NHL Hockey thread

[HVC]

So HVC - next Jets game is against... The MAPLE LEAFS!  

Finally a team I can have some confidence we can beat.

god dammit. it had to be BB's team.

[Neil]

To be fair, they lost to the Avs already, so their season is pretty much over.  Torontonians are already planning who they'll draft first overall.

[HVC]

first? the always make sure to end the season will enough to lose a good draft pic the leafs sucking i can handle, i'm used to it, its losing to the Jets then is disagreable. BB will be insufferable... moreso

[Josephus]

But the Leafs will trade their first round draft pick on trade deadline day for some over-the-hill centre, they think can launch them into the playoffs.

[HVC]

stanley cup here we come!

[Barrister]

Well winning is better than losing of course, so grats HVC (and Josephus). But the Jets played well tonight, and the shootout is a bit of a crapshoot anyways.

What struck me is how much things have changed in the NHL.  Back in the day Toronto and Montreal would come to Winnipeg for a virtual home game atmosphere.  But now, in the heart of Toronto, I saw numerous Jets sweaters and shirts.   

[HVC]

Jets played well, ya . I wonder if face paint guy ever got a puck

[Josephus]

Question for you guys. Would you prefer going back to the days when ties were ties and each team took home one point?
I've never been a fan of the shoot out and I wish they'd ditch it. I would have been fine with both teams taking a point.

[HVC]

I want a hybrid. Mini over time like now, winner gets two.  No winner then still go to shoot out.  Winner gets 1 loser gets zero.

*edit* as it stands teams seem to stop trying 5 minutes before period 3 ends. 

[Neil]

I kind of like the shootout in the regular season, since they can be fairly exciting.  That said, if they ever brought the shootout into the playoffs, I'd be unhappy with that decision.

[HVC]

or go 3 regular, 2 mini over time, 1 shoot out. loser always getting 0.

[Barrister]

Question for you guys. Would you prefer going back to the days when ties were ties and each team took home one point?
I've never been a fan of the shoot out and I wish they'd ditch it. I would have been fine with both teams taking a point.

Nah.  A tie is like kissing your sister.  Let someone go home happy.

Just as long as they never, ever introduce it in the playoffs...

[Zoupa]

We should move to the 3 points for a regular or OT win, 2 points for a shootout win, none for losses system.

[Grey Fox]

I'm okay with not having ties or having shootout. I just want the losers not to have any points.

[Barrister]

And you guys thought I was the only crazy Winnipeg ex-pat:

Lots of love for Jets in T.O.
Not just ex-'Peggers cheering Winnipeg's team
By: Gary Lawless

Posted: 10/20/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

0 2 Share2Print E–mail Report Error 
Enlarge Image

Maple Leafs defenceman Carl Gunnarsson battles for the puck with Winnipeg Jets centre Alexander Burmistrov in the first period. (FRANK GUNN / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
TORONTO -- They were like Winnipeg-born Supermen, slipping from their Bay Street uniforms into Jets jerseys before all of Toronto's very eyes.

Grown men strolled into a downtown watering hole and shrugged out of their Italian suit jackets and pulled their hometown team's hockey sweater out of bags for a quick change from big city businessmen into Jets fans.

"I circled this date on the calendar when the schedule came out and tried to get tickets but they were already sold out. But I was able just recently to scrounge a couple up," said Mike Rosenblat, a Winnipegger living in Toronto for the past four years, standing in the corner of Earls restaurant on King Street among a group of close to 100 Jets fans decked out in jerseys old and new. "I went back to Winnipeg for the season opener, too."

Rosenblat says Toronto has embraced the Jets and all the ex-pats wearing their colours of late.

"When the team got announced, I pulled out some of the jerseys I still had with the old logo and it's actually really supportive here," said Rosenblat. "There's been no negativity and bad comments. It's been fun to be a part of. I can't get the Jets channel. I offered Bell $200 to turn it on for me but you can't get it. There's only a little news here. I have the Free Press app on my iPad and it's the first thing I check every day."

Mark Hladik got his start with Earls as a dishwasher in Winnipeg, but is now heading up the chain's expansion into Ontario. His downtown Toronto location has become a roost for Jets fans.

"This has brought all the ex-pat Winnipeggers out in a fury and they're converging on this bar for big Jets occasions," said Hladik, wearing a new Jets logo T-shirt and beaming with his restaurant bustling and half the lounge reserved for Winnipeggers.

"The first game, it was a Sunday afternoon and the bar is normally dead. We had 300 people in here wearing Jets gear and screaming their heads off. It was incredible."

Hladik sent an email blast out touting Earls as the pre-game meeting place for Winnipeggers heading over to see the Jets take on the Leafs.

"It went viral. It's gone bananas. There are lots of Winnipeggers living in Toronto. Our whole management team is from Winnipeg and we love seeing those jerseys come into the bar," said Hladik.

Chris Partridge walked into Earls with a Jets jersey in his hand and quickly replaced his jacket with the sweater bearing Bob Essensa's name on the back.

"I live in Toronto but grew up in Winnipeg. I came here before the Jets left," said Partridge. "This is fantastic. I'm going to have to retrain my kids and get them to be Jets fans instead of Leafs fans. I love having the Jets back. Seeing all these people in Jets stuff -- it's amazing."

Rick Dyal has been in Toronto for 10 years, but hasn't transformed into a Leafs fan judging from the Hawerchuk jersey he was wearing Wednesday night.

"I cried when I heard the news. I'm so proud to be from Winnipeg. I love telling people this is my team and that's my city," said Dyal.

"They used to taunt me and I'd hear the Winter-peg thing, which drove me crazy. But now there's lots of love from Toronto people. They're happy for us, too. I'm so proud to say I'm from Winnipeg."

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/lots-of-love-for-jets-in-to-132223713.html

And was I imagining things, or did I hear "Go Jets Go" chants at last nights game?