More on Z and the cannon

So by all account the line of Nash-Zherdev-Vyronry (man is that strange to type) had a good opening day of camp playing together:

It's our first practice," Vyborny said, "but it's good to look good from the beginning, right? You have to stay on the ground a little bit (with expectations), but I'm excited to play with these two guys."

Zherdev (pictured above right), a right winger who hasn't played center since he was a 17-year-old in Russia more than five years ago, must have a good memory.
"No problem," Zherdev said, in a rare exchange without an interpreter. "It felt good."

The trio scored on their first trip down the ice during three-on-three drills, bringing a rousing cheer from a crowd of several hundred who watched the first day of training camp. It seemed as if Nash, Vyborny or Zherdev scored every time they took off down the ice.

"That's how it seemed," Nash said. "It was good. We were clicking fast. We had some chemistry early. Those guys (Vyborny and Zherdev) are both right wingers, so I always got to play with one or the other. Now I get a chance to play with both, so it's going to be interesting."

But lets not get to far ahead of ourselves as Hitch points out:

"Obviously, there's some chemistry," Hitchcock said. "We'll have to see how it looks going forward."

Portzline also points out the terrible faceoff percentages all three have (no one above 43% last year) which is a problem as faceoffs are key to getting possession of the puck to start or continue an attack.

So while they are off to a good start lets see how this thing continues to develop before getting to excited. One thing is for sure is if these three do click and become something, somebody just throw Hitchcock in the Hall of Fame now -- there aren't many coaches who would have even thought of this let alone attempted it.

In other news, the Dispatch also has more info on the cannon. The good news is that there will be something, the bad news is it looks like they can't fire a replica cannon off indoors (which I personally don't understand since I thought AC/DC did that on every tour but I digress) :

"We can't legally fire a cannon off indoors," Kershaw said.

Instead, Kershaw and her staff are trying to simulate the noise. They fired off several "test" shots the past few weeks, with "booms" being felt throughout the Arena District.

"You want it loud enough that it can be heard over the crowd," Kershaw said. "But it can't be too loud. It can't be so loud that it frightens people who aren't expecting it."

It's unclear whether a Civil War cannon -- or even a replica -- will be on display in Nationwide Arena this season. On this matter, Kershaw has been tight-lipped. She wants to save some surprises for opening night Oct. 5.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what they've got in store for us tomorrow night! The Dispatch also confirms what we learned earlier, that Garry Glitter's "Hey" song is no more (RIP). Dont' forget to vote for your favorite new song here.

Read more of today's coverage of the Blue Jackets from the Dispatch here:

I'll have a report later on about Team Blue from the Ice Hause. I'm excited to see this new "Z line" myself.

-LTL