Well, free agency was fun and happy and hilarious, until I got a text today about Nikolai.

The Rangers. The Rangers. All I have to say is they better take damn good care of him.

CAR @ CBJ: 4-1 WIIIN!

My 100th post, and I am crying.

Anyone who says that Nik Zherdev hasn't grown this season needs to just look at that EN goal that he HAD, his hat trick that was guaranteed, and he passed it instead. And the fans threw hats anyways. Love it.

See what you do to me, Nik Zherdev? You reduce me to tears, baby boy. Love you so much.

First star well earned and deserved.

Also: Eric Staal, I am not friends with you right now. That was supposed to be a shutout. Jerk.

Jackets Goals: Zherdev, Klesla (Hainsey, Zherdev), Zherdev (Nash), Beech (Zherdev, Foote)
Carolina Goals: Staal (Whitney)

Final Score: 4-1
JACKETS WIN

Take that, Aaron Portzline.

Four game goal streak?

Oh. Yeah. Baby. ♥

That said, we lost tonight, 2-1 to the Wild, and I didn't get to see it. Who else is surprised? Yeah, no one? Yeah, thought so.

I'll get to watch the game against the Ducks on Monday though, so woo for me!

I'm going to go back to looking up the weather in Helsinki, Finland now. Don't ask. Just...Don't ask.

Oh, and some articles of interest.

Jackets Suspend Him (Hi, yes I'm still being petulant and refusing to say his name. :D)

Blue Jackets to Try Zherdev at Centre

I'm excited about this one. Like, really really really excited. Like, I can't even explain. Though it might have a lot to do with the image of Zherdev almost falling off his chair. That's just hilarious.

Welcome to the post where Skye rants and raves.

...Wherein Skye fumes, rants, raves, and curses. Intelligent posting? What's that?

Zherdev kicked off ice during practice

In fairness, Zherdev hasn’t been the only goat on the Blue Jackets recently, but he’s the easiest and most obvious target.

No, REALLY? I mean, you only blame him for how bad the team is doing at LEAST once a week. *twitch*

Ok, I admit. I am very partial to Nikolai Zherdev. I can't help it. I don't even know why I like him so much. (...Being cute helps, but that's not the reason I like him.) The first Blue Jackets game I watched was the first game he was back from Russia this season, and he just tore up the ice, and I fell in love right then.

So words cannot express how much I HATE how they constantly pin the Jackets' failing on HIM. ONE PLAYER DOES NOT A TEAM MAKE. Nikky is NOT the only player that is not performing on the damn team. There are other players on the fucking team who are playing as badly, OR WORSE, than Nikky has been, and Nikky's had a fucking excuse! He's been SICK FOR A GOD DAMN MONTH, and didn't tell anyone! He's still not totally healthy!

And THEN, there's the rumor that I heard that Maclean may be looking to trade Nikky to Pittsburgh. After he SAID HE WOULDN'T TRADE HIM. If Doug Maclean trades Nikolai Zherdev after being quoted as saying he would not trade him, Doug Maclean will be on my shitlist until the day he dies. I'm pretty sure if that happens, 'hate' will not accurate describe how I will feel about that man.

Urrrrrrrgggggh.

...This has been Skye, being completely and totally partial, and recognizing this fact. Feel free to ignore this post. *sighs*

Head? Meet my desk. I think you two will be GREAT friends.

CGY @ CBJ: 2-1 WIN!

Right, so there wasn't a pregame report from me, but I did watch the game! ...Well, sort of. I watched the first period, and then my mother decided that Survivor and CSI > watching our team NOT SUCK for once.

My biggest happy point of the night: NIKOLAI ZHERDEV WAS BACK. And he was playing GOOD. <3 He got an assist on the night, which makes me so many kinds of happy, I can't even begin to say. AND, he was playing on a line with Sergei Fedorov, who also had an assist. (Hint, hint, Hitch. Apparently, these two play WELL together. ...Remember this, yes?) Nikky had more ice time tonight than he has had in a LONG time. At least, that's what it seemed like to me.

My second happy point: WE WON. ...Yep, that's all I got to say on that one.

My third happy point: The boys seemed to have a lot more energy tonight, then in the last couple of games. They were playing like they really wanted to win (which, I'm sure thay always want to win, but tonight, they actually played like it).

My unhappy points:

The officiating. Ok, of what I saw of the game, the officiating SUCKED. Like, hard core. I don't know if it got any better after the first period, but the first period's officiating was just terrible.

Dion Phaneuf. I don't like you. Don't touch my boys again. kthxbai.

Other than that, I'm so proud and happy for my boys tonight!

Final Score:
2-1
BLUE JACKETS WIN. <3333

Nikolai Zherdev, this is me smacking you for being retarded.

So, we've finally gotten a clue on why Nikolai Zherdev has been playing so badly for the Jackets.
---------------------------
Flagging Zherdev to undergo tests.

"Is it (mononucleosis)? Is it a virus? I’m not a doctor, but something is wrong here," MacLean said.

Part of the problem is that Zherdev did not fully divulge his symptoms to Blue Jackets coaches or the training staff.

Hitchcock made him a healthy scratch Jan. 19 against Detroit, saying he wasn’t pleased with Zherdev’s effort in recent games.

Turns out, Zherdev has had no energy.
-------------------------------------

Nikolai, I love you to death, but this is me smacking you for not telling anyone. How stupid can one person be? If it really is mono, things could have gotten so much worse than him just not having any energy. His spleen could have ruptured, and any number of other things.

My brain is telling me to make a retarded joke here, but I'm going to resist.

What in God's name posessed him to not TELL anyone? If he was having trouble not being able to articulate it (we all know he's still having trouble with English), he's got Sergei Fedorov, Alexandre Svitov, and now assistant coach Gary Agnew, who's leanring a little bit of Russian, that he could have told in Russian.

Just ugh.

In other news, the Penguins won (I am not proud of Jordan Staal's goal, oh no I'm not.) over the Capitals with a score of 2-0, and the Oil won over Avs with a score of 3-2. Props to Ales Hemsky and Ryan Smyth for their goals. And major props to Dwayne Roloson for getting first star. The Islanders beat the Habs with a score of 4-2.

There's still several games left to be played tonight, and I'm hoping Appy will provide a review of the Oil game, as she watched it.

So, I think that's it for me for now! Go Jackets! ♥

Welcome to OMWORAO.

Wow, is that a mouthful.

Anyways. Welcome! I'm Skye, and this is "Of Magic Wands, Oil Rigs, and Octopi", a hockey blog. This was started because I apparently posted too much about hockey in my LiveJournal, so I decided to get my LiveJournal friends-list a break, and start this. I tend to be a little spazzy when it comes to hockey, but I'll try to keep that in check here.

A little about me. I'm a 18 year old, first-year hockey fan from a little hick town in Ohio, and I follow the Columbus Blue Jackets. I live, breathe, eat, and dream them. I also follow the Edmonton Oilers and the Boston Bruins. ...And the Detroit Red Wings, but you never heard me say that, because I'm a good Ohio girl, and don't root for any team from Michigan. . . .

So far, there's two other authors, and they are: Steph, though I call her Appy, and then there's Nyne, who says she'll post after the Super Bowl to introduce herself. XD

I'd start off with a post about last night's Columbus/Calgary game, but as I'm still rather disgusted with my team, I don't want to ruin the brand new blog with me ranting and raving about how crappy they played. Let's just say that I'm not pleased with a score of 6-2.

And I really hope Nikolai Zherdev gets well enough so that he can play consistently again, because jeeze, after all that sickening talk about trading him that was FINALLY squashed by MacLean, the kid needs to get back out on the ice, and wow everybody. He really needs it. Here's to hoping he's better by Tuesday and can start.

So, I think I'll leave you with that. And again, welcome!