The Blue Jackets Gave Their Video Assistant The "Game Kepi" For Calling For A Game Saving Offsides Challenge

#CBJ video coach Dan Singleton earned the kepi for a successful offside challenge last night! pic.twitter.com/NoF9khAWhr

— ColumbusBlueJackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 16, 2016

​I should be happy for this guy. I should be half-heartedly tapping my fingertips ever-so-gently  against my palm just to avoid being the only person not clapping. After all, it can't be easy to be John Tortorella's trusted video assistant. Having to review game tape in a matter of seconds so you can quickly make the final decision on plays that could be decided by as little as a centimeter is hard enough. Now imagine trying to do it knowing you'd held personally responsible by some temperamental asshole if the referees had a difference of opinion on what could very easily be a judgement call. I don't envy Dan Singleton, but I certainly do have respect for his ability to tune out a loudmouth, know-it-all and do a job that could potentially have a very real effect on the outcome of professional hockey games. That's why I really want to say it's nice to see him get his due from the entirety of the Blue Jackets' locker room...

...but unfortunately, I can't. Everyone knows that the quickest way to get someone to repeatedly do something is to praise them for it the first time, and the last thing hockey needs is more offsides reviews. You hand out one Revolutionary War hat to honor the work of a video assistant, and next thing you know every footage analyzer whose 20/20 vision is under-appreciated is going to try to challenge their way into consideration for a team presented post-game award. I think I speak for the vast majority of people that haven't benefited from a successful offsides challenge in the last 5 minutes when I say that the unnecessary breaks in action that they cause are momentum killers that are a complete burden on the viewing experience. I'm not entirely sure why they chose to inconveniently fix something that no one thought was broken, but I do know that encouraging rarely utilized film coordinators to play their version of 'hero ball' is only going to make that practice more common. Couldn't they just buy him a cold one and call it a day instead of giving him a premo ass patting in front of his peers?

"We owe (Singleton) a beer after this one."#CBJ pic.twitter.com/I2p8fyzbuD

— ColumbusBlueJackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 16, 2016

P.S. Great call though...

thx again @HockeyGods pic.twitter.com/ol0nJGPsqn

— ColumbusBlueJackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 16, 2016