Bethany's Hockey Rants

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Why not us?!

by Bethany on 04/15/09 at 10:57 PM ET
Comments (4)

As I sit here watching the Penguins and the Flyers game, I am getting anxious for the game tomorrow.

You know the first EVER playoff game that the Columbus Blue Jackets have ever played.

We’re the underdog, but stat of the day courtesy of Light the Lamp:

“Since Colorado in 2002, no defending Stanley Cup champion has got past the first round of the playoffs. Holland chalks it up to parity across the NHL and motivation.”

So, why not us?

I’m not going to sit here and say that this is going to be an easy series for either team. I fully expect a hard fought battle, but the big question mark is how the Jackets play in the post season.

It’s a new season so anything is possible.

The Jackets will be without Brassard he was not cleared for contact practice, he will not be back for game 3.

I’m cool with just getting Juice and Modin back. Here are the lines for tomorrow...you know until Hitchcock decides they’re not working and well, changes them up.

1 - Kristian Huselius - Manny Malhotra -Rick Nash

2 - R.J. Umberger - Antoine Vermette - Jake Voracek

3 - Jason Chimera -Michael Peca - Fredrik Modin

4 - Raffi Torres - Jason Williams - Jared Boll

And your defensive pairings which I don’t think will change.

Mike Commodore - Jan Hejda

Fedor Tyutin - Rostislav Klesla

Marc Methot - Kris Russell

And your starting goaltender of course is Steve Mason.

The Blue Jackets had a team meeting yesterday, each Blue Jacket player was assigned a player from the Red Wings to study and he shared what he learned with the team.

I’m sure that they got extremely familiar with the Wings, and reading about the Blue Jackets studying the Wings cracks me up but at the same time I appreciate what they did. I know that it helped.

They were asked to talk to friends that play in the league, look on the internet, and do whatever it takes to find out everything about their opponent.

Going into tomorrow, I have to look at this like just another game, but I know deep down it’s not. I’m excited to watch the puck drop on the Blue Jackets first ever playoff game, and like I said before, win or lose, I am proud of what they have accomplished. GO JACKETS!

Filed in: Columbus Blue Jackets, | Bethanys Hockey Rants | Permalink
Tags: Columbus+Blue+Jackets, Detroit+Red+Wings, Rick+Nash,

Comments

“Since Colorado in 2002, no defending Stanley Cup champion has got past the first round of the playoffs. Holland chalks it up to parity across the NHL and motivation.”

Since the 96-97, 97-98 seasons, no defending champion has won back to back championships with the exception of the Detroit Red Wings.

“each Blue Jacket player was assigned a player from the Red Wings to study and he shared what he learned with the team.”

Whoever got Datsyuk must have had to pull an all-nighter to study.

Posted by Puck from San Francisco, CA on 04/15/09 at 10:49 PM ET

I hope the Jackets win, but I can’t see it happening. Too much inexperience for Columbus will be their downfall.

Posted by cs6687 on 04/16/09 at 12:15 AM ET

”win or lose, I am proud of what they have accomplished.”

I hope the BJ’s are just happy to be there as well.

Posted by Ozzie from Detroit, MI on 04/16/09 at 06:50 AM ET

As a fan of the Jackets I am most excited to see them in the playoffs...and will be there when the puck drops tonight. Maybe we will not get past the first round...but maybe we will!!! Not many people thought we would make it to the playoffs.

Posted by Jeannie from Cincinnati on 04/16/09 at 07:28 AM ET