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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781633193758 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Triumph Books |
| Publication date: | 10/01/2015 |
| Series: | 100 Things...Fans Should Know Series |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 256 |
| File size: | 6 MB |
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100 Things Jets Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die
By Jon Waldman
Triumph Books
Copyright © 2015 Jon WaldmanAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63319-375-8
CHAPTER 1
Celebrate a Jets Moment at Portage and Main
"Portage and Main is famous across North America, so why not?" — Barry Shenkarow, former owner, Winnipeg Jets
While you'll find that almost every other moment listed has to do with one of the three Jets eras, there is only one that unites them all, and unquestionably it's the one thing any Jets fan, hockey fan, or simply a citizen of Winnipeg absolutely must do before they die — be part of a celebration at Portage and Main.
Colloquially known as the "Wind Tunnel," Portage and Main is one of the busiest intersections in Winnipeg. It's been called the coldest spot in the city, and urban legend will tell you that the speed of gusts that blow through this area make it the testing ground for car companies.
By ordinary day, Portage and Main is a hub of activity from financial to tourist. Depending on which direction you head toward, you'll see a wide landscape unfold in front of your eyes. Stay too long in one spot, though, and you'll get honked at (albeit very politely). In the summer it's the hub for hot dog carts, and in winter ... okay not much happens on the deepest of deep-freeze days, but there is still a mystique at this spot.
But by hockey night, Portage and Main becomes the central gathering ground for Winnipeg's faithful. Whether it's the local Jets or national team (namely during the Olympics), Portage and Main becomes the single biggest hotbed for shinny. Hoot, holler, grab your stick, and get ready for the best street fest known to mankind.
It's hard to say what was the most important event that took place at the famed intersection — contract signings, Avco Cup celebrations, Save the Jets campaigns, the impromptu celebration when Stephen Brunt's famous Globe and Mail article was published — yeah, there've been a few special moments at this one spot in the city of 750,000 frozen chosen individuals.
The popularity of the spot started with that moment that has been shown time and time again in any Jets retrospective — Bobby Hull in the background of a jubilant Ben Hatskin, holding aloft the contract that the Golden Jet had just signed. Just a couple short years later, the same intersection became the celebration ground for the Jets as they brought the Avco Cup to Winnipeg. Staging was set up at the intersection for a massive street party.
Years later, the signing of the Jets first (and thankfully only) No. 1 overall draft pick was to take place in the River City. Barry Shenkarow reflected on picking the location, noting that the first signing at the spot had started a trend. "Benny Hatskin signed Bobby Hull first at Portage and Main, and that made the WHA and put Winnipeg on the hockey map," he said. "I guess when we signed Hawerchuk, we thought he was the next foundation of the hockey team so that would be the ... I wouldn't say the tradition, but you could call it that."
In years following, there wasn't much to celebrate at the corner at least for local hockey, but it was a regional hotspot for national hockey. In both 2002 and 2010, Canada came away from the Winter Olympics with the gold medal, and the good citizens of Winnipeg feted the feat at the famed corner, as they did in 2014; but those moments didn't compare to 2012, first with the Stephen Brunt–ignited celebration then as the secondary spot during the official announcement that the Jets were coming home.
Once the team was back, however, there was one celebration waiting to happen, and on the night of April 9, 2015, it took place, as Jets fans gathered to toast Winnipeg returning to the NHL playoffs for the first time in 19 years. Only a Stanley Cup victory parade, whenever that happens, will be able to rival the emotion that night at Portage and Main.
CHAPTER 2$1 Million for Hull
There are few times that an exorbitant salary given to an NHL player will be deemed "worth it," especially as salaries escalate to ungodly levels.
But if $7 million signings in the NHL today cause jaws to drop in amazement, imagine what the hockey community felt in 1972 when Bobby Hull signed with the Winnipeg Jets for $1 million.
The signing gave the Jets — and the WHA as a whole — instant credibility and a face to be marketed around. Hull quickly became the face of the league, even being the subject of a table hockey game.
But the negotiation to bring the Golden Jet (and yes, the nickname pre-dates his time with the Jets) wasn't an easy deal — after all, Hull was the spotlight player for the Chicago Blackhawks (or Black Hawks, as the team name was spelled at that time). To this point in his career, Hull was a three-time Art Ross Trophy winner, a two-time Hart Trophy winner, a Stanley Cup champ, and one of the marquee names of the tried and true NHL.
And yet, there was Hatskin making a bold declaration of an offer for the Golden Jet.
"How would you like to see Bobby Hull play in Winnipeg?" Hatskin told the Winnipeg Free Press in a November 3, 1971, article, just a short time after Hull was in town with the Hawks for an exhibition game. "Don't laugh. It's not beyond the realm of possibility. You remember a few years ago the late Jim Norris of Chicago offered the Toronto Maple Leafs $1 million for Frank Mahovlich? Well, I'm prepared to give Bobby Hull $1 million if he'll sign a five-year contract with the Jets."
The deal soon evolved, though. To bring Hull to Winnipeg Hatskin had to have that cool mil upfront while additional dollars were to be worked out for the length of the contract.
Of course, a million wasn't easy to come by, and it meant that the teams of the WHA would have to pool their resources a bit. The opportunity, however, was one they couldn't pass up, and there may have been no simpler declaration of the hope that the entire league held of landing one of the NHL's marquee superstars than a simple quote that appeared in the May 17, 1972, edition of the Winnipeg Free Press.
"We think we have a good chance to sign Hull," WHA President Gary Davidson told Reyn Davis.
Just a few days later the Associated Press cornered Hull, who spilled the beans a bit. "I've made a verbal deal with Winnipeg. And if they make good on it, I'm gone."
It all came down to dollars and sense for Hull, as he told Davis. "I have financial security staring me in the face," Hull said in an article published May 20, 1992. "More and more I've been establishing ties to Chicago, but I can see myself moving for this job."
But Hull wasn't the only player in wait, and in the coming days the likes of Ernie Wakely and Bob Woytowich signed with the Jets.
Owner Ben Hatskin had to make several trips out to Chateau Bobby, a journey that he told Free Press columnist Maurice Smith was wearing on him. "I certainly hope a decision is made one way or another," Hatskin was quoted as saying in Smith's June 15, 1972, article. "I'm tired. I want to rest and get away from hockey for a while. You know I can't sleep at nights. So many things are turning over in my brain."
The date of that first report was key — it was before Hatskin left Winnipeg to meet Hull in Chicago for a two-day round of negotiations. Free Press reporter Reyn Davis spoke with Hatskin again upon his return to Winnipeg, and progress had been made. "I feel the signs are definitely good that Hull is coming to play in Winnipeg," Hatskin said. "Before I left, I felt I was 99 per cent sure of him coming here. Now I have to say I'm 99.99 per cent sure he's coming here."
That extra 0.01 per cent came less than two weeks later — June 27, 1972, to be exact, as Hull stood at Portage and Main with Hatskin. The agreement amounted to $2.7 million and included a $1 million signing bonus. The image of Hatskin holding a novelty cheque above his head with a smiling Golden Jet looking on remains one of the most iconic photos in Jets history.
Hull, of course, went on to be the centrepiece of the Jets WHA years. He was the league's MVP twice, a postseason All-Star five times, and led the Jets to three Avco Cups. His No. 9 was the first to be raised to the rafters of the Winnipeg Arena, and to this day he draws unparalleled crowds for autograph sessions and speaking engagements.
CHAPTER 3True North Acquires the Thrashers
"It all happened pretty quick. There was a little bit of talk throughout the year, but a lot of it was about Phoenix and Winnipeg and didn't really have to do with Atlanta, then in a two-week span, it was, 'Okay, maybe it is Atlanta,' and then it was, 'Yup, it is Atlanta.' For us, it happened really quick, and it was a shock for everyone." — Andrew Ladd, captain, Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets
Of all the teams that were speculated to be coming to Winnipeg over the years, the Atlanta Thrashers weren't on the list. Phoenix Coyotes? Definitely. Nashville Predators? Yup. Pittsburgh Penguins? At one point.
But the Atlanta Thrashers?
Let's take a trip back through the process, starting in 1999, where Atlanta was facing ownership unrest, and rumours had the team moving to Hamilton, fuelled by reports in regional news coverage.
But Winnipeg speculation also grew amidst the ever-present rumours that the Phoenix Coyotes would be the team coming to Winnipeg. On February 17, 2010, the Winnipeg Sun's Ken Wiebe published an article that included comments from NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly addressing the rumours. "There has been absolutely zero discussion at the league level of Thrashers to Winnipeg," Daly said. "There is no truth whatsoever to these rumours."
Fast forward through the 2010–11 season, where the Thrashers averaged 13,649 fans per game, a far cry from the 16,000-plus in 2006–07. Ownership was even worse of a mess. In late April, Darren Dreger of TSN provided an update on the move rumours.
"The future of the Atlanta Thrashers hangs in the balance," Dreger said after talking about efforts to keep the Phoenix Coyotes in Atlanta. "Sources say Atlanta is waiting patiently for the league [NHL] to determine the fate of the Phoenix Coyotes. If a deal is salvaged, and the Coyotes stay in Glendale, there's a possibility the Thrashers will move quickly into negotiations with True North to move their team to Winnipeg."
May 2011 was the breaking time for Winnipeg hockey fans. After months of speculation and more eyeballs on Glendale municipal politics than there probably had been in history, the bid to bring the Coyotes — the former Jets — to the River City was dead; and in the wake came speculation that another team was going to be relocating — the Atlanta Thrashers.
Now here's where a little more story needs to be told. Just because the Thrashers were going to be packing up their operations and moving, didn't mean that they were going to be making a beeline for the MTS Centre. In fact, as owner Mark Chipman points out, it was a man who was vilified by Winnipeg hockey fans — and even larger Canadian hockey fans as a whole — who was one of the keys to Winnipeg getting the consideration it received as the new destination for the Thrashers franchise.
"If people boo Gary Bettman, they have no understanding how or why our team came back here because if it wasn't for Gary Bettman, the team wouldn't be here," Chipman explained. "It would have been easy for him to dismiss us at any point along the road, but he never did. He always took us seriously.
"We weren't the only option for relocation," Chipman continued. "If he decided to have gone down a different path, there were other cities out there that — with arenas and potential ownership — were very capable of hosting an NHL team. When I asked him the question why he thought we were the right place for Phoenix or Atlanta, he thought it was an opportunity to right a wrong. It bothered him deeply that the team had ever left here. It's something he wasn't proud of at all."
Of course, these conversations all led to one moment, but even before the formal announcement couple be made, word broke on May 19 courtesy of one of Canada's most respected journalists, Globe and Mail scribe Stephen Brunt. "An agreement to sell the National Hockey League's Atlanta Thrashers to a Winnipeg group which plans to relocate the franchise to the Manitoba capital is done," Brunt wrote. "Sources confirmed Thursday night that preparations are being made for an announcement Tuesday, confirming the sale and transfer of the Thrashers to True North Sports and Entertainment, which owns and operates the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League and the MTS Centre arena, which would become the NHL team's new home."
The proclamation by Brunt set off an immediate street party in Winnipeg, appropriately at Portage and Main. Fans decked out in retro jerseys and T-shirts, carried hockey sticks, and chanted the all too familiar "Go Jets Go" call to arms, something they had waited to do for 15 years.
Though NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman tried to deny the claim, the reality was soon to unfold.
Fast forward to May 31, 2011. Speculation that had once cooled off a bit ignited into the single biggest street party in Winnipeg. The Forks, long heralded as the heart of Winnipeg, saw a gathering of thousands. Hundreds more met at Portage and Main. Business went on hold for the day, schools tuned in, and nearly every television was set to show the landmark press conference emanating from the MTS Centre.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from 100 Things Jets Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die by Jon Waldman. Copyright © 2015 Jon Waldman. Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword by Dave Babych,Introduction,
1. Celebrate a Jets Moment at Portage and Main,
2. $1 Million for Hull,
3. True North Acquires the Thrashers,
4. First Goals,
5. Three Avco Cups,
6. The Original Jet — Norm Beaudin,
7. Origin of the Jets Name,
8. The Memorial in '95,
9. Taking Aim at the Queen,
10. The 2015 Playoff Push,
11. Halls of Fame,
12. 52, 53, 54 — Bossy's Record Is No More,
13. The 1984 — 85 Season,
14. Ben Hatskin,
15. Mark Scheifele Wore an NHL Jersey on Draft Day,
16. The 1990 Playoffs,
17. Victory Over the Soviets,
18. The Manitoba Moose Story,
19. The Last Game,
20. The Foundations,
21. The MTS Centre Is Built,
22. Experience the Anthem,
23. The Flight Helmet,
24. Participate in the White Out,
25. Wear a Jets Jersey in Phoenix,
26. The Hot Line,
27. Three Retired Numbers,
28. Heartbreaking Trades,
29. Backgammon for Gretzky,
30. The WHA Dispersal,
31. 50-50s and Records,
32. Operation Grassroots,
33. Military Ties,
34. The Olympic Line,
35. Selanne Tribute and the '90s Return,
36. The King and Tie,
37. Doan: The Last Jet,
38. Wayne Gretzky and the "Last Puck",
39. The Rivalry with the Oilers,
40. First 2.0 Win,
41. Jimmy Mann and First Jets Draft Picks,
42. Trophy Winners in the NHL,
43. Mikhail Smith and the Russian Invasion,
44. The Winnipeg Arena Story,
45. Andrew Ladd and the '05 Juniors,
46. The Memory of Rick Rypien,
47. Play Against the Jets,
48. A Relocation Destination,
49. Dance with Dancing Gabe Between Puck Drops,
50. The Versatility of Dustin Byfuglien,
51. A Season to Remember,
52. Zinger,
53. Fergy Brings Savard to Winnipeg,
54. The Miracle of Redmond,
55. Dale Hawerchuk and the Molson Cup,
56. Eat a Jumbo Jet Dog,
57. Two Members of the Miracle on Ice Team,
58. Fergy's Enclosure at the Winnipeg Arena,
59. Bryan Little's Hat Trick,
60. Luke and the 7-Up Commercial,
61. Igor Kuperman,
62. Take a Jet to Work,
63. #Helmetpardy,
64. Alexei Zhamnov,
65. Shop at Joe Daley's Sports and Framing,
66. Captains Roll Call,
67. The Kris Draper Trade,
68. Captain Tkrunch,
69. See Bob Essensa's Mask in the Hockey Hall of Fame,
70. WHA vs. NHL,
71. Rub the Foot of Timothy Eaton's Statue,
72. Join the Voices of the MTS Centre,
73. Weaving Winnipeg Hockey History,
74. The Superstitious Randy Carlyle,
75. Starting in the East,
76. The Jets Once Drafted Phil Esposito,
77. "Memories to Cheer",
78. The Flyers Almost Played in Winnipeg,
79. Have a Swig of Fan Brew,
80. The Trials of Evander Kane,
81. Kid Stuff,
82. Best of the Broadcasters — Don Wittman,
83. GST! GST!,
84. The 2014 Olympians,
85. Pokey and the Bandit,
86. Dan Snyder,
87. The Popcorn Incident,
88. Chant "True North!" Outside of Winnipeg,
89. Worst Seasons,
90. The Dissection of the 1984–85 Jets,
91. Jennifer Hanson and Stacey Nattrass,
92. Deron Quint and the Two Fastest NHL Goals,
93. Taking Flight in the Maritimes,
94. Sit in a Winnipeg Arena Chair,
95. Don Baizley,
96. Heading Outdoors,
97. The Patience of Kevin Cheveldayoff,
98. Exhibitions in Winnipeg,
99. Ties to the Moose,
100. 100 Years of Manitoba Hockey,
Acknowledgments,
Sources,