The franchise moved from Winnipeg where they were the Jets. It would be cool to go retro and use that name and logo. Not totally inappropriate, with Hill AFB close by.
I’m afraid that name is already taken.
1 Like
Dang, I didn’t realize they had been reestablished. Looks like the Atlanta Thrashers moved to become the 2nd generation of the Jets.
1 Like
I would love that.
3 Likes
No joke, there are 3 linemen who work on the weekend shift with the last name Hansen. We had to force one to watch the movie so he understood why we called them the Hansen Brothers.
6 Likes
Hockey fighting is an interesting topic. There are a number of documentaries exploring injury rates with more and less fighting restrictions. There is significant evidence that allowing the players to police themselves lowers overall injury rates.
Crosby was injured by other players more in his first year than Gretzky was in his entire career. Everyone knew that if you hit Gretzky you were going to get beaten down. Crosby did not have that protection and was hammered repeatedly- often resulting in injury. Players were able to hit Crosby without having to worry about the beatings and played accordingly.
There are leagues in Europe where fighting has been removed entirely from the game. The problem is that the refs can not really police the players effectively with penalties. These leagues have high rates of injury.
Part of the difficulty is just how much potential the players have to hurt each other. They are big dudes skating over 30mph, wearing body armor that can be used as a weapon, and are carrying actual club.
Players get very crafty with what the refs will call as a penalty. Think of football teams trying to get in the QB’s head by hitting him and knocking him down as much as possible- rough up the QB and he will not play as well. Compare this with what Gretzky’s enforcers would allow- if Gretzky was threatened they would bring the pain. They were so good at it players would rather defend Gretzky without hitting him than take the beating. Hence it was arguably much safer for players like Gretzky when fighting was less restricted.
6 Likes
My best friend is a Canuckian who lives in SLC. He and his hockey-loving sons are ecstatic, and ready to plunk down cash for season tickets, just to get good seats for the Maple Leafs games. LOL.
But for me, GO KINGS.
2 Likes
Got any data on that in comparison with say, college football injury rates?
Both games are violent. Have seen us lose 2 QB’s in a game and other people lose college or potential pro careers all the time. One game doesn’t allow recruitment of enforcers whom almost to a man, never score goals - the entire point of the game. Also there’s rules against using a stick: cross-checking, slashing and tripping.
I have heard this argument since I was a child playing hockey in Massachusettes. Anyone, playing hockey anywhere, who is concerned about injury rates probably shouldn’t play hockey. I imagine there are other sports that would also benefit greatly from an “enforcer”. Women’s sports in general would be different games.
To me, that’s not the point. The point is violence, for the sake of violence, already has other sports: those sports are boxing, Muay Thai, MMA and other disciplines, where the entire point is to beat someone into submission. Realy, that’s the only point of the occassion. Not putting a puck in the net.
Final thought: How many Wayne Gretzky’s would there be if agregious houlagonism didn’t influence the promotion of oversized, over aggressive dudes in the sport of hockey, instead of pure skaters or scorers?
There is no data to support this assertion, but my feelings are likely more.
Also, is a feeling - not unlike professional wrestiling - a number of fans have zero ability with no real interest in the sport, but, seemingly just love watching dudes mercilesy beat each other up. For theatrics. Which again, is already covered in other sports.
In fact, the point of posting the ethnography is that Wayne Gretsky has a brother who played limited pro time hockey, but a ton of junior pro hockey. The Trashers had a mimimum 3 fights a game. Think the crowd paid to see WG’s Brother? Really?
So if somehow Crosby wasn’t protected as much as WG, but somehow WG (and by default for the times) WG’s brother were, why didn’t Wayne’s brother (with the same genes and environment) become a hockey phenomenom? Maybe Wayne’s just better than both.
Personally, I watch hockey games where the only “game” on the ice is hockey.
The minute I saw a Stanley Cup game start with “5 on 5” fighting on the drop of the opening puck, I lost interest in the Stanley Cup finals.
1 Like
Winnipeg is such a great franchise and fan base… I know a few fans myself. Saw the Jets at home ten or so years ago and I’ve seen them play the Kraken here in Seattle a few times… and win or lose, their fans always travel in impressive numbers. That period in the late 90’s / early 00’s without a NHL team was absolute hell for those poor folks.
1 Like
I don’t know if that matters much to Canadians. At one time in the CFL there were two teams named Roughriders and there were only nine teams in the league.
4 Likes
It was slightly worse than that, amazingly.
One team was the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the other was the Ottawa Rough Riders
(Too much booze and ego among franchise owners in that era.)
3 Likes
Typical Toronto fan! Ponying up cash to watch the Leafs lose in another city LOL.
Go Oilers!
Oh and the Kings suck also!
2 Likes
I’ve seen Winnipeg fans flood BC Place for a CFL game in Vancouver. It’s almost as if there’s nothing to do in Winnipeg…
3 Likes
Saskatchewan fans also! They are everywhere. My first game at RES I looked around half expecting to see a few Riders jerseys there. They show up at every single CFL stadium regardless of who is playing.
2 Likes
Winnipeg…the “South Park” of Canada. 
4 Likes
excited to cheer for this team now that the AZ ownership is out. not a good owner. i used to attend hockey in SLC with regularity. I hope they bring back the golden eagles . blizzard was the other one i liked.
Used to be a flames fan due to golden eagles but the last 15 years i just watch the playoffs.
shane doanes kid is good.
Isn’t this why Gordo wrote the Canadian Railroad Trilogy? That’s not exactly a small country - are these folks beating up the highways with their RVs?
And what is the deal with these wild hogs running amok in Saskatchewan? (Dammit, who’s in charge up there?)
1 Like
Saskatoon has always been an outlaw town.
I’ve never been there, but Saskatchewan reminds me of Wallace Stegner… and of our own Eugene “Geno” LaRoque, of Regina, SK, Defensive Tackle in the Wayne Howard era, late 70s.
Last fall, Ronnie Mac had some funny anecdotes about Geno - “we had to send him to South High to get enough credits to graduate from HS so he could be eligible”. (Geno was a 21 year old freshman, and definintely not a returned missionary.)
My own experience with Geno was always positive and… funny. He drove a 1970s land yacht (of course) and did property maintenance for Spence Clark on his property in Sugarhouse, WWII era square houses.
One time Geno said he was going back up north to visit family, - a couple of weeks later he showed back up in Skaggs driving a different land yacht, not the Buick LeSabre.
“Yeah, that car broke down, so I pushed it into a ditch and hitch-hiked into town to get another car.”
Because that’s what you do when you’re a former DT driving beater cars.
4 Likes