Ohio State hockey opener; Malarchuk mischief and more!

The Ohio State men's hockey team kicks off their season today at home versus the 8th ranked Miami Red Hawks. They will take on the Red Hawks @ Miami the following night -- a game which is scheduled to be shown locally on ONN (thanks to Alex at MU Redhaws Hockey for the heads up).

Under head coach John Markell, Ohio State is 7-5-1 in home openers.

..and to top things off, Ohio State will be debuting their new high definition scoreboard (pictured left) -- which most certainly needed an upgrade.

Its to bad they play their opener on the same night as the Jackets as I'd really love to get down there and catch this game and get a look at Zac Dalpe. I certainly plan on setting my DVR for Saturday's tilt.

Full game coverage can be found here.

As you've probably heard by now Jackets goaltending coach Clint Malarchuk has found himself in another incident:

The former NHL goaltender, perhaps best known for having his jugular vein severed in a 1989 game in Buffalo, was found by police bleeding profusely from the mouth and chin after he shot himself with a .22-caliber rifle, according to a Douglas County sheriff's office report.

Sgt. Jim Halsey said today that an investigation is ongoing and detectives are interviewing Malarchuk and his wife to determine the circumstances behind the shooting.

Apparently this is indeed an accident but you hear a story like this coupled with his past and my first reaction is I smell fish.

Regardless this is becoming a common theme for Mr. Malarchuk - kinda like the Jackets own personal reality show.

Hopefully he gets himself healed up soon and back to coaching the Jackets netminders.

Did you catch that Marion Gaborik turned down an 80 million 10 year offer from the Minnesota Wild?

He says he's wants to stay but I don't think anyone is really buying it. Gaborik could very well easily (and likely) turn into this year's version of Marion Hossa. He could be the biggest fish (an occurring theme in this post) for a contending team to reel in at the trade deadline.

The way this is trending I certainly don't see Gaborik lasting the year with the Wild.

Gaborik is a game breaker but he's also had a pretty good history with injuries and is he really worth being paid like a top 5 player in this league?

Jacket fans should keep an close eye on this situation though. Remember we have our own franchise player coming up for renewal this coming offseason (players can start negotiations on a new contract up to a year before it expires) in Rick Nash. I look for Nash to get a similar offer from the Jackets but if this thing isn't wrapped by the start of next season he could become next year's version of Hossa/Gaborik.

The good news is that it appears all parties are on the same page and the Dispatch had this nice little nugget about Nash's intentions:

The players in the room have noticed. Michael Peca wanted to come back to the Blue Jackets after watching Howson's machinations. Rick Nash said he'd be willing to sign an eight- or 10-year deal with the club.

Now of course that could all change with another down season but for now things look optimistic with #61.

Flipped on the news this morning hoping to hear some coverage about the Jackets season opener but nada. Not sure what coverage we'd have at all in this town if it weren't for the Dispatch. I did listen to QFM 96.3 and they gave them some air time which was cool. Got to win this year boys!

GO LEAFS GO! My shout out to the Leafs for spoiling the Wings banner raising party last night with a 3-2 upset at the Joe. I would also like to give a shout out to the Bruins who nipped the Avalanche by a goal last night -- Avalanche goalie Budaj lets in 5 goals off 15 shots -- one would have to assume Foote directed at least one of those in.

-LTL