On a snarky February night, the Columbus Blue Jackets hosted the Dallas Stars to fast paced, back and forth game before 11,523 fans, ultimately won by the Stars 5-4 in overtime. Columbus struggled with Dallas' speed all night long, as well as struggling to generate offense, especially in the first period, which ended with Dallas leading 1-0 off a puck banked in off a skate. The CBJ responded to tie the game twice in the second period, only to have Dallas score rebound and deflection goals to lead 3-2 at the end of the second period. The CBJ came back to tie the game twice in the third period to force overtime. As they had all night, Dallas' propensity to crash the net allowed them to beat the defense in overtime and score a gritty game winning goal.
Since I went off the grid early in February, its been an interesting turn of events for the CBJ. Howson fired, Jarmo hired, changes to the scouting staff, and a pretty rough road trip. I wanted to take this brief moment in time when I could safely get into a computer chair to take care of tonight's recap. So without further ado, tonight's six pack:
Thanks to Morgan and Tom for carrying the load in my absence!
1.) My first frosty cold beer of the night goes to George Matthews, the radio voice of the Columbus Blue Jackets. George was honored tonight for his calling his 1000th Blue Jackets game. George does a highly entertaining call of the game, and I frequently listen to them when I am down at the in-laws in Predators land, so their work is much appreciated. But my favorite call of a game happened earlier this year when NHL hockey seemed like a distant dream. So here's your cold frosty reward George! Well done!
Chicago 1 - Columbus 0 First in our hearts (and the draft), last in everything else
The Six Game Road Trip From Hell wrapped up tonight in Chicago, where the host Blackhawks defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 1-0 in regulation.
Not much to say about tonight's game, other than the same old stuff. The team tried hard, but they weren't as good. The forwards were toothless and the defense was just porous enough, making a somewhat respectable goalie performance irrelevant.
Congrats to the Blackhawks on extending their impressive streak of a zillion consecutive games without a regulation loss. The Blackhawks are a very good hockey team.
Blue Jackets 1 - St Louis Blues 2
5-11-2 Last in Central, West, NHL and KHL
The Blue Jackets took to the ice tonight against the St Louis Blues in the first of back-to-back games against Central Division foes. The Jackets are coming off an emotional win in Detroit where they dug themselves out of a 2 goal trough and fought back and won 3-2 in the closing moments of the game. Tonight's battle against the Blues was expected to be a gritty affair fought and won in the trenches. Past performance does not guarantee future results, but I can't help watching a contest between these two teams without thinking at some point the ice is going to turn into a yard sale in front 19.457 people.
That sounds good. I'll have that.
1. The first frosted mug of the night goes to Cam "MF" Atkinson. You had me after your first shift. It was a glorious first shift and you looked good on offense all night. It has seemed like an eternity since I felt excitement when the puck got on the stick of a CBJ player, but tonight I couldn't wait to see you get the puck. I felt like there was a chance you'd put the puck in the net every time you touched it. It was tough watching you give the puck to Brassard and Umberger as they seemed to jam themselves all night. But you were fun to watch tonight, thank you.
Columbus 3 - Detroit 2 29th in NHL - 2nd overall draft pick (lottery notwithstanding)
After a couple days rest in between the Pacific Division and Central Division portions of their six-game road trip, the Columbus traveled up to Detroit tonight for game four of six. The Blue Jackets gave up two early goals, settled down and came back to win, 3-2, with roughly 25 seconds left in regulation.
Both the Blue Jackets and Red Wings pale in comparison to their 2008-09 incarnations, but there was an undeniable intensity and excitement to the game that rekindled memories of the 2009 first-round playoff series between the two teams. However, the Blue Jackets won this time.
We're going to whip through the six-pack pretty quickly, because there's a much larger issue that needs to be addressed tonight.
Put the coffee away -
We're back on Eastern Time!
1. Taking care of our own first, let's crack one open for longtime Dark Blue Jacket blog compadre Gallos, who surfaced today after being out for a while with a lower body injury. So glad to hear from you again, my friend, and I hope you're feeling better soon!
2. R.J. Umberger got a first period goal, a rather greasy one from close range that seemed to settle the team down after the shaky start. Give that man a cold one.
4-10-2 5th in the Central - Position "A" in the West
The Blue Jackets jet set back to Southern California after a pit stop in Phoenix for a must win game against the hockey team formerly known as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The home crowd of 14,714 looks like it equaled the total attendance for the last three Florida Panther's home games. Seriously Florida, get some blow up dolls or let the folks from the cheap seats sit in the lower bowl after the first period. Anyways, back to the Ducks v Blue Jackets. The Blue Jackets are coming off of two losses that I watched from a hotel bar in Strongsville, OH this weekend. Both were frustrating in their own unique way as the likelihood of the CBJ getting at least 5 points on this road trip fading fast.
I don't drink coffee, but I should probably start
1. The first of these weird sized coffees goes to Vinny Prospal's chest. But really, how freaking hard is it to use the words small, medium, and large to describe your portion sizes? Cold Stone and Starbucks, it's much simpler to go with comfortable vernaculars than having to show me an English-to-Beatnick conversion table for my portion size. Somehow you can't charge $7 bucks per serving if it's called "Medium?" Where was I? Oh yeah, Prospals chest. Its nice to see that the Blue Jackets have finally started to game plan for when their shots hit players in the chest. I am a little surprised the plan was to shoot a puck in off a teammates chest and not the goalies. But, Letestu is an honorary member of the pond hockey weekend and we clearly heard him call "bank the puck off of a defenseman's skate, deflecting it into your wing's chest, and then he bangs it in the net"
2. Wild Wing, you make me laugh so hard that I cry. And you get a "Gotta Have It" sized second coffee drink latte thing.
3. Remember way back to January 2013 when any sort of contact with the Goaltenders immediately canceled any scored goal? That seems like it was an NHL rule de jour like 'Foot in the crease' 'sleufooting' and 'clutching and grabbing.' Or maybe there's an exception to that rule if Corey Perry skates backwards into Bobrovsky and clips a leg pad with his right heel. I don't typically like to whine about officiating, but come on.
4. My fourth $8 dollar vanilla flavored laxative goes to the New York Islanders. Have you seen their 3rd Jerseys? My God they are hideous. The only possible excuse for them is that Helen Keller designed them. It looks like something my 11 year-old son designed on NHL 13. Seriously Mr Wang, you're trying to showcase your under performing franchise in those jerseys? Good Luck selling that team, maybe you can sell it to someone if they pay you one dollar a year for 135 million years, by which time Rick DiPietro will be eligible for salary arbitration.
5. The Blue Jackets Powerplay - Here's a grande double shot of "Show the F up." I have opined on this blog and the DKM Hockey Podcast the importance of the Jackets power play as this team does not have the scoring depth to regularly score goals while 5-on-5. So far on this road trip the PP is 0-for-the-trip. Even a team with the offensive stature like the CBJ should be able to convert on power plays. I have no idea where the CBJ power play is ranked, but I'm going to say 26th.
6. As I looked through the 'new-look' Columbus Dispatch this evening, I noticed the goal scoring depth on the first three of the Ducks forwards lines. That folks, is called depth when each member of your top three lines has at lest two goals. Also, I was secretly rooting for Nick Foligno and Nick Bonino to have a fight so I could listen to George Mathews call it.
You can pretty much tell I wasn't really engaged in this game. Were the Blue Jackets out worked? Overall I will say no, but because the Ducks looked slow. The Jackets were all over it the first period (except for those 21 seconds), and did what it needed the final two periods of the game. Maybe this could be like a silver NO on that one blog. The one thing that was neat tonight is I saw players like Teemu Selanne and Ryan Getzlaf make the same mistakes on the ice that my son's peewee travel team makes. Teemu tries to dangle around someone rather than getting the puck deep and Getlaf over skates the goal with the puck a couple times.
The Blue Jackets next game in this six game road trip is against the central division rival 7-6-2 Detroit Red Wings. Some will say the Wings are struggling, but secretly I wouldn't mind trying the Red Wings problems out for a season or two, even using the CBJ goalies. Detroit is on a three game skid and will be looking to smack the taste out the Jacket's mouth Thursday Night the 18th. Tom gets to cover that game, and have a pre-1am bed time.
[Reader Gabriel offers his thoughts on the past week's goings-on...]
Some time during the miring heat of the 2012 summer, a conversation between two old friends took place. I imagine it started with the usual how are the kids and grand kids, how’s the wife before the real reason for the call came into focus. I was not part of that call, but at some point our own Jeff Rimer was able to say enough glowing things about Columbus Ohio to convince his good friend since high school John Davidson that the rebuilding of the Columbus Blue Jackets was a project he should undertake. When that call ended the winds of change started to move and as of the firing and subsequent hiring of Jarmo Kekalainen, those same winds have become a gust which has sent a message not just to the NHL, but to the entire Hockey playing World that the future of NHL hockey is in Columbus Ohio.
The Genius of the new GM hiring did not come into focus until I saw an European article posted which showed a picture of our new GM’s face in the center of the NHL logo with the caption, “Jarmo the First!” It was that moment which brought into sharp focus the fact that we North Americans are but a fraction of the sports obsessed population of the world. And the proud people of Europe who love their hockey as much as we do, have NEVER had one of their own lead a team in the greatest hockey league on the planet. They have never had the opportunity to show the world they are just as capable, just as good, no… they have never had a chance to show they world they are better than the rest! Upon the shoulders of “Jarmo the first” are not the hopes and dreams of a man, a city, or even a country. He represents the would be greatness of an entire continent.
Youth hockey season is winding down in Columbus.Most teams in town are finishing up their President’s Day tournaments and are preparing for the upcoming league playoffs.It is also the time of the year where youth hockey associations accept nominations for open positions on their board of trustees for the following season.It seems that most times parents submit nominations for trustee just to push an agenda or to try and advance the aspirations of their children.It’s because of this stigma and associated politics that qualified volunteers who truly are assets to the community are often overlooked come election time.
CCYHA, or the Columbus Chill Youth Hockey Association, today announced the nominees running for 3 open trustee positions.The CCYHA is an area youth hockey association that has an affiliation with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets.The CCYHA has the honor of bestowing upon its travel teams the uniform, logo, and namesake of the Columbus Blue Jackets.One of those nominees for the CCYHA board I’ve had the privilege of coaching with over the last two seasons, Albert Iosue.
Al is just not a great coach and role model for the kids, but he is the type of person every youth athletic association should feel lucky to have in their organization.Al has spent his adult life volunteering throughout the community, not just in youth athletics.Albert is an incumbent member of the Hilliard City council, is an active member of a very worthwhile charity, and a board member of too many other organizations to list.If you are curious, you can check out his CCYHA trustee application here.
Sometimes I tease Al about his volunteer involvement throughout Columbus, but it is very humbling to see him with the desire and compassion to serve his community.Al always has input how to better serve our kids on the team and keeps his focus on their best interests.If you’ve taken the time to read his application, you should know that’s exactly how Albert presents himself to people every day.It’s not just fodder for silly political commercials or charming words to get him elected to position of power.If we had more people like Al involved in the community, not just youth athletics, I think the cynicism that exists in government today would quickly evaporate.This is why I’m taking a little time to write a shameless plug for a person that I’ve had the pleasure of working with the past two years.
Voting for the CCYHA board of Trustees will be held starting tomorrow Monday, February 18th and will conclude Wednesday, February 21st at the Dublin Chiller. Voting tables will be set up during the evening practices all three nights.
If you have a child participating in the CCYHA, please take the time to vote.
I will be voting and chanting - VOTE IOSUE!VOTE IOSUE!
The second of six games on this road trip concluded with the Columbus Blue Jackets falling to the host Phoenix Coyotes, 5-3, in regulation.
Being the rocket scientist that I am, I thought that the puck dropped at 9PM local. When I tuned in, the second period was half over - and the score was 3-2, Phoenix.
I hate West Coast trips.
Anyway, the Blue Jackets have three first round picks in June.
Just keep repeating that, folks.
Is the coffee necessary when the game's over before 11PM?
1. The first cup 'o' joe goes to the CBJ's radio play-by-play voice, George Matthews, who called his 1,000th Blue Jackets game tonight. Sometimes unintelligible yet never lacking in enthusiasm, Matthews is one of the true Blue Jackets institutions. From everything I've heard, he's also one heckuva guy. Enjoy this profile of George from last year:
Los Angeles 2 - Columbus 1 30th in NHL - 1st overall draft pick (lottery notwithstanding)
The Columbus Blue Jackets opened up their six-game road trip in Los Angeles tonight and promptly forgot everything that made Games 12 (Edmonton) and 13 (San Jose) so exciting and positive. Los Angeles won, 2-1, in regulation.
It's going to be a distinctly sleep-deprived six-pack tonight...
Sorry, LTL...these late starts call for caffeine.
1. We'll let the first cup 'o' joe go to Tim Erixson and Cody Goloubef. Not too far removed from AHL Springfield, it could be argued that they played better than the only "regular" pairing on the ice tonight, Fedor Tyutin and Nikita Nikitin.
Wait, that's not fair to Tyutin. The kids played better than Nikitin, though, by a country mile. Nikki 6's turnovers were directly responsible for L.A.'s goals tonight.
It’s been kind of a surreal 18 hours as a Blue Jackets
fan.Last night as my son and I got into
the car after hockey practice, I looked at my phone to check messages.I had some texts from a couple hockey buddies
– “Howson Gone”“Howson Canned” and then
some twitter mention in French about Howson – I think it was a Pornbot.To be honest, my first reaction was
shock.The Jackets had made a move.Personally, it was a much needed move.Long have the Blue Jackets put people into
positions where they wouldn’t be successful, and Howson was one of those
people.I am not calling Howson a bum,
or a good-for-nothing, but Howson all-in-all was not the most effective General
Manager for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Not 12 hours later, the Blue Jackets announce Jarmo Kekalainen as the new GM. Bloggers of the world scramble to update their spell check.
Howson had mostly missed on the draft, and has thus far
traded his only first round pick that has turned into an everyday NHLer -
Voracek.The jury is still out on
Johansen, but last year should be a guide book of how not to prepare a teenager
for the NHL.Howson has made some good
trades, and Howson has made some bad trades.The most glaring of those bad trades being the one that brought Jeff Carter
to Columbus.Everyone in the NHL knew he
was damaged goods, and Howson brought him here anyways.The doom of that trade revealed within the
first 48 hours of it being announced.
How will I remember Scott Howson? The 2011-2012 season:the attitudes in the dressing room, the lack
of heart, and the coach who lost the room.All those things were a direct result of actions that Scott Howson had
taken or failed to address as VP of Hockey Operations and General Manager of
the Columbus Blue Jackets.To me those
were not signs of ineptitude, but more a result of not being the most effective
general manager.Perhaps it was he who had lost the room?
As a fan who has a high measure of expectation for the
Columbus Blue Jackets, I am most disappointed that the Blue Jackets were the
brunt of most front office and dressing room jokes throughout the NHL.The franchise is not taken seriously by its
peers in the league.The Blue Jackets
are the team you didn’t want to be traded to.The Blue Jackets are the team where it’s completely inexcusable to lose
to them.This is where I feel Howson and Priest
collectively failed as the Executives in Hockey Ops.When every team in the league chuckles and
shakes their head at the franchise, you may not be accomplishing what you wish
to achieve.
In comes John Davidson.If anyone was surprised by Howson being relieved of his duties then I’m
guessing you’ve largely disagreed with what I’ve written above, or were
defending Howson while you read it.Davidson has already said it, "The
lifeblood of this franchise is going to be its drafting going forward. That's
the game plan here, and how we're going to get to where we want to go."Say what you will about Howson, he has not
done well in the draft or developing talent.The development has largely been rushed, with a three-balled fan base
anxious to see high draft picks in the the line-up without fully understanding
the road to the NHL. It’s possible that
the best thing that happened to the CBJ was them placing second in the NHL
draft lottery last year.Howson or not,
I don’t see Yakupov being a good fit in Columbus.
Davidson’s decision to relieve Howson of GM duties was one
that I am certain has been road-mapped since October 24th.If nothing else, it’s a sign to the rest of
the league that ownership is adamant about being taken
seriously and is engaged in a top-down approach to changing the culture in
Columbus.While I am a little bit
nervous that the announcement of Kekalainen means the position of GM with the
Blue Jackets still requires no previous experience, Davidson has chosen a
person he trusts, has worked with before, and who seems at first glance has the proven track record to build the
team the way that Davidson envisions.
What am I looking forward to the most from the
Davidson/Kekalainen era?I’m looking
forward to the time when I can visit friends from out of town and they greet me
with “Wow, the Blue Jackets have really started to turn things around” instead
of the usual “Why does your team suck?”It’s
a sad thought indeed when a few front office employees in the NHL squarely place
the blame of the Blue Jackets misery upon my shoulders the last decade.Hopefully Davidson can turn things around for
me.Getting trolled in Christmas cards
each year is starting to get old.My
wife is a Wing’s fan, so she provides no solace.
