Split decision: Buckeyes, Blue Jackets give Umberger plenty to watch

Thursday night is going to be quite a hockey night for R.J. Umberger.
The former forward of the Blue Jackets and Ohio State Buckeyes, who resides in the Columbus area, will have two games he cares about going on simultaneously. The Buckeyes play Minnesota-Deluth in the Frozen Four at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. at 6 p.m., and the Blue Jackets then drop the puck an hour later against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Nationwide Arena - looking to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Oh, and did we mention Umberger was born in Pittsburgh and grew up watching the Penguins?
If anybody can speak to how big hockey has become in Columbus, on all levels, it's Umberger - who's watched the sport grow here as both a collegiate player and then a pro.
"It's grown immensely," said Umberger, who played three seasons at Ohio State and six of his 10 NHL seasons with the Blue Jackets. "You've got the Blue Jackets winning now, the amount of fans they've produced and the young kids that are watching this and seeing these exciting young players. First it was Rick Nash and now you're seeing a new generation of players, with all the young guys they've got. You're seeing local kids start making it in the NHL and getting more scholarships, too. They have to build more rinks now. It's just a continuous domino effect."

He knows that because he's seen it happen before, back in Pittsburgh.
"I saw there what the Penguins did in the early 1990s, winning championships and what Mario Lemieux and [Jaromir Jagr] did, and the buzz it created and how rapid Pittsburgh improved as a hockey city," Umberger said. "It's well on the map now as being a good place to play hockey. So now, a decade or so later, you're seeing Columbus being very respected nationally. In the youth age, there are teams competing and they've got some of the best kids in the U.S. here."
Some of the best hockey is being played in Columbus, period.
The Ohio State women's team, which set a program record with 24 wins this season, also made the Frozen Four - which was the first time the Buckeyes had even made the NCAA Tournament field, let alone the final four teams.
The men's team is back in the Frozen Four for the second time in program history and has a chance to win its first national championship. The last time the Buckeyes made it this far in the NCAA Tournament was 1998, two years before Umberger played his freshman season in the scarlet and gray.
"It would be huge for the program [to win a national title], to gain some national respect," Umberger said. "It's a program that's continuing to rise the past four or five years, and it's a program that should be on top of the country all the time. That's kind of the vision I had when I went there and it's finally taking place. There's been some good years in the past, but I think they're starting to get to the point where they can be competitive to a high level every year."
There's a lot of that going around here lately.