CBJ FANsided Friday: Dennis Kelley II from Boone’s Goons!
U&B: How do you feel about the start to the season / where do you think the CBJ will finish this year?
Dennis: The start of this season wasn’t too much of a shock. I didn’t panic, although it could have been easy to just think “well, they’ve started out this way for most of the past 13 years”. I don’t think all the injuries helped either. You can’t win if you don’t have a consistent line-up.
Call me Joe Namath, because I’m guaranteeing a playoff berth. Write it down. Put it in 3 inch bold letters on the front of every newspaper in America if you want to. The Columbus Blue Jackets WILL make the playoffs. And, this time, they’ll advance.
Jan 13, 2014; Columbus, OH, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets forward Boone Jenner (38) during the first period against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Nationwide Arena. Columbus beat Tampa Bay 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
U&B: Tell me more about Boone’s Goons!
Dennis: Boone’s Goons (@Boones_Goons) started with that preseason game against Minnesota we talked about before. It was an idea my friend Jim Martin (@J_Mart77 on Twitter) and I came up with. We had no goals or anything with it. We just liked the name Boone and we also thought it would be funny to do the whole Chuck Norris thing with him (“If Boone Jenner was a calendar, every month would be BooneTober and every day he’d kick your butt”). So, it was basically nothing until it caught the attention of DKM Hockey and Jeff Rimer.
During a televised game where Boone scored his first home goal, Rimer mentioned us on air and we noticed an immediate spike in Twitter followers for awhile. So, this little joke of a Twitter page has become something we’re actually very passionate about now. We started making and giving away free Boone’s Goons promo t-shirts from time to time and people have seemed to enjoy that. And, in the middle of all this, we’ve had the pleasure of watching Boone develop into a great hockey player right before our eyes.
Sep 23, 2013; Columbus, OH, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets forward Boone Jenner (38) Minnesota Wild defenseman Jon Landry (34) fight during the second period at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
What we didn’t know was just how broad the audience is. I got a message from Boone’s Aunt Toni who said some of the family was following us on Twitter. Her son, Deon, runs the @JennerBoone38 account. Toni mentioned that some of them were coming down from Dorchester, Ontario for the game against the Penguins in late December, so I printed a t-shirt out for her to give to Deon and met her and some other family members before the game. She took the shirt home and gave it to Deon. Boone signed it for him. Now, there’s a one of a kind Boone Jenner item out there. That’s a real honor. His family seems pretty cool. They’re pretty close and really proud of Boone. It shows. They have a page on Facebook called “Boone Jenner Hockey”. I recommend it for any fan of Boone. Lots of stuff from the family archives.
Nov 20, 2013; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Columbus Blue Jackets center Boone Jenner (38) during the third period against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome. Columbus Blue Jackets won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
As Boone’s Goons has grown, the vision now seems to be interaction and expanding the fan networking through Meet & Greets at the cannon during 1st Intermission. Jim and I have met a lot of people there recently. I think that sort of engagement is important because the experience can be more than just a bunch of strangers coming to watch hockey. Now, we go to watch a great hockey game AND we know that we’re going to meet some of our friends there too. We’ve gotten close with Matt and Jordan from The CBJ Artillery (our personal favorite of all CBJ related Twitter accounts). I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with John Kemp from DKM Hockey. We know Mask Juice and I now have an Arch City Army membership.
I think of all that’s happened with Boone’s Goons and John Davidson’s “Brick by Brick” theory comes to mind now. I don’t think that the organization and the players are the only ones who should be responsible for building this thing brick by brick. I think the fan base can help too by getting involved and engaging with each other somehow. I’m still trying to figure it out. The attention is still new to me. But, I’m excited about the future of this team, these fans and most of all Boone Jenner.
Everyone at the Union and Blue would like to thank Dennis for taking the time to answering our questions! Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter !