Cannon Blasts: A Delayed Official Welcome

I joined the Jackets Cannon team back in - goodness gracious, have I seriously been with the site since October? Wow - late October and kind of just jumped into the mix. I started doing only social media updates (more specifically, I was doing a ton of twitter, and it was - and remains to be - incredibly fun), but then I caught the writing bug again.

I wrote something here and there, and after a while I wanted to be a more consistent presence on the site and in the writing team, and here we are - every morning (well, recently - sorry about the two-plus month hiatus), we meet to begin the day with some (hopefully) thoughtful insight and then some links.

But I never had an "official" welcome post. Which is fine and dandy - you don't write (or, at least, you shouldn't write) for the recognition, you do it for the passion. Having said that, I'm going to be a bit greedy and selfish and take today's preamble as my welcome post.

As I was putting together today's links, it hit me - I'm a member of the Jackets Cannon writing staff. I know, that sounds silly, but it's pretty awesome. I've only been a Blue Jackets fan since the 2012/13 season after settling on Columbus after my hometown Thrashers left for Winnipeg. My first to-do once I officially settled on the Jackets was to look up all the blogs so I could learn as much as possible as soon as possible. And, of course, the Cannon was one of the places I went to time and time again.

I said earlier I caught "the writing bug 'again'", and that's because I have written about the Blue Jackets prior to my time with the Cannon. I was a contributor, and eventual editor, for another CBJ site, Union and Blue, during the 2014/15 season.

And, I'll leave it at that. Just a quick intro, especially since we kind of know each other by now. I do want to thank Mike for trusting me to bring me aboard, as well as the rest of the staff for making me feel welcome. And, finally, thank you, the reader. I love seeing the conversations you guys have in the comments of these Blasts every day and the best part of watching games now is interacting on twitter - be it you reacting to a not-so-funny joke I made or even just a retweet and favorite. It's all appreciated and it's why I love doing...well, this.

Okay, enough about me. That'll be it, I promise. Lets get to some links. Happy Friday, by the way.

Columbus Blue Jackets News

• Last night saw the Blue Jackets extend their franchise-best mark for wins in a single season with a 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers. We have your quick takes.
• Yesterday the Jackets signed Sam Vigneault, a forward from Quebec who has posted 36 points in 39 games with Clarkson.
• Who needs the stinkin' NHL to bring outdoor games to Columbus? I mapped out the perfect Blue Jackets Stadium Series for you./

Hockey News

• The Ice Garden has been doing awesome work in keeping up with the U.S. Women's national team's decision to sit out the IIHF World Championships. Including this timeline of events leading up to the team's announcement.
• ESPN got a handful of U.S. Men's international players to speak on the impending boycott, but honestly, not much was said.
• Another outdoor game leak? Woo! This time, it's heading to our neighbor's capital city and will mark Ottawa's first ever outdoors contest.
• Ohio State notched a come-from-behind win over Michigan State in the opening round of the Big 10 Hockey Tournament.
• Oh, and here's a (not updated) bracket for the Big 10 Hockey Tournament.

Sports News

• Did you hear that there was basketball played yesterday? AND, there will be even more played today.
• What'll probably be the biggest story of the First Round of the NCAA Tournament will be: 1.) Northwester's first-ever March Madness win in their first-ever March Madness game and 2.) whatever the hell Matthew Fisher-Davis was thinking when he did this.
• Team Israel has been eliminated from the World Baseball Classic BUT their mascot better live forever because he is glorious and awesome and everything that is good./