NHL Hockey thread

[Valmy]

Would CdM have done the same thing in a NFL thread in 1995?

[Jacob]

For fucks sake...

who do you think started this thread?  Who do you think has bumped this thread constantly from page 2,3 or more?  There'd be no NHL playoffs thread without me.

Now you're sounding like Jaron.

The reason there's not more playoff discussion is that you're drowning it out with your incessant prattling.

[jimmy olsen]

Would CdM have done the same thing in a NFL thread in 1995?

Given that he still rants about Paul Tagliabue, I think the answer is obvious.

[crazy canuck]

After this thread, if there is such a thing as the Jets, they will be the team we will love to hate.

Back on topic.  Finally the Canucks got some puck luck and what a time to get it.  Now they get some time to recover before the next series.   

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Bieksa & luongo come up huge in this series. If you'sd told me that during last year's playoff, I would have mocked you. But this whole year both of them really manned up. good work guys.

Also Neil you need a new bashing the canucks route. Soft Swedes maybe or something, go the Cherry route maybe.... but goons? really? where? If the Canucks have a weakness it's too much finesse, not enough goonery.

I feel pretty good regardless of their chances against either of the East teams. would prefer Boston because they are Original 6 and haven't had a shot in a while either.

[Grey Fox]

RDS is reporting that the Deal is Done between True North, Atlanta Spirit & the NHL.

Welcome to the Southeast division, Winnipeg.

[Valmy]

If the Lightning lose tonight it will be a beautiful day.

[Neil]

Also Neil you need a new bashing the canucks route. Soft Swedes maybe or something, go the Cherry route maybe.... but goons? really? where? If the Canucks have a weakness it's too much finesse, not enough goonery.

Torres and Bieksa are both goons, and I hope both of them die.

[Neil]

If the Lightning lose tonight it will be a beautiful day.

Well, it'd be nice to see Vancouver try to goon it up against Boston, only to discover that Boston is much tougher than they are.

[Jacob]

Torres and Bieksa are both goons, and I hope both of them die.

The team(s) you like don't have any goons?

[Ed Anger]

If the Lightning lose tonight it will be a beautiful day.

Well, it'd be nice to see Vancouver try to goon it up against Boston, only to discover that Boston is much tougher than they are.

I'd like to see Lucic cripple one or both Sedins.

[Neil]

Torres and Bieksa are both goons, and I hope both of them die.

The team(s) you like don't have any goons?

Maybe, maybe not.  The teams that I like aren't scum, and don't leave their goalies hung out to dry in the court of public opinion.

[CountDeMoney]

After this thread, if there is such a thing as the Jets, they will be the team we will love to hate.

By all accounts I've heard and read, Winnepeg ain't much.  But it is a hockey town.  They deserve a hockey team.


Now, if the NHL is truly concerned about justice in this world, THEY WILL BRING BACK THE WHALE.

[Ed Anger]

And rename the Wild back to the North Stars.

[Barrister]

This fellow sums up my feelings perfectly.

I was also at the 1995 "farewell" that he talks about - I conned my way in with my Winnipeg Sun business card (to be fair I did actually get some interviews inside as well, but mostly I just wanted to be inside).  I don't think I cried, but it was damn emotional.

A REMINISCE: NHL franchise hopes give Winnipeg its groove back
Ex-Winnipegger Cameron MacIntosh writes about likely move of Atlanta Thrashers to Manitoba capital
By Cameron MacIntosh, CBC News Posted: May 25, 2011 12:25 PM CT Last Updated: May 25, 2011 6:36 PM CT Read 1 comments1
Share with Add ThisPrint this storyE-mail this story
Related Links
NHL return inevitable: Winnipeg mayor
ARCHIVE VIDEO: Jets' final flight
VIDEO: The business case for the Jets
REALITY CHECK: NHL in Winnipeg
BLOG: Scott Morrison on Winnipeg's biggest obstacle
Social media round up: Winnipeg reaction
Cameron MacIntosh is a national reporter for CBC TV and radio based in Regina but is a former Winnipegger and loyal Jets fan. (CBC)I freely admit it: on May 6, 1995, I cried. It was in front of thousands of people. I didn't even mind doing it; 15,000 people around me were all doing the same thing.

We were standing in the Winnipeg Arena watching one of the hardest moments in the city's living memory: the sombre and hasty retirement of the colours and logo of the Winnipeg Jets hockey team.

It was a bitter afternoon, full of sadness, regret and anger. It left an indelible mark on me as I watched the Jets logo raised to the rafters and thought, "What kind of city lets this happen?"

Of course, the reasons for the NHL team leaving the city were complex, and several things conspired to make it happen: the Canadian dollar was down; no one wanted to own the team; the debate over a new arena had dragged on for years.

Worst of all, the NHL, hell-bent on expanding its presence in the southern U.S., didn't seem particularly bothered by it.

Workers hang a Winnipeg Jets banner from the rafters of the now defunct Winnipeg Arena in 2001. Jets banners were taken down when the NHL team moved to Phoenix in 1996. It now looks like the city might get a new NHL franchise. (Wayne Glowacki/Winnipeg Free Press/Canadian Press)
The whole thing became such an emotional and political lightning rod, it is hard to see how it could have been resolved any other way.

Maybe it was denial, or probably just anger, but I remember saying to a friend who stood next to me at the arena, "They'll be back in 15 years." I can't honestly say I believed it.

In the end, we got one more season of NHL hockey before the Jets moved to Phoenix after the 1995-96 season. The damage was done; our hearts were broken.

Jets took edge off 'Peg bashing
Let's face it, growing up in and around the 'Peg, you get a lot of flak from other parts of the country about your little berg on the Prairie with the winter that never ends. Having a hockey team that could consistently beat the Leafs took the edge off.

Winnipeg Jets player Teemu Selanne during a game in Toronto on March 6, 1993. Selanne and other world-class players like Bobby Hull gave Winnipeggers a sense of city pride in the years the NHL team was based in the Manitoba capital. (Phil Snell/Canadian Press)
We had Bobby Hull, Dale Hawerchuk and Teemu Selanne. They were world class, so, so were we.

Like many young Manitobans at the time, losing that was a clear signal that maybe our small and oft-ridiculed city was, indeed, second-rate, that it was falling behind as thousands of people my age looked to places like Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto, which just seemed to have so much more opportunity.

At the time, I was a journalism student at Red River College in Winnipeg. That spring, we spent a lot of time covering the ins and outs of the Jets debate that had consumed the city and the province.

It's where I learned the complexities of balance and impartiality as I tried to write stories weaving the raw emotion of fans and those opposed to using public money to prop up the team "just a little longer" around the hard economic realities of keeping an NHL team with little chance of success. (Some journalism student is learning to do the same thing in Phoenix today.)

To this day, I've seen few stories that packed as much emotion as the Jets debate.

That retirement ceremony was broadcast live by CBC; I could see the cameras clearly from my seat.

Little did I know that in a few years, I would be pursuing a CBC career that would take me out of Manitoba. My first posting outside of Winnipeg was Calgary. When I arrived, I had more friends there from high school than I did back home.

One of the last stories I did for the CBC in Winnipeg was about a plan to build a new downtown arena. It just felt like it was years too late.

City has new vision
Years would pass, and I would often cross paths with other expat 'tobans; the loss of the Jets would always come up.

We all had our own reasons for leaving, and while the loss of the Jets wasn't one of them, it always seemed to come up as one of the symbolic moments that prompted people to look beyond Manitoba.

Many of us felt we were personally better off for leaving. Still, it was rare to find someone from home that wasn't still pulling for something great to happen in Winnipeg.

That's what makes this moment so fascinating and gratifying: 15 years after the last Winnipeg White Out, it appears the NHL is on the verge of returning.

Over the years, I've noticed a few things change in Winnipeg when I've returned to the city. The economy is better; there is new construction, a sign of confident investment; and, most importantly, there's some vision for the city.

A good example is the arena. When the MTS Centre was announced in 2002, I remember someone asking Premier Gary Doer about the "NHL pipedream." He smiled and said, "Anything is possible."

Quietly, the owners of the rink, True North Sports and Entertainment, have made it one of the most profitable in North America.

With the NHL's southern ambitions going, well... south, the company also made it possible for Winnipeg to throw its hat in the ring in terms of vying to be the new home base for the Atlanta Thrashers.

'A hockey team doesn't define a city, but it certainly can be a powerful symbol.'
True North would own the new team. The company has already pulled off two feats few could have foreseen back in 1996: getting an arena built and now, apparently, getting a team back. Making the NHL's Second Coming successful would be the hat trick. I'm not betting against it.

No, a hockey team doesn't define a city, but it certainly can be a powerful symbol.

If Winnipeggers saw a strong message in the Jets leaving, there is surely an equally powerful one in an NHL team coming back.

If a team does land at Winnipeg's new airport this fall, it remains to be seen whether it will be named the Jets or something else.

Either way, I know I'll be cheering for it.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2011/05/25/f-cameron-macintosh-nhl-winnipeg-jets.html