Columbus Day - 2005-06 Columbus Blue Jackets Rick Nash Jersey

Christopher Columbus left on his first voyage of exploration seeking a westerly route to southeast Asia on August 3, 1492 from Spain with three ships, the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, on a voyage which would first take him to the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa for supplies and repairs. This was followed by a five week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, arriving in what is now The Bahamas near Florida and Cuba on October 12, 1492. In the United States, Columbus Day is now celebrated on the second Monday in October.

Christopher Columbus

Columbus continued to explore the region through the middle of January before returning to first Portugal and then Spain, having believed he had been in the East Indies off of southeast Asia the entire time, having both underestimated the size of the Earth and overestimated the size of Asia, partly due to different systems of measurement in use during his time, despite scholars having calculated the size of Earth as far back as 300 BC, 1800 years earlier,

The world as it was known in the time of Columbus.

The land mass in the lower left is Antarctica.

He returned to colonize the region during his second voyage in late 1493, still believing that Cuba was a peninsula of the Asian continent, and made his third trip in 1498, which included his first stop on the mainland of South America. His fourth and final voyage took place in 1502, which included extensive exploration of the east coast of southern Central America. With his ships battered by storms and attacks by the natives, Columbus and his men were eventually stranded on Jamaica for a year before aid eventually arrive. He and his crew were finally able to return to Spain where he died on May 20, 1506 at the estimated age of 54.

While the North and South American continents were eventually named after Italian Amerigo Vespucci, Columbus was honored as a founding figure of the New World and many places were named either "Columbia" or "Columbus" in his honor following the American Revolution in the 1770's, including the District of Columbia, Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina, and the capital of Ohio, Columbus, which is now home to the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL.

Columbus Day became a federal holiday in the United States in 1937 in part due to the efforts of the fraternal organization the Knights of Columbus, although Columbus' arrival has been celebrated dating back to colonial times. It's particularly popular among Italian-Americans who see it as a celebration of their heritage, which dates back to 1866 in New York City.

The New York City Columbus Day Parade

In recent times, opposition has arisen to Columbus Day, as Columbus has come under not only criticism for his treatment of the indigenous people he personally encountered, but also due to his becoming symbolic of the devastating diseases brought to the New World by the Europeans and the treatment and genocide of the local populations by the Europeans who colonized the American continents following his arrival, despite Columbus never having stepped foot on the North American mainland.

The Columbus NHL franchise, founded in 2000, selected the name "Blue Jackets", a nickname for the Union soldiers in the Civil War, to honor the contributions made by the state of Ohio during the war, which included Ohio contributing more of it's population to the Union Army than any other state and the fact that many of the Union uniforms were manufactured in Columbus.

Life for the Blue Jackets in the NHL has been a rough go, as they finished last in the Central Division in each of it's first three seasons and averaging only 69 points in it's first seven seasons, missing the playoffs each time out.

After a 92 point season in 2008-09, the Blue Jackets made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, only to be swept in four games by the Detroit Red Wings. That glimmer of hope was subsequently dashed as the franchise sank back to the depths of last place with 65 points in 2011-12, which was then followed by losing the draft lottery and missing out on the first overall pick in 2012.

They narrowly missed the playoffs in the lockout shortened 2012-13 season and set a franchise record with 93 points in 2013-14 after going 43-32-0-5. They drew the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round and won their first playoff game in franchise history when they won Game 2 in overtime 4-3 on the road. They also won Game 4 at home by the same score of 4-3, again in overtime but lost the series in six games.

In 2014-15 they nearly duplicated their record, going 42-35-3-2, but the drop to 89 points left them well short of the 97 needed to make the postseason. Last year the Blue Jackets fell to 76 points and missed the playoffs for the 13th time in their 15th years.

The franchise's all-time leading scorer by far is Rick Nash, who arrived in time for the 2002-03 season after being drafted #1 overall in the 2002 Entry Draft. His 547 points are currently 230 more than David Vyborny and 347 more than third place R. J. Umberger's 200! Nash tied for the league lead in goals with 41 during the 2003-04 season, earning a share of the Rocket Richard Trophy. Goaltender Steve Mason earned the Calder Memorial Trophy for his stellar debut season in 2008-09. Sergei Bobrovsky won the third major NHL award for the franchise when he took home the Vezina Trophy in 2012-13 as the league's top goaltender.

The former face of the Blue Jackets franchise, Rick Nash

Today's featured jersey is a 2005-06 Columbus Blue Jackets Rick Nash jersey. This very well received alternate jersey was worn by the franchise all time leading scorer for three seasons from 2003-04 to 2006-07 (the 2004-05 NHL season was not played due to labor issues), only being discontinued due to the change to the new Reebok Edge jerseys the following season, which led to a suspension of all third jerseys for 2007-08.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 2000-01 Columbus Blue Jackets Lyle Odelein jersey. It features the Blue Jackets Inaugural Season patch, as well as one of our custom made Hockey Fights Cancer patches. Odelein was selected by the Blue Jackets in the 2000 expansion draft and later named the first captain of the franchise.

The Hockey Fights Cancer patch was first worn by the captain of each team for one game only in January of 2001. The patches from 2001 do not carry the date, as they did in the subsequent three years of the program. Each specially patched game worn jersey would then be auctioned off for charity as part of the festivities at that year's NHL All-Star Game to raise money for cancer research.

aaa

Today's video section begins with highlights of the Columbus Blue Jackets in action.

2000-01 Columbus Blue Jackets Lyle Odelein Jersey

Christopher Columbus left on his first voyage of exploration seeking a westerly route to southeast Asia on August 3, 1492 from Spain with three ships, the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, on a voyage which would first take him to the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa for supplies and repairs. This was followed by a five week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, arriving in what is now The Bahamas near Florida and Cuba on October 12, 1492. In the United States, Columbus Day is now celebrated on the second Monday in October.

Christopher Columbus

Columbus continued to explore the region through the middle of January before returning to first Portugal and then Spain, having believed he had been in the East Indies off of southeast Asia the entire time, having both underestimated the size of the Earth and overestimated the size of Asia, partly due to different systems of measurement in use during his time, despite scholars having calculated the size of Earth as far back as 300 BC, 1800 years earlier,

The world as it was known in the time of Columbus.

The land mass in the lower left is Antarctica.

He returned to colonize the region during his second voyage in late 1493, still believing that Cuba was a peninsula of the Asian continent, and made his third trip in 1498, which included his first stop on the mainland of South America. His fourth and final voyage took place in 1502, which included extensive exploration of the east coast of southern Central America. With his ships battered by storms and attacks by the natives, Columbus and his men were eventually stranded on Jamaica for a year before aid eventually arrive. He and his crew were finally able to return to Spain where he died on May 20, 1506 at the estimated age of 54.

While the North and South American continents were eventually named after Italian Amerigo Vespucci, Columbus was honored as a founding figure of the New World and many places were named either "Columbia" or "Columbus" in his honor following the American Revolution in the 1770's, including the District of Columbia, Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina, and the capital of Ohio, Columbus, which is now home to the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL.

Columbus Day became a federal holiday in the United States in 1937 in part due to the efforts of the fraternal organization the Knights of Columbus, although Columbus' arrival has been celebrated back to colonial times. It's particularly popular among Italian-Americans who see it as a celebration of their heritage, which dates back to 1866 in New York City.

The New York City Columbus Day Parade

In recent times, opposition has arisen to Columbus Day, as Columbus has come under not only criticism for his treatment of the indigenous people he personally encountered, but also due to his becoming symbolic of the devastating diseases brought to the New World by the Europeans and the treatment and genocide of the local populations by the Europeans who colonized the American continents following his arrival, despite Columbus never having stepped foot on the North American mainland.

The Columbus NHL franchise, founded in 2000, selected the name "Blue Jackets", a nickname for the Union soldiers in the Civil War, to honor the contributions made by the state of Ohio during the war, which included Ohio contributing more of it's population to the Union Army than any other state and the fact that many of the Union uniforms were manufactured in Columbus.

Life for the Blue Jackets in the NHL has been a rough go, as they finished last in the Central Division in each of it's first three seasons and averaging only 69 points in it's first seven seasons, missing the playoffs each time out.

After a 92 point season in 2008-09, the Blue Jackets made the playoffs for the only time in franchise history, only to be swept in four games by the Detroit Red Wings. That glimmer of hope was subsequently dashed as the franchise sank back to the depths of last place with 65 points in 2011-12, which was then followed by losing the draft lottery and missing out on the first overall pick in 2012.

The franchise's all-time leading scorer by far is Rick Nash, who arrived in time for the 2002-03 season after being drafted #1 overall in the 2002 Entry Draft. His 547 points are currently 230 more than David Vyborny and 349 more than third place R. J. Umberger's 198! Nash tied for the league lead in goals with 41 during the 2003-04 season, earning a share of the Rocket Richard Trophy. Goaltender Steve Mason earned the Calder Memorial Trophy for his stellar debut season in 2008-09.

The former face of the Blue Jackets franchise, Rick Nash

Today's featured jersey is a 2000-01 Columbus Blue Jackets Lyle Odelein jersey. It features the Blue Jackets Inaugural Season patch, as well as one of our custom made Hockey Fights Cancer patches. Odelein was selected by the Blue Jackets in the 2000 expansion draft and later named the first captain of the franchise.

The Hockey Fights Cancer patch was first worn by the captain of each team for one game only in January of 2001. The patches from 2001 do not carry the date, as they did in the subsequent three years of the program. Each specially patched game worn jersey would then be auctioned off for charity as part of the festivities at that year's NHL All-Star Game to raise money for cancer research.

aaa

Today's video section begins with highlights of the Columbus Blue Jackets in action.

Next up, the basics of the Christopher Columbus story as told by a real cool hep-cat.

2000-01 Columbus Blue Jackets Lyle Odelein Jersey

It was on this date in 1997 that the NHL officially approved expansion to a 30-team league by the year 2000. In an unusual plan, the Nashville Predators began play in 1998-99 and the Atlanta Thrashers started life the following season in 1999-2000. Then, the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets completed the extended round of expansion by joining the league for the 2000-01 season, nearly three and a half years after first being granted their franchises. The Blue Jackets would be the first NHL team to play in Ohio since the Cleveland Barons departed in 1978.

From over 14,000 entries in a name the team contest, the name "Blue Jackets" was chosen, which was a nickname for the Union soldiers in the Civil War, to honor the contributions made by the state of Ohio, including the fact that Ohio contributed more of it's population to the Union Army than any other state and that many of the Union uniforms were also manufactured in Columbus.

The Blue Jackets started out life in the NHL with a rough go, finishing last in the Central Division in each of it's first three seasons and averaging only 69 points in it's first seven, missing the playoffs each time out.

Things finally improved for the Blue Jackets when they made the playoffs for the first time after a 92 point season in 2008-09, the last of the four new teams to qualify for the postseason.

They were led for nine seasons by the franchise's all-time leading scorer Rick Nash, who arrived in time for the 2002-03 season after being drafted #1 overall in the 2002 Entry Draft.

Nash was the first overall pick in 2002

Nash tied for the league lead in goals with 41 during the 2003-04 season, earning a share of the Rocket Richard Trophy in just his second season in the league. Despite having now moved on, Nash's 547 points in Columbus  still leads second place David Vyborny by 230.

Nash with the Richard Trophy

Goaltender Steve Mason added to the brighter outlook for the Blue Jackets, earning the Calder Memorial Trophy for his stellar debut season in 2008-09.

Steve Mason poses with the Calder Trophy

Unfortunately, Columbus was unable to capitalize on that appearance and again failed to reach the postseason for the next four seasons and Nash was eventually traded following the 2011-12 season. In another trade of note, the Blue Jackets dealt their second and fourth round picks at the 2012 draft for goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who would win the 2013 Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender.

Sergei "Bob" Bobrovsky proudly displays his Vezina Trophy

The 2013-14 season was one of change for the franchise, and for the better. First, the club was moved to the Eastern Conference and the newly created Metropolitan Division, along with their regional rivals the Detroit Red Wings, a move wholly endorsed by team management which would result in less travel and numerous earlier start times to their games. Additionally, the team is also much closer to new division rival and top draw, the Pittsburgh Penguins, than they were to many of their previous Central Division rivals.

The club responded well and finished fourth in the Metropolitan Division and immediately drew the Penguins as their first playoff opponent in five years, but bowed out in six games.

Today's featured jersey is a 2000-01 Columbus Blue Jackets Lyle Odelein jersey. It features the Blue Jackets Inaugural Season patch, as well as one of our custom made Hockey Fights Cancer patches. This style jersey would be used by the team for their first six seasons, but the "Stinger" mascot shoulder patches would only last three seasons until a  pair of new secondary logos would replace the brightly colored cartoon insect, a Civil War uniform cap on the right shoulder and the state of Ohio flag flying around a star on the left, the same crest used on the front of their first alternate jersey, intoduced in 2003-04.

Odelein was selected by the Blue Jackets in the 2000 expansion draft and later named the first captain of the franchise.

The Hockey Fights Cancer patch was first worn by the captain of each team for one game only in January of 2001. The patches from 2001 do not carry the date, as they did in the subsequent three years of the program. Each specially patched game worn jersey would then be auctioned off for charity as part of the festivities at that year's NHL All-Star Game to raise money for cancer research.

  

Dasherboard: When the Nashville Predators joined the league in 98-99, a major realignment of the divisions took place, expanding from two six and two seven team divisions, to six divisions, some with as few as four teams. The Predators came out fine in this plan, being grouped in with established nearby clubs in Detroit, Chicago and St. Louis.

Atlanta was added to the Southeast Division, centrally located between Washington and Carolina to the north and the two Florida clubs, Tampa Bay and Florida, who played in the Miami area, to the south.

Columbus fit in naturally with Nashville in the Central Division when they joined the league, but due to the increased number of teams in the east, Minnesota was slotted in with the teams in the Northwest Division - Colorado, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver - none of whom are even in their time zone and most of which aren't even in the same country!

The other victim of the realignment was the Dallas Stars, who were inexplicably placed in the Pacific Division - 885 miles from their nearest division neighbor and over 1900 miles from said Pacific Ocean after which their division was named...

2000-01 Columbus Blue Jackets Lyle Odelein Jersey

Christopher Columbus left on his first voyage of exploration seeking a westerly route to southeast Asia on August 3, 1492 from Spain with three ships, the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, on a voyage which would first take him to the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa for supplies and repairs. This was followed by a five week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, arriving in what is now The Bahamas near Florida and Cuba on October 12, 1492. In the United States, Columbus Day is now celebrated on the second Monday in October, which is today, October 8th, 2012.

Christopher Columbus

Columbus continued to explore the region through the middle of January before returning to first Portugal and then Spain, having believed he had been in the East Indies off of southeast Asia the entire time, having both underestimated the size of the Earth and overestimated the size of Asia, partly due to different systems of measurement in use during his time, despite scholars having calculated the size of Earth as far back as 300 BC, 1800 years earlier,

The world as it was known in the time of Columbus.

The land mass in the lower left is Antarctica.

He returned to colonize the region during his second voyage in late 1493, still believing that Cuba was a peninsula of the Asian continent, and made his third trip in 1498, which included his first stop on the mainland of South America. His fourth and final voyage took place in 1502, which included extensive exploration of the east coast of southern Central America. With his ships battered by storms and attacks by the natives, Columbus and his men were eventually stranded on Jamaica for a year before aid eventually arrive. He and his crew were finally able to return to Spain where he died on May 20, 1506 at the estimated age of 54.

While the North and South American continents were eventually named after Italian Amerigo Vespucci, Columbus was honored as a founding figure of the New World and many places were named either "Columbia" or "Columbus" in his honor following the American Revolution in the 1770's, including the District of Columbia, Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina, and the capital of Ohio, Columbus, which is now home to the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL.

Columbus Day became a federal holiday in the United States in 1937 in part due to the efforts of the fraternal organization the Knights of Columbus, although Columbus' arrival has been celebrated back to colonial times. It's particularly popular among Italian-Americans who see it as a celebration of their heritage, which dates back to 1866 in New York City.

The New York City Columbus Day Parade

In recent times, opposition has arisen to Columbus Day, as Columbus has come under not only criticism for his treatment of the indigenous people he personally encountered, but also due to his becoming symbolic of the devastating diseases brought to the New World by the Europeans and the treatment and genocide of the local populations by the Europeans who colonized the American continents following his arrival, despite Columbus never having stepped foot on the North American mainland.

The Columbus NHL franchise, founded in 2000, selected the name "Blue Jackets", a nickname for the Union soldiers in the Civil War, to honor the contributions made by the state of Ohio during the war, which included Ohio contributing more of it's population to the Union Army than any other state and the fact that many of the Union uniforms were manufactured in Columbus.

Life for the Blue Jackets in the NHL has been a rough go, as they finished last in the Central Division in each of it's first three seasons and averaging only 69 points in it's first seven seasons, missing the playoffs each time out.

After a 92 point season in 2008-09, the Blue Jackets made the playoffs for the only time in franchise history, only to be swept in four games by the Detroit Red Wings. That glimmer of hope was subsequently dashed as the franchise sank back to the depths of last place with 65 points in 2011-12, which was then followed by losing the draft lottery and missing out on the first overall pick in 2012.

The franchise's all-time leading scorer by far is Rick Nash, who arrived in time for the 2002-03 season after being drafted #1 overall in the 2002 Entry Draft. His 547 points are currently 230 more than David Vyborny and 349 more than third place R. J. Umberger's 198! Nash tied for the league lead in goals with 41 during the 2003-04 season, earning a share of the Rocket Richard Trophy. Goaltender Steve Mason earned the Calder Memorial Trophy for his stellar debut season in 2008-09.

The former face of the Blue Jackets franchise, Rick Nash

Today's featured jersey is a 2000-01 Columbus Blue Jackets Lyle Odelein jersey. It features the Blue Jackets Inaugural Season patch, as well as one of our custom made Hockey Fights Cancer patches. Odelein was selected by the Blue Jackets in the 2000 expansion draft and later named the first captain of the franchise.

The Hockey Fights Cancer patch was first worn by the captain of each team for one game only in January of 2001. The patches from 2001 do not carry the date, as they did in the subsequent three years of the program. Each specially patched game worn jersey would then be auctioned off for charity as part of the festivities at that year's NHL All-Star Game to raise money for cancer research.

aaa

Today's video section begins with highlights of the Columbus Blue Jackets in action.

Next up, the basics of the Christopher Columbus story as told by a real cool hep-cat.

2000-01 Columbus Blue Jackets Lyle Odelein Jersey

It was on this date in 1997 that the NHL officially approved expansion to a 30-team league by the year 2000. In an unusual plan, the Nashville Predators began play in 1998-99 and the Atlanta Thrashers started life the following season in 1999-2000. Then, the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets completed the exten by joining the league for the 2000-01 season, nearly three and a half years after being granted franchises.

The Columbus franchise selected the name "Blue Jackets", a nickname for the Union soldiers in the Civil War, to honor the contributions made by the state of Ohio during the Civil War, including the fact that Ohio contributed more of it's population to the Union Army than any other state and that many of the Union uniforms were also manufactured in Columbus.

Columbus started out life in the NHL with a rough go, finishing last in the Central Division in each of it's first three seasons and averaging only 69 points in it's first seven, missing the playoffs each time out.

Things finally look to be improving for the Blue Jackets however. This past season they made the playoffs for the first time after a 92 point season, the last of the current teams to qualify for the postseason.

They are led by the franchise's all-time leading scorer Rick Nash, who arrived in time for the 2002-03 season after being drafted #1 overall in the 2002 Entry Draft. Nash tied for the league lead in goals with 41 during the 2003-04 season, earning a share of the Rocket Richard Trophy in just his second season in the league. Goaltender Steve Mason adds to the brighter outlook for the Blue Jackets, earning the Calder Memorial Trophy for his stellar debut season in 2008-09.

Today's featured jersey is a 2000-01 Columbus Blue Jackets Lyle Odelein jersey. It features the Blue Jackets Inaugural Season patch, as well as one of our custom made Hockey Fights Cancer patches. Odelein was selected by the Blue Jackets in the 2000 expansion draft and later named the first captain of the franchise.

The Hockey Fights Cancer patch was first worn by the captain of each team for one game only in January of 2001. The patches from 2001 do not carry the date, as they did in the subsequent three years of the program. Each specially patched game worn jersey would then be auctioned off for charity as part of the festivities at that year's NHL All-Star Game to raise money for cancer research.

Dasherboard: When the Nashville Predators joined the league in 98-99, a major realignment of the divisions took place, expanding from two six and two seven team divisions, to six divisions, some with as few as four teams. The Predators came out fine in this plan, being grouped in with established nearby clubs in Detroit, Chicago and St. Louis.

Atlanta was added to the Southeast Division, centrally located between Washington and Carolina to the north and the two Florida clubs, Tampa Bay and Florida, who played in the Miami area, to the south.

Columbus fit in naturally with Nashville in the Central Division when they joined the league, but due to the increased number of teams in the east, Minnesota was slotted in with the teams in the Northwest Division - Colorado, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver - none of whom are even in their time zone and most of which aren't even in the same country!

The other victim of the realignment was the Dallas Stars, who were inexplicably placed in the Pacific Division - 885 miles from their nearest division neighbor and over 1900 miles from said Pacific Ocean after which their division was named...