When the Blue Jackets finished a fast-paced Friday practice last week before heading to Pittsburgh, they spent the last 10 minutes or so breaking into two teams for a 3-on-3 small-area game.
This is nothing particularly unique to the coaching style of new bench boss Rick Bowness, but the reason he did it might be.
Coaches around the NHL and hockey in general love small-area games – this one moved each net to the blue line, with the players competing in the confined space of the neutral zone – because they force players to make quick decisions, play with the puck on their stick and try to make things happen in a confined space, all of which mimic game situations.
But when Bowness was asked why he wanted to have his players compete in that way, he first turned to one specific word.
“Fun,” Bowness said. “Just a fun little game. You gotta have a little fun out there, especially at this time of year. You see how hard they work at it, because it’s competitive. They're working on their skill and they’re working on their reads and everything else. It's a fun game.”
Pro sports, of course, are serious business. Winners create legacies that last forever, and millions of dollars are on the line. But Bowness is also fond of saying that any day in the NHL is a blessing because everyone involved is playing the game they love – not to mention one they dreamed of playing as kids.
So while Bowness has ideas of how he wants to get more out of the Blue Jackets structurally, and has talked about how important it will be for his players to compete their hardest on a day-to-day basis, four decades behind a bench has taught him that you better have a good time doing it.
“Never forget that it’s a game,” Bowness said. “Never forget it’s a game we all love playing, and that’s most important. We’re not going to win every game. We’re not, so keep the focus on the game, keep the focus on the process, do all that, but let’s enjoy the process regardless of the outcome. Compete, give ourselves a chance to win every game, but never forget it’s a game and we gotta have fun.
“You gotta look forward to going to the rink. You gotta look forward to hanging out with the guys. That’s all a part of it. That’s what we do. That’s what we sign up for.”
And let’s be honest, a lot of this season hasn’t been fun for the Blue Jackets. After last year’s surprising playoff push fell just short, the Blue Jackets looked like a team on the rise, with the hope that a burgeoning young core and a dependable fleet of veterans could return the team to postseason hockey for the first time since 2020.
But another “F” word – frustration – marked much of the first half for the Blue Jackets, who spent much of late December and early January in last place in the Eastern Conference. In large part because of issues finishing games, the Blue Jackets were struggling in the standings, and president of hockey operations and general manager Don Waddell opted to bring Bowness in to coach the team a week ago today.
Of course, adversity will greet the team at some point in the coming weeks, but the Blue Jackets are off to a 3-0 start in the Bowness era. Players have spoken about how Bowness' hiring has brought a sense of a fresh start to the squad, and the winning part is certainly fun as well.
“It's great,” forward Kent Johnson said. "I think you should be having fun in the sport, and obviously it's easier when you're winning. So we'll try to keep that going.”
And in a sport like hockey where margins are so thin – a puck bounce off a skate can be the difference between winning and losing – and most games can go either way, sometimes your mind-set can be a critical factor. Wins tend to lead to more wins and losses often snowball into more losses, and X’s and O’s sometimes take a backseat to how a team feels about itself in key moments.
Through three games, the Blue Jackets have passed the test, in part because things like confidence and fun often go hand in hand with winning.
"The last few games, we've definitely felt that way,” Zach Werenski said. “It’s still pretty early, but it seems like guys are playing with a lot of confidence, a lot of swagger, and it's been fun to be a part of, fun to see. I think obviously confidence is everything. When guys are playing with confidence, the whole team looks better. So I feel like right now we're definitely playing with that, but we just have to keep it going.”
