MEDIA CLIPS Columbus Blue Jackets Vs
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MEDIA CLIPS Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Anaheim Ducks October 11, 2019 Columbus Blue Jackets Columbus Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella will try to keep his cool with his younger team By Brian Hedger – The Columbus Dispatch – October 10, 2019 Attempting to describe John Tortorella’s disposition as a coach, the words “patience” and “composure” aren’t the first that come to mind. In fact, the Blue Jackets coach is commonly depicted in the media as fiery, intense and short-tempered — along with blunt, hot-headed and dismissive. They aren’t baseless descriptors, either, as Tortorella’s YouTube compilations will attest. What you see is exactly what you get with “Torts,” and he makes no apologies for it. But this season is a little different. With a team that is the youngest in the NHL by average age and has two inexperienced goaltenders, the Jackets’ bench boss is working on his own poise while asking his players to do the same. “If the coaching staff doesn’t show composure, how can we ask our players to show composure?” Tortorella said Thursday after practice. “This is something I have to make sure I am working on, too, because I make mistakes that way in letting my emotions get in the way. I need to have the composure, too, to work through some of this stuff as we go through the season.” It only took a couple games to see it. The Jackets, who play host to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday and play at the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, opened the season last weekend with back-to-back losses. The games were marred by penalties that led to power-play goals allowed, and there was a mid-game meltdown in structure during a 7-2 loss in Pittsburgh. Tortorella could have boiled over. Instead, he went the other direction, explaining in measured tones that his team’s lack of patience was most to blame. Two days later, the Blue Jackets kept their poise against the Buffalo Sabres and got their first victory, 4-3 in overtime. Tortorella made sure to leave himself some wiggle room. His reactions will not always be so calm because it’s a long season and the head coach may blow his stack a time or two. It’s part of who he is, but he’s trying to contain it. “I’m going to tell you right now, it’s not going to be just me with a big smile on my face all year long and just happy to be here,” Tortorella said. “There are going to be certain times in a season, in a game, within a week … who knows, it could be tomorrow ... that we need to step in and get things rectified right away. That is my job, to feel when I need to step in, but I just can’t be mad all the time because we didn’t get the result.” If that sounds like a plan reached after reflection, it’s because that is exactly how it happened. “That’s been a self-talk of mine all summer long, with me,” Tortorella said. “I think emotion is a positive for me, but I also think it’s a huge negative for me. I’ve known that for my whole career. As you evolve, you try to control it, but I’ve made huge mistakes, and I will this year too. It’s just, ‘How many do I make?’ Just like players, it’s a game of mistakes. It’s a game of mistakes with coaches too. "So, I have to make sure I am within myself, and … I have talked my brains out to myself about this. I really have.” Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 10.11.2019 Columbus Blue Jackets newcomer Jakob Lilja is starting to grow on coach John Tortorella By Henry Palattella – The Columbus Dispatch – October 10, 2019 A year ago, Jakob Lilja was in his native Sweden, helping lead Djurgardens IF to the Swedish Hockey League championship. This season, Lilja is more than 4,000 miles away from Djurgardens’ home arena in Stockholm, trying to help the Blue Jackets make the playoffs for a fourth straight season. Despite Lilja averaging only about nine minutes in the Jackets’ first three games, coach John Tortorella says he’s getting more comfortable with giving the 26-year-old rookie more opportunities. “I like his versatility and all the different spots I can put him,” Tortorella said. “I still haven’t gotten him the ice time I wanted.” Lilja has four shots on goal and a minus-1 rating through three games. “I think I’ve played well defensively and had some (scoring) chances, but I need to do more once I get an opportunity,” Lilja said. “I feel like I should have scored with some of the opportunities I’ve gotten so far.” Lilja played last season on Djurgardens’ first line, finishing with 12 goals and 25 assists in 52 games. He was a teammate of fellow Jackets rookie Emil Bemstrom, who led Sweden’s top league with 23 goals. Tortorella, who has said that he knew “nothing” about Lilja before he showed up for training camp, raved about his flexibility on the ice. “He’s strong on the puck, but I can also trust him away from the puck, which gives me comfort,” Tortorella said. “I think there’s offense there as well. He’s still fairly new and still trying to find his game.” Lilja believes it’s only a matter of time until he finds his way on offense. “Once you get that first goal, everything becomes a little easier,” he said. “You try not to think about it. You just try to create and let things come to you.” Special-teams split The Blue Jackets have played only three games, so it’s too early to draw any sweeping conclusions, but thus far it’s been a tale of polar opposites for their special teams. The Blue Jackets are 3 of 9 on the power play, a success rate of 33.3% that ties three other teams for fifth best in the NHL. The penalty kill, meanwhile, is 30th with a success rate of just 61.5% (8 of 13). Some of the penalty-kill issues can be attributed to the Jackets’ first three opponents — Toronto, Pittsburgh and Buffalo all have dangerous power plays, including the Sabres ranking first in power-play goals and second in percentage at 53.3%. Anderson out Friday Tortorella said after practice Thursday that Josh Anderson will miss Friday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks. Anderson, who is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury, missed Monday’s game against Buffalo and didn’t skate at practice during the week. Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 10.11.2019 Ink at the rink: The stories behind Blue Jackets’ body art By Alison Lukan – The Athletic – October 10, 2019 In the game of hockey, players are often defined by their play. Their identity is what position they play, how many points they score. But for some, there are different ways to tell the stories of who they are, and for a few Blue Jackets players, that happens in the form of tattoos. Pierre-Luc Dubois always has time to talk about tattoos. And the first thing he’ll tell you about the ones on his body is that they are “all my family.” Dubois’ left arm is filled with memories of his grandparents. On his inner forearm is a winged wheel — a replica of a tattoo Dubois’ grandfather on his mother’s side had — with the elder’s initials added to remember him by. A second tattoo, added at the same time, is a helmeted skull. It’s an image Dubois found that reminded him of how his grandfather used to race dirt bikes when he was young. On the helmet itself is the family surname “McClure” along with the number the senior McClure use to race under. Above the Images for his grandfather, Dubois inked in his grandmother McClure’s favorite flower, a gardenia. But it’s not just any flower. “A year after she passed away, my grandfather threw some ashes on the flowers,” Dubois said. “They weren’t ready yet, and one week later, one flower popped up. So it’s a thing in our family.” Flip Dubois’ arm over and the story continues. Dubois first got a tattoo of a church in Michigan that was built by his great-great-grandparents. He’s never seen the actual building, but there was always a picture of it in Dubois’ grandparents’ home. As a child, he remembers looking at that photo and imagining what it was like there. “I’ve always been fascinated by it,” he said. This summer, the center added Images of each grandparent walking toward the church, along with the dates of their passings. Above the church is an image of a large butterfly, another new addition this past offseason. It represents his grandmother on his father’s side in a rather direct way. “For three years she was telling me not to get a tattoo,” Dubois said. “And then for my birthday this year, she told me that when she was my age, she was going to get a butterfly (tattoo) done but she got scared so she bailed, but she still had the drawing. So I got the same drawing done.” None of those are Dubois’ first markings, however. The first tattoo the centerman ever got happened because he missed his flight to his first-ever NHL training camp.