The 2005 romantic comedy "Must Love Dogs" starred Diane Lane and John Cusack, something I know because it was recently a bar trivia question and not because I watched it.
I gather, though, that the movie is about loving dogs, setting up this point: If you love dogs, especially on a day like #NationalPuppyDay, you also should love the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The admiration of our canine friends starts at the top and head coach John Tortorella. The coach's foundation in part focuses on neglected and abused animals, and he famously missed the All-Star Game this year because of an illness to a family dog. (The dog, unfortunately, later passed away, and our condolences go out to the Tortorella family.)
Tortorella also recently took time out of his day to speak with Whitaker Noble, a Columbus-area teen who began a dog-walking service to afford Blue Jackets tickets. Noble made enough money to donate more than $1,000 to Tortorella's foundation.
"We're going to stay in touch and see where this goes," Tortorella told the Dispatch. "Maybe our foundation can help him, too."
Who also could forget the photo of Tortorella on all fours playing with Jody Shelley's new puppy in the early days of his Blue Jackets tenure?
TORTS AND @shelleyhawk45's PUPPY pic.twitter.com/WBKOrAWTUj
— ColumbusBlueJackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 23, 2015
When it comes to pooches, the Blue Jackets are also one reason a local family adopted a puppy last season. When then-9-year-old Maddie Wright took a sign to a game last year saying an Atkinson goal on her birthday would result in a new family dog, Atkinson overachieved, scoring a hat trick.
It's fair to say the family has remained a fan of the team, taking a trip to watch the Jackets in New Jersey over the weekend.
Then there's Brandon Saad, whose pup can also catch a mean snowball.
First snowfall pic.twitter.com/ghN1lvlmGb
— Brandon Saad (@BSaad20) December 11, 2016
Blue Jackets fans are also big fans of dogs in the community as well. If you're looking for one more place to send your puppy love, fans Dave and Jill Cottone run the Sedona Grace Foundation, dedicated to delivering canine care packages to families in need so they don't have to give up their loving pets.
Tonight's game against Washington hopefully won't be for the dogs, but the Blue Jackets often show that the rest of the days are.
