the Blue Jackets’ 4-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks<\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday night. The goal also made him the third American defenseman in NHL history with consecutive 20-goal seasons, joining Phil Housley and Reed Larson.<\/p>\nThe 28-year old Grosse Pointe, Michigan, native also has the most points by a defenseman before an Olympic break with 62 (20 goals, 42 assists).<\/p>\n
Mike Green had the previous mark with 60 points for the Washington Capitals before the 2010 Vancouver Games. Green, however, did not make the roster for Team Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I can kind of do anything that I\u2019m asked of,” said Werenski, who has two goals and eight assists in his last seven games. \u201cAnd it\u2019s important in a tournament like that where you have guys coming together in a short amount of time, you have to accept the role you\u2019re given and the minutes you\u2019re given. I feel like I\u2019m ready for whatever they give me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Werenski served notice during last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off that he can excel on both ends of the ice with six assists. It was the first time in NHL-sanctioned international tournaments \u2014 which include the Canada Cup, World Cup of Hockey and 4 Nations Face-Off \u2014 that a defenseman led all skaters in assists and points.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m playing probably some of the best defensive hockey I\u2019ve played in a long time, which is important since Bones (coach Rick Bowness) has gotten here to kind of clean up that area,” Werenski said. \u201cThe offense is still coming. So yeah, I feel really good about my game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Werenski will fly to Milan on Thursday and participate in Friday’s opening ceremony. He decided to arrive a couple days early after watching the Netflix documentary \u201cMiracle: The Boys of \u201980\u201d and hearing about the experiences those players had going to the Olympics.<\/p>\n
Werenski also said it was important to make sure he didn’t have any regrets about missing anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, I kind of thought it would be nice to get a few days rest here, but this is once in a lifetime and I want to be there for it and I want to experience everything I can,\u201d Werenski said. \u201cI felt like getting there a few days early wouldn\u2019t hurt to get acclimated, either, to the time zone and I can rest a few days there and get on that schedule and just enjoy everything it has to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Werenski isn’t the only Blue Jackets player headed to Milan. Goaltender Elvis Merzlikins will represent Latvia, which opens against the United States on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I hope he goes over there and has an unbelievable tournament and shows everyone how good of a goalie he is,\u201d Werenski said of Merzlikins. \u201cI\u2019m rooting for him. Obviously not against the U.S., but I hope he plays great. When we\u2019re playing him, it\u2019s all business, but when we\u2019re not, I\u2019m a fan of his.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blue Jackets go into the Olympic break on a seven-game winning streak and are 10-1 since Bowness replaced Dean Evason on Jan. 12. Columbus has gone from last place in the Eastern Conference to only two points out of a playoff spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs excited as I am to go to Milan and represent our country in the Olympics, I\u2019m close to equally excited to get back here and get back with the guys already,\u201d Werenski said. \u201cIt\u2019s something special in here and we\u2019ve put in the hard work recently and we\u2019re getting rewarded for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014\u00a0Things could not be going any better for Zach Werenski as he prepares for his first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5108],"tags":[1249,2100,1251,3644,5180,897,230,5179,5,40,4,5188,5639,6771,4093,43,1953],"class_list":{"0":"post-447115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-columbus-blue-jackets","8":"tag-app-sports","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-associated-press","11":"tag-blue-jackets","12":"tag-bluejackets","13":"tag-columbus","14":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","15":"tag-columbusbluejackets","16":"tag-hockey","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-nhl","19":"tag-ohio","20":"tag-ohio-columbus-blue-jackets","21":"tag-ohio-columbus-top-stories","22":"tag-spectrum-news-staff","23":"tag-sports","24":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116018507037903356","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}