CBJ: vs Vancouver (3-2)

Now I *knew* before we went to the game last night that the Blue Jackets would lose to the Vancouver Canucks; after all, they went ONE game away from winning the Stanley Cup last year! (they lost to Boston) So a defeat was anticipated.

What I didn't expect, however, was that we not only led for a little while, we held our own for almost the whole game! This was not some fine thrashing from a venerable Pro Team to an Upstart Younger Brother team; no, this was a match!! Like I said in the Season Opener article, I would much rather see a great match that leads to a defeat than a boring rout over a bad opponent. And this was a heck of an exciting game! 

A few random thoughts....

Because the opponent was officially a Canadian team, our lead Anthem Singer Mr. Leo Walsh (LEO!!) sang both Oh, Canada and The Star-Spangled Banner. I think I like Oh, Canada. It's a pretty song.

I really like the Canucks' ORCA-leaping-out-of-the-ice "C" logo. It looks semi-Inuit or Eskimo and just is cool with a capital "C."

I really like our seats! The way our team has been playing, sitting under the cannon on the "attack twice" side is just SO exciting! Although my wife and I are *not* big fans of the big old guy who sits in front of us, other than him we like our new seats very, very much.

If we get our new team-mates used to each other we will have an awesome team. I couldn't count the number of times a player would pass a puck to somebody who either wasn't where he just had been or who didn't realized Player X was going to pass it and wasn't ready to play it. When these kinds of nuts-and-bolts things get worked out, we will be a very good team indeed. 

This is our third loss in a row, which is our worst starting record ever. Well, sure, I'd love a win, but I hold true to what I just said: we are working out our kinks and our weaknesses. By the time super-Defense Jim Wisniewski gets to play on Oct 25 I think we will be a force to be reckoned with. (At least, I hope we will be!) 

Tomorrow night we are sitting in special seats to witness the return of Jan Hedja as a member of the Colorado Avalanche. My wife and I are going with my daughter and my buddy so we are sure to have a good time. My buddy is an even more rabid hockey fan than I am, and my daughter will be our designated driver, so, win-win.....and hopefully we *will* win (sorry, Jan!)  

Go Jackets!!