Bring your own chair — but not your own beer — to downtown playoff party

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This article was published 10/04/2018 (2712 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brace yourselves for a whiteout. 

On Wednesday, thousands of hockey fans with NHL playoff fever are expected to flock downtown for the Whiteout street party, as the Winnipeg Jets play host to Game 1 of their best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series against the Minnesota Wild.

“We’ll be ready for it,” Kevin Donnelly, senior vice-president of venues and entertainment with True North Sports and Entertainment Ltd., said Tuesday.

Before the 6 p.m. puck-drop, the party starts on Donald Street (between Portage and Graham avenues) at 4:30 p.m. with live music, giant video screens for the game broadcast, alcohol sales and food trucks.

Economic Development Winnipeg said the plan is to hold a street party before every Jets home playoff date, giving fans a place to gather to watch the game and (hopefully) celebrate.

“There will be lots for people to eat, see and do when they get here,” said Donnelly. (True North owns the Jets and Bell MTS Place arena.) “The screens will be on. The hotdogs and beer and hot chocolate will be available.”

Environment Canada is calling for a high of 1 C with a 70 per cent chance of flurries later Wednesday.

“Bring your own lawn chair and we’re hoping that we’ll fill the space up, and if we need more space, we’ll plan for that for Friday,” Donnelly said.

The Jets meet the Wild for Game 2, Friday at 6:30 p.m. — and city police are expecting bigger crowds.

“Winnipeg fans have always been great hockey fans. They certainly deserve an opportunity to celebrate. We’re not by any means going to take that away… We just ask that you do so safely.”–Winnipeg Police Service spokeswoman Const. Tammy Skrabek

“I would assume that Wednesday’s party may be a bit of a warm-up for us,” Winnipeg Police Service spokeswoman Const. Tammy Skrabek said during a news conference Tuesday outside the arena on Donald Street.

“We do anticipate a larger crowd on Friday… We’re hoping for a large crowd, we’re hoping for a lot of fun, and we’re hoping everybody stays safe.”

Donald Street will be closed to traffic starting at noon Wednesday, and parking will be at a premium, said Skrabek. She asked people attending the street party to carpool, take the bus or a taxi. Those who do drive should prepare for traffic congestion and delays, she said.

“We’re expecting to draw significant crowds on (playoff) game days,” said Skrabek. “We’ll have additional officers and resources deployed on game days and Winnipeggers can expect to see an increased presence of police before and after games.”

She was not certain how many party-goers are expected — or how they’ll behave — but the WPS is ready, she said. Winnipeg has also been looking at other cities’ experiences with similar events.

“We know for Winnipeg, when the Jets came back (in 2011), we had a huge celebration,” the police officer said. “We kind of know what to expect. I think, for the most part, our Winnipeg fans are super respectful, super fun, and we really hope that we can just let them enjoy the games and they don’t get too out of hand.

“If they do, we have our crowd-management (unit), we have our tactical team — all those units will be on standby.”

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And should a rogue crowd head for the corner of Portage Avenue and Main Street (as merry-making Winnipeggers sometimes do)?

“There’s always the possibility crowds are going to move around,” Skrabek said. “We have a great crowd-management team and other teams working together to anticipate a number of areas where people might want to gather and mingle. Our officers will be prepared to attend to those areas and monitor them.

“We’re hoping people stay safe and keep the peace, and we won’t have to be too involved and have too much interaction with the public, and they can all just enjoy the game,” she said. “This, we anticipate to be like any other large celebration that we do.

“Winnipeg fans have always been great hockey fans. They certainly deserve an opportunity to celebrate. We’re not by any means going to take that away… We just ask that you do so safely.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.