Talented Jets put on a show

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/11/2011 (5248 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was a scene Tanner Glass, the ex-Vancouver Canuck, hardly wanted to relive after watching the Boston Bruins celebrate winning the Stanley Cup last June.

But there was Team White huddling together for a picture with a championship trophy at centre ice following the conclusion of the inaugural Winnipeg Jets Skills Competition while Glass and his Team Blue compadres watched.

And, just like that, old wounds were opened up all over again.

“Personally,” said Glass, “I consider myself one of the most-skilled guys on the team so I really feel like I let my team down today.”

Kidding…. just kidding…

Glass and the rest of the Winnipeg Jets — be they Team White or Team Blue — seemed to thoroughly enjoy the club’s first skills competition Tuesday night in front of an announced crowd of 10,500 at the MTS Centre.

“This was cool,” Glass said. “I wish I could have been part of something like this when I was a kid.

“Any chance you get to interact with them, to toss a puck over the glass into the stands is fun for them and fun for us, too.”

Team White, comprised of Mark Stuart, Evander Kane, Kyle Wellwood, Tim Stapleton, Bryan Little, Chris Thorburn, Mark Flood, Arturs Kulda, Eric Fehr and Ondrej Pavelec, won the five-event competition 25-11. Proceeds from the event went to True North’s Foundation and the NHLPA Goals and Dreams Fund.

Jim Slater and Zach Bogosian, both nursing bumps and bruises picked up on Monday’s win over Tampa, did not participate.

“We didn’t really have any side bets, we just tried to rub it in as much as we could with the trophy and the picture at the end,” said Little with a grin. “That’s all you can do.”

“The fans… there were 10,000 and it was bumping like a game night,” added Thorburn. “It was just awesome to see and great to be a part of. That was the biggest surprise for me.

“I just had some fun with it. It’s different. Usually practice is intense and just business and this was something you could have fun with.”

Among the stars that stood out on the evening: — Kane and Stapleton tied for first in the fastest-skater competition, completing one lap of the ice surface in 14.06 seconds.

— Wellwood hit four targets with four shots and in 9.38 seconds to win the accuracy-shooting competition.

— Team Blue’s Dustin Byfuglien won the hardest-shot event with three blasts all over 100 m.p.h. (103, 101, 104). The NHL record, unofficially, is shared by Zdeno Chara and Al Iafrate at 105.

“I just said grip your stick and grip and rip. That’s all you can do,” said Byfuglien. “I knew there were a few guys who could shoot pucks and I knew there were a few guys who couldn’t shoot pucks. It really wasn’t a big surprise for this guy.”

Stapleton, generously listed at 5-foot-7 in the Jets’ media guide, not only tied for first in the fastest skater event, but finished second in accuracy, helped his team win the puck relay and hit 96 on the hardest shot.

“Guys are still surprised right now,” said Stapleton with a grin. “Blake Wheeler said it was the stiffness of my stick so obviously it’s not me. Whatever excuses they want to have that’s fine. But I didn’t know if that 96 was in kilometres or what… but I’ll take it. I’ve never shot hardest shot ever so to see 96, I surprised myself.”

The Jets have two games remaining in this week’s homestand, with dates Thursday against the Washington Capitals and Saturday vs. the Philadelphia Flyers.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait