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Springfield Falcon's Dana Tyrell (DAVID MOLNAR / THE REPUBLICAN)

Over my many years I have had the opportunity to work with a number of NHL teams as our affiliation in Springfield. Finding that fine line between development and winning is never, easy and I know all of the previous NHL teams and their general managers and assistant general managers wanted the best for us.

However, sometimes for many different reasons it did not always work out. Such is not the case with Columbus.

The Blue Jackets have been a great partner to work with in many ways. First of all, they have given us exciting teams the last two years that led to Northeast Division titles. This is a commitment by them to do everything they can to keep us competitive. We have also done a good job for them by developing many players who are now playing and contributing on a regular basis.

This year, they have done some little things that sometimes go unnoticed by the average fan. Case in point was this past Sunday when they were assigning Dana Tyrell back to us. However, realizing that we had a 3 p.m. game in Bridgeport, the Blue Jackets arranged for him to get an early flight and then also had a car service available to get him to the game in time to play. Dana contributed by scoring two goals and helping the Falcons earn their third win of the weekend, all on the road.

With our defense banged up due to injuries -- and also with us being young on the back end -- they went out and signed veterans Steve McCarthy and Nathan Oystrick to tryout agreements. I can assure you that, over the years, not every NHL team responded in the way that Columbus has.

We are a young, but talented team this year. It does not matter if you are a first round draft pick or not, Columbus wants players getting ice time and developing. High draft picks like Marko Dano, Josh Anderson and Kerby Rychel will benefit by getting plenty of ice time and this will make them players in the near future for Columbus, the same way Matt Calvert, Cam Atkinson, Dalton Prout, Tim Erixon and others have stepped in to prominent roles in the NHL.

The Falcons showed a great deal of character and team toughness on the weekend. Winning all three on the road is not an easy task in this League. The conference looks like it is shaping up to be a tough one and every game is important.

Thanks for your support and look forward to seeing you at the Nest.

Bruce Landon is director of hockey operations for the Springfield Falcons. He can be reached by commenting on this blog or sending him an e-mail at blandon@falconsahl.com. For more information visit the team website.