Once again, we’re back to give you the news you can use, and once again we’ll start with an utterly devastating playoff game.
If you never expected the words “Kevin Bieksa’s first playoff Gordie Howe Hat Trick” to be used together to form a sentence, that’s OK. I never expected to write them, either. Former Jackets Aaron Rome and Raffi Torres also helped the Canucks put a grade A beatdown on San Jose, 7-3, and put the Sharks firmly against the wall going back home to HP Pavilion.
Meanwhile, Patrice Bergeron is apparently a few steps closer to returning tonight for the Bruins, but we’ve seen this happen before. Is it actually safe for him to play?
In other NHL news, the Oilers have finally completed an agreement with the City of Edmonton to build a new arena, and you may recall that the Oilers and the City of Edmonton both sent teams to Columbus over the past few years to study Nationwide and the Arena District as a model for how to build and revitalize a downtown area. Good luck to them.
Meanwhile, it appears there might be two more suitors to attempt to keep the Thrashers in Atlanta, though one of them is apparently in the middle of getting the pants sued off of him. Good luck with that. (Oh, and neither of them are Ted Turner.)
In Winnipeg, on the other hand, the provincial government is firmly against paying True North to help them acquire the team…but they’re apparently willing to pay for improvements to and remodeling of the MTS Centre to make it NHL ready. Which is a lot like your parents saying they won’t buy you your first car, but they’ll pay for the insurance, tune-ups, and the gas for as long as you own it.
Meanwhile, here in Columbus, the big news is that assistant coach Bob Boughner has resigned after one season with the Jackets, citing family reasons. The reactions, as you might expect, have been mixed.
Over at Ten Minute Misconduct, the reaction is mild surprise, at best, while DBJ writes a bit more pointed farewell. If you’re interested in just the facts, there’s also the team’s official press release.
Over at LTL, they’re weighing in on the Boughner situation as well, but they’ve also taken the time to plan a party for the CAHL players around town.
Is Ryan Johansen NHL ready? His coach in Portland certainly thinks so. (Stick Tap to Lori Schmidt for the link!)
According to Tom Reed of the Dispatch, former Jacket Fredrik Modin will announce his retirement today. Fare thee well, Freddy.
Almost forgot this – for those of you who are into Twitter, it seems that goalie prospect Mathieu Corbeil is now on there, and tweeting about his trip to the Memorial Cup.
Last but not least, over at Fire That Cannon, it seems Mary caught a bit of penalty box mischief going on last night – and after seeing the NSFW results, perhaps the Canucks are regretting that they didn’t let the Green Men sit in their usual seats last night after all.