Bloggin the Dispatch's new blog...

Aaron Portzline and new CBJ scribe, Tom Reed, have just kicked off a new blog on Dispatch.com -- the best news, they will be making daily entries so more nuggets for us hockey starved fans to chew on.

Here is a taste of what's to come:

First day of camp, first day of the Blue Jackets blog. Should be a fun season, so let’s get started.Each day of camp, we’ll select a “star of camp” or a “top camper” or something campy. Winners get their names spelled right in the blog.

Today’s winner: center Nikolai Zherdev, who was a playmaking demon on the first day of camp. Zherdev even did an extended interview in English after practice. Not perfect English, mind you, but his English is better than my Russian. And he tried, which is all anybody can ask.Other candidates: Duvie Westcott (great hit on Jeff Szwez), Derick Brassard (who just keeps getting better) and Gilbert Brule (who looks a lot stronger after a summer of intense conditioning).

I didn't get to see Westcott today but I defnitely agree with his assessment of Brassard and Brule. Good to here Westcott is out their hitting hopefully his concussion problems are behind him and he can return to his 05-06 form.

Can read more of Portzline's entry here.

-LTL