Goloubef in Action

Cody Goloubef, or "Goldbeef" as many of my friends and I like to call him after an amusing misreading of his jersey a few years back, suited up for the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight in an exhibition game against the recently Robbie Earl-less Minnesota Wild (Earl was cut Monday - thanks to Chuck for the heads-up). To summarize the game in a few words, the Jackets came from a 2-0 hole to win in a shootout 3-2, and I enjoyed the view from one of Nationwide Arena's gorgeous suites - working for a company with connections is awesome.

Of particular interest to Badger fans, however, is Goldbeef's performance. He took a bad high-sticking minor in the first period, but the Jackets' penalty kill played well all night and bailed him out in that instance. He did make a few great plays at the blue line, however, keeping the puck in on two straight clearing attempts and leading to a great scoring chance that the forwards couldn't convert.

Cody's second period was uneventful. However, he was caught out of position early in the third and gave up a breakaway that would have been a Wild goal if not for the iron. The left post proved to be Goldbeef's best friend, rejecting the shot that had beaten goalie David LeNeveu and maintaining a 2-1 Wild advantage at the time. He didn't play much in the last 10 minutes of regulation, and I didn't see him on the ice at all during the overtime period, which was not surprising to me considering that the team had dressed eight defensemen on the night.

A performance like that tonight confirms what I've been thinking all along: that Goloubef will start the season with the Springfield Falcons of the AHL, and that he may be called up if he shows fast improvement and if the Jackets are hit hard by injuries. He seemed to be struggling somewhat with the speed of the NHL game, which is to be expected. Here's hoping he's up in Columbus sooner rather than later.

UPDATE: Roster cuts to come tomorrow, we may know more about his status at that time.