All quiet at Nationwide Arena

The lockout will cost several young players who wanted to make the team.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- The plaza outside Nationwide Arena, home of the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets, was unusually quiet Wednesday afternoon.
Normally, speakers blare play-by-play from the perennially losing franchise's greatest victories. But on the day NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced a lockout that could threaten the entire 2004-05 season, fittingly, there were no sounds of the game.
"It's horrible," said Mark Novak, manager of a BD's Mongolian Barbeque, a restaurant a half-block away that is overrun with fans when the Blue Jackets play. "Realistically, I stand to lose at least 20 percent of my business on game nights."
Asked if he was a hockey fan, Novak said, "I was until today."
Inside the arena, the ice was covered with plywood and no one was around except for an occasional floor-waxer or security person.
The Blue Jackets' dressing room was hot, sticky and empty after the team held its final day of rookie camp. Some players were lifting weights for a final time before leaving for their various playing assignments in the minor leagues.
Tough situation
Aaron Johnson, a promising defenseman who saw spot duty with the Blue Jackets last season, was working out before reporting to Syracuse, the Blue Jackets' top minor-league affiliate. Before he packed his bags, he pondered the state of hockey.
"It's a tough situation because so many people are involved," he said. "It affects everybody."
Another young player in the rookie camp, Dan Fritsche, made the big club at the start of last season. He had hopes of sticking with the team this time after spending most of 2003-04 in the minors.
"This should be a really exciting time for all of us," he said. "We just finished rookie camp and usually we'd all be trying to hang on and make the main camp. This is a disappointment for everybody. ... And it's out of our control."
Blue Jackets president and general manager Doug MacLean issued a statement from New York, where he attended the NHL's Board of Governors meeting.
After saying that the opening of training camp would be delayed and that the start of the season was in "jeopardy," he offered some sympathetic words to the team's fans.
"This is a very difficult but necessary step toward creating a new economic system that will help our club, and the league has our full support," he said. "Since the Blue Jackets joined the NHL four years ago, the fans of Columbus and the state of Ohio have embraced our team. We appreciate very much the support shown by our fans and business partners and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this necessary action will cause. It is our sincere hope to be back on the ice soon."