Paul Samyn Editor’s Note
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Hungry for hockey? We’re setting the table

The calendar may say it’s still officially summer — at least until next week’s equinox — but the signs it’s about to become hockey season are all around me.

Earlier this week, it was the draft for my share of Jets tickets. Tonight, my beer league team holds its player draft so I’ll find out which Charleswood Men’s Hockey League team signed me despite the upper-body injury this summer after getting slashed by my mandoline slicer.

(Side note to anyone into sports betting: The bandage is finally off today and my middle finger should be good to go … although there’s no guarantee my hockey hands will be any softer.)

And tomorrow, the Jets training camp opens, along with the latest instalment of the Connor Hellebuyck soap opera.

We're already on (well, near) the ice: Jets skate at the Hockey For All Centre last Tuesday. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)

We’re already on (well, near) the ice: Jets skate at the Hockey For All Centre last Tuesday. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)

Even in the off-season, the stories we write about the Jets are consistently among our most-read. I’d like to think that has a lot to do with the fact we have two dedicated beat writers — Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe — and we are one of the few papers left in the country still sending reporters on road trips.

But I’m also not naïve enough to ignore the fact that, when it comes to the Jets, many readers have a bottomless appetite for more.

If you’re among the hungry, consider subscribing to The Warm-Up, our pre-game newsletter that will set the table for 82 servings of Jets through the regular season, plus whatever bonus hockey is delivered by a playoff run.

It arrives in your inbox roughly two hours before faceoff and is packed with the latest on the Jets and that day’s opponents. And it’s free — even if you aren’t a Free Press subscriber.

We will have a training camp version of this digital newsletter ready to land in inboxes on Saturday.

And Connor, if you want to know how things are going on the ice with your Jets teammates, you can sign up here.

 

Paul Samyn, Editor

 

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COMING UP

There will be no shortage of names on the ballot this civic election. Fourteen candidates have registered to run for mayor in Winnipeg, with still six days to go to file nomination papers.

A new poll from Abacas Data later this week will provide a glimpse into how the crowded mayoral race is shaping up.


Local writer Michael Clark has a thing for typewriters — not just writing on them, but also talking about them and collecting them.

Sheldon Birnie speaks to the award-winning crime fiction author, who figures he has 50 or more typing machines stashed in various nooks and crannies of his house, in Friday’s arts section.


Hall of Famer Jennifer Botterill has encapsulated her storied career in her new book Why Not You?: My Story of Perseverance, Hockey, and Olympic Gold, which will officially launch next Tuesday at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson in Grant Park.

The Free Press spoke to the decorated Manitoba product this week about her hockey memories and burgeoning broadcast career. Look for the interview in Monday’s sports section.

ONE GREAT PHOTO

A flock of blackbirds takes off from a sunflower field near Matlock, Man., on Tuesday. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)

A flock of blackbirds takes off from a sunflower field near Matlock, Man., on Tuesday. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)

 
 

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BREAKING NEWS

Chris Kitching:

Teenage e-scooter driver in critical condition after crash

Southwest Winnipeg collision ‘happened in slow motion,’ witness says Read More

 

The Associated Press:

Trump suggests EU allowing Canada as associate member could be a ‘hostile act’

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (AP) — President Donald Trump suggested that the European Union allowing Canada to become an associate member could be a “hostile act” and threatened to respond to t... Read More

 

Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe:

Plotlines aplenty in pre-season prep

What to watch as puck drops on Jets training camp Read More

 
 
 

WELL-READ STORIES THIS WEEK

Carol Sanders:

MMF walks away from bid to buy Fort Garry Hotel

The Manitoba Métis Federation won’t buy the historic Fort Garry Hotel, President David Chartrand said Monday. Read More

 

Chris Kitching:

‘Kind and gentle giant’

Man, 21, killed in animal attack on Manitoba First Nation Read More

 

Maggie Macintosh:

Education minister’s reasons for revoking teacher’s licence ‘not good enough,’ judge decides

A Manitoba judge has rejected the education minister’s decision to end a teacher’s career because he repeatedly messaged with a 13-year-old girl on social media. Read More

 

Joyanne Pursaga:

Downtown no place to be after dark, huge majority of Winnipeggers say in survey

Most Winnipeggers are afraid to walk alone downtown and believe the city needs more police officers, a new survey finds. Read More

 

Nicole Buffie:

Federal Court awards OCN $27M, 62 years after construction of hydro dam

Ottawa knew project would hurt First Nation’s way of life, judge rules Read More

 
 

DEEP DIVES

Zoe Pierce:

Cruise control

Sunday-night auto aficionados work to steer away from unwelcome elements they say aren’t a part of their tradition Read More

 

Conrad Sweatman:

A resplendent homecoming

Artist’s inspired work brings Red River Métis story back to Portage and Main Read More

 

Melissa Martin:

Shocking darkness, enduring light

Christine Egan’s warmth and spirit made a deep impression on everyone she met in northern health career; 25 years after her death — the lone Manitoba 9/11 victim — her legacy lives on helping Inuit students become nurses Read More

 
 

NEWS YOU CAN USE

Sheldon Birnie:

Poster protocol

Winnipeg venues saying no to AI-made advertisements Read More

 

Maggie Macintosh:

Menstruation, consent move up in sex-ed lesson plan

More than 100 Manitoba schools participate in new health curriculum pilot Read More

 

Joel Schlesinger:

Yield of discontent

Bond yields are rising, reflecting fear, loathing about state of world Read More

 

Joshua Frey-Sam:

Closure of Nomads field massive upset for North End

Minor football programs scrambling as facility deemed unsafe for play Read More

 

AV Kitching:

Free as can be

Childfree Winnipeg group gives women without kids a place to gather Read More

 
 

OPINIONS: COLUMNS AND ANALYSIS

Editorial:

The plane truth about a dangerous president

U.S. President Donald Trump has crossed firmly into cutting-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face territory. Read More

 

Tom Brodbeck:

Canadians loving Carney’s decision to stand tall against floundering U.S. bully

Mark Carney is fighting a trade war with Donald Trump, taking the occasional verbal punch from the American president and imposing retaliatory tariffs. And the prime minister is being rewarded for it politically. Read More

 

Tory McNally:

9 to 5: workplace wake-up call still has something to say

I’m an HR consultant. I’ve been doing this work for 13 years, I write about workplaces for a living, and somehow I had never actually watched '9 to 5', the movie that gave us one of the most recognizable workplace songs of all time. Read More

 

Niigaan Sinclair:

AI poses threat to Indigenous culture, knowledge, creativity

When asked for information about Indigenous Peoples, AI programs most often reproduce false facts, suggest harmful stereotypes, misinterpret languages, and confuse and collapse unique histories of nations, laws, and traditions into others. Read More

 

Dan Lett:

Nothing wrong with planting trees, but it won’t get province very far on path to net zero

Manitoba’s new plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 is a lot of things. It’s detailed. It’s certainly comprehensive in scope. But when it is all said and done, it is still very much a work in progress. Read More

 
 

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

Aaron Epp:

Long-running creative endeavour

‘It’s just such a unique store with amazing customers’: Paper Gallery marks 50th year in business Read More

 

Ben Waldman:

Stage tells only half the story in marvellously meta ‘R+J: Closing Night’

Fifty years after its founding, Winnipeg’s Elizabeth Paige Theatre defied increasingly ridiculous odds to deliver an unforgettable final production of its season-opening run of Romeo and Juliet on Thursday … or did it? Read More

 

Jen Zoratti:

Astronaut’s solo photo exhibition is for the birds

Roberta Bondar’s solo exhibition Patterns and Parallels: The Great Imperative to Survive is on now at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery at Canadian Mennonite University until Oct. 10. Read More

 

Ben Waldman:

Film fest showcases Africa’s best

The African Film Festival in Manitoba gives local audiences three feature-length opportunities to embrace stories from Burkina Faso, a nation that’s widely considered the home of African cinema. Read More

 

David Sanderson:

What it means to be green…

… in a city beholden to the blue and gold Read More

 
 

WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ

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The Week That Was: Sept. 7 to 12

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