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April 2, 2005
NCAA Frozen Four
Discover Columbus

By Inside College Hockey Staff

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Five years ago the college hockey world scratched its collective head when it was informed that Columbus would host the 2005 Frozen Four. Immediately, fans from Potsdam to Colorado Springs without an intimate knowledge of the Midwest checked for flights to Atlanta and looked up the driving distance to Columbus, Georgia.

Word eventually leaked out, thankfully, that it was Columbus, Ohio, that would be hosting the four teams vying for the 2005 title in a building with a name that dwarfs Dov Grumet-Morris – Value City Arena at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.

For many college hockey fans, this year’s Frozen Four will mark their first-ever trip to Columbus. Local tourism officials are hoping that something other than a court date will bring them back.

Truth is, Columbus is a fine city. It’s got almost all the amenities anyone would ever want – plenty of restaurants, good shopping, Broadway shows, excellent museums, terrific festivals, every major concert and more. Columbus residents are quick to point out that according to 2000 census numbers, their fine city is the 16th largest in the United States.

Blah, blah, blah.

Let’s face it – if you’re traveling to C-Bus for the Frozen Four, a trip to the local art gallery probably doesn’t highlight your to-do list. If your plan is to absorb as much college hockey as possible, taunt someone in an opponent’s sweater, make obscure references to Andre Signoretti and determine whether anyone knows who in the hell you are talking about, and make it your personal pilgrimage to sample every microbrew indigenous to the central Ohio area, read on. Otherwise, contact the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

Road Trip!

Thinking of driving to the Frozen Four? None of the four teams this year has an easy trip. Here are the distances from each campus to Columbus, as calculated by Mapquest.com: • Minnesota: 762 miles or 11 hours, 35 minutes. • North Dakota: 1076 miles or 16:04 • Colorado College: 1247 miles or 18:17 • Denver: 1266 miles or 18:23

HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE LOCALS

First off, make sure you’ve got the pulse on the city itself and its citizens. These people are very proud of the aforementioned results of the 2000 U.S. Census. Asking your local tavern owner a question you already know the answer to (“So, how big is Columbus”) will get you an automatic friend behind the bar and maybe even a free Columbus Pale Ale (a local microbrew worth trying).

Next, bash Michigan. It could be football, hockey or cheerleading, but the fact remains that Columbus residents loathe the Maize and Blue. Thanks to this, most college hockey fans will fit right in.

Before the Blue Jackets, many sports fans around the country cheapened Columbus because they said it wasn’t home to a professional sports franchise. They were sadly mistaken, however, as Ohio State football generates more passion (and more revenue, for that matter) than most professional teams. Discounting the Wolverines in any fashion will make you an ally of any Columbus resident.

If you want to upgrade from ally to hero, wow the locals with your knowledge of the building that will house the Frozen Four. Value City Arena was opened for hockey in January, 1999, when the Buckeyes edged Michigan 1-0 on a third-period goal by Chris Richards (one of the most underrated CCHA players of that decade, by the way).

Lastly, eat, drink and be happy. Columbus is a national test market for most large restaurant chains. Not coincidentally, it’s also one of the 10 most overweight cities in America according to any data you’ll find this side of the Duff Book of World Records. Columbus residents enjoy their dinners and typically top them off with multiple beers, drinks or glasses of wine. So when in Rome…

As an added bonus for hockey fans, locally headquartered square hamburger juggernaut Wendy’s is also the parent company of Tim Horton’s, the worldwide purveyors of donut and coffee excellence. There are 17 Tim’s locations in Columbus proper and no morning is complete without a piping hot cup of black and a dozen Timbits.

HOW NOT TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE LOCALS

Review the opening paragraph of this story. Nothing will make a Capital City resident snap faster than a “Columbus, Ohio” reference. Call it an inferiority complex if you will, but unless you want to leave Columbus with a visit to Riverside Medical Center, drop the “Ohio.” Was it St. Paul, Minnesota, or Boston, Massachusetts, when the Frozen Four landed in those metropolitan areas? Nope. The rationale here is that “Columbus” should be able to stand on its own. Agree or disagree, if you want to be known as “those cool guys from Boston that were here for the Frozen Four,” forget the name of the state. C-Bus will do just fine.

Other Sights

OK, Columbus isn't all about good eats and drinks. Here are three ways to kill time between meals: 1) The Columbus Zoo. You're probably familiar with its former director, Jack Hanna. 2) Jack Nicklaus Museum. Another famous Jack called Columbus home. You won't look out of place if you wear a green jacket here. 3) Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition. In Columbus, COSI isn't a sandwich place, it's a hands-on science center downtown. This exhibit includes artifacts from the ship and an actual iceberg.

DON'T MISS THIS

Columbus doesn’t boast a French Quarter, South Beach, or any other nationally recognized destination. But that’s not to say that there aren’t some areas worth visiting.

If you are staying downtown, you’ll want to hit the Arena District and the Short North. Unless you’ve recently been hobbled by a slash to the knee or are just plain lazy, you’ll be able to walk between the two. The Arena District features several bars and restaurants surrounding Nationwide Arena, home of the Blue Jackets and this year’s Hobey Baker Award Ceremony. O’Shaughnessy’s Public House is a terrific Irish bar with some great outdoor seating if the weather cooperates. Just around the corner is the Frog, Bear and Wild Boar Bar, a more traditional sports bar with cheap beer and eats. Gibby’s is a great casual bar and restaurant with excellent food.

Walk east two blocks from the Arena District and you’ll hit High Street, one of the city’s main arteries. Head north on High Street and you are five-minute walk away from the Short North. This one mile strip of bars, restaurants, shops and art galleries is one of the city’s most popular weekend destinations.

Even the pickiest of college hockey fans should be able to find something to suit them in the Short North: upscale restaurants (RJ Snappers has surprisingly good seafood despite the nearest ocean being ten hours away; Martini’s has fantastic steaks), laid-back taverns with good bar food (Betty’s, Brian Boru’s, Barley’s), swanky lounges (Burgandy Room) and popular hole-in-the wall joints that usually feature bands (The Short North Tavern).

Our pick in the Short North? Mac’s Cafe (693 North High Street), renowned for its hot chicken wings. Plan on going there late, after too many beers, and do yourself a favor by ordering the Scotch Egg appetizer. Eat more than one and you’ll likely suffer a stroke on-site.

If you’re noticing a trend in the above information and raising an eyebrow, let us answer the question for you. Yes, there are other things to do in Columbus besides eat and drink. And no, we don’t recommend you try any of them.

Related Links

Schedule of Events Columbus Weather www.experiencecolumbus.com www.arena-district.com www.shortnorth.com O'Shaughnessy's Public House 614.224.6767

If the hotel you landed in is near campus, be prepared to bring cab fare. High Street is not the destination it was 15 years ago, but still offers the college feel with bookstores, bagel shops and coffee houses. Ohio State students must be focusing more on studying, because their entertainment options within walking distance are limited. Or at least that’s what university administrators and local officials like to think. Over a decade ago a community organization called Campus Partners stormed through the High Street area building by building, finding ways to shut down nightspots, revoke liquor licenses and tear down buildings. You can argue who was right or wrong for hours, but the bottom line is High Street hasn’t been the same since.

The can’t-miss site on campus is Ohio Stadium. The Horseshoe recently underwent a $200 million renovation and is without question one of the most impressive football venues in the country. There’s about a 50-50 chance a gate will be unlocked if you want to check the place out. If that doesn’t work out, hopping the fence at 3 a.m. to attempt a field goal would make a great story.

Near the Horseshoe is the OSU Ice Rink. The home of Buckeye hockey until the completion of Value City Arena, you’ll marvel at a press box that requires media members to climb a ladder to enter and a ceiling lower than the ones found in most homes built near golf courses.

The Varsity Club is the runner-up for a can’t-miss destination in the campus area. The old-school watering hole constantly makes everyone’s list of the top ten college football bars in the country and, during the Frozen Four at least, it’s fair to say it will be THE best college hockey bar in the country.

Just a short walk up High Street is a hole-in-the-wall known as the Thirsty Scholar. From the outside, the place looks like a glorified frat party (the establishment looks like a house from the outside) and it’s as no-frills as they come, but cheap libations are the specialty. INCH remembers a $1 Thursday night special on tap beer and well drinks from a visit a few years ago.

If you’re hungry, have a roll of quarters burning a hole in your pocket, want to catch the Masters on a big screen TV and have a desire to soak up OSU sports nostalgia, make a beeline to the Buckeye Hall of Fame and Café. It’s about a 10-minute drive from the rink on Olentangy River Road. Among the memorabilia on display – Archie Griffin’s Heisman Trophy, a tribute to the 2002 national championship football team and Dennis Hopson’s high-top fade (OK, we made that last one up). If you’ve got a sweet tooth, sample an Ice Cream Buckeye, which is peanut butter-chocolate chip ice cream – that’s all one flavor – dipped in chocolate.

Also not too far from the rink, and earning raves from some Buckeye hockey insiders, is the Rusty Bucket, an Irish pub.

If you’re looking to explore Columbus even further, Grandview, Easton and German Village are all good bets. Grandview offers good bars and restaurants and probably will allow you to avoid the large crowds associated with the Frozen Four (The Old Bag of Nails and the Grandview Café are recommended). Easton is a relatively new, upscale outdoor shopping area that has something for everyone but will require a $20 cab ride to the east side of the city.

If you find your mornings filled with cobwebs and Advil, and a solid lunch is exactly what you need, you won’t beat German Village. Located just south of downtown, this historic area features three perfect lunch or dinner spots: Schmidt’s Restaurant und Sausage Haus (authentic German food), Katzinger’s (the city’s best deli) and Thurman’s (quite possibly the best, and undoubtedly the largest, burgers in the Midwest).

MISS THIS

It may be worth a heated game of rock-paper-scissors to determine an unlucky designated driver while in Columbus because cab fares are ridiculous. Plan on paying more for round-trip cab fare from downtown to Value City Arena than you do for your Frozen Four tickets. Taxi meters in Columbus work more like stopwatches.

There’s a bus system in place that most people don’t seem to know a whole lot about and, other than my buddy’s master plan for a future monorail, that’s it for public transportation. Your best bet to get anywhere is probably to drive. Columbus doesn’t have the parking hassles you’ll find in larger cities and traffic is never unbearable.

As far as landmarks go in Columbus, the one that seemed to get the most national attention in the sports pages in recent years is Pure Platinum, the strip bar located in the Northwest part of the city (2880 Bethel Road, or so we’ve been told). Two years ago former Chicago Blackhawk Theo Fleury was involved in an infamous 3 a.m. brawl with a group of bouncers outside the neon entertainment complex. Last year, Ohio State tailback Lydell Ross was busted for using counterfeit coupons (we’re guessing these weren’t clipped from the Sunday paper) at the bar and suspended for one game. It’s said that bad things happen in threes, so steer clear of Pure Platinum during the Frozen Four.

Special thanks to former Ohio State hockey SID Dan Jones for his contributions to this report. Insiders know that Jones, not Andre Signoretti, was the real inspiration behind Ohio State's 1998 Frozen Four run.