Columbus 5 - Chowda 4 OT

Talk about a night and day scenario with this team....

Play hard on Friday night....get killed on Saturday night...play "so-so" for two periods and absolutely dominate play in the 3rd period last night against the Bruins.

I dont know what Hitchcock said to the team in the 2nd intermission, but that was one of the best periods of hockey that I have seen the CBJ play in a long time. While some of this may have been Boston going into a defensive shell, the CBJ definitely carried the play and the late 3rd period make-up calls for the two-man advantage given to Boston in the 2nd period were due to a lot of hard work and players crashing the net. Still, my only complaint is the lack of physical play near the net and in the corners...with the exception of Klesla, who is turning into a wrecking ball on the blueline. Nobody gets a free pass in the corners when they are going in there with Rusty, which is nice.

Slapshots...

• Rick Nash probably played one of his best games this season and he didnt even score a goal. He made the biggest play of the night on the penalty kill in the 1st leading to a shorty by Fedorov, which was the first of his two goals. He was a monster in front of the net and almost won the game himself in the OT period with a fantastic individual effort driving hard towards the net. Hitch putting him on the penalty kill is just a great...fan-nificent coaching move. Teams have to worry about him and Fedorov going the other way if they get careless with puck.


• Fedorov....skating like he is 27 years old. He is slowly but surely building up his campaign for a Selke-ish year. Man-crush status is being approached, as Sergei is starting to look more and more like the Fedorov that was dominating play in the Winged Wheel a few years back.


• Modin = Stud. This guy was a machine in the corners...even against Chara. I dont recall seeing Freddy lose a battle down low the entire night.


• Chimera. I am not sure if he has been reading the blog (Cant say that I would blame him), but he sure has shaked off any remnants of that whole "not going strong to the net anymore" problem. Sweet backhand on the first CBJ goal which came from...


• Dan Fritsche. Is there a player that has benefitted more since Hithcock has taken over this team? Dan skates hard all of the time and gets rewarded with ice time. Now, he is starting to show off some of his offensive abilities in the corners and utilizing his speed to beat people to pucks all over the ice.


• Hainsey..."uber-suxor" is granted a reprieve for tonight's performance. His offensive game is never an issue for the DCfW...it is his deadful defensive posture that makes me want to "stab stab stab stab myself in the stabby places."


• Vyborny. Player of the Game. Two sweet vintage Vyborny goals. Showing off all of the patience that the CBJ fans have been accustomed to over the last 6 years. Man, I hope this team makes the playoffs soon, because this guy deserves it.


• Norrena. Was barely noticed tonight, which is a good thing. Really only had to make one big save in the 3rd period, which stemmed from an odd-man rush...due to the defense pinching in hopes to tying the game.


• Brule...glad he is getting ice time...but he needs to create some more offense...he is not a mucker or a grinder like his linemate...


• Shelley. It has been stated over and over again. His time in C-bus is numbered. I love the guy, but we need more speed on that line to keep up with Brule (ie Picard). With that being said, Shelley actually had a decent game tonight with some strong shifts and prolonged cycling down in the Bruin end.

Blogosphere...

• A2Y made a nice post with the potential rivalry that is just waiting to happen between the CBJ and Detroit. By the way my comment holds true in tonight's game as well...Patrice Bergeron has the same approach in his game as Datsyuk Zetterberg...take the damn roughing penalty and watch him keep his head up the next time he is coming into the zone. Pussy...


• Love this quote from the IwoCPO when describing the potential of the rivalry and the CBJ fans..."one with fans and bloggers who glory in your sorrow"...This is so true I can feel the maltby-esque hatred running through my veins. Hey IWO...Let us know when you might need to buy another defenseman before the trade deadline. We just got Derrick Walser back from the Hurricanes for a bag of pucks and a few rolls of tape. Maybe he can be the Jamie Macoun (OSU Alum) for this year's Red Wing team. By the way, when is the Jamie Macoun Career Retrospect coming up on A2Y?


• Oh yeah...I updated the Blogroll to A2Y's somewhat recent move to Kukla's...apologies, mate.

Death Cab Updates

• BCS Championship Updates coming soon. SEC fans are so fast that they may have my posts read before I have finished them, but only if they are reading them below the Mason-Dixon Line. I am not sure that they know where this is located, but someday one of the teams in this conference will travel up north to play a game where there is actual football being played...not southern weekend "combines" with a couple of extra footballs being thrown around.


• New DCfW Feature - Song of the Week. I am still working on this one, but I am trying to get some of these streams to work correctly. I dont feel like dealing with the legal mumbo jumbo, but would like to pass along some good music that is not normally on the airwaves....at all....or anymore.


• Also planning on making some aesthetic changes to the blog...but may need some help with some grpahics and HTML on the Blogger...any assistance from the OSU or CBJ brethren would be appreciated.

Peace and Happy Holidays

Herringbone