Five minutes after Wednesday night's win in Chicago was over, the BlackBerry buzzed. It was a news release from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Playoff tickets were on sale.
When you've waited nine years to make the playoffs, there's no point in wasting time to tell the world. It's been a long wait.
"From what I hear, all accounts back in Columbus last night was that they were going pretty nuts," Jackets veteran Manny Malhotra told ESPN.com from St. Louis on Thursday. "It feels great to finally make it, and the city of Columbus has waited for this for a long time and really deserves it."
Malhotra, a Jacket for five seasons, said he was both relieved and excited. Whether anybody wanted to admit it or not, getting this team into the postseason for the first time in franchise history was a burden.
It began last summer when GM Scott Howson and coach Ken Hitchcock were under clear directives from ownership to do everything they could to finally get the team to the promised land.
"I think we really felt the pressure in the summer to improve the team," Howson said Thursday. "I think we did that. [Mike] Commodore, [Kristian] Huselius and [R.J.] Umberger were significant adds for us."
Howson did his part, and so did Hitchcock. The veteran coach dug in and imposed his philosophy and system on his players. They bought in.
"He's a very demanding coach to play for, and a lot of times you don't like the way he gets his message across," Malhotra said. "But 99 percent of the time, he's bang-on with what he's saying. Once we as a group realized that and really bought in to his system, it's allowed us to be a winning team and to win regularly.
"He's done a great job of taking this franchise and really giving it structure and putting the pieces together, which allowed us to win regularly."
Of course, having a rookie goalie step in and have a season worthy of three major NHL awards is also a factor. Steve Mason, take a bow.
The question now is whether the Jackets are happy with what they've achieved, which subconsciously happens sometimes with first-year playoff teams, or whether they're hungry for more.
"Now the real season begins," Malhotra said. "We're not just happy to be here. We really want to make some noise."
"I think there was a lot of pressure on the players this season," Howson added. "And certainly, if we didn't qualify for the playoffs, everybody would have felt like it was a complete failure given where we were [most of the season].
"Now that pressure is gone and they can play a little looser. I don't get any sense of 'We're just happy to be here.' And I know the coaches won't let that happen anyways. Hitch was already on it this morning, planning what's going on next."
Next up? The playoffs, baby. Enjoy it Jackets fans, you've earned it.
Pierre LeBrun
