NHL teams
Joe McDonald, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Ducks spoil emotional night for Winnipeg fans

WINNIPEG -- Snow flurries throughout a late April day only added to the excitement of Stanley Cup playoff hockey returning to this city.

The legendary “Winnipeg Whiteout” was back after a 19-year hiatus. It had been filed away after the original franchise moved to Arizona following the 1995-96 season. Once the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg in 2011, fans had to wait four seasons before the team reached the playoffs.

Along with the snow, it arrived Monday.

Unfortunately for the Jets and their fans, the emotional and energizing day ended with a loss. The Anaheim Ducks posted a 5-4 overtime victory in Game 3 of the Western Conference first-round series at MTS Centre, and now the Jets are one loss away from elimination.

“It was an unbelievable experience in the building,” said the Jets’ Lee Stempniak. “Right at the start, I personally have never had anything like that before and we certainly fed off the energy. We had a great start. We were all over them, forced some turnovers and icings. Yeah, it’s disappointing on a couple of levels to go down 3-0 in the series, and also not to deliver for our fans.”

After a pair of losses in the first two games of this series in Anaheim, Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said he was hoping the building and its fans would energize the team. No doubt it did and the Jets had this game nearly in their pocket until a goal by the Ducks’ Ryan Kesler at 17:46 of the third period forced overtime.

In the extra period, Anaheim’s Rickard Rakell provided the game-winning goal at 5:12. The MTS Centre, which had been rocking all night, suddenly became silent. The capacity crowd was still. While the Ducks celebrated their victory, the fans began to chant “Go, Jets, Go” over and over.

“The energy in the building, that's as good a building as I've ever seen in my life,” Maurice said. “We had good jump and good legs because of it. We needed it. We used it to good effect for a big chunk of the game.”

Earlier in the day, Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau was curious how his team would respond in such a hostile environment. It was tough for the Ducks to get moving early and often, but they found a way and finished with a victory.

“Well, it certainly was loud and certainly gave them energy,” Boudreau said. “I don’t know if we handled it great or not but we handled just enough to survive. Once you get into the game sometimes you don’t hear a lot of that. At the beginning it was incredible.”

Even though the day ended with the Jets on the brink of elimination, it was a victory for hockey in this city. It was a day long overdue and the fans treated it as such.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman attended the game and said earlier in the evening that there was no place he would rather be. He spoke with the media and when asked about the organization’s success since hockey returned to Winnipeg, Bettman credited three factors as to why the product works here.

He mentioned executives and business partners Mark Chipman and David Thomson as the No. 1 reason hockey was able to return to Winnipeg. The second, having a building that could handle an NHL franchise, which the MTS Centre is one of the best in the league. Lastly, Bettman explained that having a league-wide system in place that enables all 30 teams to be competitive, and they can afford to be competitive through revenue sharing, along with a salary cap.

Then Bettman mentioned the fans.

“What stands out isn’t something that’s an epiphany because the fact has this is always been a market that we knew was passionate about hockey. The team, when it left, was a victim of circumstances,” he said.

“When the opportunity presented itself for us to come back, it wasn’t an issue. In fact, it was a great opportunity.”

Once the front doors to the MTS Centre opened Monday night, fans began to fill into their seats dressed in all white.

Minutes before pregame warmups began, the American Authors song “Best Day of my Life” was blaring from the sound system inside the building. The puck hadn’t even dropped and it already had a Game 7 feel to it.

The “Winnipeg Whiteout” came out in full force. The pregame introductions were as loud as I’ve ever heard. The anthem was incredible.

“Coming out for warmups, I’m sure the other guys can say the same, but I got chills skating out for the first time and seeing the big whiteout,” said the Jets’ Tyler Myers. “The fans exceeded any expectations we had. We knew it would be loud. We knew it would be a very good crowd. That was pretty special.”

The noise only grew louder after the opening faceoff. I quickly scanned the stands and couldn’t find many Ducks fans. In fact, I only found five in the lower bowl, but there couldn’t have been many more in the building.

After every teeth-shattering body check by a Jets player, the fans’ energy grew. It remained that way until the final goal was scored and Anaheim walked away victorious.

Winning four straight will be a difficult task for the Jets. If they can’t and Anaheim wins this series, Winnipeg will be proud of its team. There’s a real sense of admiration from the fans. This truly is their team. That passion will resonate moving forward no matter how this season ends for the Jets.

Maurice described it so eloquently after the team’s morning skate Monday.

“You get the feeling that you’re kind of like the teacher here and you’ve got [the fans’] kids, and their kids is the Winnipeg Jets hockey team,” he said. “Through the course of the regular season, they’ve been getting some pretty average to below average marks and they’re finally getting some good grades.”

Maurice will walk down Portage and Main and fans will slap him on the back and thank him for taking care of their “kids.”

“At the end of the day, you’d be foolish to lose sight of the fact that these aren’t my kids,” he said. “This is Winnipeg’s team.”

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