Blue Jackets fan in England follows from afar

The Blue Jackets are popular in Columbus, but they also have fans all across the world. BlueJackets.com is checking in with some of those fans, talking to team diehards overseas to find out how they became so passionate about the franchise and what it's like to follow from so far from Columbus.

Over the past decade or so, many American sports fans have become accustomed to waking up early on a Saturday morning, grabbing a cup of coffee (or perhaps a pint), and tuning in to watch their favorite Premier League soccer teams do battle an ocean away.

For Jay Forster, things are the opposite.

The Chester, England, resident is a fan of the Blue Jackets, which means instead of early morning wake-up calls, there are … earlier mornings.

A 7 p.m. start in Columbus means a midnight puck drop on Britain's west coast for much of the year, which can certainly make it hard. But Forster does everything he can to make sure he catches as many games as possible.

"I have an NHL.tv subscription, but I also have a job that requires me to wake up at 6 a.m., when the home games start at midnight for me," Forster told BlueJackets.com in an email interview. "I watch more games than I should because three hours of sleep is not enough to function on, but I can't help it!

"People have suggested hiding the scores on the app and watching in the morning, but it's just not the same. Hockey's the love of my life, I don't really know how I'd cope without watching or playing it. Current lockdown status suggests badly."

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So how does someone who is originally from Nottingham and who now lives in Chester, which is right along the border between England and Wales, get so into hockey let alone the Blue Jackets?

Of course, it speaks to the universal appeal of the sport, and while the United Kingdom isn't exactly the hottest worldwide hotbed of hockey, the sport does have some roots there.

The Elite Ice Hockey League has 10 teams scattered throughout the UK, and about 50 players born in the Kingdom have made it to the NHL, including Owen Nolan, a five-time NHL All-Star in the 1990s and early 2000s born in Northern Ireland. There are currently two UK-born players in the NHL, as Red Wings forward Brendan Perlini hails from England, while Blues forward Nathan Walker was born in Wales.

Forster plays rec league hockey, works for a semipro team and volunteers for a pro team near his home, but that still doesn't answer one question.

"I think my No. 1 reaction when I mention I'm a Blue Jackets fan is, 'Oh... why?'" Forster says.

In fact, Forster doesn't have any other friends in England who follow the CBJ quite like he does, but after at first watching the Blackhawks during their run of popularity in the early 2010s, his allegiances changed when the Blue Jackets waged a battle of a playoff series vs. Pittsburgh in 2014.

"I liked their vibe," he said. "I know it seems weird to say as a recovering Hawks fan, but I've always loved an underdog, and I've never liked the Penguins, so it seemed like a match made in heaven. My first game was April 2015; my best friend went to OSU, and when I was visiting her we got student rush tickets. It was a 5-0 win over the Leafs, and I remember Ryan Murray scoring his first goal since coming back from missing most of the season.

"That's when I really fell in love with the Blue Jackets as a team, I think. I loved Nationwide Arena, I loved all the little fan rituals, the 'LEO!', the chili chant, the cannon."

Forster said his goal is to see the Blue Jackets in every NHL arena, but he has a ways to go having seen games in Minnesota, San Jose, Los Angeles and Colorado in addition to Nationwide Arena. He has "lots of friends" in Columbus and has made a number of trips to town for games, including two contests in November, but one moment sticks out above the rest.

"My all-time favourite moment as a fan in Nationwide was February 17, 2017, and it was an overtime winner against the Pens scored by (Brandon) Dubinsky," Forster said. "I honestly thought the roof was going to come off the building, and as someone who truly identifies with how Dubinsky feels about the Penguins, it was a really, really great moment."

There have been a fair share of good memories from the road as well.

"(In Minnesota), my friend's daughter is the biggest hockey fan I know, and we ended up hanging around outside the hotel in the rain waiting for autographs; we didn't get a lot, but we did end up donating an umbrella to Pierre-Luc Dubois, who was going to walk to the arena in the pouring rain without a jacket or anything," Forster said. "My friend says her mom powers kicked in!

"Anyway, he ended up messaging her on Twitter the next day to invite her to practice to get her umbrella back, so we trekked over to Ritter Arena, got to watch CBJ practice, and when Nick Foligno saw my jersey, he ended up giving me his practice used stick, which is probably the coolest hockey memorabilia I own."

That's perhaps one reason the CBJ captain stands out above the rest for Forster when it comes to Blue Jackets to root for over the years.

"I'm a goalie, so obviously I loved (Sergei Bobrovsky), but Elvis (Merzlikins) is doing a great job of filling in that emotional hole," Forster said. "Dubinsky was another, but I think my all-time favourite Jacket has to be Nick Foligno. The man just loves the team and the city so much, he clearly cares so much about the fans and about winning, and he just, to me, embodies what it is to be a Blue Jacket."

That dedication oozes out of Foligno, but also Forster. Anyone who wakes up at midnight on the other side of the world to support their team is as dedicated as they come.