When the Winnipeg Jets traded their home on the Canadian prairie for the desert of Arizona 16 years ago, it appeared the NHL had abandoned that market for good.
The economics of the game – a dated arena (15,393), the league’s smallest television market, an unbalanced exchange rate between the United States and Canada and lack of a local ownership group willing to take on the team and its financial losses – doomed the Jets then. They moved to Phoenix after the 1995-96 season and left behind a heartbroken fanbase in Manitoba.
Life moved on. Winnipeg immediately acquired an American Hockey League franchise and in 2004 built a sparkling downtown arena thanks in part to a deep-pocketed ownership group with local ties. But even with all of those plusses on its ledger, a metropolitan population about equal to Akron, Ohio (700,000) seemed a poor fit for another shot at an NHL team.
But when the splintered group that owned the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers finally decided to sell that moribund franchise last spring, True North Sports & Entertainment – the owner of both the arena and the AHL’s Manitoba Moose – moved quickly. And by May 31, the NHL was back in Winnipeg. On Thursday, the Capitals make their first trek there since Dec. 10, 1995, a 6-1 win at old Winnipeg Arena.
“Oh, it’s crazy,” Washington rookie forward Cody Eakin, a Winnipeg native, said about the reception the re-christened Jets have received in his hometown. “When it was announced, they shut down the downtown and had parades and had street hockey games going on Main Street there – festivals and concerts and all that.”
Indeed, by mid-June, this small, remote city – four hours north of Fargo North Dakota, 825 miles from Calgary, Alberta and thousands of miles from Canada’s biggest population centers – had reached its goal of 13,000 season-tickets sold and a waiting list of about 8,000.
Much like their old Jets, however, the fans haven’t exactly had a lot to cheer about so far. These are still the Thrashers, after all, who made the NHL playoffs just once in their 12-year history. Playing in the Southeast Division for one more season until the league can re-align its teams, the Jets are tied for last place at 6-9-3 with 15 points. Washington, coming off a stinging 3-1 loss at Nashville on Tuesday after allowing all three goals in the final four minutes, remains in first place at 10-5-1 and with 21 points.
“I think the thing that we’re all excited about is we haven’t had a chance to play there yet,” said Caps defenseman Karl Alzner, who was with the AHL’s Hershey Bears when that team played a Calder Cup final series in Winnipeg against the Manitoba Moose. “The fans haven’t really had a chance to see guys like [Alex Ovechkin] and [Nicklas Backstrom], really. So they’re going to be pretty fired up for it. And in turn it’s going to be pretty exciting for us to go on the ice.”
Eakin is the lone Washington player with immediate family in the Winnipeg area so he’s hoping tickets won’t be too difficult to score. His parents already split a season-ticket package with friends so they’re taken care of. But there are always more friends and family asking. At 20, Eakin has a limited memory of the original Jets and isn’t sure he ever made it to a game at Winnipeg Arena. He thought his two older sisters went to games there, though.
The Caps can’t exactly take this one for granted. First, they need a win. After a 7-0 start, they are 3-5-1. Also, basically this same group of Jets went 4-1-1 against Washington in their final season in Atlanta, including a 5-0 stomping on Nov. 19.
“When we were with Hershey it was always fun going [to Winnipeg],” said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau, who coached the Bears for a little over two years and made an annual trip there in his nine AHL seasons. “They’ve always had good crowds. They’re loud. It’s an exciting city to play a hockey game in.”
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