For once, the Winnipeg Jets are coming to Rob, rather than the other way around
“No cheering in the press box,” is the unwritten, inviolable rule. I may explode.
On Saturday night, the Winnipeg Jets are to oppose the Calgary Flames in the NHL’S Heritage Classic at Mosaic Stadium.
This scribbler will be located on the fourth level, enjoying the great indoors, foraging for free popcorn … and trying to not be a complete, insufferable, combustible distraction.
Good luck to me.
I am, you see, an ardent Jets fan. When they play, I am not especially pleasant company. I squirm and fidget and turn myself into a babbling ball of stress — and that is just during the pre-season.
Such behaviour is not deemed unacceptable in the stands or at home.
But in the press box? Someone might have to give me a needle.
Come to think of it, there has been plenty of needling over the years.
CTV’S Lee Jones, for example, seizes every opportunity to remind me of Mark Lamb.
Lamb, for the uninitiated, scored an overtime goal for the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of a 1990 first-round playoff series against the visiting Jets.
Winnipeg won the series opener and assumed a 2-0 lead in Game 2, only to surrender three unanswered goals, the last of which was scored by Lamb.
The Jets responded with backto-back victories, including a 4-3, double-overtime win in Game 4 that gave Destiny’s Team a 3-1 series lead.
The overtime goal was scored by defenceman Dave Ellett — who, for the record, was born on the same day as yours truly (March 30, 1964).
I died a little during the three games that followed. Edmonton won by scores of 4-3, 4-3 and
4-1. In fact, the Oilers kept on winning, ultimately capturing the Stanley Cup title.
For years, it haunted me that the Jets gassed a 3-1 lead against a team that went on to win it all.
In fact, I just got over it last Monday.
Admittedly, I take all of this far too seriously, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I love being a Jets fan. In many ways, it is a badge of honour.
Anyone can jump on a bandwagon, and anyone can be a front-runner, but try being a steadfast supporter of Canada’s Team, the Winnipeg Jets.
Stanley Cup titles: 0.
Stanley Cup final appearances: 0. Relocations: 1.
The Jets moved to Arizona following the 1995-96 season. For the 15 years that followed, I could not bring myself to devotedly follow any NHL team. If it wasn’t based in Winnipeg, I wasn’t interested.
Then came May 31, 2011, when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the Atlanta Thrashers were moving to Winnipeg.
At the earliest opportunity, I ventured to the Manitoba capital to watch the Jets 2.0.
On the morning of Oct. 24, 2011, I embarked for Winnipeg in the fine company of my allworld godson, Eric Anderson. We arrived at the MTS Centre about an hour before the Jets’ game against the New York Rangers.
The pre-game warm-up has never seemed like such a big deal. A Zamboni has never looked better.
I simply could not believe that I was attending a Jets game. I had reluctantly written them off forever, presuming that the NHL would never return to a small, frozen market such as Winnipeg.
It has never felt better to be dead wrong.
During the national anthems, I became teary-eyed. It was really happening. The Jets — my beloved Jets — were back in the NHL, and I was there!
The mighty Jets proceeded to hold the Rangers to two goals.
The mighty Jets countered with one goal.
It mattered not. The Jets had won, in my books, simply by existing.
The long-awaited, once-imaginable game having concluded, we made the long drive back to Regina. Eric had to return to the Queen City in time for his university classes the following morning, so he slept as I drove.
The Jets’ post-game show, on Winnipeg radio station
TSN 1290, concluded as we approached Brandon. For the final three and a half hours of the drive, I continued to marvel at the fact that I had just attended a Jets game. Really!
We have made that gruelling trip — Regina to Winnipeg to Regina — numerous times.
Now, for a change, I will make the short drive up Lewvan Drive to watch the Winnipeg Jets — uncrowned Stanley Cup champions.
“We’ll come to you for once,” TSN 1290’s Brian Munz said earlier this month when our paths crossed on the Rod Pedersen Show. “You’ve come to us enough.”
It will be another pinch-myself moment for this right-thinking Jets fan. So please forgive me if, just for one day, all objectivity is quietly suspended.