It may be a good thing that Ken Hitchcock’s hair is already a steely shade of grey, as the twists and turns the young season has taken would surely have otherwise accomplished the task. Just two days after surrendering a 2 goal third period lead en route to a shootout loss to Pittsburgh, the Blue [...]
November 2nd, 2009 | Jeff Little | 0 comments | ContinuedArchive for Jeff Little
A native of the SF Bay Area, my first exposure to hockey was the SF/Oakland/California Golden Seals, including Charlie Finley and the white skates. Fast forward to the late 1980's when Gretzky and the Kings came up to the Bay Area for an exhibition game at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, for which we had glass seats. I was at the first San Jose Sharks game in the Cow Palace, and followed them for their first few pathetic years, before moving to Columbus in 1994. I attended the first pro-NHL rally downtown, and have been a season ticket holder since Day 1, wife & I are active in the Jacket Backers, and son is an avid fan as well. I cover the Jackets for Inside Hockey, and contribute regularly to a variety of hockey sites. I maintain contact with the Jackets organization, and like to dig into stories, bringing a fresh, and sometimes irreverent perspective to hockey.
Blue Jackets Looking To Rediscover Winning Formula
Wednesday night’s 4 – 1 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes was a microcosm of what the young season has offered up for the young, talented franchise. The first period consisted of 20 minutes of sound, fundamental hockey. The team played a unified, tough defense, while the offense created numerous chances. They significantly outshot and outplayed [...]
October 31st, 2009 | Jeff Little | 0 comments | Continued
Defense Betrays Blue Jackets
After beginning the season with a 5 – 1 record, leading the league in penalty killing, and overcoming the absence of first line defenders Mike Commodore and Jan Hejda, all was right in the Blue Jacket world. Considering that this early stage of the season also involved two difficult western road swings, a certain amount [...]
October 23rd, 2009 | Jeff Little | 0 comments | Continued
COMPOSED BLUE JACKETS EXTEND WINNING WAYS
Watching the Blue Jackets engineer their 4 – 1` victory over the Los Angeles Kings in Nationwide Arena, an adjective came to mind that had seldom been uttered in the eight prior NHL campaigns waged by the young franchise – composed. Despite having their top line defensive pair (Mike Commodore and Jan Hejda) on the [...]
October 19th, 2009 | Jeff Little | 0 comments | Continued
Enough With The Filatov Frenzy!
There are certain issues over which a normally knowledgeable Columbus hockey fan base loses all perspective and common sense. Usually, these are issues which involve the display of some modicum of patience, a trait totally lacking in the realm of OSU football fandom, and exceedingly rare on the hockey side of the house. Nikita Filatov [...]
October 17th, 2009 | Jeff Little | 2 comments | Continued
Jackets Overcome Flames, Officials
Before a perplexingly small, but loud, crowd of 13,280, the Blue Jackets utilized a stingy defense, solid goaltending and a good measure of discipline to beat an angry Calgary Flames team, 2 – 1, and continue their roaring start to the 2009 – 2010 campaign. Entering the contest, a virtual slugfest was anticipated, given the [...]
October 14th, 2009 | Jeff Little | 1 comment | Continued
Coyote Ugly and Other Musings
You could have made some serious money if you had placed $100 on Matheiu Garon to notch the first shutout of the year for the Blue Jackets, particularly considering that Steve Mason notched ten of them a year ago. Yet Garon played an amazingly solid game from every angle to earn the First Star and [...]
October 12th, 2009 | Jeff Little | 1 comment | Continued
BLUE JACKETS STUN CANUCKS
Vancouver has historically been an unfriendly venue for the Columbus Blue Jackets, and this opener of a three game road trip did not figure to be any easier. Vancouver was sporting an 0 – 2 record for the first time in recent history, and to say they (and their fans) were angry would be a [...]
October 6th, 2009 | Jeff Little | 1 comment | Continued
THE ARENA CHRONICLES – PART III – WHAT COMES NEXT?
Having covered the past and the present in the first two installments, time to turn to the future. Fear not, however, as I do not bring you a black hooded spectre like the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come. First, a few preliminaries. This piece is devoted entirely to what is possible. I claim no [...]
October 6th, 2009 | Jeff Little | 2 comments | Continued
THE CURTAIN IS ABOUT TO RISE
It has been 162 days since the end of that amazing, infuriating, disappointing, but ultimately elevating Game 4 against Detroit in the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The sight of 19,000+ fans standing for the entire third period . . .the incredible roar seemingly coming from all directions at once . . . the anger and [...]
October 2nd, 2009 | Jeff Little | 0 comments | Continued
