ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

November 19th. Derek Dorsett almost gets his head put through the glass. The good guys score two goals off that major in a game where offense had previously been optional. BJ's win 4-1...

Mason wasn't playing his best, the younger guys were slumping and our defense as a unit was not performing on the level that it once had. Filatov was unhappy, Commodore was skating with lead skates. But we were 12-6-2, winning low scoring games, 5th in the West, and life was good.

Fast Forward six weeks...

We are in the midst of a losing streak not seen since, well, ever. Collecting points like it's 2001. Pretty sure Nationwide was sold out every night in the 2001-2002 season... maybe it's a conspiracy.

The fact is.. barring an unprecedented miracle this season is over. We could win 15 games in a row and realistically, still only be 10th in the conference and 4th in the division. So what the hell has happened?

What Ken Hitchcock has done with the Blue Jacket's talent is unacceptable. This team is mentally defeated before it ever steps on the ice. I watch Brassard and Voracek play scared, tentative and unwilling to do anything decisive with the puck in the offensive zone. How many times was Kris Russell scratched this year? Mason pitches a shutout to defeat the Red Wings in Nationwide to snap a 9 game losing streak AND THE NEXT NIGHT he makes 24 saves in an overtime loss where he gets NO offensive support in regulation or in the shootout. And how is he rewarded?? With a night on the bench.

What happened to win and you're in? I can only wonder what this is doing to the slumping sophmore with the imploding confidence. Allow 1 goal in 120 minutes of hockey and to your coach it means nothing.

After our beloved coach chased the best offensive prospect Columbus has had since Rick Nash out of Union Blue forever and into the KHL... Nikita Filatov had this to say...

"Hitchcock just didn't give me a chance. You score the game winner with seven minutes of playing time, and it means nothing. The next game you get four minutes of ice time. And it's normal."

Sounds like a pattern. The man won a Stanley Cup in Dallas with a stacked veteran team. His style is simply incompatible with the Columbus roster. He is stunting our young players growth. This team has hit the wall and he is simply unable to correct it. Look at these numbers...

3-14-7 since November 19
13 points in 24 games.

Some would be unwilling to dump our coach so near to our beloved first playoff appearance. I know... watching the Blue Jackets play in the playoffs after so much waiting was simply incredible.

Opening faceoff, section 216, Game 3. A night I'd rank in the top 10 of my entire life. This would give Ken Hitchcock quite a mandate with most in Columbus. But it shouldn't. Without the rookie performance of the decade out of Steve Mason we were another "close-but-no-cigar" team last year. Don't let the bliss of last April cloud or diffuse the ugliness that this team has become.

Six weeks ago we were 5th in the west, and all of us as fans were foaming at the mouth with this team and all the promise it had. Then they hit a bump in the road and instead of straightening things out Ken Hitchcock drove this team off a fucking cliff. I don't know what he is doing, I don't what he is filling the heads of the players on this roster with, all I know is that it isn't working... it is what you could call a spectacular failure. And he isn't about to change.

I love the Blue Jackets. I want a team worth rooting for again. It starts at the top.