Hopefully everyone survived their week with family, and are fully recovered from hangovers or sore stomachs from Thanksgiving over-indulgence. I, personally, managed to refrain from seconds and didn’t take home leftovers, so my waistline should thank me.
SB Nation FanPulse ran a poll across all leagues asking which Thanksgiving side dish should be kicked out. The overwhelming winner (and the recipient of my vote) was green bean casserole:
Stuffing/dressing is another side that I can do without. All potatoes (mashed and sweet) are essential. I love mac and cheese, but I’ve never experienced that as a regular part of the Thanksgiving meal. My low key favorite side is corn casserole.
The week that was
Game 23: CBJ 1 OTT 0
Game 24: PHI 3 CBJ 2
Game 25: CBJ 5 PIT 2
Game 26: NYI 2 CBJ 0
Joonas Korpisalo earned a shutout on Monday, and on Friday the Blue Jackets put a thumping on the Penguins. The two loss featured the all-too-common inability to convert scoring chances.
The biggest loss was a shoulder injury suffered by Zach Werenski during a collision with Anders Lee early in Saturday’s game. He was diagnosed with a sprained acromioclavicular joint (say that three times fast) and will miss a month. Get ready for a lot of Scott Harrington, y’all!
We got an exclusive reveal of the above FanPulse results on Tuesday’s episode of the Cannon Cast, featuring our boss Steph Driver.
elpalito did his biweekly review of the rest of the Metropolitan Division.
Here at The Cannon, we’re thankful for a lot this year.
Our friend Brian Hedger at The Columbus Dispatch spoke to Torts about his tinkering with the forward lines.
On deck
Tuesday vs. Arizona
Thursday vs. NY Rangers
Saturday at Florida
We see some familiar faces this week, with Artemi Panarin’s return to Nationwide on Thursday, then a reunion with Sergei Bobrovsky in South Florida on Saturday.
Monsters Mash
Busy week for Cleveland. First, they earned Elvis Merzlikins his first North American professional win. Then they lost their rematch to the Checkers, and then again on Saturday against the Americans.
Around the League
Sean McIndoe at The Athletic recapped the 10 dumbest moments in the NHL over the past decade. The Jackets made an appearance, due to the frozen clock in Los Angeles that cost them a win.
Calgary Flames head coach Bill Peters was forced to resign amidst allegations that he used racial slurs and other abusive language during his time as a head coach in the AHL earlier in the decade. This has started a conversation about the prevalence and acceptance of this kind of behavior in hockey culture, and I hope that it can lead to meaningful reforms.
NBCSN aired a special called Headstrong after the Jackets/Flyers game on Friday that profiled several professional athletes who have spoken out about mental health issues. One featured was former Columbus goaltender coach Clint Malarchuk, who has survived both a skate to the net and then a suicide attempt. It’s very moving and well worth watching. Here’s a portion of the segment:
Here’s an interview from The Athletic from earlier in November.
Ohio Sports Update
Once again, Ohio State dominated Michigan in The Game. I grew up in the 90s when the roles were reversed, so I will never stop enjoying this run. The Buckeyes now get a rematch with Wisconsin on Saturday for the Big Ten championship.
Play me out
I’m a steadfast opponent of holiday creep. Don’t stop serving Oktoberfest beers before October is complete. Absolutely no Christmas decorations or music before Thanksgiving. Now that we’re into December, however, I’m full aboard the Christmas train. I’ll be featuring Christmas music all month in this space, and I will start with my favorite Christmas album: It’s a Holiday Soul Party! by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings