Tag: Winnipeg Jets

Categories
Hockey Feed

Western Conference playoff matchups officially set

GamblingSites.org

First, the National Hockey League’s Eastern Conference postseason matchups were set in stone. And thanks to the victory tonight by the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche, we now know the Western Conference postseason matchups. 

Colorado’s victory officially crowned them as the winners of the Central Division, and they’ll be taking on the second year Seattle Kraken in what will be their first ever playoff appearance. Colorado will be facing a few familiar faces, as former Avalanche players Philipp Grubauer and Andre Burakovsky, the latter of whom was part of last year’s Cup winning team, now play for Seattle. 

For the second consecrative season, it will be the Edmonton Oilers facing the Los Angeles Kings in the first round. The Oilers became the first NHL team since 1996 to feature three different players who eclipsed the 100-point mark in Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, while this will be the first postseason for Los Angeles without goaltender Jonathan Quick between the pipes since 2002. 

Speaking of Quick, he and his new Vegas Golden Knights teammates are taking on the Winnipeg Jets, who grabbed the last remaining playoff spot in the Western Conference. This will be their first playoff matchup since the 2018 Western Conference Finals that saw Vegas advance in their inaugural season to within three wins of the Stanley Cup. It also marks the postseason debut of former 2015 No. 2 overall pick Jack Eichel. 

And for the first time since 2016, it will be the Dallas Stars taking on the Minnesota Wild. The Stars took down the Wild in their opening round postseason series that year, the first time that the two had faced one another beyond the regular season. It was especially ironic, given that the original Minnesota North Stars left the State of Hockey to become the Dallas Stars in 1993, while Minnesota regained an NHL expansion franchise in the Wild in 2000. 

Categories
Hockey Feed

Report: Jets at risk of relocation after losing thousands of season ticket holders

Winnipeg Jets

Earlier this week when the Winnipeg Jets were fighting for their playoff lives, the team’s marketing department was planning their own battle against a declining customer base.

The Jets released an oddly timed video that… well… basically begged for people to buy season ticket packages.

Check it out:

That’s… odd… right?

So, what gives?

Well, Jets chairman Mark Chipman isn’t one to hold back words and he put it bluntly earlier this week saying that the team lost over 3,000 season ticket holders during the COVID-19 pause that it has yet to regain. Chipman gathered Winnipeg businesspeople to voice his concerns at Winnipeg’s Chamber of Commerce Luncheon yesterday.

“That challenge has become far more daunting now that the effect of the pandemic is fully understood,” the Jets chairman, quoted in the Winnipeg Free Press, said. “After 10 years of consecutive sellouts, we now find ourselves in a very different world.

“You’re now figuring out why we are here today.”

Just 15% of the Jets season-ticket base is from businesses, Chipman pointed out, far less than the other Canadian teams.

And he claimed ticket prices are only lower in one Canadian city.

“As we enter another post-season … we thought this was an opportune time to humbly remind the community that we need your support,” he said.

It’s not difficult to read between the lines of the team’s promo video and Chipman’s luncheon meeting. This team needs more ticket sales in order to sustain itself. Now, things have gone very well for the Jets in the 10+ years that they’ve been back in Winnipeg, but it’s been clear from the start that this team would only be successful if it could fill its building. This is the first that we’ve heard of them having financial difficulty.

Frankly, I hope Jets fans step up and deliver on their team’s request but at the same time I can’t blame fans for staying away. Sure, the Jets have a good, exciting team, but NHL tickets are an extreme luxury these days and with costs going out of control everywhere there’s no shame in tucking aside your money for a rainy day.

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Bell expands TSN 5G View to Winnipeg ahead of tonight’s Jets game

Montreal-based national telecom Bell announced an expansion to its ‘TSN 5G View’ feature that will bring it to TSN’s regional coverage of Winnipeg Jets hame games.

According to a press release from Bell, fans in the Winnipeg Jets broadcast region will be able to try 5G View starting with TSN’s coverage of tonight’s (March 1st) Jets game against the Montreal Canadiens starting at 7pm CT. That broadcast region includes Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and parts of Northwestern Ontario including Kenora, Dryden, and Thunder Bay.

For those unfamiliar with 5G view, Bell launched the feature back in 2021. 5G View lets people with a 5G-capable smartphone in an area where Bell has launched 5G service watch sports with immense control. Viewers can rewind, zoom, and move around to different cameras to get every possible view of the play.

Those interested can learn more about 5G View here.

Bell says 80 time-slice cameras were installed around the bowl of the arena at Winnipeg’s Canada Life Centre. There’s also fibre connectivity, dedicated servers, and a specialized control centre. 5G View enables live, interactive viewing, on-demand highlights, and more.

The Winnipeg Jets join the Montreal Canadians, Toronto Maple Leafs and, Toronto Raptors in offering 5G View.

To use 5G View, you’ll need a TSN subscription, the TSN app, and a Bell 5G device. You can download the app for iOS here or Android here. You can learn more about 5G View here.

Source: Bell