COLUMBUS \u2014 The Columbus Blue Jackets returned to Nationwide Arena to a sellout crowd Saturday night for their first home game in three weeks, following the Olympic break and a gold-medal run for Team USA that included an assist from defenseman Zach Werenski.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The Blue Jackets returned to Nationwide Arena for their first home game in three weeks following the Olympic break<\/p>\n
Defenseman Zach Werenski helped set up the golden goal for Team USA during its gold-medal run<\/p>\n
Fans say the Olympic moment has renewed their attention and excitement as Columbus remains in the playoff mix<\/p>\n
Fans said the Olympic performance has shifted the energy around the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be extremely electric. I think it\u2019s going to be hype in there today for sure,\u201d said Chris Bachus, a Blue Jackets fan attending the game.<\/p>\n
Werenski, who helped set up the golden goal that secured the United States men\u2019s national ice hockey team\u2019s victory, said the reception from fans stood out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes you emotional in a sense of how many people support you and care. A lot of people I don\u2019t really know personally. But for them to come out and take the time to decorate and write notes on stuff, it means a lot for sure,\u201d Werenski said.<\/p>\n
He said the Olympic experience was about more than a single play.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, our goal was, inspire the next generation of us hockey players. And I think we did just that, not just with the win. I think with how close our team was, how much we loved representing our country,\u201d Werenski said.<\/p>\n
Columbus entered the break still in the playoff picture. Some fans said the Olympic moment has renewed their focus on the rest of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m more excited. I\u2019m paying a lot more attention. We only missed the playoffs last year by two points. So we can get back in,\u201d said Danael Spires, a Blue Jackets fan.<\/p>\n
After weeks without home games, the arena was filled again as the team resumed play, with fans hoping the Olympic momentum carries into a postseason push.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLUMBUS \u2014 The Columbus Blue Jackets returned to Nationwide Arena to a sellout crowd Saturday night for their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5108],"tags":[1249,2100,3644,5180,897,230,5179,10977,5,40,4,5188,5639,6771,23017,57545,43,1953],"class_list":{"0":"post-479521","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-blue-jackets","11":"tag-bluejackets","12":"tag-columbus","13":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","14":"tag-columbusbluejackets","15":"tag-ctv","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-ohio-what-you-need-to-know","23":"tag-saima-khan","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479521","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=479521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}