Columbus Blue Jackets

By Bethany | January 14, 2008

If there is something I need to work on, it’s going places other than the Dispatch and Blue Jackets website for my CBJ news. I was looking around on Yahoo! and found a great article on the Blue Jackets. It wasn’t one of those crappy ones, it was a positive one, giving fans like me hope. If you’ve read it already forgive me for posting this but I just now found it, and couldn’t resist talking about it.

They talked about what we needed in a coach. And, why Hitch was perfect for us, Hitch could have coached anywhere, he could have gone to any team he wanted to, he is that good.

Hitchcock was a pro. In eight full seasons behind an NHL bench, the Edmonton native has led teams to six division titles and a pair of second-place finishes. Those teams all won at least 40 games and posted 100-point seasons. Hitchcock has led teams to a 66-51 record in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and he guided the Dallas Stars to the Cup in 1999.

You look at that he has six division titles in EIGHT seasons. He has coached in Philadelphia and Dallas. Last season he was fired from the Flyers after they got off to the worst start ever. It wasn’t his fault, I don’t know what the deal was. He came to Columbus knowing what he was getting into. We had no direction, we had players that were good players but weren’t held accountable. Hitch makes everyone feel accountable.

“That’s what that team needed, a dose of reality,” San Jose Sharks coach Ron Wilson recognized from a distance. “They needed to improve in their own end, they needed some structure. That’s what, at times, what experienced coaches bring.”

Ron Wilson knew what we were missing, I think that everyone in the league knew what we needed. When we added Hitch the one thing that was left was getting rid of little Dougie and now that we have done that look at the success we are having. It’s not a fluke, we just needed a system.

I don’t want to give the entire article away, you really need to read it, but I will leave you with one last quote:

“You’re going to have highs and lows and you’re going to have tough losses and big wins,” said Hitchcock, whose lineup Saturday included nine original Columbus draft picks. “The biggest thing is to just keep going. As an organization, we haven’t experienced anything like this right now.

“My job is to keep pushing and their job is to respond the right way because we’re going into areas that are more and more difficult and guys haven’t been there before. And it’s not just younger players, its older players, too. As an organization we haven’t been here and now we’re right here in the mix.”

“We’re a very competitive team, but there’s another gear after Jan. 1,” Hitchcock said. “We’re going to find out a lot about ourselves, both individually and collectively, and I think all the players are looking forward to it. We’re also finding out how difficult it is.”

The players aren’t the only ones looking forward to it, the fans are waiting for it. We may not win the Stanley Cup this year, but you can tell that our time is coming, and I think it may be coming sooner than most people think. By the way this article is from January 6 in case anyone is curious. Leave me comments after you read it and let me know what you think.

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