calls on a defender.

Speed kills...the Jackets' speed, that is.

Clarkson's Triumphant Return

Fedor Tyutin would like to welcome Mr. Clarkson back from his suspension...

So DBJ and DBT went to CBJ Game 10: Toronto

Columbus 5 - Toronto 2
5-5-0, 10 pts, 4th in Metropolitan Division, 9th in Eastern Conference

The Columbus Blue Jackets stretched their win streak out to three games with a win over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2.  The game was put to bed in the third period, where the CBJ dropped an incredible four goals on Toronto.

Lots of quickie thoughts...

East Hatred: Toronto Maple Leafs

Next on our list of "learn to hate in the East" are the Toronto Maple Leafs. Finally a team that will be a little easier to hate.

Starting with: What is the plural of the word leaf? Come on, our friends up north already jam a "U" in colour and spell centre completely wrong. But "leafs"? You don't even get to shout, "It's the proper British way to spell it!" on Leafs.

Maybe hate is too strong of a word for the Leafs. The opposite of love is indifference, so for most of my time as an NHL fan I've been indifferent to the Leafs. I really never cared if they won or lost, or if they were even playing games. That type of attitude will drive a Leafs fan crazy. "Wait, what? You don't care? One way or the other?? You can't do that!" You have to have a position on the Leaves, er Leafs.

The reason that attitude prevails is because if you live in Toronto - the center of the known universe - all you hear is Leafs. It's understandable. The media coverage given to the NHL team located in hockey crazed Canada's largest city is unlike anything we can fathom here in quite, Midwestern Columbus.

Wait, we can fathom it...think Urban Meyer press conference the Friday before the Michigan game. Then multiply that by every day of the hockey season. That's the Tronna media for the Leafs.

That type of coverage leads to the team being overcovered for the rest of us, and many recent seasons its lead to the Leafs being overhyped. Follow a lot of hockey media people on Twitter and you quickly find out that Leafs news is about 80% of what they tweet. My twitter timeline got bombed with 30 second updates on the Kadri signing, the Franson signing, and the Kessel "incident" against Buffalo...and that was all before the actual season even started.

And this is all before listening to the biggest Leafs fan in the media...

As in previous East Hatred posts, those are some good reasons any hockey fan would want to hate the Leafs, what about us here in Columbus? You know, the little brothers of the NHL. The team that loses every review that goes back to Toronto. (Wes Walz pants, people!!!) The team that the Toronto based NHL schedulers still look at and think, "Oh we gave Columbus a back-to-back-to-back-to-back? It's only Columbus."

Oh yeah, getting a good Columbus inferiority complex going here. But the league people in Toronto make it so easy, especially when it comes to the Leafs.

Granted we had an unbalanced schedule in the NHL for a while, and we were in opposite conferences, but tonight will mark the Leafs 5th visit to Columbus in 14 seasons of hockey.

Four previous games.

That just seems hard to believe even with all the lockouts and such since 2000 to have only been here four times prior to tonight. The league's biggest market doesn't need to make the fairly short trip to Columbus, apparently.

And we've only beat them one time here. It's hard to accumulate many wins when a team only graces you with their presence once every 3 or 4 years.

Today, however, the Columbus Blue Jackets will be the second most important NHL team on twitter. Soak it up, Jackets fans!

Wherein DBJ shills for Skyline Chili

You all know that I'm not the corporate mouthpiece (especially when the corporations want me to promote their activities with no sponsorship of this site), but this one was creative.

I'll gladly give points to Skyline Chili - or at least to their ad firm.  At least they take a couple of minutes to read the blog before shipping me a press release.  (Their chili-covered nachos at the arena ain't bad, either.)

---

Good morning @DarkBlueJacket:

I had a press release to send, but will rather put this in a (hacked) haiku, since I have seen you favor that form on twitter.

Blue Jackets Stinger

Will visit for fan pics at

Three Skyline Chilis

The traditional information is below, should you think your viewers might be interested.

The CBJ Captaincy Conjecture Pool is open!

The Blue Jackets haven't named a captain since Rick Nash forced his way out of town, and much has been made of who it should be.

I liked Vinny Prospal for captain and, should the Blue Jackets sign him, suggest that whomever is wearing the "C" personally tears it off his own chest and mans the sewing machine to apply it to Vinny's sweater.  Yes, I think Vinny Prospal was that transcendent of a figure in CBJ history and will be proven so over time.  But I digress.

Brandon Dubinsky takes the opening night faceoff.
Because I think the team is just waiting for the right time to give him the "C".

Let's have some fun with this whole captaincy thing.  Everyone offers a comment with their prediction on two things: 1) The person who will be named captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and 2) The date that said person will be anointed.  

Here's my best guess: It will be Brandon Dubinsky, and it will be on November 7 or March 21, the dates of the Blue Jackets' home games against Dubinsky's former team, the New York Rangers.  If forced to choose one of the two dates, I'd go with November 7.

Dubinsky is by far the most outcomes-focused postgame interview on the team from my perspective, and the "win or you're a loser" attitude is something that hopefully the Blue Jackets management and coaches realize is desperately needed from their top player-leader in order to crush the old CBJ "we lost but played real hard, guys" attitude like a bug.  He also appears to play the rough and tumble type of game that management is hyping as the character of this team, filled with nets being crashed, fists being thrown and snarls on faces all around.  Never mind that President of Hockey Operations has publicly lauded the competitive attitude that all the former New York Rangers have brought to the Blue Jackets.

So that's my take: Brandon Dubinsky, November 7.

And Rick Nash will have to sit there and watch.

Morgan's thoughts on game 9 - CBJ v NJD

We kick it old skool with our New Jersey Devil's logo

What a difference two games make.  Jackets fans were ready to jump from bridges, give up on the team, and pontification if last year's leading scoring could help the the 2-5 Blue Jackets.  The effort and consistency weren't dressed for the Blue Jackets in their four game skid that came to an end Sunday night.  The one common theme that all of these worries shared was the lack of 60 minute effort that has plagued this team the early parts of the last two seasons.

And tonight, in Nationwide Area, in front of <an as of yet undetermined number>  adoring fans, the Jackets showed that marvelous things will happen (or "marvelous pigs in satin" if you're Mrs Glowworm) when the effort and EXECUTION is consistent the entire game.  It's also nice that a few bounces went the Jackets way.  It's sublime that the Jackets have won two in a row.  There are less "Rule 614" tweets and there are far fewer cries for Vinny Prospal - which means my 'mute' button has gotten a break from squelching Dbags who laugh at people for suggesting Vinny Prospal could help this team.  It's ok to have a differing opinion, just don't drench the rest of us in vinegar or water if you feel your opinion is superior.  That's exactly what this teeny-tiny fragile fan base needs, MOAR High School in-fighting, but I digress...

So things went awry with DBJ watching CBJ game 8: Vancouver

Columbus 3 - Vancouver 1
3-5-0, 6 pts, 4th in Metropolitan Division, 10th in Eastern Conference

So...well...my family's weekend road trip to South Bend for the Notre Dame-Southern Cal game went a little longer than expected.  And with the babies vocally rejecting the idea of a five-plus hour car ride home, I listened to the XM Spa Channel instead of the Blue Jackets-Canucks game.  Thus, I don't have much to say about the game.

The Blue Jackets beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-1, in regulation.  Marian Gaborik scored first.  R.J. Umberger scored second.  Ryan Johansen slid the dagger in with an empty netter at the end of the game.

I'm very, very pleased to see that Umberger got a goal.  It's clear that he's been trying hard, what with five fruitless shots last night against Washington.  I'll give the guy grief when he deserves it, and I'll be happy to offer the attaboy when he deserves it.  Today apparently was a good day.

Is it even worth a haiku?  Sure, why not.

The road proved too long

Umby scored a flippin' goal

And I missed it.  Sigh.

Here We Are, 2-4

This should be the post where I spout off about things we should hate about the Caps. Going to shelf that one for now, we've got a few more games against our Metro rival Crapitals to get that post in.

Instead, what is going on here? Why are we 6 games into the season with only 2 wins? And one of those is a shootout win.

Unlike years past for our beloved Blue Jackets, not everything is going wrong. Not all at once, at least. Yes, some things are clearly going wrong, but a number of things are going right.

As predicted by roughly everybody on the planet, scoring has been an issue, especially 5 on 5. That's the downer. The upside is the power play is clicking along at 27.3%, good for 6th in the league, something unheard of in these parts for a while. Granted, it's early, but the power play is doing a lot of things right.

Well, other than turning the puck over for that shorty against the Canadiens last night.

The forecheck is stifling, but it doesn't seem to be there at the first drop of the puck. Last night in Montreal was a prime example. The Habs jumped the Jackets early and often, but as the 2nd period moved along the forecheck came on very strong and stayed through the end of the game. It effectively nullified the Habs speed game, and is one of the reasons the Jackets were able to battle back to get it tied up.

So what do I see as wrong?

To me, Bob has not been as sharp as last season. The two blue-line-barely-screened goals last night, and the long shot in the Bruins game are pucks he has to have. Had those been shot last April, he likely would have had them. He wasn't sharp to start last season, either, but came on as the season went along. I have confidence he'll square it away and start making those saves.

Defensively we have been scrambling, both the d-men and the forwards at times. Last night's 3rd goal by the Habs was a prime example, all 5 guys had lost their checks and the Canadiens just zipped the puck around the zone at will until they put it in the back of the net.

Additionally, our transition game has not been clean. Johnson, Wiz, and Tyutin - our veteran defensemen - have been extremely sloppy with the puck below our own goal line. They're making risky passes when the check is coming rather than eating the puck, taking the check, and then making the play. Or, they're just not moving their feet to avoid the check in the first place. Those 3 have to get better with the puck, they are the guys that get things started back there, and more often than not they can skate themselves to a better pass.

Thankfully, many of these problems can be corrected. It's not a total dearth of talent as in years past, we have the players who can win games, and we have what appears to be the right systems in place for those players. When the Jackets play fast, move their feet, and forecheck hard, they are a very dangerous team. They just need to do that for whole games.

Starting in the first period.

For more than one game in a row.