Posts tagged Jack Johnson

2013 tUB Awards: Mark Messier Leadership Award

The Mark Messier Leadership Award. As defined, the award goes to: “the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice, during the regular season.” there’s no question that the Blue Jackets had leadership appearing up and down the roster with the season they gave us. However when it came down to it, surprisingly there was hardly any variation in where we all cast our votes. Who did we pick? Read on.

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2013 tUB Awards: King Clancy Memorial Trophy

Here it is folks, the day you’ve all been waiting for. I bet every single one of you has been waiting on pins and needles to find out who wins the Clancy. It is awarded to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community. Generally, this one goes to players who do extremely awesome philanthropy. As we aren’t exactly privy to that information it took on a little different flavor. And your winner is….. Continue reading 2013 tUB Awards: King Clancy Memorial Trophy

2013 tUB Awards: The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

The tUB team was all over the place with the Masterton. We had eight players receiving a vote and only two players receiving multiple votes. This speaks to a few things, chief of which is no obvious Josh Harding-like candidate (the Wild netminder battling MS). But to me, it also shows that this is a team built around guys who are very dedicated to the game of hockey, with a number of players persevering through age, injury, doubt, or just losing. This is a resilient bunch, and there were a number of very worthy candidates who didn’t even get a vote (Jack Johnson, Adrian Aucoin, and Cam Atkinson come to mind). However, we did manage to choose a victor…. Continue reading 2013 tUB Awards: The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

2013 tUB Awards: The James Norris Memorial Trophy

The James Norris Memorial Trophy, given to the best defenseman, is one of the awards that I was really looking forward to. I thought there was a clear winner and a clear top three, but I had assumed it wouldn’t be as clear once the rest of the tUB team weighed in. Fortunately (or unfortunately if you like in-fighting and drama), we had a consensus winner, with only three other players recieving votes. I think this really highlights the strength of the Jackets now, as they have three players who could play on most teams top pairs, a couple solid rookies, and stud prospect Ryan Murray on the way. Should be very exciting moving foward. Without further ado, the winner of the Norris is….. Continue reading 2013 tUB Awards: The James Norris Memorial Trophy

Recap: Columbus @ Minnesota 4/13

It was the second night of a back to back and the Jackets were on the road tonight, this time facing the Wild. Given this team’s history, many were anxious to see how the team would respond given the high energy game of last night and the loss of home ice advantage. Well, let’s just say the game did not disappoint.

Things got going early when Charlie Coyle blatantly took his elbow and drove it in to Artem Anisimov‘s head. Arty would fall and Brandon Dubinsky would immediately answer the bell coming to his teammate’s defense. Coyle got a match penalty which kept him off the ice for the rest of the night in addition to the Wild’s next game; but, given the post-game news that Arty is out “indefinitely” I will be severely disappointed if more games aren’t dolled out in response to Coyle’s actions. Completely unacceptable. The other party to the scrum, Dubi, would get 17 total minutes of penalties and sit for basically the entire first period.

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Game Recap: Columbus @ Nashville, 4/4

Welcome friends.  I have drawn the responsibility to write about the first game for Marian Gaborik in a Blue Jackets sweater, and what a game it was. “Gaby” met the team in Nashville for a matchup against a Predators team that was just as hungry for points as they were. The Jackets were searching for their first win in regulation in Nashville since April 3, 2006, and 7 years and 1 day later, they did it. The Jackets take home a solid 3-1 victory and two points. Here’s how it all went down.

The first period started a bit shaky with the Jackets looking slightly tentative, but Sergei Bobrovsky came up huge once again with some big saves early. Perhaps they were feeling out chemistry with a new star on the roster and Nick Foligno and Brandon Dubinsky returning (not to mention the absence of Derick Brassard), but after eight minutes of tentative play, they were behind the Predators 9-2 in SOG and were lucky to keep the game at zero.

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Thoughts on the Trade Deadline – Union Blue Edition

It’s that time again! Trade deadline! The Blue Jackets have provided us such a whirlwind of a March that no one seems to know for sure if Jarmo and JD shall be buyers, sellers or standard bearers at the close Wednesday’s activities. With that in mind, all of us at the Union Blue decided to have a little fun. We challenged ourselves to each come up with the top three players we would keep, and the top three players we would deal. There were a few guidelines:

1. Only players who have dressed for the Blue Jackets team this season are eligible for consideration

2. Sergei Bobrovsky is excluded from consideration (given his quality play lately, we figured we’d all pick him anyway)

3. Players who have a no-movement or no-trade clause are still eligible for our lists, but the designation should be noted with an “NMC” or “NTC”.

So welcome to a little time inside our brains. Remember, this is what we want to happen, not what we think will happen…read along, see if you agree with any of us, or sound off in the comments as to why we might just be crazy. We’ll be watching…we may have some off-side wagers involved as well!

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Goal Breakdowns vs. Nashville 3/19

The Blue Jackets finished off a nailbiter last night, downing the Nashville Predators 4-3 to extend their point streak to 11 games. The Jackets, who have gone 7-0-4 over that streak, have now played in twenty-one 1 goal games. Sergei Bobrovsky was his usual excellent self, making 32 saves in the win, including 13 in the 3rd period where the Jackets were outshot 15-7 by the Preds. One more stat of note before I get to the goal breakdowns: Brandon Dubinsky won 16 of the 18 faceoffs he took last night, helping the Blue Jackets finish with 61% of the faceoff wins. Now on to the breakdowns.

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Game Recap: Columbus vs. Chicago 3/15

In the final meeting this regular season between the Blue Jackets and the Blackhawks, fans of both teams were treated to an excellent game, loaded with shots, great saves, quality plays, and extended time.  Sadly, the sea of red was quite visible in the crowd, however, the Hawks fans weren’t noticeably louder than the Blue Jackets fans until the final outcome was determined, and any pro Hawks chants were stymied by the collective.

The shootout loss tonight ends the season series at 0-2-2.  While the Blackhawks achieved all eight points available, Columbus put up a substantial fight in each of the four games, losing by a goal (or less if you consider the shootout loss).  And lest we forget the first meeting of the season where a terrible interference call on Foligno left Columbus one goal short.  In short, Columbus put up an impressive fight against one of the best teams in the National Hockey League.  Certainly an improvement from years past.

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Goal Breakdowns vs. Detroit 3/9

Last night the Blue Jackets took down the Red Wings 3-0, clinching the season series against Detroit for the first time in franchise history. Also making history was Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 30 saves for his first career shutout. I was watching the game on the Detroit feed, and was shocked to hear how impressed the Wings announcers were with this Blue Jackets squad. It’s tough sometimes when you watch one team so much more than any other to keep perspective. The Wings announcers were very enthusiastic about Sergei Bobrovsky (calling him the best goalie in the NHL so far this month), talking about how they were the hardest working team the Wings have faced, and saying it looked like the Jackets were dominating the Wings like how the Wings have the Jackets for years. With that being said, let’s take a look at the Jackets goals from last night.

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