Warm welcome back for the NHL

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/10/2011 (5113 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hands up if you weren’t at The Forks Thursday.

C’mon now, there must be someone who wasn’t there, surely at least enough people who missed it that we’ll need fingers and toes to count them.

The National Hockey League welcomed Winnipeg to the 2011-12 season by throwing a six-hour party at The Forks, drawing tens of thousands of people — some of whom even waited until after school and after work to show up.

There was exuberance, there was joy, there was noise galore, though it lacked the spontaneous stampede of people pouring into The Forks last spring to celebrate official word that the Jets were back in the NHL.

This was strictly an organized, orchestrated show of joy — Gary Bettman, producer.

People began staking out spots in front of the mainstage hours before Inward Eye kicked off the massive concert, followed by Three Days Grace and Winnipeg legends Bachman & Turner.

“We got here about 1:30 p.m.,” said David Johnson, who took his son Ronnin out of Grade 5 at St. George School to take in the event. Grandmother Linda Roebuck tagged along, too.

Ronnin said he has yet to pick a favourite Jet, while Dad lamented that he has yet to score any tickets for this season.

A big fan was Boo Boo, who proudly wore a Jets sticker atop his furry head. Boo Boo is a chow chow, a dog who traces his heritage to China, explained owners Clovis and Maria Marchand from Charleswood.

“He’s a total fan of the Winnipegs,” quipped Clovis.

And what would a celebration be without Dancing Gabe?

“It’s special. It’ll be a lot of fun,” said Gabe Langlois, breaking into a jig.

Announcers reminded everyone every couple of minutes or so this was the NHL kickoff, sponsored by a well-known brewery.

Fans could line up and get a mini-stick autographed by a Jet, seated in a tent with felt pen in hand, if they had the right credit card.

Long, long lines of fans waited to get into the beer tent — adults only, of course — but no prizes for guessing what beer was on tap.

There were lengthy lineups to put handprints on a wall, courtesy of the NHL’s banking partner, which offered a shot at tickets and jerseys to those who joined the line.

Kids and adults could play road hockey, find out how hard their slapshot was or take each other’s photo sticking their heads through a wooden board adorned with full Jets uniforms — those latter attractions sponsored by a major sporting-goods multinational.

Two of those clicking shutters were Crystal Morris of Saskatoon and Sarah Thauberger of Regina, neither, alas, with a ticket for Sunday’s Jets opener against Montreal.

“We are here for work, but got out of the course early,” said Thauberger.

Which course?

Um, no, won’t talk about that.

Media tents abounded, with all the big players involved in NHL coverage. Fans could wander over and watch Free Press sports columnist Gary Lawless work.

Police were everywhere — two, three, four, even five and six in small groups, standing around, or moving slowly through the crowd, vigilant lest anyone even dream of going all Vancouver.

Several police officers were perched atop the roof of the Inn at The Forks, with zoom-lens cameras and a video camera on a tripod.

Police Chief Keith McCaskill ambled throughout the throngs, emphasizing that indeed there was a heavy police presence.

“Absolutely. We’ve got a lot of officers here to ensure they’re having a good time,” said McCaskill, who wouldn’t say how many police had been deployed.

It’s good for Winnipeg,” McCaskill enthused.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca