The big moment finally has arrived!
After a year of buildup, it's finally time for the Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series, which will take place in Ohio Stadium on Saturday night between the Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings.
Not only will the Blue Jackets' first-ever outdoor game be a spectacle, there are plenty of events going on around the game to keep fans entertained. We'll post here throughout the weekend about all the goings on before and after the game.
3:37 p.m: The Blue Jackets have arrived at Ohio Stadium in a fit that would make Johnny Gaudreau proud.
For its arrival, Columbus players wore blue Avalon Surf Shop hoodies, black sweatpants, Uggs boots and Amiri three star hats, a signature look of Johnny Gaudreau.
“Basically our whole outfit is a tribute to Johnny, something that he would wear every day at the rink,” Mathieu Olivier said.
It’s another poignant recognition of the late Gaudreau in a season full of them, and in another nice touch, the Gaudreau family — including wife Meredith, daughter Noa and son Johnny Jr — led the the team walk from St. John Arena to Ohio Stadium.
They were accompanied by the Ohio State athletic band, spirit squads and ROTC.
The Blue Jackets first arrived to a packed St. John Arena to a rendition of the song “This Town” by O.A.R., whose members are Ohio State alums. More than 10,000 fans filled the old barn to greet the team to campus, hear O.A.R. and listen to the OSU athletic band.
The Red Wings also arrived to Ohio Stadium in jerseys the Gaudreau brothers wore throughout their carers.
1:32 p.m.: So far, the NHL has released a lot of details about the spectacle of what will happen today in Ohio Stadium, but the league’s vice president of content and events warns -- be ready for surprises.
“We want you to never want to go to the bathroom,” Steve Mayer said. “We want you to just think, what are they going to do next? We think we have something planned from the time somebody walks in the door to the time they leave.”
Hopefully fans will in fact have time to go to the restroom, but it will be an action-packed event in the Horseshoe. This is the NHL’s 43rd outdoor game, and they know how to do an event well.
“We do like to surprise people at every one of the games with something,” Mayer said. “We want people on Monday when they go back to work to talk about this and say, ‘Did you see this? Did you see that?’ That’s important to us. Sometimes it’s the unexpected that actually catches peoples’ eyes.”
12:22 p.m.: College football is all about rivalries.
Today, maybe we can use the term frenemies.
It’s well-known that Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski and Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin are longtime friends, playing together as kids and going on to room together while starring at the University of Michigan.
Today, though, like Ohio State and Michigan, they’re very much on opposite sides of the NHL Stadium Series, which Werenski drove home when asked about their friendship yesterday. As the Blue Jackets were going through their family skate, the Red Wings were warming up for practice, but in the midst of a heated playoff race, Werenski kept the battle lines drawn.
“I saw him playing soccer out there today,” Werenski said. “My fiancee was like, ‘Do you want to go say hi to him?’ I was like, ‘No, no, no. We’re not doing that. We hate those guys until the game is over.’”
He was kidding, of course, but the NHL has a way of turning friends into foes between the lines, as the two proved when they dropped the gloves during a 2021 game. Come 10 p.m. tonight, though, they'll be back to being buddies.
“It’s one of those things where it’s a cool thing to add to our friendship. We’ve been through a lot together on the same teams, and had the chance to battle against each other in the NHL. We’re both going to enjoy it, we’re both going to battle hard. After the game I’ll give him a hug.”
11:10 a.m.: It’s a time-honored tradition in hockey for players to warm up for games and practices by kicking a soccer ball around and playing a little sewer.
Rarely, though, does that involve wearing a football helmet.
Yet there was Mathieu Olivier, racing onto the Ohio Stadium playing surface Friday afternoon with an Ohio State helmet on, and you can bet not too many of his teammates were willing to get in front of that header.
So where did Olivier find the lid?
“State secret,” he said. “Found it deep somewhere in the stadium where they hide all the secrets to winning.”
Indeed, the victory bell in the southeast tower rings more often than not after Ohio State football games, with the Buckeyes holding an all-time record of 478-113-19 in Ohio Stadium. There are eight national championship plaques on the north facade, with a ninth set to go up after the Buckeyes won it all this past season.
The Blue Jackets will try to capture a little of that magic tonight in the NHL Stadium Series game, though there is a little bit of an interesting dynamic at play. Of the Blue Jackets on the roster, only Sean Kuraly grew up in Columbus, while four actually played college hockey at the Buckeyes rival up north, the University of Michigan.
CBJ alternate captain Zach Werenski said below that the rivalry is on pause for him today, though someone like Adam Fantilli may not say the same. Still, it’s always interesting to see which CBJ players embrace the Buckeye football culture when they come to town.
Captain Boone Jenner is in his 12th season with the Blue Jackets and said he certainly has.
"To be honest, I didn't know anything about it coming to Columbus,” he said. “Flipping on the TV, flipping on the radio, you hear a lot about Ohio State football and you become a fan pretty quick.
“It was my second or third year, 2014, when they won the national championship and Ezekiel Elliott and all that, and right from there I was a fan, so I definitely have been following and enjoy coming to the games.
“So yeah, it's safe to say I'm an Ohio State fan for sure.”
9:53 a.m.: The Blue Jackets and the hockey community suffered a stunning and devastating loss with the passing of Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, in August, but the Gaudreaus have still been a big part of the team all season.
The team raised Johnny Gaudreau’s No. 13 jersey to the rafters in an emotional pregame ceremony before the season home opener, and his locker stall remains in Nationwide Arena. Gaudreau’s sweater is hung in the dressing room before each and every game this year, home and away.
The family has never been too far away, either, whether it’s been his father, Guy, skating with the team at practice earlier this season; his mother, Jane, joining the team’s moms’ trip to Detroit this week; or constant visits from his wife Meredith, daughter Noa and son Johnny Jr.
The NHL has said all along that Gaudreau’s memory will be recognized during the Stadium Series, and Dean Evason confirmed that Friday.
“Johnny is still teaching us in many ways,” the head coach said. “We talk about him a lot. Meredith will be walking us out tomorrow. Johnny’s mom was with us on the moms’ trip, and his dad has been out on the ice. There’s just so many ways Johnny has inspired us.
“Today I asked Boone Jenner, I said, ‘Do you think Johnny would like to be here?’ He said, ‘Hell yeah, he would.’ He’s always with us.”
Gaudreau was known for his love of life, his love of his family and his passionate love for the game of hockey. While there are no rafters in Ohio Stadium for a No. 13 jersey to hang, Johnny Hockey will be with the Blue Jackets today.
“We’re going to play for him (tonight) like we have all year and honor him that way, the best way we can,” Jenner said. “As Dean said, he would have loved this, everything about it. He loves the game of hockey, being around his teammates, but especially the family skate and having everyone in town.”
8:47 a.m.: Today is the day!
Of course, you knew that. More than 90,000 of you have tickets to pack Ohio Stadium for the first outdoor game in CBJ history, so I don’t have to spend too much time explaining what’s about to happen. And if you need some specific times for what’s going on around the ‘Shoe, see above.
As someone who has been watching Ohio Stadium transform from a gridiron palace into a hockey wonderland the past two weeks, let me tell you — you’re going to be floored by just how perfect the setting is when you arrive tonight or watch it on television.
CBJ players and head coach Dean Evason found that out yesterday with the team’s chance to practice in the iconic venue that opened in 1922.
“It’s amazing, right? Evason said. “To look at this building and what it’s been through, the history, it’s just such an iconic building. … You look up and see all the great dimensions of the ‘Shoe, and it gives you chills just looking at it. That’s what we wanted the guys to experience, to look up there and see that.”
Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner has attended a handful of Ohio State football games — and a concert or two — in architect Howard Dwight Smith’s masterpiece over the years, including an OSU game earlier this season when the entire team came out to watch the Buckeyes take on Iowa before the season.
Even with his history in the building, he wasn’t prepared for exactly what it was going to be go through Friday’s skate.
“It blew me away at first,” Jenner said. “Seeing the ice out there for the first time, it’s pretty special. We came to a game here as a team at the end of training camp, it was tough to picture an ice surface out there. To actually se it out there was pretty special.”
How cool is it? Even Zach Werenski — a Michigan native and former Wolverines hockey player — was in awe.
“It’s incredible,” Werenski said. “No rivalry for me this weekend. I don’t really care about (that). It’s one of those things where they’re the national champs. There’s buzz around that. It’s great for our fans, for our city, it’s great for the team, the organization.”
FRIDAY, FEB. 28
9:42 p.m.: The NHL Stadium Series isn't the only game in town -- or even on Ohio State's campus -- when it comes to hockey.
In a perfect confluence of factors, Ohio State's men's and women's teams are both ranked in the top 10 in the country, and both are hosting games this weekend.
The No. 8-ranked men's team completed its regular-season ending two-game series with Michigan on Friday night at Value City Arena, falling by a 4-3 score in a game that featured a goal from CBJ draft pick William Whitelaw, a sophomore forward at Michigan. Ohio State previously won the opening game of the series by a 2-1 score in overtime Thursday. The Friday night contest drew more than 9,000 fans, including CBJ players and Michigan products Jack Johnson and Adam Fantilli, whose older brother Luca plays for the Wolverines.
Meanwhile, the No. 2-ranked women's team began the postseason Friday night with a 5-1 win vs. St. Thomas in the first of a best-of-three Western Collegiate Hockey Association conference tournament series. The defending NCAA champions will try to close out the Tommies when they host Game 2 of the series Saturday at 3 p.m. at the OSU Ice Rink, mere feet from the NHL Stadium Series Pep Rally at St. John Arena.
It truly is a hockey weekend in Columbus.
3:43 p.m.: The Blue Jackets are set to take the ice in Ohio Stadium around 4:30 p.m. for practice, though you have to wonder how many players try to sneak out early just to see the surroundings and get ready.
As we wrote earlier today, outdoor games are a unique bird, half a celebration of the sport and a memory that will last a lifetime -- and a battle for two crucial points in the standings once the puck actually drops.
Tomorrow is exceedingly important for both teams, but there will be a lot more levity today. Practice will be intense, for sure, but this is also the one day the team gets to take the ice without the pressure of a game. In addition, once the Jackets are done with practice, they have the chance to get on the ice with their family and friends for a skate.
The iCloud is about to get a lot bigger in Columbus over the next few hours.
"I'm sure Friday will be very special with the family skate, the practice, getting to see everything, getting used to it," CBJ captain Boone Jenner said.
The fun continues all the way until, oh, 6 p.m. or so Saturday.
"Warmups will be cool when you're looking around," Jenner said. "I think it's it's game on from there for us."
2:34 p.m.: The future of girls hockey and women's hockey is bright, and it got a little brighter on Friday afternoon.
The NHL, Columbus Blue Jackets, ESPN and Ohio State hosted a luncheon at OSU's Longaberger Alumni House announcing the inaugural ‘Empowerment Grant for Girls Hockey’ to the Columbus Ice Hockey Club. In addition, the NHL and ESPN announced a grant will be given to OSU’s LiFEsports program to help grow the game.
At a time when women's sports have never been bigger, it's all about seizing the momentum and growing the game.
"We are bullish on girls hockey at the NHL, not only because we know what sports in general does for confidence in girls but also because we understand how important women are to the fandom of our sport," said Kim Davis, the NHL’s senior executive vice president of social impact, growth initiatives and legislative affairs. "Today, 40 percent of our fans are women, and that comes from making sure that we invest in girls at an early age."
Davis noted that five years ago, only four NHL teams had girls only-focused hockey programs; now, every team does. After the phenomenal success of its inaugural season, the PWHL is now in its second year of selling out buildings across North America, and in Columbus, Ohio State has built a national championship-winning women's program that is inspiring more and more young girls to get on the ice.
It's a perfect storm to keep making the game bigger and better.
"The boulder is rolling downhill," said Blake Bolden, an Ohio native who starred at Boston College before embarking on a pro career. "There's just been such great ambassadors for the game, women that are trailblazing. I think we've done a great job of loving the sport that we grew up playing and wanting to see it on a big platform.
"Right now, we're seeing it. We have a pro league. We have a rivalry series (between U.S. and Canada) and we have stadiums filled up watching the best women in the world play. Now little girls can look up and become professional hockey players and play at some of the best universities in the nation."
1:54 p.m.: The cannon has arrived.
The famous 1,500-pound replica of an 1857 Napoleon-style Civil War cannon was placed on a truck and left the Front Street entrance of Nationwide Arena around noon, arriving at Ohio Stadium by 12:30 p.m. After a quick cleaning, it was transported into the stadium and placed in its honored spot at midfield next to the rink.
