player on the ice Thursday<\/a> for the morning skate and said he\u2019ll be \u201cready to go\u201d when the playoff-hungry Blue Jackets return to action against the Boston Bruins.<\/p>\n\u201cGetting out there with the guys, watching video \u2026 my mindset definitely got back into game mode,\u201d Werenski said. \u201cObviously, I understand where we\u2019re at in the standings and all that, and who we\u2019re playing, so it\u2019s not hard to get up for this game tonight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe travel and the events that have transpired over the last few days were a lot for sure, but I\u2019ll go back (to the team hotel), I\u2019ll eat and get a nap. Hopefully, we get a win tonight and then I\u2019ll take (Friday) off. But, yeah, I\u2019m ready to go for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Werenski was still dressed in his Team USA garb. \u201cIt\u2019s a long story,\u201d he said, and a story for a later date. But you can understand how hard it might be for Werenski to get his bearings.<\/p>\n
It was Werenski who had the picture-perfect assist on Jack Hughes\u2019 \u201cgolden goal\u201d that sent Team USA to the gold-medal win over Canada in overtime Sunday. The party started immediately after the game, continued late into the night in the Olympic Village, and carried over the next day when the club arrived in Miami on Monday.<\/p>\n
Then, on Tuesday, Werenski and other members of the club traveled to the White House to visit with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, have lunch and later stay for Trump\u2019s State of the Union address.<\/p>\n
Werenski met up with the Blue Jackets in Boston on Wednesday, but it\u2019s been hard to switch gears and leave behind the emotions, the euphoria, of winning a men\u2019s hockey gold medal for the United States for the first time in 46 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can remember exactly what happened in the moment (on Hughes\u2019 goal),\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then after it went in (the net), it was just \u2026 black. It felt better than I ever could have imagined, and everything afterward \u2026 the reception we got when we landed in Miami, the party that night, the White House, the State of the Union \u2026 it\u2019s been pretty incredible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I get in bed at night, I want to keep scrolling and looking at content and, you know, we were having a good time \u2026 it\u2019s probably the best moment in my life. And, yeah, I don\u2019t want it to end, but obviously I have to move forward and play tonight, so I\u2019m ready for that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The game-winning goal will, of course, be replayed for many generations to come. But for many watching Sunday\u2019s game, the most powerful, emotional moment came after the game as Team USA gathered for a picture.<\/p>\n
Werenski and two other players took laps around the rink holding Johnny Gaudreau\u2019s Team USA sweater, the one he surely would have worn in the Olympic tournament. Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew were struck by a car and killed while riding bikes on a New Jersey road in August 2024.<\/p>\n
Werenski and Dylan Larkin went into the stands and returned holding two of Gaudreau\u2019s children, daughter Noa and son Johnny Jr. The little ones sat on their laps while the picture was taken.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was incredible,\u201d Werenski said. \u201cWe see his jersey hang every day here in Columbus. I saw it last year at 4 Nations. I saw it at the World Championships, and now at the Olympics. These are all events he would be at.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a lot of pride playing for him. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. That was one of my favorite moments of this whole thing. He touched a lot of people and had a lot of great friends and a lot of those friends were on this team. We wanted to do something special for (the Gaudreaus).\u201d<\/p>\n
As you\u2019d expect, Werenski made some new friendships and strengthened some existing relationships during the Olympic experience. He attended the opening ceremonies with Boston\u2019s Jeremy Swayman and Charlie McAvoy, and Dallas\u2019 Jake Oettinger.<\/p>\n
Strange world he\u2019s in, right? Barely four days after playing together and partying together, Werenski now faces Swayman and McAvoy as opponents tonight in TD Garden. Can he possibly finish a check on McAvoy so soon?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a big boy,\u201d Werenski said. \u201cI don\u2019t know, I mean, it\u2019s probably going to be the other way around, if anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Werenski also was asked about the controversy of the last few days<\/a>, including the fact that members of Team USA laughed in the postgame dressing room when Trump said he \u201cprobably would be impeached\u201d if he didn\u2019t also invite the women\u2019s team, which also won a gold medal, to the State of the Union.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m happy you brought that up,\u201d Werenski said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncredible group of women. We got to know them extremely well in the village. No one was bigger supporters of them than us. I remember I was at dinner for their gold medal game. I was glued to my phone watching it.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, it\u2019s not a great moment. It doesn\u2019t look great, so I understand that. But, you know, I think deep down, they know how we feel about them and how much support we have for them. Just incredible people, incredible hockey players, and they\u2019ve done so much for the game of hockey.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are going to be so many girls out there who play that want to be Megan Keller and Caroline Harvey. They\u2019ve changed the sport of hockey and I couldn\u2019t be more supportive of them. Like I said, obviously, it looks bad in the moment. Didn\u2019t mean anything by that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Werenski said he hasn\u2019t contacted any of the women\u2019s players yet, but offered an apology.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know some of the guys have reached out who know them better than I do,\u201d he said. \u201cI just apologize for the way it looks, but I think deep down they know how much support we have for them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 Milan. Miami. The White House. Zach Werenski looked bleary-eyed after a whirlwind previous three days, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5108],"tags":[3644,5180,897,230,5179,5,54125,4,2602],"class_list":{"0":"post-473704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-columbus-blue-jackets","8":"tag-blue-jackets","9":"tag-bluejackets","10":"tag-columbus","11":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","12":"tag-columbusbluejackets","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-olympics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116138964707109174","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473704","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=473704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}