It's time for the CBJ to act
It's time for the CBJ to act
According to reports, the Buffalo Sabres are in talks to move their ECHL affiliation away from Cincinnati, and this is where Columbus needs to act.
For years, Columbus fans have wondered why Cincinnati wasn't the Blue Jackets ECHL team, especially when their AHL club became the Lake Erie, now Cleveland Monsters. Fans have dubbed it "The I-71 Express" or "The I-71 Pipeline".
Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse (Cleveland) and Heritage Bank Center (Cincinnati) are separated by approx. 248 miles, or 3 hours and 35 minutes. Cleveland and Kalamazoo, the CBJ's current ECHL team, are 268 miles apart, or 4 hours and 16 minutes. This just makes sense.
Players in Cincinnati would just need to hop on 71 north, make a pit stop in Columbus, for food and gas, and hop back on 71. The same goes for Monsters players who may get sent down to the ECHL. I see no problems with this. And with the contract with the Kalamazoo Wings ending after the '23 season, what better time than this?
Honestly, I haven't been to an ECHL game since 1999, when the Columbus Chill were in town. Ohio currently has the Cincinnati Cyclones and Toledo Walleye in the ECHL. With Kalamazoo, Ft Wayne, Indy, and Wheeling not too far away from Columbus. But adding Cincinnati would be amazing.
I'm not sure if adding Cincinnati is going to happen, but it should. The CBJ needs to work on increasing their fan base in southwest Ohio anyway, and this would help tremendously. Bringing the three biggest cities in Ohio together for a common cause would be pretty cool, Cleveland and Cincinnati are rivals after all, with Columbus stuck in the middle. Whatever needs to happen to get this done, the Blue Jackets need to do it. Hockey in Ohio will be better for it.