Home Sweet Home

The Jets could not happier about playing at home tonight, the only thing that could make that better is playing the next five games at home...which they are.  After losing a hard-fought game to the Bruins on Saturday night, this is exactly what Winnipeg needs.

The team has played very well over their past six games and just couldn't get any breaks in a couple of them.  Playing the next five games at home will really help the team's spirits.  The Jets have more games played on the road than any other team in the league so far this season.  They face Ottawa tonight, and over the next two weeks face Phoenix, New Jersey, Boston and Carolina; all five are games I think the Jets can win if everybody plays to their full potential.

Currently the Jets are sitting in seventh from the bottom in the entire league, but after the next two weeks, I think we'll them a make a big jump in the standings.  Who knows, they might even be pushing for a playoff spot.

My First Game...Kind of

This past Saturday was kind of a big deal for me.  It was my first Jets game!  Well it was kind of my first Jets game...I caught the last ten minutes, does that count?

Let me explain.

I had the opportunity, along with two of my classmates, to go and work at the MTS Center during the game against the Flyers on Saturday and it was great!  The job was for Granny's Poultry, handing out ballots for fans to enter in a contest.  The prize was awesome!  It was a trip for two anywhere in Canada as well as a fantastic assortment of fine Granny's products. 

Better yet, I didn't even miss too much of the game.  There was a T.V. in front of our booth broadcasting the game.  It was perfect.  I even got in on some live action.  One of the security members was nice enough to let us sit in on the last ten minutes of the game.  It was a great experience. 

But there was one thing that was kind of the cherry on top of the day.  I got to see the Philadelphia Flyers play!  They were my favourite team prior to the Jets coming back...they still might be my favourite.  It was really hard picking which team to cheer for.

Now I'm just fiending for my first game in December, where I get to actually be a spectator for the entire game.  I can't wait!  Thank you Granny's!

Please Come Home

Tonight the Jets will play the last game of their lengthy seven game road trip.  Though as tiring as it may be, the Jet have done fairly well.  So far they've won fifty percent of those game, and the ones they've lost have been very close; a 1-0 loss in Tampa, 3-2 OT loss in New Jersey, and the game at Madison Square Garden was still a hard-fought battle despite the 3-0 score.  You also have to factor in how many of the players are out with injuries.

One of the players that have been sitting on the sidelines for the past two games now is their leading scorer, Nik Antropov.  Also without their two most consistent defencemen, Tobias Enstrom and Mark Stuart, then add Randy Jones to that list.  So needless to say, you have to give the remaining Jets a lot of credit (not to mention the stellar play by goaltender, Ondrej Pavelec) for the way they've been playing.  This road trip has helped the character come out in a lot of guys on the team, which is what I think was lacking in those first couple games of the season.

Tonight the Jets will wrap up the road trip in Buffalo before coming home to face the Florida Panthers for the second time this season on Thursday night.  

What Just Happened?

I am past the point of being confused about our young Jets team.  Can anybody tell if they are actually team that can score, and score consistently.  Let's recap the week. 

First they lose a hard-fought game to the NY Rangers in a low-scoring game, 2-1, the only goal coming from their now leading point-scorer, Nik Antropov.  Back-up goalie, Chris Mason played excellent, only allowing 2 goals (the second one, a week one off Zach Bogosian's skate).  Then they fly to Philly and win the game 9-8 with nine different players tallying a goal.  In this game the goaltending from both team's goalies were a  little bit shaky but what really baffles my mind was score in their next game.  How does a team go from scoring 9 goals in their previous game to scoring zero in the game after that?  Don't get me wrong, Tampa Bay's Dwayne Roloson stood on his head, but I thought the Jets still could have popped in at least one.  C'mon!

But I also have to congratulate the boys on the big win last night against the Florida Panthers.  That was huge!  Even after the Jets gave up their 2-0 lead, they managed to tie it up in the dying seconds of the third, 3-3.  Last night there were a few who players really impressed me, showing a ton that they can play with a ton of fight and emotion.  Evander Kane was one of those players, scoring two goals (including the game-tying goal) after many fans were beginning to worry about his slow start.  There was also talks of him wanting to be traded from Winnipeg last week.  I think last night was enough proof to show that he's here to stay.  Hells yeah!  Kyle Wellwood was another guy who showed that he can be one of the team's top players after scoring the first goal of the game and eventually the shootout winner.  And our captain, Andrew Ladd played his best game so far this year last night.  He showed he can really be this city's captain picking a fight with former teammate, Jack Skille laid a dirty hit on defenseman, Tobias Enstrom.  Ladd was another player who also scored in the shootout.

What's 'appening With Hockey Apps?

Now for something a little off the beaten path (but not too far off).  I thought it would be cool to talk about some of the great mobile hockey apps that are out there.  There are some that are very informative, and have great detail on breaking news in the NHL and even other professional levels of hockey.  Some of them are great tools geared more towards youngsters that can help kids learn and navigate their way around them game. 

As far as news goes, you have your "common-knowledge" apps such as; TSN, the Score and The Hockey News app.  But what some people don't realize is that the best app for hockey news (make that any news) is actually the Twitter app.  On Twitter you can follow NHL experts in the media, players, coaches and even member of the NHL executive team.  I like Twitter the best for NHL news because it comes straight from the fingertips of the people that are given the news directly, so it should be accurate, and you can see the tweets immediatley after the news happened. 

One of the great tools that you can find in your App Store is one that parents will love especially.  HockeyGPS is an app that helps you find the address and distance from your location of any arena in your town, city, province, anywhere?  The only problem I have with the app is that it doesn't map out best route of your destination.  Right now you would have to enter the address on Google Maps or whichever web mapping service app you prefer.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hockeygps/id300865790?mt=8

There's also an awesome app for coaches.  The Hockey WhiteBoard app is a full ice or half ice display in which you can draw out entire plays or drills to show your players.  Now this probably isn't ideal for your whole team, but when meeting with an individual player this is the perfect tool.
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/hockey-whiteboard/id308950002?mt=8

We Got One!!

Winnipeg saw their NHL team win for the first time since April 26, 1996 last night, defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1.  After watching the first three games, it seemed like it was never going to happen, but finally the Jets prevailed; and better yet, it was in our own barn.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the nerves got the best of them in game one against the Canadiens, being blown 5-1.  Game two against Chicago looked like it had some promise when the Jets got out to an early 2-0 lead against the Hawks.  But the experience on the Chicago team ended up being too much for the Jets as they lost that one 4-3.  And game three in Phoenix?  Well let's not even talk about that one.  But last night's victory?  Oh how sweet it was! 
Kyle Wellwood started the night off on a very high note, scoring just eight seconds into the game, tying the an Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets franchise record for the fastest goal scored in a game.  Tanner Glass deposited the second, and game-winning goal for the Winnipeg.  The Jets also got a glimpse of what Ondrej Pavelec is really capable of as he stopped 28 Pittsburgh shots in the victory. 

Some might say (in fact some are saying) that we can't be that proud of the win as the Penguins two stars, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were out due to injury.  I say that is a bunch of buuullllogne.  Pittsburgh still had their cup-winning goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes, as well star players like; Jordan Staal, Kris Letang, and James Neal.  Plus, one of our better players, Evander Kane was sitting on the sidelines after blocking a shot in the game against Phoenix on Saturday.

Shake It Off

Even though the Jets were beat pretty bad on Sunday, there's nothing they should be hanging their head about.  They filled a void in Winnipeg's heart that has been there for sixteen years.  I can't remember the last time I heard an arena that loud during a warm-up.  Don Cherry was even impressed, and it's not easy to impress Don Cherry.  Sunday was a day filled with emotion, not only for the fans, but for the players too.  So many of them (especially the ones who only played for Atlanta) have never experienced having that many people on their side.  They had so many people relying on them to get that "W".  I feel that played a big part in the final score.  You could tell those young players were extremely nervous.  And even though they were trying to shake off the jitters of that first game, they all played with ton of heart.  Every player was giving it their all to get the city that long awaited first win.