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It's time … to believe.
Who knows how many fans who found themselves in the Nationwide Arena for the very first game of the Blue Jackets on October 7, 2000 were back in the center on Tuesday, as Columbus finished the first playoff series of the season? franchise history.
But for those in Columbus who have been waiting for almost 20 years from the first puck drop to the final attack of the 7-3 win over Tampa Bay in Game 4, this is in many ways the culmination of a rewarding and frustrating journey.
So let's go crazy, get crazy, hit the road, just like the team did in February when it made it clear that it wanted to make some noise this year in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. You have deserved it and you can lower your guard and enjoy the pleasure of being part of the most intense, exhausting and thrilling tournament of this sport.
PLAYOFF CENTRAL: your one-stop shop for news, notes, videos and more
Previous visits have been too short, we know, and the first-round outings have been supplemented by opportunities for Columbus to come out of his collective gourd for that. If you were careful, worried that the same grief is waiting for you around the corner, here is your chance to leave these inhibitions behind you. And if you just boarded, welcome to the trip.
Video: It was a historic night at Nationwide Arena
Who knows what will follow? The Blue Jackets will play good teams, and things will probably not happen as easily as when they swept 4-0 in the first round against Tampa Bay, when Columbus dominated his opponent 19-8. But it's a team that has won hearts and there is no reason to stop now.
Even someone as focused on his team as head coach John Tortorella understands the importance of what is happening in the capital. Upon arrival in 2015, Tortorella could feel what was evident to those who frequented Columbus since the creation of the franchise: a loyal and intense fan base was present, just waiting for a reason to explode.
This powder keg was lit, and the blast was reminiscent of more than 19,000 fans roaring as a collective jet engine during Games 3 and 4.
"I think it's good for fans," Tortorella said. "I think I've been very honest about it, we hope to continue moving forward here to make it a full hockey town.I think our fans have been great since I've been here, extremely loyal have succumbed to certain games in certain situations they wanted to put behind us, and we laid an egg several times.
"I'm focused on the team and what's happening on the ice, but we want it to grow, the more opportunities we have to play in that type of match and find a way to win, it's a good thing. "
The scenes at the downtown arena earlier this week matched what John H. McConnell had in mind, making sure that Columbus' chance to have a franchise in one of the four major sports escaped. not. McConnell was a visionary by the time the city was ripe for a vision and he saw in the mid-90s that Columbus was going to become and became – the state's heartbeat, a growing city with a reputation growing national
A city like this would need major leagues, which McConnell and other leaders have achieved. Since then, the team and the city have been associated in one of the great urban successes of the last 20 years. Nationwide Arena reinvented part of the city center that needed it and served as a catalyst for almost all the revitalization products that followed. Can you imagine the continued development of Short North or the revitalization of downtown housing taking place without the downtown arena? In other words, Columbus in 2019 is not Columbus without the Blue Jackets.
The only thing missing since? A team to take the more than 2 million Columbus residents in a crazy race. And what's wilder than sweeping the winners of the Presidents' Trophy, a Tampa Bay team that has been talked about as one of the best in NHL history in the first round of the playoffs?
It opens the dream of what could be possible, and this year's playoff slogan turned out to be perfect.
It's time to show what has become a hockey city in Columbus.
It's time to believe that anything is possible.
In simple terms, it's time.
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