Semi OT, a tooting of the horn

[forty_three]

2001 Ohio AAA Blue Jackets Win Quebec | BlueJackets Xtra

I had heard that they were having a good tourney, and late last night got the email that they'd won it all.

That goalie they have is something special.


And I will say it again, expansion in the NHL has nothing to do with gate revenues and TV contracts. It has to do with growing the game. Columbus has never been anything but a hockey town to these kids. The competition to get on the AAA Jackets is intense. I see these kids all the time. They are really, really good. And the coaching staff are teaching them about more than winning.

 

[puckhead]

Huge tourney. congrats.
If you know kids that went, make sure they keep the tournament program.
There is some serious talent that tends to run through that tourney.

I have some of mine from bantam tournaments, looking back it was neat to have played against the likes of Brind'Amour and Sakic.

 

[elocomotive]

2001 Ohio AAA Blue Jackets Win Quebec | BlueJackets Xtra

Well, no wonder. You have some sort of time machine to go back and anticipate all the plays of their 2001 opponents.

I think I better headline might be... "Holy Fucking Shit! I built a time machine...and it works!!!"

 

[forty_three]

Huge tourney. congrats.
If you know kids that went, make sure they keep the tournament program.
There is some serious talent that tends to run through that tourney.

I have some of mine from bantam tournaments, looking back it was neat to have played against the likes of Brind'Amour and Sakic.

That is pretty awesome puck. Do you remember if Brindy was built like a tank even then?

I have seen them play, but don't really know any of them. They practice at the same rink we do, so I have seen them around. I know of the goalie because he's actually same age group as my son and he was at select team tryouts early on, and then I helped do assessments at the AAA tryouts.

Can't wait to see that banner go up.

 

[dash]

If I recall correctly, as soon as Patrick Roy found out in 2002 that he wouldn't be the starter for Team Canada in Salt Lake, he bailed on the Olympics and attended this tourney because his son was playing in it.

 

[forty_three]

Michael Arace commentary: Columbus becoming hotbed for hockey | BlueJackets Xtra

Again; "toot"

 

[dash]

Michael Arace commentary: Columbus becoming hotbed for hockey | BlueJackets Xtra

Again; "toot"

That's how you grow a fanbase, get kids having success at the grassroots level and they become hockey fans for life. Good news, 43.

 

[forty_three]

That's how you grow a fanbase, get kids having success at the grassroots level and they become hockey fans for life. Good news, 43.

The reason for expansion.

And why I get so annoyed when the uneducated say "Columbus should move".

Compared to their expansion bretheren (98 and 00)...

Atlanta - Moved
Nashville - Decent but no youth hockey scene
Minnesota - Hockey scene was already there. It's like putting a race track in Charlotte, NC.

Columbus was the best return on investment in the second expansion wave for the game as a whole.