From Bobcat to Blue Jackets

If you saw him on the street, you most likely wouldn’t recognize him, but it is his voice that would give him away.

As a broadcast journalism major at Ohio University, Greg Murray did not know a thing about hockey.

“I would go over to my brother’s place to watch hockey and have no idea what was going on,” Greg said.

Now, as the PA announcer for the Columbus Blue Jackets, his love for the game has grown immensely. So much so that it can occasionally even be to the displeasure of his wife. “It can sometimes get to her,” Murray said. “But it’s the best sport in the world to watch.”

Murray is one of three former Bobcats, along with in-arena host Mike Todd, and anthem singer Leo Welsh, to have a major role on the in-game experience at a Blue Jackets hockey game.

While at OU, Murray worked for the All Campus Radio Network, and as a DJ at a local bar. During his time with ACRN, Greg and Fellow host Mike Todd set a record for the longest radio marathon in Ohio history, over 99 hours.

When Murray graduated from OU in 1990, his intention was to work in radio, as a DJ, and he did. Murray bounced around between a couple radio stations before landing what he considered his dream job at QFM 96 in Columbus.

It was there, at the High Street studios of QFM, that Murray watched the construction of the future home of the Blue Jackets, Nationwide Arena.

When Murray heard about the PA job opening, he sent in his tape, the management liked his voice, and he got the job.

As PA announcer, Murray is most well-known for sayings such as “Jackets on the power play,” or his pre-game announcement of the starting lineups, but few people know about the other responsibilities Murray takes on.

Before each game, Murray and Todd script and perform a pre-game show called the “Rink Report”, which takes a look at the upcoming match as well as other games around the league. He is also responsible for “spotting” the game, and notifying the presentation and production directors of breaks in the actions, so that they can know the appropriate time to display a video, or play a sound bite.

Greg and the crew take time before each game to go over the pronunciation of all the player’s names for the upcoming game. Names like Nikolai Khabibulin (hah-bee-BOO-lihn) or Wade Dubielewicz (DOO-bih-wihtz) could give an unprepared announcer trouble. “That’s the hardest part,” he said. “People get really upset if you mispronounce names, you lose credibility.”

Murray, as well as Todd, also takes part in many Blue Jackets Foundation charity events such as a golf outing, Hockey Fest, and a fashion show dubbed “Black Ties, Blue Jackets”, to raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer research.

When asked what his favorite part about the job was, Murray responded by saying it was working with his best friend, Mike Todd. “Mike is my best friend, working with him is an absolute blast.” “This is not a job to me,” he said.

Along with being the public address announcer at the Blue Jackets games, Murray owns and operates MurrVox Voice Imaging, that according to its website “provides professional television, radio and industrial voiceovers and commercial and audio production”. Murray also does some freelance work for various Christian radios stations throughout the country.

At the conclusion of the 2008-’09 season, Murray had announced 362 consecutive home games. “You’ve got to be on your game night in and night out,” he said. “We take it very seriously.”

Bobcats Pound Penguins

The Bobcats put on a clinic Friday night, thumping Youngstown State 10-1. Ohio was led by veterans Steve Osacky and Ryan Tessmer, who each tallied two and three goals, respectively.

In a rare occurrence, the Bobcats recorded a hat-trick for the second straight game, after defenseman Zack Barbis scored a trio of goals last Saturday night against Mercyhurst.

The win came without five key Ohio players, who had been suspended a game for their part in a brawl that erupted last series against Mercyhurst.

The suspended players included starting goaltender Paul Marshall. With Marshall not able to play, backup goalie Patrick Morse assumed the starting role. Morse played well, turning away all but one of the Penguin’s shots.

“I felt more comfortable after I stopped the first shot,” said Morse. “I got a lot of work in practice, it felt great.”

All in all, the Bobcats torched the net with ten goals on 52 shots, leaving Youngstown State’s goaltender helpless.

You can only ask so much of a goaltender,” said Ohio Coach Dan Morris. “Speed was a factor tonight, we came in with more energy off the bat.”

The game was not all good news for the Bobcats though. During the second period, Barbis was caught in the corner when his own teammate fell onto him, breaking his tibia. He is expected to be out at least four weeks.

Game two of the series did not bring quite the offensive fireworks that game one displayed, but still ended in a 4-1 Ohio victory.

Youngstown State’s goaltender played flawless through the first period, making numerous spectacular saves and leading his team to a scoreless tie at the end of one.

The Penguins continued their good play into the second. But with 11:47 remaining the second, Youngstown State defenseman Ian Hardenbrook took a five-minute major boarding penalty, followed by a two minute hooking penalty by teammate Alex Arnold. The penalties gave the Bobcats a five on three man advantage, and set up Tyler Pilmore’s fourth goal of the year with 7:14 remaining.

Ohio held on to its one goal margin well into the third when goaltender Paul Marshall made an amazing save, reaching behind him to pull the puck out from in front of the net.

The Bobcats were able to add some insurance late in the third, tallying two goals within 42 seconds.

The teams traded goals with under five minutes remaining to reach the 4-1 final.

“I think their goaltender became fatigued,” Coach Morris said. “But we’ve still got some things to improve on, we had some veterans making mistakes, which should not happen.”

Between the two games, Ohio ended the series with 14 goals, and 106 shots.

Ohio Hockey vs. Youngstown St. Preview

The Ohio University hockey team started the ’09 season strong, with a series sweep over Mercyhurst last weekend.

This weekend, the Bobcats are set to faceoff against the Youngstown State Penguins. The upcoming series is the first of the year for Youngstown State, after a strong campaign a year ago in which they upended nationally ranked programs including Pitt and West Virginia.

During the 2008-2009 season, the Penguins found themselves nationally ranked for the first time in the programs short three-year history. OU players said although they don’t know a lot about Youngstown State as a team, they will not look past them.

“A lot of the younger guys don’t know a whole lot about them,” admitted forward Tyler Pilmore. “But we won’t overlook them, we’re focused on them this weekend,” he continued.

The Bobcats began the season with a 3-1 victory last Friday night, followed by a 5-0 blowout win over the Lakers Saturday night, in a game where an all out brawl erupted between the two teams after what appeared to be a premeditated fight drawn up by the Mercyhurst coaching staff.

When asked what the team needed to improve on from last week to this week, Bobcats Head Coach Dan Morris said they need to focus on doing a better job scoring goals when they have the opportunity.

“I would like to see us finish when we have our chances,” Morris said. “But it’s early.”

This weekend’s matchup also presents a difficult task in replacing five injured guys. Morris said he has been switching up the lines all week in order to compensate.

The team will also focus on gelling as a unit and becoming more comfortable with the system. “We struggled with our chemistry a bit last week,” said Pilmore.

Teammate Justin Farmer agreed, “We need to play together,” he said. “We don’t know much about them, but we go into the weekend the same as every week, as long as we play our game, it doesn’t matter who we play.”

Youngster Get Chance to Shine

It has been an interesting pre-season for the Columbus Blue Jackets, so much so, that their record, which stands at 1-2-1, may be the least intriguing and relevant news.

A big story of the preseason thus far has the play of some of the young guys. Maksim Mayorov tallied two goals in the opening game against Pittsburgh. Alexander Picard also added a goal.

According to sources, John Moore has looked outstanding. As a skater, he looks far beyond his years. He does not look like an eighteen year old on the ice, and it appears he going to be around for a while, at least until the end of camp.

Forward Michael Blunden, who has looked good in camp, has impressed coaches, and could compete for the fourth line center position.

Grant Clitsome is another youngster that has impressed. Clitsome finished a nice goal on a beautiful pass from Derick Brassard in Monday night’s game and has played well with the puck.

The team has also seen strong goaltending from recently signed goaltender Mathieu Garon. He has played so well in fact, that as backup goaltender, Garon should push Mason to be better.

Not only have the young guys been able to produce, but the veterans have played strong as well. In Monday night’s game against Minnesota, the first line tallied a total of seven points.

The line played with great chemistry and connected on an impressive tic-tac-toe play from Nash to Huselius to Brassard. Vermette has also played strong, adding a shorthanded goal to a 5-1 win over the Wild Monday night.

Unfortunately, the team has also experienced its fair share of injuries. In a 2-0 loss to Minnesota, Blue Jackets forward Jason Chimera was carried off the ice on a stretcher after being violently checked into the boards by Wild center Eric Belanger with just over six minutes remaining in the second period.

Left Winger Fredrick Modin has also sustained an injury that is expected to keep him out four to six weeks. Raffi Torres is out with back spasms.

The team faces off against Boston Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena.

Ohio Hockey Team Fights it Way to Victory

After ending last season with a CSCHA Tournament Championship, the Bobcats opened the ’09-’10 season strong with two wins at home against Mercyhurst. The Bobcats took Friday night’s game 3-1 then followed it up with a 5-0 romping of the Lakers on Saturday night.

During the first period of play on Friday night, Mercyhurst stood strong behind the play of its freshman goaltender, but the Bobcats broke the game open with two goals in the third period.

With only few minutes gone by in the third, Ohio defenseman Mark Tracy took a pass from teammate Jimmy Irwin and flipped it over the goalies right shoulder pads and into the back of the net.

Minutes later, Steve Osacky positioned himself in front of the net and finished on a one-time pass from behind the goal by putting it top shelf behind the goaltender. The goal put the cap on what would be a 3-1 Ohio victory.

“The play had a perfect set-up,” Osacky said about the goal. “We had the puck down low and they had their backs to me, I was able to sneak in from behind and put it in the net.”

Game two of the series turned out to be even more eventful than the first. Again, Mercyhurst held strong behind the play of its freshman goaltender, and went to the break with a zero-zero tie.

The second period, however, was a different story. Mercyhurst took penalties early and often, which led to numerous opportunities for OU. Nine minutes into the second period, Ohio defenseman Zack Barbis carried the puck into the offensive zone and scored an unassisted power play goal over goaltender’s left shoulder pad. The goal was his second of the night.

OU lit the lamp again with 5:29 remaining making the score 3-0. With just over 3 minutes remaining, Mercyhurst’s Shane Vorndran took a five minute major boarding penalty which was followed by a tripping penalty by Mercyhurst’s Matt Leitzel about two minutes later.

The penalties led to a five on three man advantage for the Bobcats, which led to Barbis’ third goal of the night and a 4-0 second period lead for OU.

“I felt like I was in the zone,” said Barbis in a post-game interview. “I got some good opportunities I was able to capitalize on.”

OU put the icing on the cake with a fifth goal from forward Tyler Pilmore thirteen minutes into the final period of play.

With just over three minutes remaining in the game, a fight broke out between the teams, leading to many penalties and a couple game misconducts. Once the referees sorted everything out play was resumed.

A minute later, another brawl began when multiple Mercyhurst players dropped their gloves immediately after the faceoff and began throwing punches.

Even OU goaltender Paul Marshall got in on the action, and was eventually ejected. Sticks and gloves littered the ice as the helpless referees could do nothing but watch.

In the end, both teams received numerous game misconduct ejections and ended the game with multiple players in the penalty box.

When asked what his team needs to do better for next week, head coach Dan Morris responded by saying the team needs to improve its spacing in the corner, “We need to be able to find the open ice, we seem to tire ourselves out,” said the coach.

The Bobcats continue play next weekend at Bird Arena with a series against Youngstown State.

A Look at the KHL

By now we’ve all heard about the Kontinental Hockey League, and their bid to land the Jackets 2008 first round pick Nikita Filatov. And although the Russian Super League has yet to have a direct impact on the Blue Jackets, there are a few former Jackets that have made the switch to the Russian league including Sergei Fedorov, Alexander Svitov, and potentially 2004 first round draft pick Nikolai Zherdev.

Although Russian professional hockey dates back to 1946, the KHL was founded in 2008. It is the successor to the RSL, or Russian Super League. The KHL currently has 24 teams, 21 of which are located within the Russian Federation.

There have been talks about expanding the league’s map and adding teams across Europe in order to establish itself as one of the world’s top leagues.

As the list of former NHL players in the KHL grows, which now features familiar names such as Jiri Hudler, Sergei Zubov, Joakim Lindstrom, and Richard Zednik, we are left wondering what type of impact the Russian League could have on the NHL.

One reason that the KHL has been able to woo away NHL free agents is because they have been able to offer tax free, incentive laden contracts worth more than what most NHL teams are willing to pay for a player.

Although the KHL has had some success tapping into the European pool of talent, they have had virtually no success in luring away American and Canadian born players.

The KHL has also had trouble corralling young NHL talent. With a few exceptions, the players that have made the switch overseas have mainly been older, past their prime players such as Fedorov and Zubov.

So unless the KHL can somehow begin luring away North American talent, which is unlikely considering concerns such as playing conditions, medical care, and Russian culture, the chances of the KHL overtaking the NHL as the world’s hockey power seem dim.

The KHL is a growing league which has had some success in acquiring talent, but how long can the KHL last by throwing inflated contracts in the face of washed up NHL players?

The fact of the matter is that the majority of the talent is in the NHL. The NHL is the big dog of professional hockey, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

Training camp begins September 12!

-T17M

Owners Fantasy Draft

The Players are not going to be the only ones with a lot at stake when Blue Jackets training camp begins September 13, but the owners will as well.

On Tuesday night at a private function in Nationwide Arena, majority owner John P. McConnell and minority owners Ron Pizzuti, Jay Crane, and John F. Wolfe held a fantasy hockey draft in which they each drafted a 16-player team from the Blue Jacket’s training camp roster.

Each team was required to select three centers, seven wingers, and six defensemen. Goaltenders were not drafted but instead will be assigned to a team on a daily basis.

When asked for the motives behind the fantasy draft, Jacket’s head coach and brainchild of the draft Ken Hitchcock cited unequal opportunities in previous year’s camps, and an opportunity for players to meet owners as main reasons.

The rosters for each team were released, but the draft order and order in which players were selected was not. According to the Columbus Dispatch, the teams, broken down by forwards and defensemen, are as follows:

Team Wolfe

F:Rick Nash, Derek Mackenzie, Kristian Huselius, Tom Sestito, Michael Blunden, Jared Boll, Daniel Steiner, Andrew Clarck, Tim Miller, Jon Mirasty

D:Kris Russel, Mike Commodore, Grant Clitsome, David Savard, Tim Filangieri, Spencer McAvoy

Team Crane

F: Derick Brassard, Sammy Pahlson, Derek Dorsett, Pascal Pelletier, Trvor Frischmon, Tom Cavanagh, Matthew Calvert, Darren Archibald, Brock McBride, Zak Ray

D: Fedor Tyutin, John Moore, Mathieu Roy, Doug Lynch, David Liffiton, Dylan Reese

Team McConnell

F: Antoine Vermette, R.J. Umberger, Raffi Torres, Chris Higgins, Thomas Kubalik, Alexandre Picard, Stefan Legein, Andrew Aggozino, Kevin Harvey, Cass Mappin, Matt Caria

D: Jan Hejda, Rostislav Klesla, Brent Regner, Steven Delisle, Cam Brodie

Team Pizzuti

F: Jake Voracek, Nikita Filatov, Jason Chimera, Fredrik Modin, Jared Aulin, Maksim Mayorov, Andrew Murray, Scott Tanski, Ian Duval, Tayler Jordan, Tyler Murovich

D: Marc Methot, Jonathan Sigalet, Andrei Plekhanov, Kevin Roeder, Paul Bezzo

The teams will play a four-team playoff in which the winners of the first game advance to the championship match while the losers battle it out for third place.

The matchups are as follows:

September 13, 10:30 am

Team McConnell vs. Team Crane

September 13, 2 pm

Team Wolfe vs. Team Pizzuti

September 14, 10:30 am

Third Place Game

September 14, 2 pm

Championship Game

“It’s going to be good,” Hitchcock said. “It’ll be fun, and we’ll get a good evaluation.”

We know that it was a snake style draft in which the order reverses after each round. With that being said, we can only assume that Team Wolfe had the first selection since he has Rick Nash listed on his roster. Other than that though, the rest of it is pretty unclear.

I’ll let you decided who has the best team.

-T17M