When might the Columbus Blue Jackets play an NHL Winter Classic game at Ohio Stadium?
Sean Kuraly knows what it’s like to play in a Winter Classic.
When the Columbus Blue Jackets forward was with the Boston Bruins, he took the ice at Notre Dame Stadium for the NHL's 2019 event, and it felt like “the whole world (was) on top of you” with nearly 80,000 people watching.
“I think the whole point is to kind of bring you back to feeling like you’re a kid playing outside on a pond or in the backyard,” he said.
Kuraly wants that for the Blue Jackets, who are one of three teams to have never played in an outdoor hockey game along with the Arizona Coyotes and Florida Panthers. He wants to take the ice at Ohio Stadium, 20 minutes away from where he grew up in Dublin.
But Kuraly is also a realist.
The Blue Jackets are currently eighth in the Metropolitan Division, posting a minus-21 goal differential through 38 games.
And even with NHL representatives scouting Ohio Stadium during Ohio State’s Nov. 11 win against Michigan State, Kuraly knows the best way to put the organization in position to get a marquee outdoor game in Columbus is winning.
“They’re earned experiences,” Kuraly said. “We definitely want one as a team. My thoughts are you got to give them a reason to bring it here.”
What is holding Ohio Stadium back from hosting a Blue Jackets game?
Xen Riggs is also a realist. But that doesn't mean the associate vice president of business advancement at Ohio State doesn't want to see Ohio Stadium host a Blue Jackets game.
Ohio State just wants to do it right.
“I think people heard about the challenges and they interpreted that as resistance,” Riggs said. “And it was only resistance because we want it to be a great event. We want it to work. But a willingness to do it? What possible reason would we have to not want to do it?”
To host an event such as the Winter Classic at Ohio Stadium, Riggs and executive associate athletic director of internal operations Mike Penner said they would need to “winterize” the facility.
The focus of that effort would be heat tracing: wrapping water pipes in electric wire to prevent freezing, expanding and possibly bursting in colder weather. Ohio State has such a system in place on the west side of Ohio Stadium for the club level, but Penner and Riggs confirmed that needs repair. And the university would ideally want to winterize all the pipes, including water lines running from C deck to the ground.
According to Penner, Ohio State is “working toward a heat trace system a little bit at a time.” Riggs said the project was estimated to cost at least $8 million in a study conducted by the university five years ago.
But the winterization of Ohio Stadium could have an impact beyond the opportunity to host outdoor hockey.
“One of the things we talked about is any expense we’d have to go through to ‘winterize’ – and it’s more of the heat tracing than anything – is that worth it for one event?” Riggs said. “Well, now we’re in a place where we’ve got to be ready for a potential playoff game with football.”
Riggs explained that the “risk” of a game in December is different from mid-January or mid-February, and the stadium would only have a problem if Columbus sees “multiple days of sub-zero wind chills.”
Riggs added this will not keep the university from planning winter events.
“We don’t have the money to do (the heat tracing). And one event is not going to generate the money,” Riggs said. “But I think we’re going to do what we can and work toward this. I think, over time and over the discussions we’ve (had), I think people are getting more comfortable with managing the risk. It’s not that they have gone away. It’s not that we’ve come up with a big check to do it. We just have to all get comfortable with what that is.”
Penner said Ohio State also has to work on a system for snow removal at Ohio Stadium, something the university has looked to Minnesota and Wisconsin for guidance on.
But even after snow removal and heat tracing are taken care of, there is work still to be done. Being so cold the temperatures bursts pipes is one risk. But there is another: The weather gets too warm.
Adam Fantilli knows it well.
Fantilli is the only Blue Jackets player on the roster to have participated in an outdoor hockey game in Ohio, having played at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland with Michigan in a 4-2 loss to Ohio State.
The game came on what he remembers to be a warmer day, and the playing conditions reminded Fantilli of pond hockey.
"Once games were going, cuts were hard, hits were hard," Fantilli said. "The boards would bend back and like chunks the size of my leg would come out of the ice."
Will Ohio Stadium host a Blue Jackets game?
So is a Winter Classic game coming to Ohio Stadium? According to Riggs, nothing is imminent.
The interest, he said, is there from all parties – Ohio State, the NHL and the Blue Jackets. And when NHL representatives came for a game-day visit to get a sense of Ohio Stadium in action, Riggs said they were “blown away.”
If talks between Ohio State and the NHL continue to materialize, Riggs said scheduling would be an important talking point. The university doesn’t want a conflict with a potential OSU football bowl game.
But while Riggs said Ohio State is on “friendly terms” with the NHL, nothing is going to happen soon.
“At the end of the day, it’s really up to the league,” he said. “We have to agree, the Blue Jackets have to agree. And we’re both willing. So it’s really up to them.”
The chance to play in an outdoor game is something Fantilli would be excited about.
"It's definitely something I know I want to be a part of, a lot of guys in this locker room would love to be (a part of)," Fantilli said.
That's definitely the case when it comes to defenseman Zach Werenski.
“Obviously, we’re one of the smaller-market teams, but we have great fans here,” he said. “Obviously, when we’re not having success, we’re still getting good crowds in our building. When we are having success, it’s unbelievable.
“I think the league owes it to them a little bit.”
But Werenski, a Michigan native, has one request if the Blue Jackets earn a Winter Classic bid.
“I hope they don’t do some Ohio State-themed jerseys up there,” Werenski said. “We’re the Blue Jackets.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Will Columbus Blue Jackets play in NHL Winter Classic game at Ohio Stadium?
