Frozen Futures
Fansided

Columbus Blue Jackets Claim 3rd Traverse City Championship

By Caitlin Campbell

facebooktwitterreddit

Depending on what team you cheer for, NHL training camps are mere days away and that means hockey action is right around the corner. Training camps will be the last chance for the rookies who competed at the annual Traverse City prospects tournament to make a pitch that they belong in the NHL. The Traverse City tournament wrapped up on Tuesday night and it was the Columbus Blue Jackets skating away to victory.

Despite off season issues regarding Ryan Johansen and an injury to top prospect Sonny Milano, the Blue Jackets prospects suited up for battle, showing the parent club that there is plenty of talent tapping at the NHL’s door. With that super talent the Blue Jackets were able to defeat the Dallas Stars prospects 3-2 in overtime of the Championship game.

Live Feed

Columbus Blue Jackets: Six Players At Risk of Losing Their Spots
Columbus Blue Jackets: Six Players At Risk of Losing Their Spots /

Union and Blue

  • Paul Bissonnette Was Right About Babcock, And We Should Thank HimUnion and Blue
  • Six Top Prospects Who Might Make the Columbus Blue JacketsUnion and Blue
  • Blue Jackets Officially Introduce Pascal Vincent as Head CoachUnion and Blue
  • Mike Babcock needed to leave the Columbus Blue JacketsPuck Prose
  • Blaming Columbus Blue Jacket Players for Babcock Fallout is UnfairUnion and Blue

    • 4th round draft pick from 2012, Josh Anderson, played the hero for the Blue Jackets several times throughout the tournament, netting the winning goal in OT for his 4th goal of the tournament and his 3rd game winning goal.

    He was a late cut at last years camp, but this year he seems poised to make the jump putting on 10 pounds of muscle while competing with the London Knights.

    Anderson was not the only Blue Jackets prospect to excel at the tournament as several of his teammates also turned some heads; Kerby Rychel and Marko Dano were second in scoring each recording three goals and six points respectively, while Oliver Bjorkstrand finished the tournament with four goals and T.J. Tynan found the back of the net once and had five assists.

    Goaltender Oscar Dansk has a stellar 31 shot performance in the championship game which is huge for him as he enters into a stern battle for the AHL starting job. He looked good in both of his starts but will be in tough competing against Anton Forsberg.

    With things up in the air with Johansen, some of the prospects who performed well could get a much bigger role than expected with the team throughout training camp and the pre-season, a wonderful opportunity for many of them.

    The offence scored an impressive 17 goals over the first 3 games and added 3 more to that total in the finals for 20 goals, much better than last years up and down tournament.

    The Blue Jackets claimed their 3rd championship at the tournament with their 3-2 OT win and their first since 2006. The Blue Jackets are a team knocking at the door of the NHL playoffs and with the top end talent they have could become a real threat in the years to come. Time will tell if any of these prospects who earned victory stick with the Blue Jackets this season but many are just a year or two away.

    Home/Frozen Futures