Thank You Santa, I Had No Idea I Had Been Such A Good Boy!

Dalton Prout gave Milan Lucic his shot.  A freebie.  Nothing coming back.  You, get a chance, to knock me out.  After all, back on November 21, Prout had dropped Lucic with one punch!  In that game, Lucic waited until Prout was restrained by a linesman before he threw his panties  glove at Prout.  Not this time.  Prout gave Lucic what he wanted, a free shot, then proceeded to lay it on him.  His teammates helped him, by piling on with a 6-2 ass whipping of the Boston Bruins.  Lucic talked big.  He failed to back it up.  So it goes.

More importantly, the CBJ harvested two huge Eastern Conference points on the home ice tonight.  From a broader perspective, they won against an 'elite' team, if you want to define an 'elite' team as a recent Stanley Cup winner.  That seems like a reasonable measure.  That puts the Jackets 3-1-1 against the 'elite' teams, Boston, Chicago, LA, and Pittsburgh this year.  The Jackets were swept in the regular season by these teams last year, but still made the playoffs.

This year, against frightful injury odds, that just got worse tonight with the loss of Atkinson and Skille to offset the return of Hartnell, the Jackets have made a step forward against the 'elite' competition.  My point is that this is overall progress against the backdrop of the injury chaos inflicted on this year's team.  Maybe we will make the playoffs, maybe we won't.  But the fans will not be cheated.  They WILL see an effort from this team.  It makes me proud of them.  Very proud.  And overall, the team is making progress.  The players and the coaches deserve accolades for this.  The trust that the organization has shown in these players is not misplaced.

Tonight, Mrs. Gallos and I were treated to having dinner with Ken and Connie, fans who had not been to a game for over 5 years.  I understand that.  We tried to let them know it's a new day.  The team did a much more emphatic job of proving us right.  I'm sure they'll be back.  That's how you recruit fans.

GO JACKETS!!

Note to Detroit Fans.  Yes, your organization has won a Cup within the time frames mentioned above.  You've also had a Hall of Fame defenseman retire, AND, in spite of the occasional blip, the CBJ have owned you of late.  So it is difficult to judge overall progress by our record against you.  Personally, I have great admiration for Mike Babcock as a coach.  I think he's holding your great players back.  You want to let him walk.  Trust me!  I know these things!

CBJ! CBJ! CBJ!

Taking Stock at the Christmas Break

We here at the Dark Blue Jacket, and our comrades in arms over at DKM Hockey, would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and a happy Holiday Season!  It is a time for family, and while hectic at times, is an enjoyable season.  May you and yours have all that they wish at this time of year.

For the players, coaches, and other folks related to our favorite team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, I'd like to take this moment to thank them for the effort put forth so far in the season.  It takes great character to withstand the type of adversity the team and organization have faced in the first part of the season.  The players have rallied, and gotten back to playing 'Blue Jackets Hockey', in spite of a lot of line up changes.  The game that they played against the Blackhawks still resonates with me, but the next game against the Preds illustrated how much the emotional investment took out of the team.

The Blue Jackets at their most successful last year essentially rolled 3 second lines, and a highly effective fourth line.  With the brutal run of injuries, in many cases we are coming out with a second line, a third line, and two fourth lines.  Head Coach Todd Richards (HCTR) has often been reduced to dumping a hot player, or an experiment (e.g. Gibbons, for his speed) on the wing with his number one center, Ryan Johansen.  While it is our top line, it would be hard to call it a true number one line.  The fourth line has shown some brief flashes, but has yet to jell into the effective force it was last year.  The third line is a swirl of change.

The hard hit center position has been in flux all year.  If Nick Foligno had not stepped up in the fashion he has, moving from wing to center for the first time in his professional career, the season would be off the rails already.  As it is, the mountain yet to climb is steep and hazardous.  Two of the main teams we were chasing, the Rangers and the Capitals, went on streaks at the same time we did.  The result is that we still sit 9 points out of a playoff spot, with a rash of new injuries on the books, more than canceling out those coming back off of IR.

The injury situation is absolutely amazing.  If this season keeps on like it has, and for some unforeseeable (at this time) moment when our players are all healthy, I would hate to play this team. They are going to have some things to prove down the stretch this year, regardless of whether or not they remain in the playoff hunt, and are likely to make things difficult for other teams.   Which should make for some entertaining and compelling hockey.

If ever a hockey team needed a four day break, it is this one.  Very wise in team management, even if it comes back on us against Boston.  For now, take a deep breath, hug and cherish your loved ones, and enjoy the holiday.  We'll be back it at before we know!

Merry Christmas everyone!!  Happy Holidays!!  And....

GO JACKETS!!

Some Times You Feel Like A Nut...

Some times you don't.  Almond Joy's got nuts.  Mounds don't.  Tonight was kind of a Mounds night, cause the CBJ didn't have it.  A good start, a Nick Foligno goal, was wiped out by the 'situation room', when the goal was dislodged by Pekka Rinne going post to post.  When the goal tender dislodges the goal, it should be called like goal tender interference.  'Did it affect the play?'  In this case Rinne could have dislodged both sides of the net, and pushed it back against the boards, and Nick still would have scored, because he simply out waited the play.  I understand the letter of the law.  That reading didn't match the spirit of the law in this case.

So I'm at the game, all P.O.'d about this call, and into my head pops the image of a Jarmo monotone at the GM meeting ' and if the opposing goal tender dislodges the net, and it doesn't influence the play, it should be a good...'.  Whew.  Scary thought.  That's what pre-game Skyline cheese coneys will do to you.  Mild hallucinations are one of the many benefits of.... ah, never mind.  It was free food night.  You get the picture.

You think of things when you are getting ready to write on of these pieces.  And I was all ready to climb on Porty over at Puck Rakers for calling out the Hockey Gods, since we certainly didn't seem to get any bounces tonight, and I think they've got something going on that front, but.... Then I remembered that I pretty much stated that Boone Jenner wasn't having a sophomore slump.  Boom!  Two months on the IR.  In the immortal words of one Homer Simpson, 'Doh!!!'

Sigh.  It was Nashville's night.  Maybe with the early lead, we hold on to something.  But our guys left it all on the ice on Saturday, in a totally fantastic win.  Two days later, it was still out on Saturday's ice.  Good for the Predators, who look like they are putting together a really nice season.  Thank God for the Eastern Conference, and that we don't have to play them any more.

The good ship CBJ is being held together with spit, baling wire, and duct tape.  And yet, we are still fundamentally on the same pace as we were last year.  And, the theory is that people will start to get healthy eventually.  To be able to say these things is a minor miracle.  So tonight's game is one to wash away.  It means little in the context of the season, and we will have opportunities to pick up ground against less formidable opponents that Nashville.  So let it go.  And love being in the East.

Alexander Wennberg scored his first NHL goal tonight.  I am really happy for the guy.  He obviously has talent, has learned that board battles mean something, and makes rookie mistakes.  That first goal takes a lot of pressure off.  And it was a snipe, from the high slot against one of the best in the business this year.  Let's hope he starts to feel that for a bit.  A little scoring streak from him would really help the team now.

It's Christmas.  A time of miracles.  The Blue Jackets are in the playoff hunt, albeit with work to do, at Christmas time.  Given the way things looked at Thanksgiving, it is a miracle indeed.

GO JACKETS!!!!

Pay The Extra Dime

Sergei Bobrovsky, Game Winner

Tonight, the Columbus Blue Jackets beat an unbelievably talented Chicago Blackhawks team in a shoot out.  We don't care about the charity point, as it lands in the Western Conference.  What we do care about is why we won tonight, and that is unarguably Sergei Bobrovsky, who was masterful in goal.  He is in a contract year.  He will get paid.  This is not a subject for debate.

The subject for debate is who will lurk at the end of the line, and skate up with a huge hug for the guy who bailed you out all night long.  Who does Bob want to see, as a reward for a great game played, in which he stole us a victory, much as tonight's tilt against a superior opponent?  It is my personal belief that the guy he wants to see is one Nick Foligno.

Nick is an interesting guy.  A career twenty-ish goal scorer, in a contract year on a pace for thirty-ish.  A guy who rose up when all was lost, dripping character all over the place.  Who does your franchise goal tender want to see at the end of the line when you win the Cup?

Pay Bob.  He's worth it.  The trickier question is what to pay Nick.  I say that Nick''s presence at the end of that line outweighs the statistics.  Nick should be given long term as a 20 goal scorer.  As the guys in the pipeline pass him in skill, this will start to look like an 'iffy' contract.  But you need someone at the end of the line when you win the Cup.  And what ever extra you pay Nick is worth that moment right there.

Bob stole one from the Blackhawks.  The CBJ are still photobombing the playoffs (personal communication, Puck Rakers, 2014).  Nick is at the end of the line.  And that, my friends, is worth the extra dime.

GO JACKETS!!

Boone Down

Boone Jenner

Today the Columbus Blue Jackets announced that Boone Jenner would be out for 1-2 months with a stress fracture in his back.  This is both good and bad news.  The bad news is the horrifying run of injuries to this team continues.  Another key player injured for a significant period of time.

What good news could there be in this?  To me, I think about Nathan Horton.  How many undiagnosed stress fractures did he suffer as a player?  Now he is staring at a career ending injury.  These kind of fractures also ended Freddy Modin's career.  So good on the CBJ medical staff for diagnosing this injury.  

Now where do I find instructions for making sacrifices to the hockey gods?  This is getting a bit crazy.

GO JACKETS!!

Wennberg Called Up

The Puck Rakers are reporting that Brian Gibbons has been placed on injured reserve with a bum knee, and that Alexander Wennberg and Cody Goloubef have been called up from AHL Springfield.  In 6 games in Springfield, Wennberg was 0G-3A-3P and a +/- of +4.

Gibbons was injured in last night's game, and only skated a couple of shifts in the third period.  Gibbons was 0-5-5 with a +/- of +2.  So if you ask yourself what role does Wennberg need to fill, it's that of Gibbons.  Wennberg has speed, and in his previous stint in the NHL he was 0-3-3 (similar to Gibbons), with a +/- of -14 (not similar to Gibbons).  The latter number is a bit deceiving, as in the height of the injury problem he was thrust into the role of playing third line center as a rookie.  The return of Dubinsky has shored up the center position somewhat, and he will not face as much pressure as he did previously.  He may end up on Foligno's wing.

Here's my observation on Wennberg's play.  He was overwhelmed at times, no doubt.  But he was getting the hang of playing the possession game along the boards, and at times was quite effective at that style of play.  On Foligno's wing he faces no more pressure than Gibbons faced, and he may have a chance to thrive.  Wennberg can be a pretty versatile player, and I will be very interested in how he plays.  He wouldn't be the first one to decide he likes that Pros better than the minors, and is able to do something about it.

Goloubef was on a conditioning assignment in Springfield, and had to come up before the roster freeze takes effect at midnight tonight.  He joins a log jam at defenseman, that has a veteran, Jordan Leopold, sitting even though he has played very well.  A log jam of defensemen who can play well is a good problem to have.

Tomorrow night the Blackhawks come to town.  Brace yourself for a lot of Chicago fans tomorrow.  What should be fun is that they have never really experienced the full on C-B-J chant, as it really arose after we had played them last year.  Jackets fans will need to pin their ears back and come ready to get loud.  I expect a playoff atmosphere Saturday, much like it was at the last Penguins game.  I'd be really happy with a similar result.

GO JACKETS!!!

100. Chaput, Rinse, Repeat

Nick Foligno Maintains His Torrid Pace

Tonight the Columbus Blue Jackets succumbed to the motivationally advantaged Washington Capitals (damn you Trotz) 5-4 in overtime.  The cumulative weight of a schittload of shots finally bore Bobrovsky down, along with so-so legs on the home squad.  A point streak remains alive at 8 games, but the winning streak falls by the wayside at 7 games.  So it goes.

The CBJ could have lost 2 points of ground after a stinker of a first period, instead they only lost 1 point of ground.  For December, that's good enough, but with the Blackhawks coming to town next, getting back to winning ways is going to take better skating and better discipline than the Jackets showed tonight.  The Jackets didn't play well, but still eked out a point on a tough night against an opponent looking for paybacks.  That shoe now moves to our foot for the next tilt between the two teams.  I'm just loving Eastern Conference play.  It's just more natural, and resulted in a really entertaining game tonight.

Some really cool things happened tonight.  Nick Foligno scored his 100th, and 101st goals.  Jack Johnson got on the board early in the second to get the home squad rolling.  And Michael Chaput scored his first NHL goal.  Jeremy Morin got his first point as a Blue Jacket, and Kevin Connauton continued his strong play.  Newcomers and core players combining for 4 goals, which should have been enough to win this game, but wasn't tonight.

It's late, and I have to turn in cause tomorrow's another work day.  In summary, not our greatest night.  But we got a standings point when things weren't going well, and rallied after a real stinker of a first period.  We try that Saturday night, we might be down by 6 goals before the fans get a chance to buy popcorn.  The Caps were a step faster all night, and got the extra point they deserved.  Our guys showed resolve and battle when things weren't going their way.  These experiences will serve them well down the road.  It was a fun game to attend.

GO JACKETS!!!!

Thoughts Between Games

Fedor Tyutin back in the line up last night

OK, sorry for the little whimsical post last night.  The Jackets play a superb game and I'm off on some tangent.  But I guess you're used to it by now.  

But on a more serious note, if you want to look at a sophomore slump, look no further than Ryan Murray.  Yeesh.  What a year.  I really think that once he is fully healthy he should go down to the AHL to develop his game more.  We know he can play in the NHL.  At this point, why rush it?  But I digress again.

The CBJ are back to playing 'Jackets' hockey, and have started to play it with some consistency.  They are coming off two games against opponents at the top of the standings in which they played very well.  This winning streak includes both leaders of the Atlantic Division, and the leader of the Metropolitan Division.  Tomorrow we play a team we are chasing, sitting in the third place spot of the Metro.  Oh yeah, we will also be seeking to tie the franchise record for consecutive wins, set last season.

Much as it did last year, a significant winning streak has vaulted us up into the conversation for making the playoffs.  Last night's win allowed us to vault Philly and New Jersey in the Metro standings.  There is a lot of hockey left to play this year, and it is important to get these points while we are playing well.  Last night's game was a great exhibition of disciplined hockey by both teams, and was a really great game for a 0-0 game.

The Jackets will need that discipline and effort, and more against the Capitals tomorrow.  They are already talking about getting in Bob's grill, and the best way to stop that will be to forecheck relentlessly in the Captitals zone.  I get the impression that Trotz's boys will be coming loaded for bear.  Plus, being on the losing side of a 20 round shoot out probably has them very frustrated.  We will need to work and be disciplined tomorrow to tie the winning streak.

Bob is on fire.  He has had a number of unbelievable performances in this streak, and rang one up against the Caps.  I don't think they liked it.  Should be a really fun game at Nationwide Arena tomorrow.  I'm really looking forward to it.

GO JACKETS!!!!

Sophomore Slump

Boone Jenner

I think it is important for Blue Jackets fans to realize that young players often have what is known as the sophomore slump.  When they have a really good year, sometimes young players tend to regress in their second year in the NHL.  Fans need to be patient as they work through these growing pains.  It is not unusual for a player to spend some time in the minors as part of their normal growth.  

Jackets fans should remember that Boone Jenner is a very young player, and that his development should be given plenty of time.  Patience, patience, patience!  

As with his recent run of poor play, he ...... wait, what?  Penalty shot?  Shoot out winner??

Dammit Jim, he's only a sophomore, he, well...... Oh. 

Never mind!*

Ha ha!! Seven Straight!  OK, a serious post tomorrow.

Go Jackets!!!

*underlined italics is the official sarcasm font of the Dark Blue Jacket

A New Dynamic

I have been reflecting a bit on the new dynamic in the games versus the Penguins.  For most old experienced season ticket holders like myself, we carry scars of that game about 4 or 5 years ago, when the Blue Jackets were still playing in the Western Conference.  It was the first time that Pittsburgh had played in Nationwide Arena for several years, and the Penguins fans just took the place over.  Through an error, a Pittsburgh fan even rode the zamboni during the intermission.  It was a totally humiliating experience for a season ticket holder.

A big part of that was the crowd noise.  At that time, the main chant Jackets fans were using was the old 'Let's Go Jackets, clap, clap clappity, clap'.  And oldie but goodie that many teams use (e.g. the Red Wings).  During that game, when the Pittsburgh fans started roaring 'Let's Go Pens', all the Jackets fans had to respond was 'clap, clap, clappity, clap', which isn't exactly a visceral response.   The Penguins fans used their 'Let's Go Pens' chant to run the Blue Jackets fans out of the building (this is not an exaggeration).  It didn't help that the Penguins waxed the Blue Jackets on the ice.

However, late in the run to the playoffs last year, a new cheer arose from the depths of Nationwide Arena.  A homegrown (the best kind) cheer, a stirring chant of C-B-J repeatedly bellowed at the top of your lungs.  This cheer allows the fans to really bring the thunder, and anyone who experienced last year's playoff games will not easily forget that sound.  Scout around YouTube in those playoff clips.  There are some excellent examples.

So when a game like Saturday's game starts to come up, the old scars start to tingle.  The fear of being run out of the building lurks like a shadow.  But there is a new dynamic in these games.  The C-B-J chant is the exact same cadence as that 'Let's Go Pens' chant, and it gives the fan something that you can use to really respond.  So now in these games, when some knuckle dragging mouth breather starts yelling in support of his flightless sea birds, I promptly, and effectively crank up the C-B-J chant.  This gives the fans an ability to go toe to toe with the opposition, and contributes to the playoff-like atmosphere that we experienced on Saturday.  And you gotta love that.

C-B-J!!  C-B-J!!!  C-B-J!!!!