My first NHL goal: Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre

Two decades later, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre could hardly believe his eyes.

Earlier this year, Fox Sports Ohio found footage of the big defenseman's first-ever NHL goal, scored Nov. 9, 2000, in the 16th-ever Blue Jackets game.

And while Grand-Pierre, now a television analyst for the Blue Jackets on FSO, remembered most of the details of how he scored the goal -- the score of the game, the opponent and even that it came in Nationwide Arena -- he was still surprised to see the replay all these years later.

"I personally don't have that clip so I don't remember it exactly," he said recently. "I know we won the game 5-2, I know it was my first multipoint game because I ended up with a goal and an assist in that game, and I remember we were playing the San Jose Sharks and I remember it was at home. I remember we won, but the goal itself, I remember more of Jody Shelley's first goal than my own. I actually had an assist on Jody's first goal, so that's why I remember it so well. It's kind of funny."

But the tape does not lie, and it shows how Grand-Pierre got on the board. Grand-Pierre had played in 37 NHL games with just one point -- an assist -- going into that November night in downtown Columbus playing on an expansion team that was off to a 3-10-1-1 start.

Facing a San Jose squad that would go on to finish second in the Pacific Division and make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Blue Jackets delivered a memorable night in Nationwide. Geoff Sanderson and Serge Aubin scored as the teams skated to a 2-2 tie through the midway point, then late in the third, Grand-Pierre got his first point with the CBJ as he had the only helper on Kevin Dineen's goal that gave Columbus a 3-2 lead.

Tyler Wright then made it 4-2 early in the third, and as the Blue Jackets finished off the win, Grand-Pierre made personal history with what would be his only goal of the season. With 6:43 to go, Wright won a faceoff back to Grand-Pierre, who took a second at the top of the right circle, looked up and fired a half slap shot through a screen that got past the blocker side of goal Steve Shields.

For years, the replay of the goal remained in Grand-Pierre's mind and not many places elsewhere until earlier this year when the Blue Jackets played San Jose in November. Fox Sports Ohio producer Joe Whalen dug up the video and put it on the air, refreshing Grand-Pierre's memory a bit.

"Actually I had a chance to see it on the broadcast this year when we played against San Jose this year," Grand-Pierre said. "It's not exactly how I remembered it, which is so funny. It was not from where I thought it was, which was the blue line. It was basically just a puck that came to me on a faceoff and I just one-timed it right in.

"There's nothing so special about it, but I guess when you're in the moment it's that much more exciting."

It was still plenty exciting, though, considering Grand-Pierre would go on to score just seven goals in 269 games over six NHL seasons. Four of those came in 202 games with the Blue Jackets, including what has become Grand-Pierre's most famous goal, a tally against New Jersey in 2002 in which Grand-Pierre deked around Hall of Fame defenseman Scott Stevens before roofing a shot over Hall of Fame goalie Martin Brodeur.

But Grand-Pierre remembers a goal he scored while playing with Rochester of the American Hockey League as the best he ever had in his career.

"That was pretty exciting, but there's definitely no video evidence of that one," he says now with a laugh. "I still remember, that was against the Calgary Flames farm team, which was in St. John's back in the day. It was kind of a similar play -- I went through all the defensemen and the one got a hold of me with his stick. I ended up falling and basically scored from my knees. There was a penalty shot called, but I ended up scoring from my knees going backhand top shelf. That was probably my best goal as a professional.

"Sometimes you get lucky. I scored a lot of pretty goals in practice, but sometimes in games it just doesn't work out that way."

Still, Grand-Pierre carved out a solid NHL career along the blue line even if goals weren't his forte. The Montreal native had a little bit of a scoring touch with 32 goals in three seasons with Val-d'Or of the QMJHL then began his pro career in 1997-98 with Rochester in the Buffalo system.

A year later, he made his NHL debut at age 21 by playing 16 games for a Sabres team that would go on to make the Stanley Cup Final. He skated 11 more contests a year later with Buffalo, but playing time was hard to come by on a team led by such veteran defensemen as Jason Woolley, Alexei Zhitnik, Richard Smehlik and James Patrick.

When the Blue Jackets acquired Grand-Pierre in a trade in the summer of 2000, it was a chance for a new beginning.

"Training camp was definitely different because in Buffalo, in training camp, the team was basically done," he said. "Columbus was more of a clean slate, and I was definitely hoping to make the team, but nothing was set in stone, per se, so I had to prove myself. I would say the internal competition on the team was very healthy. It was very motivating for all the guys because there were a lot of guys who really had their first chance at getting a permanent NHL job."

Grand-Pierre was one of those who earned one, playing 64 games during the team's inaugural year. That team remains one of the most memorable and beloved in franchise history, as a group of veterans and youngsters bonded together to deliver a competitive expansion outfit on a night in and night out basis for a city that quickly embraced NHL hockey.

At age 23, Grand-Pierre was the youngest regular on the squad but harbors nothing but great memories.

"There was a lot of excitement around the city," he remembers. "It was a different market from where I was in Buffalo before, that's for sure, but it was definitely a lot of excitement and the guys were excited as well even though we all came from different teams.

"It was a very nice mix of different characters on that team. We definitely had a lot of fun. If you look at the results, it was nothing like what Vegas did or anything like that, but if you look at the last 20 years or so, that was definitely a team that represented well what Columbus was all about. It was a blue-collar team that went to work every night and did the best they could. There was a lot of character on that team."