Led by Colton Gillies (who looks more like a pro every time he steps onto an ice surface), the Wild came out hammering the Blue Jackets – but the Jackets gave it right back.
Down by one late in the third period, Columbus’ kids tied it up on a goalmouth scramble, then held on during a tenuous 4-3 powerplay in overtime to reach the shootout. Jakub – that’s “Jake” now people – Voracek took the tournament’s first shootout attempt of 2008, and buried a low shot just over the right pad and under the outstretched blocker of goaltender Steven Stanford (a free agent invite from the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL).
The kid from Kladno, Czech Republic looked like he was walking down the cobblestone streets of Prague, he was so cool and collected. The Blue Jackets’ faithful are going to like this kid, and for a long time, I tell you what.
Here are some more details regarding the shootout attempts:
Voracek was Columbus’ first shooter and he looked cool, calm and collected. He went right down the center and with a no frills attached shot beat St. Jacques with a low shot just inside the left post. It looks as though Voracek has the entire package, at least from what I can tell from one game in a prospects tournament, so take that for what it’s worth.
Calvert had the highlight goal to cap the shootout and a great game by smoking a shot into the top right corner.
During the overtime, Columbus killed off tripping penalty on Grant Clitsome. The six penalty killers the Jackets used were Brian McGuirk, Steve Delisle, Nick Holden, Rob Page, Erik Felde and Brent Regner.
Calvert, Didiomete & Yaworski had the goals for the Jackets.
I was also told that Voracek was a man among boys and that Clitsome and Holden were very impressive.
Nice start so lets see if it can roll over to today when the Jackets take on the Stars at 6 p.m. Remember this is the game that will be shown on NHL Network tomorrow night at 10 p.m.
The full box score for yesterday's game can be found here.
Is Legein already thinking about a return to pro hockey? According to this article on NHL.com that may certainly be the case:
Legein, who last month stunned the hockey world when he announced he would hang up the blades after suffering from burnout, may now be contemplating a return to the ice. According to Legein’s agent, Doug Woods, whose client was a member of last year’s Canadian World Junior championship team and a second-round draft pick of the Blue Jackets in 2007, he has had conversations with Legein regarding the subject.
“I think after assessing the situation, I’ve learned that he had a lot of pressure on him the last year,” Woods told NHL.com. “He’s now seriously thinking about it and working some things out right now, and I feel confident that there’s a good possibility he will be back. We’re talking very regularly and certainly he’s willing to discuss it now. Once I return to Toronto, we’ll be talking more about it.”
For me its never been a question of "if" but "when". Apparently life working at a pizza parlor (as reported by the Dispatch gang) isn't all that its cracked up to be.
Guess where Ottawa scribe Bruce Garrioch ranks the Jackets in his power rankings this week?
Dead last:
30. Columbus: Haven't made necessary improvements.
Haven't made the necessary imporovements? Has this guy payed any attention to this offeseason?
Apparently if the Jackets would have added one player like Oli Jokinen they would have made his "Top 5 movers", "Top 5 on the rise" and placed 17th on his power rankings.
Message to Garrioch, there is a reason Jokinen was traded for so little.
He also has apparently enjoyed the fantasy moves the Lightning have made yet no mention of their swiss cheese defense or goaltending question marks.
Its only one guys opinion of course and as I've stated numerous times the Jackets are going to have to get it done on the ice before opinions start to change.
Some good news for enforcer Brandon Sugden as it looks as though he will be re-instated.
I just got a call from Brandon Sugden. Bill Daly called him earlier tonight and said he spoke with the teams that were blocking his removal from the retirement list and that they’ve all agreed to unblock him.
When I asked him how he felt, Sugar said it’s a huge weight off of his shoulders and he’s looking forward to attending Islanders training camp, which starts Thursday in Moncton, New Brunswick. He added that he has every intention on making the team and he feels he can help the Islanders.
Lindsay Kramer also weighs in on the Crunch blog with some Sugden quotes:
"He said it's official,'' Sugden said. "I think I thanked him about 50 times in a minute. He said, 'Good Luck. I hope you do well.'''
"My mother said, you have the ticket to the ball, now you have to show you can dance,'' Sugden said. "I am fired up.''
Good for you Sugden. Now go out there and crack some faces (just not Jackets!) and earn a job!
-LTL
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6 comments:
Where did ol' Brucy rank the LA Kings? Aren't they still below the cap? And on the Lightning subject... Aren't they way over cap? How can they keep all those players? They should have kept Richards at this rate. My goodness....
My email sent to Mr. Garrioch ('cause I'm just Annoyed In General right now and needed to vent):
I find it rather astonishing that you have the Jackets literally dead last in your recently released Power Rankings - a position which, if accurate, would require them to be substantially worse than last year. (You know, the year when the top two lines were handled by "center-by-committee" and defense was the team's only semitangible strength (and not a big one at that) and yet the team was still in the playoff mix until collapsing after the All-Star weekend?)
Now, most of the columnists throughout the summer have at least had the sense to note that a roster makeover on the scale the Jackets have done (not as massive as TB's, but just about half the roster's been turned over) can potentially go either way and just express skepticism in its effecacy whenever they rank the team near the bottom of the NHL, but you seem bound and determined to not only not acknowledge even that possibility, but suggest that it's somehow been wholly detrimental - no positive, nothing added, all loss.
Or were you simply not paying attention, and just assuming that since the names Marleau or Jokinen didn't appear and the name Zherdev did that this meant absolutely nothing positive happened? In that case, you missed quite a few midlevel additions - particularly R.J. Umberger (you might remember him from Montreal's playoff exit), Kristian Huselius (who seems to do very well when paired with skilled power forwards, like Iginla, or perhaps Nash), and Fedor Tyutin (who likely would've been the Rangers' biggest rising star on defense if it wasn't for one of the Staal brothers). There's also a few rookies coming in; you might be familiar with the name Jakub Voracek (who's pretty much torn up the minors, and is off to a great start in Traverse City), and there's also Derick Brassard (who was pretty dominant in an AHL playoff run last year), plus a potential wildcard Russian kid you might have heard of last year named Filatov. Now, granted, our depth still isn't quite what we'd like it to be, but that's being built up with a few low-cost reclamation projects that have the potential to be fun bonuses if they pan out (Richard Matvichuk, Shane Willis, Raffi Torres, and Mike York are the names that come to mind immediately).
Skepticism is perfectly understandable (in that, you'd find yourself in agreement with quite a few fans, even), but this is just pathetic; it's an indicator of either an unfounded vendetta or simply being uninformed.
As for the rest... I think Vancouver is also ridiculously low (they may not be a playoff team, but #29?) and Anaheim is way too high (best defense in the NHL, but their scoring is on a par with the Jackets - top 10 surely, but not top 5, to say nothing of your top 3), but otherwise there's nothing else too egregious.
Bravo Viqsi! That was an outstanding reply. Please keep us posted if (doubtful) Garrioch replies.
Then again he might be to busy making up the next big trade rumor.
-LTL
Good Job Viqsi. Stick it to those people who still see us as the same team we were two years ago.
As for the Traverse Tournament, I know the focus has been on Voracek and Mayorov and Clitsome and Holden but So far I'm really impressed with Calvert. Last I checked it was 2-1 Jackets against Dallas and Calvert scored once. that makes two goals and a supposedly awesome shootout goal in two games. I don't what line he's playing on but as far as the tournament goes he's looking pretty good.
Thank you for writing that viqsi so I didn't have to. That guy is one of the laziest rumor mongers in journalism (if you can even call it that) and CLEARLY has no idea of what the team was, or what we added/needed.
Another thought I had is that maybe Maclean has gotten to Garrioch? Anyone with even an ounce of sense will realize that the jackets have bolstered in every area and to say that they will be worse than the NYI, Florida, and LA is flat out laziness.
Maclean is one guy who will be just waiting to pounce on ANYTHING that resembles a stumble by the jackets, perhaps he has been filling Garrioch's ears lately. Bruce is not much more than a tabloid writer and if anyone, even Maclean, gives him what he might think is 'insider' he will roll with it.
I have confirmed that Garrioch and Maclean are, in fact, close friends.
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