When Will it be The Jets Time for Victory?
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On December 27, 1971, Winnipeg was granted one of the founding franchises in the World Hockey Association (WHA). By 1979, the vast majority of the WHA’s teams had folded, but the Jets were still going strong and they were absorbed into the NHL along with the Quebec Nordiques, Edmonton Oilers and Hartford Whalers as part of the WHA–NHL merger. Team owner Barry Shenkarow sold the team to American businessmen Steven Gluckstern and Richard Burke. Burke and Gluckstern originally planned to move the team to Minnesota (which had lost the North Stars to Dallas in 1993), but eventually reached an agreement with Phoenix businessman Jerry Colangelo that would see the team move to Arizona and become the Phoenix Coyotes. The Winnipeg Jets played their last game on April 28, 1996.
The Jets got off to a 7-3-1 start in October, a great start, and seemed to be picking up where they left off last spring. Even the one-sided, post-season loss to Anaheim had injured the collective sense that this was a team ascending.
Since then, lots of ups and downs, and a team defensive record far inferior to last year, which seems to be at the heart of the club’s struggles that currently has Winnipeg in serious jeopardy of missing the post-season.
We can talk about how the Jets take more penalties than most teams, and give up more power plays than anyone else. They give up more goals per game than they score and have anemic special teams and are, generally, much better at home than on the road.
The Jets made their formal regular season debut on October 9, 2011, when a sellout crowd at the MTS Centre saw the visiting Montreal Canadiens defeat the Jets 5–1, with Nik Antropov scoring the first-ever Jets goal. Other highlights on the first Jets’ schedule included a home-and-home set with the Phoenix Coyotes, Winnipeg’s previous NHL franchise (including a December 1 game in Winnipeg, the Coyotes’ first regular season appearance in Winnipeg since vacating the city), as well as a December 17 home game against the Anaheim Ducks, which was former Jet Teemu Selanne’s first playing appearance in Winnipeg since being traded from the Jets in February 1996.
Blake Wheeler plays like an elite forward most nights, and Drew Stafford has been very good after giving the Jets organization a shot in the arm by choosing to re-sign in Winnipeg last summer after coming over as part of the Evander Kane trade.
JANUARY 11, 2016, 11:29 AM
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/weekend-takeaways-if-jets-cant-win-now-then-when/
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Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick. In many areas, one sport (typically field hockey or ice hockey is generally referred to simply as hockey.
