Game #18: Minnesota Wild at Columbus Blue Jackets, Tuesday November 15, 2011 at 6:00pm (CST), Nationwide Arena

It’s not unusual during Wild games, that we flip through the other games on Center Ice.  Many times, it’s just to better keep tabs on how the other teams are doing.  On weekends, we also like to catch the “Coach’s Corner” and “Hockey Hotstove” segments on the CBC broadcasts on Center Ice.  But then there are some of our favorite games to flip to.  No, we’re not looking for the best teams in the league.  Our guilty pleasure is catching broadcasts of the Columbus Blue Jackets.  And they’re at their best when you can watch the Columbus broadcast with James Rimer and Bill Davidge.  Of course, they were even better when Danny Gare was on television as well.

Now some Columbus games are more entertaining than others.  This Saturday was no exception.  In fact, it was a true gem.  Now they did mention to win in regulation against Winnipeg.  But Saturday’s entertainment had absolutely nothing to do with what was happening on the ice.  The excitement came during one of the intermissions.  During this particular segment, they showed a “State of the Blue Jackets” type meeting between season ticket holders and team management, most notably, General Manager Scott Howson.  If body language could kill a person, that lethal version was demonstrated by the Blue Jackets season ticket holders in attendance.  There were poker faces and crossed arms throughout the room.  Add that meeting, with Howson’s blog entry on October 25, 2011, you pretty much have a recipe for fan frustration:

Just under three weeks ago, we started the 2011-12 season with a high level of optimism and positive energy following a summer of transformation and development for our hockey club. What has transpired since has felt like we – management, coaches, players and fans – have been punched in the gut.

No one saw this coming. We had a strong training camp with good results in the preseason. The only negatives coming out of September were the James Wisniewski suspension and injuries to Mark Dekanich and Jared Boll. As we prepared to take the ice on Opening Night vs. Nashville, we talked about the emotions we felt at this time of year. We talked about words like excitement, anticipation, hope and optimism.

The first three weeks have been extremely difficult for all of us. The responsibility for where we are lies with me, our management staff, coaches and players. It does not lie with Brendan Shanahan or the NHL or the officials. It is not about luck. The responsibility for getting us out of it lies also with us… all of us doing it together.

Our fans have been remarkably patient with our franchise. We understand the anger and frustration that has built up over the past decade makes this about more than just the present. All I can tell you is that we are working together to look for solutions every day.

I am an admirer of Bill Walsh and in his book “The Score Takes Care of Itself” he emphasizes that after any setback you have to tell yourself, “I am going to stand and fight again.” We can’t change the first eight games, but we will stand and fight starting tonight. We will focus on being the best we can be today and then being better tomorrow.

Ninety percent of our season remains and that is more than enough time to reach the goals we set for ourselves. We are bent, but not broken, and very determined to get back on track.

Thanks for your support of Blue Jackets hockey.   http://bluejackets.nhl.com/club/blog.htm?id=106

So while the Wild have had their issues this season (many of which you have read in both the game previews and post-game articles), we must realize that things could be much, much worse.  We’re not the Columbus Blue Jackets, and thankfully we have never been.  While we have not had the success we would have liked over the years, at least we have seen more success than our expansion brethren.  And to make things even better, the Minnesota Wild are currently in possession of first place in the Northwest Division.  This is an honor that Minnesota has not held since 2008.  It is something to be proud of, but as we are all aware, at this time it is temporal at best.  And of course, it doesn’t matter where you end up in your division.  Really the only thing that matters is whether or not you earn the most important piece of hardware at the end of the playoffs.  If you think that doesn’t matter, just ask the Vancouver Canucks.

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