Bethany's Hockey Rants

Rookie Hat Trick

by Bethany on 01/10/09 at 11:17 PM ET
Comments (5)

Seriously? This team, is amazing. Still without the services of Nash, Brassard, and Klesla just to name a few, the Jackets pulled out a victory, that I didn’t think would be possible. The story of the night? Nikita Filatov. Forget for a moment, Steve Mason, I know, I know, it’s difficult. How good is this kid? Three goals tonight, against a great defensive team.

He is the first rookie for the Blue Jackets to score a hat trick. That, my friends, is impressive. Especially considering he was just called up as a replacement player. To be honest, I don’t think the Blue Jackets played their best until the third period, which is shocking, usually on games we play the night before, we come out and give it all in the first period. But, this team, built on rookie’s and AHLers, and a few select veterans, played their hardest in the third.

What can you say about Nikita? The kid is a goal scorer. Not only that, but he sacraficed his body, and blocked a shot. If the hat trick never happened - that would be what I would remember, the blocked shot. I am sure Hitchcock was quite pleased with his rookie phenom.

Funny post by Lindsay Kramer, who is getting a little frustrated with the Syracuse situation had this to say about Nikita’s hat trick.

Can’t wait to see how the re-energized whiz kid jumps into the Syracuse Crunch lineup and makes that struggling team better.

What’d ya say?

He’ll be back momentarily, right?

I mean, it never happens where a young superstar-in-waiting goes up to pinch-hit in Columbus and is so impressive that an organization abandons its developmental game plan and rides him and rides him before he’s old enough to legally drink and he never comes back to the minors, right?

I mean, that sort of bad luck for the Crunch NEVER happens, right?

Poor Syracuse, half their team is up here, and playing quite well, and they’re not going to get Nikita back anytime soon. After his second goal I said, he needs to get a place in Columbus.

Picard had a great game tonight. He was feeding guys the puck all night, and had the primary assist on the goal by Dorsett. It was an absolutely gorgeous pass also, I didn’t even realize it was Picard until the announcers said so. Dorsett was amazing as usual, his goal, made me remember how much I actually enjoy watching him. I think after this, he will be back to his normal self.

I missed the fight completely, who knows what I was doing, but my friend Elise, gave the fight to Weller, I think she was just saying that, I mean Boll never loses a fight. Haha.

I will have more on the game tomorrow, and give tons of praise to the rest of the team, but for tonight, I just want to be happy and enjoy this win.

This was a great weekend for the Jackets, and I am ready for Tuesday. It’s going to be a huge game. HUGE.

Filed in: Columbus Blue Jackets, Nikita Filatov | Bethanys Hockey Rants | Permalink
Tags: Columbus+Blue+Jackets, Nikita+Filatov,

Comments

Maybe when you combine Brassard and Filitov together, you’ll get a joint Calder. Oh wait, that Mason guy will probably wind up with that.

Posted by Mike Chen on 01/10/09 at 11:34 PM ET

In the short run, it hurts for Syracuse...but in the long run, that combination of Crunchers will definitely benefit from playing together, at the NHL level and against the top offensive and defensive threats (in succeeding games), under the coaching of Hitchcock.

Syracuse should consider it a mid-term exam. Sadly, they can’t suspend their season while getting tested.

Posted by Tom on 01/11/09 at 11:43 AM ET

I saw the replays when I got home from my game last night. UHHH-mazing.

Posted by "Dave Schultz" on 01/11/09 at 04:55 PM ET

Good thing Filatov’s pretty tiny, otherwise he would’ve squashed Josh Harding on that first goal.

I have the video of the fight linked on my site. It was a good fight overall, lots of big punches, I’d give it to Weller though for landing more.

Posted by elise on 01/11/09 at 08:01 PM ET

Had to post this observation from vacation in Mexico....

I was grabbing a bite at the restaurant here at the hotel, and some guy walks in wearing a MINNESOTA WILD t-shirt.

My wife pointed it out and said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Minnesota Wild fan before.”

All I could think was “Our rookies kicked their butts.” Of course, courtesy didn’t allow me to utter such words.

Hee hee!