COLUMBUS, Ohio — It’s been 17 years since the Blue Jackets joined the NHL as an expansion franchise, laying the groundwork for a grassroots effort that would eventually start developing elite prospects ready for their own shot at stardom.

Now it’s an every-other-year or so occurrence for Columbus born-and-bred players to be selected in the NHL Draft. Two have gone in the first round. Two others have been drafted by the hometown Blue Jackets. Three will likely be in the NHL this season, and three others will be one step away in the American Hockey League.

But there is a strange disconnect here, too.

None of the top prospects from central Ohio have stayed in Columbus to play at Ohio State. Some have chosen to play major-junior in Canada, but many have gone to Miami University, which now openly brags about the “pipeline” it has built from Columbus to Oxford.

And it’s worse than that.

There is bitterness, disappointment and confusion among local players, coaches and parents, who are mystified as to why Ohio State doesn’t seem to recruit local players with much passion or persistence.

“It’s almost like they don’t think anyone from Columbus, Ohio, could be good enough to play for them, that they have to go outside the area to find players,” said Roger Sherwood, the father of two elite prospects, Kiefer and Kole.

“If that’s what they think, it’s just absurd. Look at the players they’ve missed out on.”

Dublin’s Connor Murphy will be a top-four defenseman for the Chicago Blackhawks this season. Columbus’ Jack Roslovic, a center, has a good chance to stick with the Winnipeg Jets, and Dublin’s Sean Kuraly, also a center, is on the cusp with the Boston Bruins. Kuraly scored an overtime game-winner for the Bruins in the playoffs last spring.

Dublin’s Trent Vogelhuber, the first Columbus kid to leave for Miami, will almost certainly play games with the Colorado Avalanche this season if he can stay healthy. Otherwise, he’ll return to the AHL in San Antonio.

New Albany’s Kole Sherwood will play for the Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate in Cleveland, and Delaware’s Cole Cassels is expected to play with the Vancouver Canucks’ affiliate in Utica, N.Y.

And there is another wave behind them.

Most of the players felt as if Ohio State wasn’t fully engaged in recruiting them, and none of them seriously considered the Buckeyes when they made their final decisions.

“It’s the million-dollar question around here,” said Cole Cassels’ father, Andrew Cassels, who had a 16-year NHL career and coaches in the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets’ program. “How many guys have they missed out on? There are 10 or 15 kids, some of them really impact players, who have come out of Columbus that could have played at Ohio State.

“Everybody has their own approach to recruiting, their own pockets where they go to find players. But at least get in the mix here. At least show you’re trying to get the player.”

Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik and his assistant coaches who handle the bulk of recruiting for the Buckeyes declined to speak with The Athletic for this story, as did Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith.

But the players who are products of the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets, and their parents, don’t want to remain silent any longer.

WHAT IS THE ISSUE?

Ohio State’s hockey program has a proud and long history. This will be Rohlik’s fifth season with the program, and all signs suggest they are headed in the right direction.

In 2016-17, Ohio State went 21-12-6 and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009. The Buckeyes were the only Ohio college to make the field of 16, losing in the first round in overtime to Minnesota-Duluth, which eventually lost in the national final to Denver.

But most schools brag about building a proverbial wall around their city to keep the local talent from leaving, especially when those players are projected NHL caliber.

The only Columbus player on the Buckeyes last season was third-string goaltender Logan Davis, a non-scholarship walk-on.

The only Columbus player expected to make this year’s roster is Austin Pooley, whose father, Perry, and uncle, Paul, were standouts at Ohio State in the early 1980s. He was not heavily recruited by other schools and is believed to have only a partial scholarship at OSU.

Ohio State faces a well-documented obstacle on the recruiting trail.

The Buckeyes play their games in the cavernous Schottenstein Center, which makes it difficult to create a home-ice atmosphere. OSU averaged more than 5,300 fans last season — a respectable figure for college hockey — but that leaves 12,000 empty seats.

Because the Buckeyes don’t have a dedicated ice rink, they often practice at the old OSU Ice Rink. That means dressing at the Schott, traveling in full gear by van or bus down Lane Ave., and piling out to practice. It’s not ideal.

In 2008, Ohio State announced a “master plan” of athletic facilities for the next 20 years, and it included a 4,000-5,000 seat rink for the men’s and women’s hockey programs. But so far the school has not announced any concrete plans to build it.

Such a building would put it on par with the top programs in the country, and perhaps let them better compete with Miami for players. The RedHawks play in the stunning 3,642-seat Goggin Ice Arena, with an NHL-caliber dressing room, workout facility, film room, etc.

It opened in 2006, about the time Columbus was coming to life as a grassroots hockey market.

“Miami’s building changed everything,” said R.J. Umberger, who spent three seasons at Ohio State (2000-2003) and remains close to the program. “It made kids want to go there because it shows how much the school cares about hockey.”

Many local players who have played for the RedHawks also cited Miami’s “hockey-first” mentality, how the home games are big-time social events on campus. From the time the freshmen players start wearing their helmets out on the town — it’s an unwritten team rule, enforced by upperclassmen — they become “rock stars” on campus.

Ohio State is a much bigger school, and it’s home to one of the more storied, successful college football teams. The attention paid to football can leave players on “non-revenue” sports feeling lost in the shadows.

“That was the No. 1 thing that attracted me to Miami,” Vogelhuber said. “Hockey games are a big deal. There’s a college atmosphere, where you feel like they really care about your team.”

These are reasons why — if all things are otherwise equal in the recruiting process — a prospect may pick a college other than Ohio State.

But all things are not equal, the players and parents say.

NOT EVEN IN THE RUNNING

Vogelhuber, 29, was the first local player to be sought after by major college programs. He’s an older-brother figure for young players coming out of Columbus.

He had several Division 1 offers, but remembers his experience with Ohio State for all the wrong reasons.

“It was kind of weird,” Vogelhuber said. “They were definitely interested and I talked to the coaches, but they acted like they could take their time because I was a Columbus kid and the first Columbus kid who was going to go D1.

“I already had a couple of offers (Alaska Fairbanks, Ferris State), but my first weekend of junior (in St. Louis) went really well and I got an offer from Miami.”

Michigan State, Denver, New Hampshire and two Ivy League schools followed with scholarship offers, but Vogelhuber was impressed immediately by the RedHawks, everything from the coaches to the rink to the size of the school and the distance — far, but not too far — from home.

“When I committed to Miami, I got a call from Ohio State saying, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ ” Vogelhuber said. “It wasn’t until I committed that their interest started to perk up.”

Connor Murphy was the next player to emerge. His official visit to Ohio State has become legendary within the local hockey community.

When Murphy and his mother, Nicole, arrived on Ohio State’s campus for their official visit, they were greeted by an OSU coach who extended a hand to welcome them and wondered, “Is Larry going to join us?”

Larry Murphy was an NHL Hall of Fame defenseman who won four Stanley Cups during a 19-year career. One problem: Larry Murphy is no relation to Connor.

Connor’s dad, Gord Murphy, had a fine NHL career in his own right. He’s now an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Flyers.

It’s hard to get past that kind of faux pas. Like Vogelhuber, Murphy committed to Miami. He never played in Oxford, opting instead to play in the OHL to get more games during his draft year, but he remains close with RedHawks coach Enrico Blasi and many of the players.

It only made sense that Kuraly would go to Miami. His father, Rick Kuraly, was a former captain at the school, and he remains the school’s all-time leading goal scorer.

Carson Meyer had nothing against Ohio State, he said. But he looked up to Vogelhuber and wanted to follow in his steps, and he had fond memories of attending summer hockey camps in Oxford.

Losing players like Kuraly and Meyer are the type of losses even the most ardent recruiters have to accept. You can’t get ‘em all.

Most troubling, say those associated with the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets, is the fact that Ohio State just isn’t present at their practices and games like other out-of-town schools.

Miami, Bowling Green, Michigan and Minnesota-Duluth are said to have attended more Ohio AAA Blue Jackets games last season than did Ohio State, even though the Buckeyes are a 15-minute drive away.

“They should be the first people to see kids here when they’re like 14 or 15 years old,” Connor Murphy said. “But they’re not around.

“If kids see Ohio State coaches at games, it helps build up the hype. It gets them excited. They would talk about it more and it may make them want to go there.”

Miami pounced quickly on Roslovic when he began to emerge as a high-end talent, offering him a full scholarship when he was 15 years old. Ohio State didn’t approach Roslovic until a year later during tryouts for the U.S. National Team Development program in Ann Arbor.

“That’s pretty much the first time I heard from them,” Roslovic said. “You would think their coaches would be at every one of our games, but maybe they don’t want Columbus kids.”

The stories are similar from player to player, parent to parent.

Kiefer Sherwood had 14 scholarship offers from Division 1 programs: Bowling Green, Miami, Harvard, Ferris State, Merrimack, Northeastern, Notre Dame, Penn State, Princeton, Providence, St. Lawrence, UMass, Yale and Ohio State.

“Ohio State was the last of the 14 schools to offer Kiefer,” said Roger Sherwood, his father. “They missed the boat. They 100 percent missed the boat.

“Thirteen schools were fairly aggressive. There was one school — the one that’s eight miles from my house — that was the least aggressive.”

When Kiefer settled on Miami as his choice, Roger and Kiefer spent a day calling the other 13 schools to inform them of his decision and thank them for their interest.

“Twelve of the schools were very gracious and appreciative,” Roger Sherwood said. “One school gave me a hard time: OSU. They said, ‘Mr. Sherwood, are you not even going to give us a chance?’

“I tried to keep my emotions out of it, but I said something like, “Are you kidding me? He grew up here. You had the first opportunity to recruit him and now you’re the only school giving us a hard time. You never even invited us to the school!’

“It’s always stuck in my head that they were the only school to give us a hard time.”

Kole Sherwood, who is two years younger, had offers from Boston U., Maine, Miami, Harvard, Colorado, Michigan State, Vermont and Ohio State.

He chose Boston U., but pulled out when the Blue Jackets — enamored with his performance at development camp in 2015 — hurried to sign him to an entry-level contract. He’s turning pro this year.

Justin Richards, son of former Blue Jackets coach and current Tampa Bay assistant Todd Richards, took an unofficial visit to Ohio State more than two years ago.

After that, Ohio State went quiet in its pursuit of Richards. Justin Richards is now a freshman at Minnesota-Duluth, the national runner-up last spring.

“Ohio State missed the boat, not once, not twice and not just in my family,” Sherwood said. “This area is developing talent. They would be a better program if they were part of that in a significant way.”

The next wave of elite talent in central Ohio is led by forwards Spencer Cox and Anthony Vidrick, two 16-year-olds from Powell.

Cox and Vidrick committed to Miami a year ago, both likely to start in 2020. They are both pegged to be NHL draft picks in two years.

“I don’t know if Spencer would have gone to Ohio State, but who knows?” said Dale Cox, his father. “It would have been nice to have interest from the team in your backyard.

“I have no beef with Ohio State. It’s a good program. How they recruit is how they recruit. But there’s top talent within a pretty small radius of your campus and you’re not recruiting them. But they are being recruited by other major Division 1 hockey programs.

“Kuraly, Sherwood, Murphy, Meyer, Roslovic … those are some pretty damn good hockey players.”

A RIVALRY ENDED

Blasi, the Miami coach, has been with the RedHawks since 1999. For the first few seasons, there was no reason to mine the Columbus area for talent, but that all changed with the arrival of the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets in 2006.

They went hard after Vogelhuber and Murphy and have dominated locally ever since by identifying players at an early age, making them scholarship offers when they’re as young as 15, and being ever-present at AAA Blue Jackets games and practices.

The way Blasi talks about how Miami views central Ohio must feel like a kidney punch to Ohio State.

“The transition from that program to our school is a fairly easy one,” Blasi told The Athletic. “It used to be Cleveland for us. But when Columbus started going, it was great to see.

“Those kids in Columbus, to me, are hometown kids. That’s our backyard. We want them to feel like coming to Miami is coming home to play.”

Blasi has gone out of his way to drive that point home. On Oct. 16, 2015, when Miami played Ohio State in the Schottenstein Center, he configured a “Columbus” line to start the game — Kuraly, Roslovic and Kiefer Sherwood took the opening draw.

“That was for the kids,” Blasi said, with a smile. But it also was a taunt to the program on the other bench, and Ohio State was said to be irate.

Miami dominated the series in the last several seasons, going 12-1-2 in the past 15 meetings. But the rivalry is no more. For the first time since 1978-79, when Miami became a Division 1 program, the two schools aren’t scheduled to play in 2017-18.

Blasi said it was Ohio State’s call.

“I was told that with Notre Dame now in the Big Ten, they had to cut down some games,” Blasi said. “It’s too bad, because it’s a game that means a lot to a lot of people. And it has for years.”

SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE

Without fail, those who spoke with The Athletic for this story made it clear they don’t bear any grudges against Ohio State. To the contrary, they said. They want the Buckeyes to start reaping the rewards of the area’s growth; and they want to see kids playing close to home.

Mostly they’re just mystified by it.

Does Ohio State not want to legitimize the Blue Jackets’ existence by recruiting the players who are the product of them coming to town nearly 20 years ago? Even in the early days of the Jackets’ existence, this theory would have seemed a stretch. Now, the two entities are co-existing better than ever, city officials say.

Have the last two Ohio State head coaches — Rohlik, and before him Mark Osiecki — stuck with the hockey markets they know best? Both are from Minnesota.

For college coaches, a relationship with the local elite hockey coaches is a lifeline to local talent. Has there been a fallout between Ohio State and Ohio AAA Blue Jackets director Ed Gingher or some of the program’s coaches? Absolutely not, said Gingher, and other coaches concur.

Does OSU athletics not commit enough money to recruiting? This would make sense if they couldn’t reach far-away kids. The ones they’re missing are here at home, an easy drive down State Route 315.

Is the local talent not good enough, or not to Ohio State’s liking? You would understand them passing on one or two players based on preference, style of play, depth chart, etc. But roughly 35 players have earned Division 1 scholarships by playing for the AAA Blue Jackets, and only two have been on scholarship at OSU. Only four total have worn the scarlet and gray.

“There’s no reason Ohio State shouldn’t be the No. 1 place to play for kids in central Ohio, with the type of school it is, the money they have in the program …” Umberger said. “If they’re missing out on players because they’re coming in late, that’s on them, and they need to address that within the program.”

Ohio State made two significant changes to its staff this summer, perhaps in an attempt to better compete on the recruiting trail.

Steve Miller, who cut his teeth as a graduate assistant at Miami U. in the early 1990s, and has spent most of the past two decades working at collegiate hockey power Denver, was hired as an associate coach on Rohlik’s staff. He’s considered one of the NCAA’s top recruiters.

Also, J.B. Bittner, who played at Ohio State in the early 2000s and was an assistant in 2009-10, has returned to the program. Bittner attended both of the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets games last weekend, which was seen as progress.

Ohio State missed out on the first wave of talent coming out of central Ohio. Now they have to make up for lost time.

“It makes perfect sense for more of our kids to stay here and play for Ohio State,” Gingher said. “We should be sending players there regularly.

“And it’s contagious, too. Our younger players would see one of the older guys, the guys they look up to, pick Ohio State, and then it becomes an option for them. It’s definitely something we want. I think everybody who cares about hockey in Columbus wants to see this start to happen more often.”