Winnipeg Jets

In the long run, 2011 will be remembered as a year of collapses, catastrophes and calamities in the world of hockey.

Yet the return of the Winnipeg Jets to the National Hockey League, after 15 years of waiting, was the true memorable moment of the year that was.

Tradition. History. Atmosphere. The city of Winnipeg, and their beloved hockey team, has it all. However, the aspect that simply makes Winnipeg a one-of-a-kind hockey city is something else—passion.

As the NHL steams towards the holiday break the Winnipeg Jets find themselves knocking on the door of the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.

Making the playoffs this season would be the icing on the cake for the hockey starved fans in Manitoba, and with such a young roster, a playoff run was scoffed at by many of the hockey pundits.  

Following a shootout loss to the Islanders, Winnipeg Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec called out his teammates in a postgame press conference. He was unhappy with the play of his team, especially in the offensive zone.

It seemed to have worked.

As the 2011-2012 NHL season nears the end of the calendar year the Winnipeg Jets find themselves one point out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. While there is still a long way to go in this season there are reasons for Jets fans to feel that a playoff appearance is possible. 

The Winnipeg Jets were the feel good story this summer, unless you are an Atlanta hockey fan of course, but many felt that that feeling would be dashed against the rocks when the season started. The Jets were going to ice a young team and most felt it wasn’t good enough to make the playoffs.

Through the first few weeks of the 2011 season it sure looked like that prognostication was accurate.

The Jets struggled early.

If you see Claude Noel today, you might want to give him a hug.

Hugs, after all, can be good. Even for a no-nonsense taskmaster in the macho, testosterone-fuelled, frat-boy world of the National Hockey League.

Memo to Kyle Wellwood: Just because you play with a team from the Keystone Province doesn't mean you have to play like you're one of the Keystone Kops.

What's that you say? You've never heard of the Keystone Kops?

They were policemen. Fictional policemen during the silent film era of the early 1900s. They were stumblers and bumblers who, through the passage of time, have become synonymous with, well, stumbling and bumbling.

The talent pool for NHL teams to choose from is getting younger and younger every year and Mark Scheifele is a perfect example of that.

Dear Winnipeg Jets:

I'm writing you this letter because I think we need to talk about some things before your game with the Montreal Canadiens.  Your first-ever game back in the NHL, I might add. 

These are some things that aren't very easy to say, but they need to be said anyway.

So here goes. 

Random thoughts and cheap shots from the cheap seats on the eve of 17 Wing Winnipeg's debut Sunday at the MTS Centre...

* So, I see where Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks has posed au naturelle in ESPN The Magazine's 2011 Body Issue. That's right, he's buck naked. And here I thought Dustin Byfuglien of the Jets was Big Buff.