Soft landing for Jets at team’s skills night

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This article was published 14/02/2018 (2763 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets took time from the serious business of a heated NHL playoff race to interact with many of the younger members of their fan base Wednesday night at Bell MTS Place.

The club’s annual skills competition was on tap, but it was primarily a night for fun — and the 11,935 in attendance seemed to love every minute of it. The players enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, too.

“It’s a lot of fun, actually,” said defenceman Ben Chiarot. “This is probably my favourite thing we do with the fans. Just because the glass is down and kids are right there and you can talk with them, and they have a lot of fun and they enjoy the skills competition.”

Chiarot and his teammates expended much of their energy signing autographs.

“We’ve been home for a while now, so you enjoy your time at home with your family and get to do things like this with the fans,” said Chiarot. “Just relax when you’re at home — that’s the most important thing, and we get geared up for our games and we get ready to go. But I think it’s important to have some balance in the season. You can’t be uptight all year, or on the gas like you would be on game day with laser focus.”

Chiarot, who won the hardest-shot competition in 2014 and 2015, managed a blast of 93.3 m.p.h., and might have had a chance to win the competition were it not for a malfunctioning radar detector that didn’t register his six other attempts. Dustin Byfuglien, meanwhile, defended his title with a clocking of 98.3 m.p.h.

Rookie forward Brendan Lemieux, meanwhile, pulled off an upset in the fastest-skater competition with his 13.45-second lap, besting Jack Roslovic (13.79), Kyle Connor (13.79) and Nikolaj Ehlers (16.19).

Ehlers, the defending champion and record holder after posting a 13.29-second lap during last season’s event, was impeded when he cut his final turn too closely and clipped the net. He finished his lap backwards.

“I was supposed to do fastest skater, but I was talking to Lemieux as he was doing nothing, so I said, ‘Why don’t you hop in for me and save me some trouble,’” said centre Nic Petan, a member of the winning Blue Team. “So he did and he won, so I won I guess.”

The Jets, coming off Tuesday’s come-from-behind 4-3 overtime win over the Washington Capitals, host the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.

“I think if things were a little bit different last night, maybe (we’d be) a little bit tighter today. But we came out with a huge win last night, and you noticed when we got to the rink today everyone was in a great mood,” said Petan. “It was a perfect day to do the skills comp.”

Proceeds from the event benefit the Winnipeg Jets True North Foundation and the NHLPA Goals and Dreams Fund.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14