A free hockey-themed wellness program run by the Columbus Blue Jackets has grown from 20 schools and 7,500 students a decade ago to 198 schools and about 59,000 students in the 2026-27 school year, the team announced Nov. 11 on NHL.com.
The Power Play Challenge is a free curriculum for students in grades 2 through 5 that pairs five fitness challenges — including jogging, push-ups and sit-ups, hockey drills and games, and a nutrition component built around healthy eating — with an introduction to street hockey for classes taking part.
Students who complete all five challenges earn a special ticket offer to a Blue Jackets game, a reward the team says is meant to connect what children do in gym class directly to the professional team they cheer for in Columbus.
The program is supported by the Industry Growth Fund, which the NHL Players’ Association and the NHL created to help grow the game of hockey, according to the Blue Jackets’ announcement on NHL.com.
For many Central Ohio children, the Challenge is a first hands-on experience with a sport that can be expensive to try. Street hockey removes the cost of ice time and skates, and the team says expanding access and removing barriers to participation have been central to the program’s growth from its 2017-18 starting point.
One of the most anticipated pieces comes in fifth grade, when participating students visit an OhioHealth Chiller Ice Rink for a field trip that gives them a chance to skate — often for the first time.
“[The kids] love the fact that they get to go on the field trip during fifth grade. They look forward to it and ask about it every year,” Eric Indiciani, a physical education teacher at Westerville City Schools who has taken part in the program for eight years, said in the Blue Jackets’ announcement. “I’ve had kids come up to me already this year, asking, ‘when are we going ice skating?'”
Joe Renza, the Blue Jackets’ manager of fan development, said in the same announcement that having an NHL team in Columbus carries an obligation to help develop the sport locally. “I think in the community aspect, it’s just important that we’re out there trying to be good partners with the youth, like any organization that calls Columbus home,” Renza said in the announcement.
The growth has come while the Blue Jackets continue their regular season at Nationwide Arena — the club outshot Florida but fell 4-1 at home in its most recent game covered by NewsForce247 — and while other Ohio organizations run their own student-focused drives, including a UToledo Health effort to fill 400 hygiene kits for Toledo families.
The curriculum is built to fit ordinary physical education classes rather than a rink. Alongside the fitness challenges, classes receive an introduction to street hockey, giving many children their first experience holding a stick and playing the game, the announcement said. The nutrition component encourages healthy eating habits alongside the activity challenges.
Westerville’s experience shows how the program compounds over time. Indiciani has brought his classes through the Challenge for eight years, long enough that younger students now arrive in his gym already expecting the fifth-grade skating trip their older schoolmates took, according to the announcement.
Renza put the obligation plainly in the announcement: “I think having an NHL team here, there’s an obligation for us to make sure that we are helping fuel development and the continued support of hockey,” he said. The team describes community engagement initiatives like the Challenge as a central part of its mission throughout Central Ohio — an investment, it says, both in youth health and in the future of the game itself.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What we know: the 2026-27 Challenge reaches 198 schools and roughly 59,000 students in grades 2-5, it remains free for participating schools, and fifth-graders in the program get the Chiller rink field trip. What we’re still waiting on: the team has not published a school-by-school list for this year, so families should check with their child’s school or physical education teacher to confirm whether their building is one of the 198.
What happens next: the Challenge runs through the school year in participating buildings, with the fifth-grade rink trips scheduled by each school as classes complete the five challenges.
Photo: Cbusram, CC BY-SA