Enlarge Image

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Winnipeg Jets players (from left) Tanner Glass, Chris Thorburn, Jim Slater and Chris Mason had Rick Mercer from the Mercer Report on CBC as a special guest at practice on Monday. No word on whether the funnyman had any advice for the Jets as they prepare to face the New York Islanders tonight at the MTS Centre.

Related Items

1. Articles

   • Jets to play Caps in Kraft Hockeyville match in Ontario

2. Columns

   • Kane growing up in the NHL

WINNIPEG Jets captain Andrew Ladd said Monday he believed it was message received from Saturday's outburst from head coach Claude Noel calling his players "disrespectful" after a messy 8-5 loss in Pittsburgh.

"I think we know him well enough now to know he's a pretty emotional guy," said Ladd. "I think the point he wanted to get across was to play for your teammates and have respect for them in terms of having their backs and not playing as loose as we did.

"We hung our goalie out to dry for the most part, and teammates at other parts, too. That was more the message that he wanted to get across, at least that's the message I got and hopefully other guys got."

Ladd said the worst losses, like Saturday's, aren't always easily forgotten, but that's not always a bad thing.

"I think it eats away at a certain point and it should," he said. "It should get you pissed off and riled up and you shouldn't be happy with what happened.

"On the flip side of that, you can't let it linger and affect your next game. We don't have the luxury of doing that. We have to get playing a lot better than that, quick."

No screaming

Things started out a little shaky during Monday's practice and Noel nipped it in the bud.

"We don't score a lot of goals and we need to hit the net. So far we've missed the net two out of three times down the ice in this drill," said Noel. "The goalies haven't had any shots yet today and we're trying to warm them up, too. I know it's Monday morning but let's wake up."

Noel kept the Jets on the ice for close to 90 minutes and there was lots of instruction and special-teams work and very little conditioning.

Jets deal with Ducks

Monday, the Jets made a swap of depth players with the Anaheim Ducks.

The Jets sent forward Riley Holzapfel to the Ducks for centre Maxime Macenauer.

Macenauer, 23, is from Laval, Que., and has scored one goal and three assists with the Ducks this season. He has recently played 13 games for the AHL's Syracuse Crunch, scoring four goals and six points. He'll report to the St. John's IceCaps.

Holzapfel, a 23-year-old from Regina, has scored eight goals and 15 points for the IceCaps this season.

Macenauer, a third-round pick in 2007, was a player the Manitoba Moose had previously tried to acquire.

Stapleton contributes

Tim Stapleton returned to the Jets lineup on Saturday after a nine-game lower-body-injury absence and scored a goal and an assist.

He's now got eight goals on the season.

"I was tired but I knew that was going to happen," Stapleton said. "The injury was a little sore but it was supposed to be. Overall, it was just good to be back.

"It didn't affect how I played other than I was a little tired."

The points, he said, were great for confidence, but a win would have done way more.

"That's the main thing. Whether or not I scored, first game back or whatever, it would have been nice to get a win," he said.

No mercy for Mercer

CBC's Rick Mercer was on the ice at the MTS Centre on Monday morning filming a bit for his show.

Mercer was joined by the Jets GST line of Tanner Glass, Jim Slater and Chris Thorburn as well as veteran goalie Chris Mason.

Mercer is the host of the Rick Mercer Report, which airs Tuesday nights on CBC.

Mercer was outfitted in goalie equipment for a while and then switched into regular gear. The Jets proved too much of a match for Mercer the goalie and then rubbed him out along the boards when he converted into a skating position.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 14, 2012 $sourceSection0