...Except for the whole winning thing.
When I turned on the game today to watch the Montreal Canadiens take on the new Winnipeg Jets in front of Winnipeg's hockey-hungry crowd, I assumed I would see a great effort by the Jets and the fans cheering throughout the game and helping get the victory.
Well I was half right.
We'll start from the top. Player intros were goosebump inducing. The Jets cheered every player they announced to the ice (one awkward moment, though, when they announced Randy Jones and nobody skated onto the ice but they still cheered him). The Jets literally cheered everyone as loud as possible. They yelled and screeched for star defenseman Tobias Enstrom almost as loudly as they cheered on Jim Slater. And that was just amazing.
Then came what I thought was the best moment of the day. When a whole city gets a team back, you'd expect a lot to be focused on the coming years with a little look back into the past from what the team once was. But the management did not overlook the small detail people literally forgot about.
Rick Rypien
This past summer, the former Atlanta Thrashers signed forward Rick Rypien. Unfortunately, the tough guy committed suicide before the season started. He reportedly was suffering from depression for the last ten years. The tragedy was unfortunately overlooked due to the excitement of Winnipeg hockey. But with the Jets' tribute to Rypien earlier today, he will not be forgotten anytime soon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqJrjsWdLNQ&feature=feedu
The sad memorial video with the opening faceoff was followed with the Canadian anthem which was also a pretty cool thing to see.
But the fans of Winnipeg weren't waiting for a hockey for a pre-game show. They didn't want to just cheer for 5 minutes and then go home. No. They wanted HOCKEY back in Winnipeg. And by the time the opening faceoff came, you can tell there was almost a mixter of sighs of relief and excitement as they were about to get what they wanted. A hockey team.
Well the game didn't go so well.
In fact, just a few minutes in, Winnipeg defenseman Johnny Oduya made a terrible terrible turnover giving Michael Cammalleri a breakaway and he made no mistake about it and shelfed it off of Ondrej Pavelec. The fans remained active, however, and continued cheering on their team. In fact, it actually took the Jets and Johnny Oduya into the second period to have another bad turnover turn into a goal for Montreal.
But FINALLY, 3 minutes into the third period, the fans were able to celebrate their first new era goal, brought to them from the Kazakhstan native, Nik Antropov. Watch here and enjoy.
That goal made it a 1 goal game in the third but Montreal piled on their total and Jets were defeated 5-1 in their debut. But the fans were seemingly cheering during every minute of it.
As put best by CBC: "The Canadiens win it, but it feels like the Jets did".
That's honestly the best way to put it. Hold your heads high Jet fans. It's a long season. Enjoy every minute of it.
UPDATE: I found the video from CBC highlighting the importance of the Jets to the Winnipeg and I highly suggest watching it. It's truly beyond just a hockey team.
When I turned on the game today to watch the Montreal Canadiens take on the new Winnipeg Jets in front of Winnipeg's hockey-hungry crowd, I assumed I would see a great effort by the Jets and the fans cheering throughout the game and helping get the victory.
Well I was half right.
We'll start from the top. Player intros were goosebump inducing. The Jets cheered every player they announced to the ice (one awkward moment, though, when they announced Randy Jones and nobody skated onto the ice but they still cheered him). The Jets literally cheered everyone as loud as possible. They yelled and screeched for star defenseman Tobias Enstrom almost as loudly as they cheered on Jim Slater. And that was just amazing.
Then came what I thought was the best moment of the day. When a whole city gets a team back, you'd expect a lot to be focused on the coming years with a little look back into the past from what the team once was. But the management did not overlook the small detail people literally forgot about.
Rick Rypien
This past summer, the former Atlanta Thrashers signed forward Rick Rypien. Unfortunately, the tough guy committed suicide before the season started. He reportedly was suffering from depression for the last ten years. The tragedy was unfortunately overlooked due to the excitement of Winnipeg hockey. But with the Jets' tribute to Rypien earlier today, he will not be forgotten anytime soon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqJrjsWdLNQ&feature=feedu
The sad memorial video with the opening faceoff was followed with the Canadian anthem which was also a pretty cool thing to see.
But the fans of Winnipeg weren't waiting for a hockey for a pre-game show. They didn't want to just cheer for 5 minutes and then go home. No. They wanted HOCKEY back in Winnipeg. And by the time the opening faceoff came, you can tell there was almost a mixter of sighs of relief and excitement as they were about to get what they wanted. A hockey team.
Well the game didn't go so well.
In fact, just a few minutes in, Winnipeg defenseman Johnny Oduya made a terrible terrible turnover giving Michael Cammalleri a breakaway and he made no mistake about it and shelfed it off of Ondrej Pavelec. The fans remained active, however, and continued cheering on their team. In fact, it actually took the Jets and Johnny Oduya into the second period to have another bad turnover turn into a goal for Montreal.
But FINALLY, 3 minutes into the third period, the fans were able to celebrate their first new era goal, brought to them from the Kazakhstan native, Nik Antropov. Watch here and enjoy.
That goal made it a 1 goal game in the third but Montreal piled on their total and Jets were defeated 5-1 in their debut. But the fans were seemingly cheering during every minute of it.
As put best by CBC: "The Canadiens win it, but it feels like the Jets did".
That's honestly the best way to put it. Hold your heads high Jet fans. It's a long season. Enjoy every minute of it.
UPDATE: I found the video from CBC highlighting the importance of the Jets to the Winnipeg and I highly suggest watching it. It's truly beyond just a hockey team.
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