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One shot to end the game.

One shot to end the season.

Of all the shots Steve Mason had to let in Friday night, in a shootout to decide a scoreless game… why… in the hell… did it have to be the shot off Todd Bertuzzi’s stick?

This makes for a very bitter offseason for me. I won’t kid you. It’s really hard to stomach. The season Columbus fans suffered through was bad enough. But for the season to end like this? Ouch.

"Of all the shots Steve Mason had to let in Friday night, why did it have to be the shot off Todd Bertuzzi’s stick?"

Now, most Blue Jackets fans who read this don’t take the Bertuzzi thing as personally as I do, and don’t obsess about the broad aspects of the game (such as its integrity) like I do. It’s pro sports, and there is a huge shortage of integrity these days. We live in a world where Alex ‘Roid-riguez can juice, and go on to get a World Series ring. Thus, I won’t rant further about the Bertuzzi factor. It would be like reading a laundry list of announcements for a congregation who has been sitting through a double-OT service.

So, on to positivity, right?

On the good side, the Blue Jackets played one hell of a game Friday night to wrap the season. The sellout crowd got to see some of the franchise’s up-and-coming young talent, as they have for the last few weeks as the regulars have gotten hurt. We saw Steve Mason turn in a really good game with 40-something saves. We saw flashes of the brilliance he showed in his stellar Calder Trophy season last year. We saw some good back-and-forth hockey, a fast pace, and an overall exciting game.

Yes, it was 0-0 after 65 minutes. If you truly appreciate hockey, you get why it’s still cool.

Last thing I’ll share is the amount of traffic on Twitter from a handful of Columbus Blue Jackets fans who are bummed about the Jackets’ position in the Draft Lottery on Tuesday. With the point for the shootout loss, the Blue Jackets are in “sixth” (worst) place, which means they are just out of the zone where a lucky ping pong ball would move them up to first overall pick (the chance of which, if I recall correctly, is about 8.1 percent).  The Jackets can still get in it, depending how the also-rans in the East do over the next couple days.

"I’m not sweating where the Jackets draft in the first. It’s not like the incoming #1 is expected to be another Sid Crosby."

The way I figure it, most of the Jackets’ first round picks are no longer with the club anyway, so I guess I’m not sweating where the Jackets draft in the first. It’s not like the incoming “first-overall” guy is expected to be another Sid Crosby, you know?

Then again, some of the other “number one” guys have worked out wonderfully in the NHL… Alex Ovechkin in Washington, Steve Stamkos in Tampa Bay….

That Nash guy in Columbus is no slouch, either.  That goal he notched in the shootout Friday was sick.

I plan to do my “Premature Year-End” dissection of the season in a couple days, and share my “brackets” for the Playoffs as well. My first-round picks didn’t work out so well last year… I guess that’s why it’s probably a good thing they don’t do office pools for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

So… stay tuned.

Tags: columbus blue jackets, detroit red wings, draft lottery, playoffs, rick nash, shootout, steve mason, todd bertuzzi