Addition of Roslovic brings smiles to Columbus hockey community

It was the game of a lifetime, turning into a memory that Jack Roslovic would never forget.
In front of a loudly partisan Canadian crowd in Montreal's Centre Bell, Roslovic and Team USA twice battled back from two-goal deficits against the home team in the gold medal game of the IIHF World Junior Championship in 2017.
Tied at 4 after 60 minutes, the teams full of future NHL stars played a nervous full 20 minutes of overtime followed by a shootout. Team USA's Troy Terry scored the lone shootout goal through the legs of Canada's Carter Hart, and when American goalie Tyler Parsons denied Nicolas Roy as the final shooter, players streamed off the USA bench and dogpiled on the ice.

Celebrating the historic victory with his teammates in Montreal, Roslovic still had his mind on his Columbus home, as evidenced by what happened when he grabbed his phone shortly after he received his gold medal.
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"Within probably an hour of winning, he actually texted me and I think he texted Ed (Gingher) and said, 'Hey, are the kids on the ice tomorrow?'" remembers Todd Ehrie, who coached Roslovic with the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets junior program when Roslovic was growing up. "He wanted to come home, and the first thing he wanted to do was to see the kids and share it with them and let them know, like, 'Hey, if you work at it, dreams can come true.'
"Now this is an 18-year-old kid at that point, which shows a tremendous amount of maturity on his part, but I think that's one thing that has helped him stand apart is recognizing where he came from and always paying it forward to the Columbus kids."
Roslovic has never forgotten where he came from, even as a first-round draft pick who has spent three full seasons in the NHL. And now, years after he first wore union blue as a member of that AAA program, dreaming of putting on the sweater for the big club at Nationwide Arena, the veteran of 180 NHL games has an even bigger chance to impact the Columbus hockey community after he was acquired in a trade from Winnipeg on Saturday.
There have been plenty of firsts over the years for the AAA program and the players it has produced, starting with Trent Vogelhuber becoming the first alum to be drafted when the Blue Jackets chose him in 2007. Four years later, Connor Murphy became the first to be drafted in the first round and first to make his NHL debut in 2013.
There was Carson Meyer, a Columbus native who was taken by the Blue Jackets in the 2017 draft, played at Ohio State and now is signed with Cleveland of the AHL. There was Kole Sherwood, who became the first central Ohio product to play for the Blue Jackets when he debuted in February 2019 and is still in the CBJ organization. There was Sean Kuraly, who became the first AAA Blue Jackets product to play in a Stanley Cup Final two years ago with Boston and came within a win of bringing sport's greatest trophy home to Columbus.
But this will be something different. With three NHL seasons under his belt and the expectation he'll jump into the CBJ's daily lineup, Roslovic will be a tangible, daily reminder of what is possible for the Columbus hockey community, with every stride on the Nationwide Arena ice proving how everyone working toward a common goal can help players get to the highest level and serving as an inspiration for all the kids who dream of following in his footsteps.
"That's what a lot of these kids are going to dream about, and to be able to do it is one thing, so it's awesome," Roslovic said. "I'm Columbus faithful, and I love the fact that Kole is paving the way and Carson is paving the way and all the guys that are here that we skate with on a daily basis in the summer and see and just the relationships that we've formed, we couldn't have done it without this city, without the program and without a lot of the things that are grassroots here.
"I really do hope that these kids genuinely love the game as much as we do, and I really think they do. It's great to see, and I love to be a part of it and love to be there and be a figure for them."
It's not something Roslovic just says; the 23-year-old lives it, too. Over the past few weeks, as he stayed in Columbus while waiting for his contract impasse with the Jets to be worked out, he has skated with AAA teams, including one occasion where the keys to practice were turned over to him.
It's not the first offseason Roslovic has done that, as well. Throughout the past few years, he's made himself available to those players for advice and counsel, a case of paying it forward just as Blue Jackets like Cam Atkinson did for Roslovic when he was younger.
"I think they can find better coaches than me," Roslovic joked, "but the kids are awesome. When we had guys out there with us, I remember Cam was super supportive of me and he would always call me whenever I needed anything or I'd call him whenever I needed anything when I was young. That's the way I want to be to these kids. It's special when you have guys who do that and who reach out and who genuinely care. I know how important it is, and I know how far it goes in these kids' books.
"I watch all these guys and I really keep up with them. I enjoy going out there and competing with them, and as young as they are, they're all really good players and really good kids. I want the best for them and I want the best for youth hockey in Columbus."
Indeed, a rising tide lifts all boats, and the introduction of the Blue Jackets to the city 20 years ago has gone a long way toward building a culture where young players can succeed both on and off the ice. Gingher helped establish the AAA team in 2004 and continues as president of the organization that has produced five NHL players, while high school hockey has continued to grow unabated in central Ohio.
Having a tie like Roslovic between the big club and the youth hockey scene will only strengthen those relationships.
"What I love is the (Blue Jackets) organization wants these kids," Gingher said. "They are going out and acquiring them whether it's the draft, free agency, a trade. That's something I take great pride in and all of our coaches take great pride in. If he wasn't a good kid, if he wasn't a good player, they wouldn't want him, but they wanted him.
"(CBJ GM Jarmo Kekalainen) comes from a European model where those organizations stretch from the big club all the way down. I think we duplicate that probably as close as any NHL market in the country. That's gratifying for us because it reinforces what we're trying to do."
Time will tell how Roslovic fits into the Columbus lineup; he skated with the team at practice starting Monday but remains out of the lineup as he works his way back to NHL speed. But the belief is that this is a place his career can flourish, with even bigger dreams on tap for both Roslovic and the Columbus hockey community.
"When he looks back, he wanted to be a Columbus Blue Jacket," Ehrie said. "Obviously, for him to be drafted in the NHL was fantastic for him. To be an NHL player was fantastic. But for him to actually be able to play in his hometown professionally is like more than a dream come true.
"And I know in speaking with him, he's committed to working, he's committed to making an impact for this team. I don't think the story stops at, 'OK, he's playing of this hometown team,' I think his goals are, 'Let's win playoff games, let's win the Stanley Cup. What better place to do it than the place I learned to play hockey?'"