The Jacketsblog

VAN 4 – CBJ 3

A change of pace today for a recap of the Vancouver game. Since I watched on tape delay I kept the laptop handy and made some game notes as it went by. I should’ve kept game time as it went by for organizational ease, but, live and learn. Anyway, here we go!

1st Period

Nash goal – middle finger to the late arriving fans, we have far too many fans who think they won’t miss anything if they are a few seconds late, or a get up a few seconds early for some more beer and popcorn.

Baumgartner goal – 1st goal of the season… can’t be giving those up this late in the season… Guess what? Marc Methot was way out of position, what’s new?

Jared Boll goal – taking the fight to VAN, 4th line doing their job! Mega-props to Noel putting them on after the Vancouver goal, another middle finger to late arriving fans

Jurcina High-sticks Samuelsson – HUGE PK coming up, double-minor too.

PK again – Voracek and Brass on the kill which is great to see…Methot making up for bad play early with great hit on Kesler… Russell on the PK… Huge kill

Juice playing some defense and, what the heck?? steals the puck!?!?

Power play… Nash double-shifted on the PP

Hustle by the 3rd line is outstanding

Hejda picking up a stick on the fly haha

Alex Burrows is a bitch

2nd Period

Ryan Kesler seems to be everywhere

Kris Russell laying some checks, good to see further rounding out of his game

Hemmed in our own zone… can’t control the play, again the 4th line gets the first real possession

Defensive passing suddenly looks sloppy and bad

Great save by Mase… followed by a great scoring chance by the young-guns (Brass & Voracek), exactly what you want to see, generating our own momentum

“Got a piece of Boll” – Bill Davidge

Sweet jesus, too many men… AGAIN, somehow that’s Hitchcock’s fault, Penalty Kill… Jake looks huge out there with Brassard, good energy from a great kill leads to….

RAFFI TORRES – he will be missed, but someone must step-up when he goes elsewhere at the deadline

STEVE MASON – what in the wide world of sports? you think he’d have learned from last season (Detroit), just when the CBJ seize momentum this kind of play gives it right back to the opponent

Paging Rick Nash… seemingly he disappeared after his opening goal

Big missed slash on Brassard at center ice

Is it me or are we taking point shots more often?

Goaltender interference – huge kill coming up as the ‘Nucks have momentum, scary shot in the neck/collarbone on Hejda, nice use of the stick by Nash, great play by Mason, great kill, now build on it, FSO tells me that’s 16 straight successful PK’s

“Raymond went down very easily” – Bill Davidge… again

Being out-shot 26-16… wow, nothing new I guess

Jan Hejda – pinching in on the play? Surprising to see from him

3rd Period

Jackets are looking slow and un-energized

Forecheck – 1-2-2, not sure if I like just one deep forechecker

Nice strength on the puck by Stralman

High Stick on Vermette – MASSIVE kill ahead… if you keep taking silly penalties, you’re going to give up a goal… even though it’s tied, I have a very bad feeling the Jackets are on the verge of going back into their shells

Here’s the adversity Noel was waiting for

Rome is COVERING THE PUCK WITH HIS BODY, has to be a delay of game call at least

Steve Mason – looking good in recent games, now has given up 3 goals tonight… lots of big juicy rebounds that are very scary, even in the games when he posted shutouts

OMG – Puck deflected off Brassard’s stick, up and over Mason… wow, 4-3 VAN, CBJ have given up 3 straight goals, very sloppy play now, TIMOUT CBJ

Russell – great to see him jumping up on the play still and looking dangerous with the puck

Nice side-to-side movement by Mase to make a huge save

Zombie Nation… really?

Power Play coming up – Must score… we’re making Raycroft look like Marty Brodeur

Can’t muster anything… empty net and the Canucks aren’t wavering

Game over

Post-game thoughts:

• Well, we got the adversity that Interim Coach Claude Noel was looking for, we didn’t completely fold, but we didn’t do a good job getting the game to that point. When you hold leads of 1-0, 2-1, and 3-1, you have to be able to hold on. After the timeout the Jackets looked more organized, but still couldn’t muster much as Raycroft had gained confidence as he made many easy saves after the initial Blue Jackets onslaught.

• In my opinion, Steve Mason lost this game tonight. After looking very sharp for a 3 games, he gave up 2 very bizarre goals, one that he gave right to an opposing player, and another that will be considered “fluky”. The timing of both goals was terrible, but as previously mentioned, the 2nd goal where Mason made an unforced error, was truly the back-breaker, and set the Canucks off and running on 3 straight goals.

• Noel now has a chance to correct the issues that Hitchcock could not. This team has struggled mightily with mental toughness all season long. There are more blown leads than I care to think of, but it is good to see the team performing well after the late timeout. We’ll see what happens on Sunday, and after the Olympic break.

Not much going today as the Blue Jackets practiced in preparation for the Vancouver Canucks coming into town on Friday. From Puck-rakers:

The suddenly-resurgent Blue Jackets held a robust 45-minute practice this morning in Dispatch Ice Haus. Among the participants were defenseman Anton Stralman and left winger Fredrik Modin, both nursing injuries.

Glad to see Modin getting back in the saddle, but still wondering where Mike Commodore is…

Porty had this tweet this morning:

Of course the rumor-mongers ran with this. We’ll probably hear a lot of crazy exchanges brought up, but don’t believe them until you hear it from a reputable source. (Umberger to Pittsburgh anyone? Laughable) Looking at the Oilers roster, they have A TON of free agents come season’s end, RFA’s and UFA’s alike. It will be interesting to see if anything develops.

Earlier this evening TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that Steve Mason was contacted as the 4th reserve goalie for Team Canada:

On February 1st, Team Canada submitted its 23 man roster and also provided a list of reserve players.

Final Olympic rosters don’t have to be in until Monday.

Team Canada officials are reluctant to divulge the number of reserves, or their identity, however sources tell TSN the reserve list includes four forwards, three defencemen and a goaltender. All of the players on the reserve list have been contacted by Canada’s management team and told to be ready in case of injury.

……

Columbus Blue Jackets’ goalie, Steve Mason has also been instructed to be prepared in case Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, or Marc-André Fleury suffers an injury.

Talk about a huge couple days for the big guy in net, 3-0 since the coaching change, and giving up only 1 goal in that time, posting back-to-back shutouts, and now being named a reserve for team Canada.

Finally a real test. The Jackets had a relatively easy win against the Sabres on Saturday and are now 2-0 under Interim Head Coach Claude Noel, can the winning continue against one of the Western Conference’s premiere teams?

7:00pm EST, Fox Sports Ohio, High Definition

Since losing at home on February 2, the Sharks have reeled off 3 straight road wins, and haven’t lost on the road since mid-December! The Jackets are experiencing the post-Hitchcock bounce that is usually experienced when any head coach is fired, but will it be enough to push through the top team in the West? Statistically, the Blue Jackets have no chance against the Sharks. San Jose ranks in the top 3 in five major categories: Goals per game, goals against per game, 5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio, Power Play, and Penalty Kill. Practically perfect in almost every way. And oh yeah, they lead the league in road wins with 20.

The Dark Blue Jacket wants to remind everyone how big of a game tonight is.

NHL.com puck preview for Sharks-Jackets.

Yahoo! Sports preview, and oh yeah, the CBJ are 0-2 against the Sharks so far.

The rumblings were all confirmed yesterday when the NHL announced the 6 teams that will open next season in Europe. If it weren’t for my occupation, I’d be there in a heartbeat, but hockey season opens smack-dab in the middle of high school football season. Regardless, it will be a great opportunity for the team and players to play in such a prestigious opener.

GO JACKETS!!!

The Claude Noel era got off to the right start on Thursday night, but will the Jackets be able to sustain the energy found with a new coach?

7:00pm EST, Fox Sports Ohio, High Definition

That Jackets could be without the services of Tyutin tonight as he left practice early on Friday and also the morning skate Saturday morning. If Tyutin sits, the CBJ will be without 3 of their top 4 defenseman, Commodore, Klesla, and now Tyutin. In other “news” winger Freddy Modin is out again with an injury and Mike Blunden is on his way up from the ‘Cuse”.

Very interesting last couple of days with the firing of Hitch, installment of Noel and all that brings, and being able to watch the last couple practices. Friday’s practice was very exciting with lots of break-out practice and some nice drilling of point-shot deflections. Going into Noel’s second game I expect to see a few more subtle differences in the way the CBJ do things.

The biggest difference on Thursday night were two things: Playing time deep into the game and how the Jackets gain the zone. A much more balanced use of all 4 lines was clear and should be able to keep players fresher for longer. There wasn’t a complete abandonment of dumping the puck or pulling back defencemen either, but there were definite times when the “Hitch-Jackets” would have dumped and changed where the “Noel-Jackets” carried into the zone and tried to generate something.

Should be an exciting night tonight in Nationwide as there will be a lot of Buffalo fans in attendance. Word yesterday had Ryan Miller taking a night off tonight, but some sources have Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff sticking with his number one.

As Claude Noel suggested on the radio this morning, its time for the fans to “take another step” in their vocal support of the team at home in Nationwide.

GO JACKETS!!!

About the only way you couldn’t have heard today’s breaking news is if you were in a nuclear bomb shelter. This shouldn’t have come as a shock as unfortunate as it is, but after Tuesday night’s shellacking in Colorado, the writing was on the wall.

The Dispatch has been all over this from the moment the story broke around 4:00pm today:

A season after leading the Blue Jackets to their first playoff appearance, Ken Hitchcock has been fired.

Hitchcock, 58, will be replaced on an interim basis by assistant coach Claude Noel.

After helping rejuvenate the franchise over the previous two seasons, Hitchcock has been unable to stop a protracted slide, which began in late November and has the Jackets sitting 14th in the Western Conference standings. They are 10-20-7 since Nov. 19 and 22-26-9 overall.

Obviously this season has not gone to plan in any way shape or form, and in professional sports, putting blame strictly on the players only goes so far. Here’s Captain Rick Nash’s comments:

“It’s terrible news,” Jackets captain Rick Nash said. “It’s terrible news, it’s terrible we couldn’t play better, and the coach had to be fired. Hitch put this market on the map. We didn’t really have an identity before he got here.”

Some will site Hitchcock’s mismanagement of young players, especially the class-act Nikita Filatov. The Globe and Mail’s Matthew Sekeres believes that Howson came to the realization a while ago:

At the world junior championship in Saskatchewan last month, Filatov represented Russia and made it clear – without saying so directly – that he had no interest in playing for Hitchcock ever again. That week, I spoke with Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson and again it was clear that, ultimately, he was going to have to decide between his coach and his best prospect.

Personally, I knew that it was only a matter of time before the move was made. The loss to the Avalanche finally pushed me to the edge of the abyss… knowing what awaited in the coming weeks days hours. The world of the Blue Jackets was rocked by a disaster, but like a city or a nation, we will rebuild.

To me, Ken Hitchcock was the first person with the CBJ I really got into and cared about. I knew Rick Nash, Rusty Klesla, Sergei Fedorov, Adam Foote, etc., but many of those players on the team were leftovers of the previous season and the Doug Maclean mess. In a sense, I bought into Ken Hitchcock. Yeah I went to games before Hitch was the coach and yes, we probably lost a lot more often than we won when I went. But Hitchcock came and gave everyone a new hope for the seemingly endless years of losing. But like all good things, they must come to an end, and Hitch’s run in Columbus has reached that point.

Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski believes that this move was made due to a complete breakdown of management:

No question, this move is a desperation attempt at trying to turn around the fortunes of the team on the ice, which in turn brings in the kinds of revenues the team saw during its playoff run last year.

But it also refocuses a ton of scrutiny on Howson, who had received praise for the patient construction of the roster and retaining the services of Rick Nash(notes), but whose below-average, wafer thin blue line (check the depth chart) may be one of the primary reasons the team fell apart this season defensively. (Although let’s not downplay Mason’s role in that mess, either. He’s been terrible.)

Without a doubt, this is a big deal not just in Columbus, but across the NHL. One can hope that Hitch may finally be stress-free for a few nights and that the Jackets can begin the gradual move back towards respectability.