COLUMBUS, Ohio — A collection of notes, insights, ruminations and did-you-knows gathered throughout the week that was for the Blue Jackets:
Item No. 1: New rink at Ohio State
Ohio State’s board of trustees this week approved a $2.7 million proposal to design a new ice rink on campus. On the surface, this would appear to be the good news that local college hockey fans have always wanted.
But unless a donor steps forward with a major contribution, the plan isn’t likely to please everybody.
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith, speaking with The Athletic on Saturday, confirmed that the school’s initial plan is to design and study building an arena with a seating capacity of 1,500 to 3,000.
If the rink ends up being on the low end of that capacity, it would be used as a practice facility for both the men’s and women’s programs, but only the women’s programs would play games there. The men would continue to play in Schottenstein Center.
“It depends,” Smith said. “If we were able to get into that 3,000-seat area, there are some contests the men play where they could play in the new rink.
“But the larger ones — the games against that team up north (Michigan) or Penn State, for instance — we’d go to the Schott.”
The only way Ohio State could build something…
