CHIAROT SPEAKS FONDLY OF TIME IN ‘WINTER-PEG’
Winnipeg wouldn’t be anywhere near the top of NHL cities where players would most want to spend a day off, but that’s where the Canadiens were on Sunday.
Two seasons ago, San Jose Sharks players Tomas Hertl, Justin Braun and Tim Heed expressed in an online video their dislike for Winnipeg. Hertl said Winnipeg was his least-favourite NHL city because “it’s cold and dark there,” while Braun said: “I don’t know if they have Wi-fi there yet.”
That prompted this classic response from Jets coach Paul Maurice: “I heard it’s cold and dark. Well, that happens in Canada, occasionally. Pretty regularly every winter. It’s dark at night, yeah. That happens pretty much around the world. I don’t think any coach, any player, trainer, referee should ever complain about a day in the National Hockey League.”
Maurice was absolutely correct. Canadiens defenceman Ben Chiarot spent five seasons with the Jets before signing a threeyear, Us$10.5-million free agent contract with the Canadiens.
The Canadiens posted a video on their website and Twitter account on Sunday with Chiarot talking about what he likes about Winnipeg along with some suggestions for a day off here.
The Canadiens wrap up their Western Canada road trip when they play the Jets Monday at Bell MTS Place (8 p.m., TSN2, TSN3, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).
“The first place I would bring someone coming to visit me in Winnipeg would be to a Jets game,” Chiarot said in the video. “That’s the biggest show in town and probably the most exciting thing to do there. Outside of the Jets game, the zoo there is actually pretty cool. They have a really cool polar bear exhibit where you can walk in these tunnels underneath where the polar bears are swimming. So that’s pretty fun. Those are two staples that whenever we had visitors we would make sure we did those things.”
Chiarot said the best place to eat in Winnipeg is the Hermanos Restaurant & Wine Bar.
“They have a paella there, a seafood paella, that was my favourite thing to eat anywhere of any place I’ve ever been,” the 6-3, 225-pound defenceman said.
Chiarot added Winnipeg is also a great place to get a tailored suit.
“There’s a tailor there and his name is Tam (from Tam Custom Tailor),” Chiarot said. “A lot of the guys took our stuff there. He’s done — and you would never expect it, he’s just got a hole-in-the wall place — he’s tailored suits for movie stars like Samuel L. Jackson, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Whenever they’ve done movies in Manitoba they go and see him to get their suits done. So he’s cut a bunch of suits for me and he’s got pictures of all the stars that he’s done on the wall. So he was a good guy to go to.”
After the Canadiens’ 4-3 loss to the Oilers Saturday in Edmonton, Chiarot said it was good timing for a day off with no practice.
“It’s a long road trip, especially we’ve been playing every other day for a while now, even going back before the road trip,” he said. “So get a good day off and go into a fun building in Winnipeg. It’s where I started my career. Had some really formative years of my life there and have a lot of good friends there, so it will be fun.”
Heading into this four-game road trip, the Canadiens probably would have been happy to return with a .500 record — something they’ve already guaranteed with wins over the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames. But to return home 3-1 would be a nice way to head into the Christmas break.
That won’t be easy against a Jets team that is coming off a
6-0 road win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday and has an explosive top line of Mark Scheifele between Kyle Connor and Patrick Laine. That trio has combined for 44 goals and 103 points in 36 games.
Chiarot is happy with the way the Canadiens have played.
“I like for the most part what we’re doing,” he said Saturday. “Tonight, obviously we gave up too many chances. But the way we’re playing, the resiliency we play with and how hard we play and how hard we work bodes well for us in the future.”
The Canadiens only visit Winnipeg once a year and they lucked out weather-wise on Sunday when the temperature was 4 C in a place called “Winter-peg.”
“We got a sold-out building … I’m pretty sure that all goes into hockey-related revenues and everybody cashes their cheque,” Maurice said after the Sharks criticized Winnipeg. “... We got nothing to complain about. Pretty good life. Every day. Every city’s pretty darn good.”
Amen.