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Becky Lynn Bush of Mount Sterling has had some luck in the past. She's won an iPad, tickets to concerts, and tickets to hockey games. But when she entered the FOX Sports Ohio / Blue Jackets Florida Fly Away contest last November she had no idea she'd end up in Tampa watching her favorite hockey team take on the Lightning.
"I couldn't believe it," Bush said. "It's unreal -- I feel very fortunate."
Bush had entered the contest at the urging of her son. As partial season-ticket holders, the family makes it to Blue Jackets games when they can but they watch all the games they cannot attend on FOX Sports Ohio. When the contest was announced during a game broadcast, Bush texted her entry right away.
"I entered last year, and we didn't win," Bush said. "So I wasn't expecting to hear anything, but right about Thanksgiving, I got a call from the Blue Jackets. I wondered why my ticket representative was calling me but it wasn't my rep, it was the team saying I was a finalist."
Later on, during a holiday party, Bush saw she missed a call from the Jackets. She wasn't sure if she should call back, but realizing she had tickets for that night's game she worried there might be an issue with getting in to the game and dialed back the number in her call log.
"I told them I just want to make sure everything is fine with my tickets," Bush said. "That's when they told me that they didn't want to just leave a voicemail and that I was the winner of the trip."
A little over a month later, Bush and her husband Todd packed up and left the cold of Columbus to head to the warmth of Florida. As part of their prize package, they had a hotel room for the weekend as well as gift cards to cover food expenses and incidentals.
Saturday before the game, the couple headed over to Orlando to visit the Disney parks before getting ready to attend their first Blue Jackets away game. Bush said she was amazed to see so many other Jackets fans.
"A couple said 'Hey, Blue Jackets,'" Bush said. "One even came up to me and asked if I was the one who won the trip and he told me congratulations."
Although the Tampa Bay mascot did pretend to try and eat her, Bush said she was proud of the recognition the team received from Tampa Bay fans. Bush wore a Ryan Johansen jersey and said a lot of people asked about the All-Star festivities held in Columbus the previous week and complimented her jersey, mentioning Johansen's recent honor as the All-Star game MVP.
Johansen would go on to score a goal in Tampa Bay, but it wasn't enough to overcome an impressive performance by the Lightning's goaltender, Ben Bishop, who stopped 34 of the 35 shots he faced. The Jackets fell to Tampa 3-1 in regulation.
Bush, who has been a fan since the Blue Jackets first took to the ice in 2000, is still holding out hope the team can win enough games to make a return trip to the playoffs.
"I love our team," Bush said. "(Artem) Anisimov is my son's favorite, (Jack) Skille and Boone (Jenner) bring such an energy - I want to see our boys crush other teams."
With a busy few days, Bush said she planned to sleep in on Sunday before heading back to Orlando one last time to take in a few more parks before returning to the sub-freezing temperatures in Ohio.
"We are avid Blue Jackets fans," Bush said. "This trip was a wonderful surprise."
Follow Alison on Twitter at @AlisonL
