Oscar Night Columbus Blue Jackets Style
The 89th annual Academy Awards were held in Los Angeles last night and Hollywood honored the best from the screen this year. While movies are great, we are here to honor the Columbus Blue Jackets with the best from the season thus far.
As the Columbus Blue Jackets travel to Montreal, the 89th Academy Awards are being hosted by Jimmy Kimmel in Los Angeles, California. The glitz and glam of Hollywood will draw the eyes of the world. Similarly, Columbus has drawn the eyes of the hockey world with its unexpected play this year.
John Tortorella has the boys in blue playing at an elite level this season. He has fans of the Blue Jackets thinking a Stanley Cup playoff run too. Maybe a season like this is a season they make movies after.
In the spirit of the Oscar’s and the award winning season the Jackets have had up to this point, lets hand out some hardware for this years play. The Union and Blue Academy will take a look at a few movie categories and a few hockey categories for your reading and reminiscing pleasure.
Best Director
Nominated: Coach John Tortorella, Captain Nick Foligno, Defensemen Zach Werenski
The Union and Blue Academy awarded Zach Werenski the Best Director for the Columbus Blue Jackets through 59 games thus far. The Academy had many great candidates to chose from and this was the most difficult decision to make.
Captain Nick Foligno has led the team in the locker room and on the ice. He has posted 22-22-44 thus far this year on the ice. The team rallies around him and he has full command of the locker room. Such a presence is invaluable to the second youngest team in the NHL.
Torts has done an incredible job directing the team from training camp, through the 16 game winning streak, right towards a playoff appearance. An almost certain lock for the Jack Adams Award, you have to be asking yourself how is Torts not the best director.
Well, its because there is a 19-year-old rookie defenseman that leads on of the best power plays in the NHL. Zach Werenski takes the award for best director for his astounding leadership, poise, and performance directing the Blue Jacket Power Play unit.
Werenski has come to the Blue Jackets at 19 years old and played like a 10 year veteran. He plays with poise and grasp the game better than most on the team. This allows him to calmly direct what was up until recently, the best power play in the league, and one of the best in the last two decades.
Werenski not only is 5th in the league in PP assist by a defensemen, but he leads ALL rookies in PP assist. This rookie class is pretty darn good if you haven’t noticed with Matthews, Marner, Laine, and Tkachuk putting up incredible numbers.
Any team would be thrilled to have the quarterback of their power play unit in the top five in the league in assist. To get that production from a rookie? Unheard of and beyond impressive.
Best Picture
Nominated: Matt Calvert’s Stitches, Bob and Water
Another couple of great options. The Academy was straddled with two fantastic photos this year for the Union and Blue’s Oscar for Best Picture. The Academy went with Sergei Bobrovsky and his penchant for using a plethora of water during games. Bob dousing himself in some high quality h2o is always a must watch.
We’ve seen the Russian use his water bottle to create artistic beauty many times this season. This shot from Aaron Doster of USA Today Sports takes us back to the days of HHH on the top rope before a big fight.
Like HHH, Bob intimidates his opponents with the water antics, as well as woos the ladies. His aquatic adventures have caught our eye on many occasions this year, but alas, the Academy can only honor one as the Best Picture.
Matt Calvert’s smiling mug following his game winning goal and 36 stitches to the face was a close second. For fairness sake though the Academy wanted to spread the love around the team.
Best Actor
Nominated: Seth Jones, Sergei Bobrovsky, Cam Atkinson
Whose performance has wowed the audience? Whose performance has sent Columbus Blue Jackets’ fans heading home thinking “We are so lucky to have seen that guy play”? Whose contributions have made this team exceptional?
Of course this team game has many outstanding contributors, much like a great film, but the Academy has given the Best Actor award to Cam Atkinson for the season thus far.
This is not to say the play of Seth Jones and Sergei Bobrovsky has not been spectacular. On the contrary, it shows how impressive the 5’8″ winger’s play has been.
Cam Atkinson has taken the league by storm this year, posting an absurd 29-24-53, on pace to destroy his career highs. His role on the power play has been invaluable and his play earned him his first ever All-Star appearance.
In the 2017 All-Star Game he shined as bright as the lights of Hollywood. Appropriately enough, the game was hosted by the L.A Kings. Cam led the Metro team to a win in the All-Star game and was snubbed by not winning All-Star MVP honors.
Justice has been served though by the Union and Blue Academy as Cam Atkinson is awarded the 2017 Best Actor award for his incredible play thus far.
Best Fight
Nominated: Josh Anderson vs Alex Killorn, Josh Anderson vs Christ Stewart & Matt Calvert vs Matt Dumba
This category had the Academy the most divided. My esteem colleague Grant Miller lobbied heavily for the fight on January 13th where Josh Anderson destroyed Alex Killorn. The fight was fantastic and Anderson did ensure Killorn remembered the rookie. But, I’m writing the article so tie goes to the author.
The award for best fight goes to both Anderson and Matt Calvert who both dropped the gloves in a big way against the Minnesota Wild on New Years Eve. The hype leading up to the game, the dual fights and eventual big win in Minnesota all make this fight the years best.
Both the Wild and Jackets were riding unprecedented win streaks coming into the New Years bought. The Jackets had won 14 straight and the Wild had won 12 straight. The two darlings of the NHL year met in what many dubbed the “Unsustainabowl“.
The Jackets were up 1-0 early in the second period. Both teams were playing well but the game was still entirely up in the air. That was until Josh Anderson decided to take on Christ Stewart. Stewart, a known antagonist, had been laying some big, late hits on the Jackets. He had been looking to get under the teams skin, and he did.
Tale of the Tape:
Chris Stewart: Height 6’2″ Weight 239 lbs Experience GP 578 PIM 687
Josh Anderson: Height 6’3″ Weight 221 lbs Experience GP 77 PIM 66
The two dropped the gloves after another late check by Stewart on Seth Jones. Stewart and Anderson traded massive hay-makers that landed well. The two traded fist until Anderson landed a massive right that knocked Stewart to the ice, dragging Anderson down with him. Anderson fired up the Columbus Bench and the players on ice.
Matt Calvert clearly enjoyed it as you can see his smile around the 32 second mark of the video. His smiled turned into some chirping that turned into Matt Dumba going after Calvert. Dumba got the best of Calvert until the end when Calvert put Dumba to the ice and punished Dumba.
The biggest win was that both players were tossed from the remainder of the game. Dumba, Minnesota’s third best defenseman, was ejected leaving Minnesota to play with only five men on the blue line. The match up problems that ensued were part of the reason why the Jackets went on to win 4-2.
Best Supporting Actor
Nominated: Lukas Sedlak, Coach Brad Shaw, Matt Calvert
Our final Union and Blue Academy Award goes to the Blue Jacket who is not as heralded as the main actors. He may not be in the limelight everyday but his actions lead to the success in the larger picture. These often unheralded heroes deserve this hard earned recognition.
The award goes to Matt Calvert, who racked up the most nominations in the first annual Union and Blue Awards. His relentless play, physically mentality, and willingness to sacrifice everything as earned him the Best Supporting Actor award thus far.
Calvert’s play in the bottom six has been everything a coach could ask for. He scraps, fights, and puts up points. He leads the NHL in shorthanded goals this year and has amassed double digit points. He is invaluable on the penalty kill as well as dropping the gloves when the team needs a spark.
From taking a puck to the face and scoring the game winning goal to taking out Matt Dumba, Calvert has done it all. For that and much more the Union and Blue Academy Award goes to Matt Calvert.
We hope you enjoyed the first annual Union and Blue Awards. Congratulations to all the winners on your fake awards. Nothing will be coming to you in the mail and there will be no cash prize. You can take pride in knowing that you have impressed me and the Columbus Blue Jackets’ fans thus far.