Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer forgot about a certain NHL team when talking about what draws recruits to Columbus.
“You get a premium education with the opportunity to go compete for a national championship in a large city that really has no professional sports team,” Meyer said in a Q&A with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week. “There’s a lot to be offered up here.”
Buckeyes football is absolutely king in Columbus, but the city’s pro sports landscape is not completely barren. The NHL’s Blue Jackets have called Columbus home since 2000, playing in an arena just seven miles from the Ohio State campus.
The Blue Jackets haven’t exactly emulated Ohio State’s tradition of excellence, though. The team has never won a playoff game in its 13-season existence — its only playoff series was a four-game sweep at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings in 2009 — and attendance at Nationwide Arena has ranked in the NHL’s bottom four in each of the last four seasons.
The Jackets have a shot at ending that playoff drought this season, as they sit just two games back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference entering Monday. One of the teams they’re jockeying with for that final bid, the Red Wings, visits Columbus on Tuesday.
Hat tip to Eye on Hockey
Photo via Facebook/Columbus Blue Jackets
