He got off to a good start last night, picking up three assists in a 5-3 Columbus win. The Jackets played a fairly strong game. The highlight for me was a great kill on a 2-man disadvantage that lasted over a minute near the end of the first period. They managed to kill the first penalty, with new acquisition Sammy Pahlsson doing notable work, and then non-evil former Senator Antoine Vermette scored a nice goal after some very pretty passing from Nash just as the second penalty expired. With the goal coming in the last minute of the period, this was one of those TSN Turning Point moments.

The Jackets managed to score three more goals in the first six minutes of the second period: in fact, they scored four goals on four consecutive shots, and chased Roberto Luongo from the game. While all of the goals — scored by Kristian Huselius (after a cheeky behind the back pass from Nash), Rostislav Klesla, and rookie Nikita Filatov — were pretty to look at, I don’t think any of the shots could have been considered unstoppable. Luongo just plain didn’t look good, and the fans cheered when Andrew Raycroft came in to replace him.

Vancouver made the game interesting and came back to within a goal in the third, but Little Stevie Mason looked awesome and the Jackets held the lead. Mason stopped 40 of 43 shots, and yet was absurdly not named one of the stars of the game in the building. Madness.

So, the Jackets have started 2-0 — for the first time in their history, apparently — and the Canucks are now 0-3. Fingers are approaching panic buttons in the city of Van. It’s only three games, though: it’ll be okay.

Oh Right, the Sens

The unpredictable adventure that is the 2009-2010 Ottawa Senators will continue in about 20 minutes as the Sens take on the now super-testosterone-fuelled Toronto Maple Leafs. “The Monster” is in goal for Toronto. Filip Kuba and Ryan Shannon are both sitting out for the Sens, with Alexandre Picard and Shean Donovan stepping in as their replacements. No idea how this one will turn out: I can see it being a total blowout for either side or a really close game. Who knows?

Photo taken moments before the Stanley Cup crushed a ravenous Sidney Crosby.

With the Pittsburgh Penguins’ victory in game seven last night, the 2008-2009 NHL season has come to a close. It seems appropriate at this time to look back at the highlights of the year.

There was the Blue Jackets getting their first ever playoff berth. That was nice. They immediately got stomped on by the Red Wings, but still.

From a Sens perspective, there was the hiring of Cory Clouston. Of course, to get to that point we had to live through the crapitude of the Hartsburg era, and in getting a coach who can apparently make our team win we lost the source of about 20% of our offense. But hey, I’m sure it’ll be worth it. Another plus: we no longer have a Swiss goaltender. We now have a (gimpy) French Canadian waiting in the wings instead. That seems like an improvement. Other than that, let’s see … well … I guess … the team … won some games?

Take heart, Sens fans. The season from hell is done. It’s finally over. And the future looks … um.

Maybe don’t think about hockey for a while.

CBC announced its slate of television shows for the 2009-2010 season, and two new reality competitions will be among the first new series Canadians will see.

The fall premieres includes Battle with the Blades, a combination of skating and Dancing with the Stars. It teams up top figure skaters with hockey stars and culminates in weekly pairs figure skating performances.

Oh please, please let the “hockey stars” in question be actual NHL players. Zdeno Chara lifting his partner over his head. Brian Campbell working gracefully and flawlessly through a footwork sequence. Mike Richards lowering his partner into a death spiral. This could end up being the greatest thing ever seen on television.

Tonight is the first ever playoff game in Columbus. In the spirit of Puck Daddy’s post about other teams’ first ever home playoff dates, I’m thinking back to what it was like in Ottawa when the Sens played the Sabres in that first playoff series. I didn’t get to go to any of the games, but I remember listening to one on the radio on my walkman (yes!) as I walked home from a 67’s game. The Sens won in overtime, and I stopped and cheered right in the middle of Bank St.

Let’s go Jackets!

For me, the biggest surprise so far has been the Rangers. I think we all knew Henrik Lundqvist was probably going to outplay Jose Theodore, but it seems very few people foresaw just how big a problem the entire goaltending situation in this series was going to be for the Caps. Obviously, if they can’t get their offense going today, they may as well pack it in. What would lie ahead for them after another first round loss this year is clear: a developing reputation as chokers. And a reputation like that is hard to shake.

Which brings me to what has been my favourite series to this point: Ducks-Sharks. It’s just fun. Chris Pronger and Jonathan Cheechoo had quite the battle going last night, with Cheechoo, who runs around like a maniacal ball of energy out there, goading big dumb Pronger into two silly crosschecking penalties. This caused Randy Carlyle to make the face of a man who’s just been told his flight is cancelled and he’ll have to take the Greyhound from Winnipeg to Vancouver. Normally I would find this funny — and really, it was — but because I picked the Ducks to win I am actually rooting for them here. (Yes, it feels dirty and all kinds of wrong.) I now feel I have new insight into what it must be like to be a Ducks fan and have to watch your team take a constant stream of idiotic penalties. It would be like having several highly-paid Christoph Schuberts on your roster. All you can do is shake your head.

My dear Blue Jackets are in a spot of trouble, looking overwhelmed in their series against Detroit. They’ve also had some pretty unfortunate bounces, but mostly Detroit just plain has them off their game. Trying to get things back on track, they’re doing some line shuffling and our old buddy Antoine Vermette now finds himself centring the team’s top line, with Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius as his wingers. Good luck with that, Antoine.

As pleased as I am to see the Sens get this settled, I’m a bit distracted by the even bigger news of the day: the Columbus Blue Jackets clinched their first ever playoff spot last night. Thinking about how excited I was when the Sens made it to the postseason for the first time, I can imagine what longtime Jackets fans are feeling right now. From what I’ve seen watching their games on TV this season, Columbus fans are extremely enthusiastic, and I know they’ll love this experience.

And THAT’s why you don’t start your Ole chant when you’re only up by a goal
with 10 minutes to play in the third period!

After the Sens beat Montreal last night, I danced around my apartment chanting, “Suck it! Suck it!” Gloating? You bet. Is this sportsmanlike? Nope, but it sure felt good. (And we have to take the victories where we can get them this year.) Of course, I waited until after the Sens had actually won the game to start my celebration. See how that works, Habs fans?

Sorry for the lack of posting in this space for the last uh … well, almost the last month. It’s been a busy end of term here at Land’s End University and I’m just trying to get everything done. I hope to have more time to post during the playoffs, the World Championship, and the offseason. For now, I’m trying to enjoy these last few Sens games without thinking too much about the fact that this is the first time in 12 years I won’t be able to watch them keep playing at least through the first round.

Fortunately, it looks as though — barring a collapse — my other men, the Blue Jackets, will be making their first trip to the postseason. Watching their stretch drive has been a lot of fun, and it reminds me what it was like way back in 1997 when we went through the excitement of seeing the Sens make it for the first time. The Jackets and the Blackhawks played a truly fantastic game the other day, with both Nikolai Khabibulin and Steve Mason making some heartstopping saves. Despite the absence of the team that’s closest to my heart, I have to say I’m really looking forward to the first round getting underway. Especially in the Western Conference, there should be some great matchups. Once everything is set, look for the OBC series of playoff prediction posts. There will be blood. Or possibly just smacktalk.

The carcasses of the Sens and Lightning can still be found if one looks in the darkest depths of the standings.

I got home last night in time to watch my other team, the Blue Jackets, play a really superb third period and beat the Bruins 2-0. It was quite interesting seeing what it’s like to have a goaltender make big saves at key moments. Our old friend Antoine Vermette assisted on the winning goal for Columbus and was named the third star of the game. I hope he’s found a home for himself there.

From the sublime to the ridiculous: the Sens take on the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. It’s a clash of the titans. The last place titans. Actually, if you are familiar with Greek mythology then you know that the Titans ruled before being overthrown by Zeus and his other Olympian colleagues, so that kind of does make sense (especially if we ignore the fact that the Lightning must be seen as Zeus’ team due to their adoption of his symbol, the thunderbolt, as their logo). Also, these are two teams going down faster than the Titanic. I’ll never let go, Sens. I’ll never let go.

And the OBC is celebrating the occasion as only we (or anyone else with access to CoveritLive) can: with a LiveBlog! The Senators have never lost a game with us liveblogging it. I can only conclude that this means the OBC has magical god-like powers, so you’d better not cross us because our wrath is probably formidable. On that note, join us! It’s wise to keep us on your side.

I haven’t seen the team much in the last few days. I’ve been busy. All week, I’d been looking forward to tonight, when I’d actually get to spend the evening with them. Given that I’ve stuck with them through some hard times — it hasn’t been easy dealing with their constant mood swings — I thought they’d want to do something special for me tonight.

Well, after the first period I thought maybe they’d forgotten what day it was. There certainly didn’t seem to be a gift forthcoming. Nope, for a while it looked like we were going back to the same old crap: they shape up for a while, just long enough to make me think we’d be okay, and then bail out again. I need them to think about what I need for a change. I don’t want to go through that again. It’s too much of a rollercoaster.

By the end of the game, though, I knew for sure that they did care about me. I’m not saying everything’s going to be perfect from now on. I’m sure there will be more challenges ahead. But I’m feeling more confident that it will gradually get better. That game, with the comeback, and Alfie giving the team the lead in the third period, and the final screw you Minnesota empty net goal from Heater … that was like getting me a bouquet of roses and a box of hedgehogs (the chocolate kind), taking me for a romantic sunset walk on the beach, and cleaning my apartment all in one.

Oh Sens. You’re the best bunch of large, muscular boyfriends I never get to spend time with or see in person or even meet a girl could ask for.

(Memo to the Blue Jackets: Yes, I noticed that you won too, and rather decisively. Well done and thank you, but my number one guys have my attention tonight.)

Fine, I clearly like the Blue Jackets a little too much. But how can I resist little Stevie Mason, even if he is thwarting the awesomeness of Dany Heatley and totally denying the Sens?

Perhaps you recall that just before the season started, I made a post looking at the other teams I intended to keep an eye on this season. Well, it hasn’t exactly worked out as I planned — while I have been watching quite a lot of hockey, I have not been following most of those other teams with any regularity. The Coyotes? Turns out I’m not really interested. The Oilers? I give them a look once in a while. The Blackhawks? I’ve somehow lost track of most of their games. The Canucks? They’re definitely just as inevitable as I thought they’d be. They’re also bringing back some unpleasant memories I’ve been trying to repress.

But there is one team (other than the Sens) I’ve been following pretty closely. I try to watch their games whenever they don’t conflict with Ottawa’s. I read news stories and blogs about them. I even went to see them in person when they visited the Canucks earlier this month, and took an unreasonable number of photos of them while they warmed up.

Yes, it’s the Columbus Blue Jackets. My good friend and fellow Sens blogger Free Willig, upon learning of my unexpected devotion to the Jackets, was moved to ask me why. Why would I want to watch a boring Ken Hitchcock team? Putting aside the irony of Willig asking me that while being a Minnesota Wild season ticket holder, it is probably a question worth considering. The answer may be that, as much as I love watching flashy offensive hockey … I hate it when my team gives up a lot of goals. Hate it. I appreciate good team defence, and the Jackets have that.

More importantly, the Jackets have my favourite non-Sens player in the NHL in the person of Rick Nash, whose name I always kind of want to put an exclamation point after. Rick Nash! Nash is a player whose style of play I enjoy immensely. He is himself also immense, and uses his size to skate over or through other players, pushing them aside as though they were nothing more than the strings of bead curtains. Despite his size, he’s a fast skater. If he can’t go over someone, he wll go around him: there isn’t too much a person can do to stop him once he gets going. This combination of size and speed makes it easier for him to make use of puck skills that I believe the kids today would describe as “sick.” As Pierre McGuire would say, Nash is a monster.

In addition to their captain and franchise player, the CBJ have a few good rookie stories going this season. First there was Derick Brassard, who was likely the frontrunner for the Calder Trophy when he went down for the season with a shoulder injury. No fear: teammate Steve Mason has more than adequately stepped into Brassard’s rookie of the year candidate shoes. Mason’s season has been remarkable so far, and I’m really happy to have been following it. Perhaps the greatest “rookie” story of all is the team’s quest to make the playoffs for the first time. If the playoffs started today, well, they wouldn’t be there. But I have faith that they will be at season’s end, and come 2009-2010 other teams’ commentators will no longer be able to say that Columbus is the only team in the league never to have played a postseason game.

So yes, the Jackets. I’ve adopted them as my Western team. More than that, I have started thinking of them as my Other Men, much as Schnookie and Pookie of Interchangeable Parts fame have designated their secondary teams their “Tranny Brides” and “Tranny Gentlemen Callers.” The Sens are and will always be the ones I’ve committed to, while the Jackets are the boys on the side who pop in to show me a good time when my number one guys are not around. Rick Nash! is The Other Man, in that he is the chief of the Other Men. (He is also The Other Man to Heatzza’s The Man, in the sense of “You da man!”)

There is a certain excitement that comes with finding a shiny new team. I almost feel the Jackets are wooing me with their excellent play. So far this season, the Sens certainly haven’t appeared to feel the need to do much to make sure I stick around (although I give them credit for spicing things up these last few weeks). I have been lucky enough to see both my suitors teams in person when they’ve visited me (and the Canucks) here at Land’s End. Let us review the results of those games:

• Sens visit Vancouver and lose 3-0. They can’t even be bothered so score a flippin’ goal for me. The “goaltender” who shall not be named and is no longer with us (hallelujah!) lets in one of his specialty weak goals at a crippling moment. Wearing my Heatley jersey, I am subjected to mock sympathy by a drunk Canucks fan after the game.
• Jackets visit Vancouver and win 6-5 after treating me not only to regulation time, but also to overtime and a shootout. Jared Boll takes on Darcy Hordichuk in a thrilling fight right below where I’m sitting. Rick Nash! shows off for me, with two assists and a goal that demonstrates his bull-like tendencies during the game, as well as a lovely goal to end the shootout. My favourite Canuck, Ryan Kesler, does his best to make the case that I should give his team a spot in my affections, doing some pushing and shoving with Nash and getting into a fight with R.J. Umberger. But Nash will have none of it, and he totally pwns Kesler on his goal as if to drive home what I already knew: that the Canucks are no CBJ. No one can mock me for wearing my Jackets t-shirt on this night.

Oh, I think it’s clear which team is making the bigger effort here.

I’m bringing this up today because tomorrow is the day when the battle for supremacy between the Sens and the Jackets — a battle which, until now, has probably mattered only to me — comes to a head, as in a head-to-head matchup. There is very little doubt in my mind about who will triumph in the game (the Jackets), or who will ultimately prevail in the contest for my heart (the Sens). The question is: who will I be rooting for tomorrow? Can I really cheer for the team that is playing the Sens? Given that the Jackets need all the points they can get to secure a playoff spot while the Sens are basically out of it … yes, I probably can. But what I’d really like is for the Sens to play well enough that I don’t want to.