Jets down Canucks

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This article was published 15/09/2011 (5194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PENTICTON, B.C. – The Winnipeg Jets rookies put the Okanagan Valley in their rear-view mirror Thursday afternoon having made a favourable impression with their fans and earning two enthusiastic thumbs up from management.

The Jets knocked off the Vancouver Canucks 2-0 in their final game at the Young Stars tournament at the South Okanagan Events Centre, finishing the event with a 2-1 record.

Coupled with a 4-0 win over the San Jose Sharks Monday and a 2-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, Winnipeg left having surrendered just two goals in three games.

“A lot of real positive things from a young group of guys,” said St. John’s IceCaps head coach Keith McCambridge, who worked the bench and practices for the Jets all week.

“They were sharp picking up the systems in a short period of time and we were very pleased with the effort.

“It’s a fresh start for all these guys with new coaches, new management staff… everything. It was a chance for them to start at Square One and they all made really good impressions.”

Brandon product Shayne Wiebe scored the first goal for the Jets and the marker was Manitoba born and bred, as the lone assist was credited to Winnipeg’s Jason Gregoire — although it should have gone to first-round draft pick Mark Scheifele.

In any case, Scheifele completed the tournament in impressive fashion, burying a turnover in the third to round out the scoring.

“I wanted to come out and show that I was worth the pick and so I wanted to take the opportunity and run with it,” said Scheifele. “I think I did a pretty good job of that. I usually strive when I have more pressure because I take it as motivation and I want to build on it and work even harder to overcome the pressure.

“Other than the Edmonton game where they had all their chances in the first game I thought we were good. The two games we won we were all over the teams and we really had a good team atmosphere. We played good together and so that’s definitely a good statement going into training camp.”

Jets goaltender Edward Pasquale was perfect in 4.5 periods of work, shutting out San Jose Monday night and kicking out every shot he saw today before being replaced by Chris Carrozzi with just over eight minutes to go in the second and Carrozzi kicked out every shot he faced as well.

The Jets head home immediately after the game and open main training camp Saturday.

Ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait