In case you don't follow the National Hockey League (more commonly referred to as the NHL) or the Columbus Blue Jackets, you probably do not know who I refer to as "the Fifth Line." What is the Fifth Line? Well, let's do some background information on it. If you are a Columbus, OH native, or well heck, an Ohio native at all for this matter, you have heard of the NHL franchise that we in Columbus have, the Columbus Blue Jackets. Although the franchise was established on June 25th 1997, it was not until October 2000 that they would actually start playing in the league.
With a green bug named Stinger as their mascot, the Blue Jackets is the first NHL team to exist in Ohio. And what better place than Ohio's capital city to have a professional hockey team. There is already quite a substantial ice hockey community in Columbus (hockey referee's daughter right here!) and given that the population in Columbus was 2,021,632 million in 2015, why not. The team is pretty notorious for not doing so well in the league. The first time they made the playoffs was during the 2008-2009 season, losing in the conference quarter finals to the Detroit Red Wings. The second time they made it to the playoffs was the 2013-2014 season, unfortunately losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round.
Now, the 2013-2014 season is when the Fifth Line was created. It was established by fan club The CBJ Artillery. The real push by the Artillery guys to create this fan base and call it the Fifth Line was to show the NHL that Columbus had (and still very much does) a strong fan base, supporting the team in the playoffs and during the regular season as well. I have had the pleasure of witnessing the Artillery come together and create this fan base, and to have it recognized by the Blue Jackets and the NHL has been a very special thing to witness.
But for this open letter, I want to thank you, Fifth Line. The Fifth Line isn't just something the CBJ Artillery created; its all of the fans that support and love our Blue Jackets. This season has been a record-breaking one, for the franchise, and nearly for the NHL too. The Blue Jackets went on a historic franchise record 16 game win streak, and they were one win short of breaking the NHL record for the longest winning streak by a franchise. And not to mention that the Jackets broke their own record for the most games won in a season (44 so far, and the season isn't even over yet.) This season's record is 47-18-6, which is a huge improvement from the 2011-2012 season which was 29-46-7, and they were dead last in the NHL standings. I remember that season because majority owner John P. McConnell issued an apology to fans and season ticket holders about how terrible they played that season.
In the almost six years since the 2011-2012 season, we have had our best season on franchise record. We officially qualified for the playoffs this year and are tied with the Washington Capitals with 100 points each for the best team in the entire league. So thank you for sticking with them Fifth Line, they could not have done it without our support.
