"Performance is your reality. Forget everything else."
-- Harold Geneen
Last 8 Games following the Trade for Dominic Jacob.
CBS 5 - CGY 2. W
ATL 1 - CBS 2. W
CBS 3 - NYI 3. T
CBS 5 - NAS 0. W
CBS 5 - VAN 2. W
CBS 5 - CGY 3. W
COL 1 - CBS 4. W
CGY 2 - CBS 4. W
NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL HOCKEY, VOLUME 27!!!!!
I'm now 7th in the West -- 6 pts behind 6th place Anaheim and 3 points ahead of 8th-place Phoenix who just doesn't seem to lose either still.
Both Goldsetin and Sokjolovsky are playing better for me in net, and my defense suddenly isn't falling apart faster than the Ukranian elections anymore. Maybe I can do this still and that trade wasn't such a bad move after all. If I can ever get Eric Guillemette (out 2 weeks with strained PCL) back my forward depth will be a little more-solid again also (although still not great).
Also, Morissette finally busted some heads as captain. He called out the newly-acquired D Dominic Jacob as well as C Dave Gong and they responded well -- Jacob's EHM ratings have gone up from the past several games and Gong has picked up the point production again on the third line (which is a huge boost).
"I myself desired to be included in this number: and consequently I now find myself in the utmost peril."
-- Andocides, Against Alcibiades.
The desire of the playoffs and success therein is a dangerous intoxicant. My goalies are really no better than before, though Yuri "Soko" Sokjolovsky continues his tough, arduous march to 60 OA. And my forwards are also still conning Red all over. The average age of this team is 31 years, and I boast no less than EIGHT players 35 or older. And yet I do think I can pull this off, I think I can possibly win a Cup in the first year. Somewhere the Colorado Avalanche are screaming "COLUMBO DELEDNA EST!!" because my rise has knocked them out of the playoffs right now.
Make no mistake about this: This is a Cup run. My picks are still mostly intact for this coming draft, but my team is going to be gutted and those picks won't be able to step in and help right away. Next year is going to be a very, very painful one most likely.
There are also other concerns lingering.
Louis Roy, the starting goalie in Syracuse is Vopatizing out of nowhere (at only 29 still). I'm not sure I've ever seen this happen before. Once Roy started Vopatizing, Joe Sanderson, Ryan Lyndon, and Jamie Cox also began rapidly Vopatizing. I had been relying heabily on Louis Roy in case one of Goldstein or Soko faltered, and now Roy's becoming largely useless
My entire organization could be falling apart. Not only will Columbus likely be gutted by retirements when all is said and done, Syracuse is also going to suffer greatly in the aftermath as well.
I'm beginning to wonder what I've gotten myself into with this. A rebuild is looking painful, but I want it now... because the rebuild is inevitable.
* * *
April 8th, 2005
The season has ended.
Code: Select all
WESTERN CONFERENCE, FINAL STANDINGS
Team GP W L OTL T PTS Pct GF GA
----------------------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----- ----- -----
*Detroit Red Wings 82 56 19 4 3 119 .726 301 211
*Dallas Stars 82 54 21 1 6 115 .701 283 211
*Edmonton Oilers 82 44 29 2 7 97 .591 275 237
*St. Louis Blues 82 56 19 3 4 119 .726 306 244
*San Jose Sharks 82 52 23 3 4 111 .677 302 246
*Anaheim Mighty Ducks 82 48 28 3 3 102 .622 335 296
*Columbus Blue Jackets 82 43 29 3 7 96 .585 291 250
*Phoenix Coyotes 82 41 34 2 5 89 .543 281 261
Colorado Avalanche 82 39 37 1 5 84 .512 311 302
Minnesota Wild 82 31 43 3 5 70 .427 274 292
Vancouver Canucks 82 28 40 4 10 70 .427 252 307
Calgary Flames 82 32 45 1 4 69 .421 262 316
Los Angeles Kings 82 29 47 1 5 64 .390 253 295
Nashville Predators 82 27 50 3 2 59 .360 276 358
Chicago Blackhawks 82 25 54 2 1 53 .323 277 350
We did it.
We somehow bounced back from that miserable January and February to make that great run at the end and even went 8-1-0-1 in our final 10 games. Thus we are the 7th seed and will play the Dallas Stars in the opening round.
Code: Select all
LEAGUE SCORING LEADERS
Name Tea GP G A PTS +/- PIM
-- ----------------------- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
L Andrei Baich NAS 82 50 74 124 10 57
C Chris Glin NAS 82 45 70 115 9 30
R Howard White CHI 82 47 56 103 21 40
L Kirk Valk NJ 82 39 61 100 42 46
L Lars Arnesen CHI 82 37 61 98 4 58
L Jared Jiminez PIT 81 32 65 97 30 64
C Tim Hoang-tran BUF 82 43 52 95 22 6
L Cameron Burr STL 81 47 47 94 31 43
C Patrice Savard EDM 82 45 49 94 42 6
L Denis Cadrin CBS 82 33 60 93 27 146
C Fred Machado CAR 82 36 56 92 30 8
C Raphael Daniel MTL 82 41 50 91 9 27
C Lars Eliassen SJ 82 40 50 90 26 14
L Mike Bieber STL 80 49 40 89 42 38
C Renaud Darveau CBS 82 40 49 89 27 149
Cadrin and Darveau, in their last hurrahs, make the list. Good, this is why they became Blue Jackets. I expected a bit more from Cadrin to be honest, but I'll settle for 93 points given the miserable slump we were in for about 2 months there.
Andrei Baich is insane. 124 pts in 82 games for the Preds. And he's only 33 years old -- he isn't retiring soon.
However, I'm sure you all picked up on the truly-disturbing element of that list. Patrice Savard, 94 pts in 82 Games. He's going to be the bane of my existence, I can already tell.
Also, Tim Hoang-tran (the official Favorite Non-Blue Jacket of This Story) gets 95 points. And he's only 32, so rest assured the "Tim Hoang Train" is going to be around for a few more stops on this story's route.
Code: Select all
LEAGUE GOALIE LEADERS
Name Tea GP G A PTS W L OtL T SA PCT SO GAA
-- ----------------------- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ----- ----- ----- -----
Robert Boulianne DET 81 0 2 2 55 18 4 1 2036 91.0 6 2.51
Pavel Rudakov STL 60 0 2 2 43 13 0 3 1536 90.7 2 2.69
Albert Gereben NJ 70 0 4 4 42 20 2 4 1862 90.5 6 2.80
Art Davis TOR 72 0 1 1 41 24 0 5 1534 88.1 3 2.89
Konstantin Shirocky EDM 67 0 1 1 39 21 2 5 1848 91.1 5 2.72
Peter Nyman SJ 57 0 3 3 36 13 1 3 1179 89.3 3 2.67
Larry Villachez CAR 80 0 2 2 35 28 1 14 2177 90.5 4 2.85
Dmitri Larin PHO 68 0 2 2 33 26 2 5 1719 89.6 6 2.95
Jean-François Morin DAL 53 0 2 2 33 13 1 5 1336 90.9 2 2.49
Nicolas Leblanc MTL 57 0 2 2 32 22 0 3 1413 89.7 2 2.86
I really don't know what to make of Robert Boulianne. On one hand, 55 wins is 55 wins. On the other hand, his 74OF - 79DF - 76OA rating would barely make him a starter in most other leagues, and not a good one probably. Now Pavel Rudakov... 43 Wins in 60 Games. Now THAT'S impressive. And that's also why St. Louis is one of the best teams in the league...
And then we have Larry Villachez, who somehow managed to rack up 14 Ties in a year were the next-nearest (Hugo Caron of VAN) only had 7. I guess that means Villachez has enough to just hang on for dear life, but not enough to win games on his own.
Code: Select all
COLUMBUS SCORING
Name Tea GP G A PTS +/- PIM
-- ----------------------- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
L Denis Cadrin CBS 82 33 60 93 27 146
C Renaud Darveau CBS 82 40 49 89 27 149
R Kurt Nolan CBS 81 43 44 87 24 118
C Jean-Philippe St-Amour CBS 82 27 41 68 10 71
D Jim Morissette CBS 82 14 53 67 21 20
L Ratislav Zetah CBS 82 24 43 67 28 135
D Sebastien Lévesque CBS 82 14 40 54 13 44
C Dave Gong CBS 82 17 33 50 -24 80
R Christian Beauséjour CBS 82 21 20 41 21 58
C Adolf Zellmer CBS 82 19 21 40 -13 46
R Alois Jerabek CBS 64 10 24 34 -12 59
D Viktor Garipov CBS 82 2 29 31 16 136
D Dominic Jacob CBS 82 4 27 31 26 151
R Éric Guillemette CBS 59 9 12 21 -10 42
L Benoît Chevalier CBS 82 9 11 20 -8 244
R Keith Dinh CBS 41 4 8 12 -1 14
L Xavier St-Jean CBS 82 4 5 9 -18 318
D Jason McLennan CBS 70 0 7 7 -17 34
D Doug Bergman CBS 82 0 4 4 -18 140
D *Larry Mulder CBS 12 0 1 1 0 7
R Halvar Manderbacka CBS 1 0 0 0 0 0
Code: Select all
COLUMBUS GOALIES
Name Tea GP G A PTS W L OtL T SA PCT SO GAA
-- ----------------------- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ----- ----- ----- -----
Julio Goldstein CBS 40 0 0 0 19 16 1 4 931 88.7 1 2.99
*Yuri Sokjolovsky CBS 43 0 0 0 24 13 2 3 960 88.5 2 2.93
Not bad for a first year with a bunch of has-beens, won't-ever-be's, and shouldn't-ever-be's. It's at this point I feel the overwhelming need to point out that Benoit Chevalier managed to get into 40 Fights this season and only win 6 of them. 40!!! And 6!!! How exactly do you take that kind of beating and keep deciding it's a good idea to try again?
So now I match up against the Dallas Stars in the first round. A preview tells me Dallas has 5 Pucks in Offense, Defense, and Goaltending. Great. I have 2 Pucks for Offense, 5 for Defense, and 3 for Goaltending.
I'm gonna' get wasted...
-------------------------------------------------------------------
APRIL 10th, GAME #1 WESTERN QUARTERFINALS.
Columbus @ Dallas.
A nasty game. Tons of Roughing penalties, some Slashings, and a few fights. Some would call it "chippy".
All of my Right Wings play miserably and all get 5 ratings for the game. I also started Soko and maybe that was a mistake. He stops 27 shots, but lets 5 by.
Jim Morissette's 1G and 1A isn't enough.
DAL 5 - CBS 2. (DAL 1-0).
APRIL 12th, GAME #2 WESTERN QUARTERFINALS.
Columbus @ Dallas.
Julio Goldstein gets the start over Soko. I also made the boys run some Extra Practices on their offday. They didn't appreciate it much. Again the game is very "chippy". Not only Roughing and Slashing, but also now multiple High-Sticking penalties mar the game.
It makes little difference though. Goldstein plays well but has to face 43 Shots. My forwards disappear, including the normally-steady Adolf Zellmer who nabs a 4 Rating for this game. Dallas gets 12 PP opportunities, I only get 4. Those #$*(#&$* HOMER REFS!!! There's no excuse for that! Minor-league call-up André Simard has a decent game though and gets into a fight with Star Per-Axel Nasbom, pummeling him. It's a small consolation.
DAL 5 - CBS 1. (DAL 2-0).
APRIL 14th, GAME #3 WESTERN QUARTERFINALS.
Dallas @ Columbus.
Much buzz around the arena before the game along the lines of "returning the favor" now that we're back home. Julio gets the start in net because even though he lost, he played a LOT better than Soko in his game. And I'm desperate.
Another penalty-filled game. I get 9 PP's, Dallas gets 6. We each score only once on the PP.
Dallas holds a 4-2 lead late in the 3rd period when 40 year-old Renaud Davreau scores from Denis Cadrin and Kurt Nolan on the PP to bring it back within one. A flurry of shots is sent towards Dallas' net despite their unreal blueline play, but none get through and time expires.
DAL 4 - CBS 3. (DAL 3-0).
APRIL 16th, GAME #4 WESTERN QUARTERFINALS.
Dallas @ Columbus.
Something weird happened in the dressing room before this game. Jim Morissette was casually pacing back and forth looking his teammates in the eye until he finally broke the silenced and asked "
Why did we even bother showing up if we're gonna' hold back this game like we did the other 3?".
So they didn't. And out on the ice, all Hades broke loose.
Jean-Philippe St. Amour scored the first of 2 goals 2:27 into the 1st, Renaud Darveau added two later in the game, and the rest never looked back. When Denis Cadrin scored the second goal of the game Nationwide Center erupted like we haven't heard here before, and the noise never really let up.
Julio Goldstein with the shutout. All-Universe Stars' goalie Jean-Francois Morin puts up a 4 Rating for the game. The Stars left Ohio with a hollow, shell-shocked look in their eyes from the 4th game. Dare we believe again?
CBS 6 - DAL 0. (DAL 3-1)
* * * * * *
APRIL 18th, GAME #5 WESTERN QUARTERFINALS.
Columbus @ Dallas.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
-- Harold Wilson (1916 - 1995).
{REDACTED} those Dallas-loving refs.
Dallas gets 11 PP's in this game, every chance in the world. The game is "chippy", as they all have been. Whatever "chippy" is. If "chippy" is 5 guys trying to literally kill 5 other guys then sure, "chippy" it is.
Before the game my Blue Jackets seemed ornery. They felt disrespected, wronged, and as though every trip to Reunion Arena has seen them get screwed over by the refs. And furthermore, now after the 6-0 pasting we gave them in Game #4 they also think they can hang with the Stars and beat them. They're mortal, these Stars. They don't just have an Achilles' Heel, they have a Leg, Arm, and Side too.
Dallas' superstar defenseman Knut Grishin opens scoring early in the first, and Columbus responds to tie. And so it goes on, one side scoring and the other responding to tie it back up. By the third period CBS leads 3-2, until DAL gets a late goal from Samuel Drouin to tie.
And so we go to OT.
6 seconds into the OT the officials call an Elbowing penalty on Kurt Nolan, a cheap payback penalty since they had to call Elbowing twice on Dallas' Ruslan Orlov earlier in the game. My team scrambles on the PK, blocking shots, throwing bodies around, not letting anything through. Julio Goldstein only has to stop one shot in the first 1:50 and then something happens.
*clank*
*red light*
Goal.
A Knut Grishin pass to Rob Callan redirects off Callan's stick, off center Glen Lee's skate, and nicks the post to go into the net.
DAL 4 - CBS 3 OT. (DAL Wins 4-1)
"Haste in every business brings failures."
-- Herodotus (484 BC - 430 BC), The Histories of Herodotus
If Herodotus weren't already dead I'd go find him and kill him myself...
-- Primis.