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Ohio Jr Blue Jackets
The Ohio Junior Blue Jackets are a Tier 1 junior ice hockey team playing in the East Division of the USHL, United States Hockey League. Currently, they are the newest team in the USHL.
History
The 2006-07 USHL media guide lists the Ohio Junior Blue Jackets as the successor to the Thunder Bay Flyers, who played their last USHL game in 2000. The Junior Blue Jackets' home ice is at Nationwide Arena, which is also home to the National Hockey League team Columbus Blue Jackets.
The fifth National Hockey League season in Columbus, Ohio, was the 2005-06 Columbus Blue Jackets season. The team's final position in the standings was hampered by a slow start that resulted from losing a number of key players, including Rick Nash, goals leader, to injury. Once these players returned to the roster, the team had one of the strongest second halves in the league. Despite the strong finish, the Blue Jackets finished outside of the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. However, the strong finish did lead to raised expectations for the 2006-07 seasons.The 2006-07 Columbus Blue Jackets season was the sixth National Hockey League season in Columbus, Ohio.
Contract dispute with Nikolai Zherdev
The off-season was dominated by a contract dispute with top forward Nikolai Zherdev, who had threatened to return to Russia to play if Columbus did not meet his demands. Zherdev remained a hold out for much of the pre-season; however the two parties were able to come to an agreement about a week before the season began.
The Jackets, hoping to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, got off to a disastrous start, falling as low as 6-16-2 into December, briefly holding the worst record in the league. The Jackets poor start led General Manager Doug MacLean to fire head coach Gerard Gallant on November 13. Gallant would be replaced a week later by veteran coach Ken Hitchcock. Accidentally, Hitchcock's first game as Jackets head coach would be against the Philadelphia Flyers, the team that fired him as head coach earlier in the season.
The Blue Jackets once again failed to qualify for the post-season. The Blue Jackets are now the only NHL team to have never played a post-season game, as the Atlanta Thrashers qualified for the playoffs in the East.
Playoffs
The Blue Jackets failed to qualify for the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. Columbus is the only current NHL team to have yet to qualify, but since they have only been in existence for six seasons, this is not considered anything outstanding.
Farm teams
Syracuse Crunch
The Syracuse Crunch is the Blue Jackets American Hockey League associated for the seventh season. The two clubs announced they had agreed to extend the affiliation agreement for four more years, prior to the start of the 2006-07 seasons.
Dayton Bombers
The Dayton Bombers of the ECHL are also entering their seventh season as an affiliate of the Blue Jackets.
Youngstown SteelHounds
The Jackets are also affiliated with the Youngstown SteelHounds of the Central Hockey League.