

"When Game 4 ended, the noise was deafening in Nationwide Arena. "It seems a little unreal doesn't it? Uncharted territory," said Sara Chapman, also a Jackets season-ticket holder since day one.
#Blue jackets hockey series
They now return home for Game 3 of their series against the Boston Bruins, tied 1-1. The Jackets had never won three playoff games, let alone a series. This time, the Blue Jackets swept the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round, shocking a team that tied the NHL record for most regular-season victories.

Then we make the playoffs and there is a glimmer of hope until the rug is pulled out from under us again," he said.īut not this time. I did lose faith in the organization and thought at times they would never make the playoffs or be good. To see the team not getting any better was hard. The excitement of having a NHL team lasted for the first five to seven years but it wore off quickly after that. If Baker's being honest about it, he doubted if he'd ever see playoff success in Columbus. In certain situations, they wanted to get behind us and we have laid an egg," said Tortorella. "I think our fans have been tremendously loyal. Oh, and that time they attempted to introduce a new mascot that resembled that 1857 Napoleon, only to scuttle it quickly because everyone thought it resembled a phallus.Įvery season had a flicker of optimism for the fans, some smoke ahead of the fire. The infantilizing "Lumbus" nickname for the franchise on social media. Despite their futility, the Jackets' draft history saw top-10 picks that were outright busts (Alexandre Picard, Nikita Filatov), eventual trade fodder (Jakub Voracek, Ryan Johansen) and Nash, the face of the franchise for nine laborious seasons until the pressure reached a boil in 2012 and a contentious trade to the New York Rangers ended his tenure in Columbus.Īnd that's not even getting into the off-ice stuff: The shadow of Ohio State blocking out attention. There have been some moments of individual glory - goalie Sergei Bobrovsky winning the Vezina Trophy twice, former goalie Steve Mason winning the Calder Trophy, Rick Nash's goal-scoring title in 2003-04, which he shared with two other players - but not many.

#Blue jackets hockey full
Until 2017, coach John Tortorella's first full season with Columbus, the Jackets made the playoffs twice in 15 years of existence: a meek sweep at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings in 2009 and a spirited but ultimately fruitless six-game loss in 2014 to the Pittsburgh Penguins, currently their only semblance of a rival. The president of the Jacket Backers, the official booster club of the team, he's had the unique experience of witnessing both the "everything" and the "nothing" in the franchise's previously ignominious history. The cannon firing is merely perception.ĭavid Baker predates the cannon by a decade, as it arrived in 2007 and he became a Blue Jackets season-ticket holder on day one in 1997. The "BOOM" emanates from the rafters through a concussion charge. It fires at the start of Columbus Blue Jackets home games. There's a hand-crafted replica of a 1857 Napoleon cannon, once called "the best gun for all round field service" in the Civil War, that rests on two large wheels in Section 111 of Nationwide Arena. The brutal honesty of the Columbus Blue Jackets
#Blue jackets hockey upgrade
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