Seems like only yesterday

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/05/2019 (2290 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Before the Winnipeg Jets claimed the 1979 Avco Cup in Game 6 of the World Hockey Association’s final against the Edmonton Oilers, head coach Tom McVie wrote a message on the board for his players.

“If you win tonight, you’ll walk together forever.”

The message proved true, as this weekend, four decades after the Jets won the championship in the WHA’s final season, McVie and 18 players are walking together in Winnipeg for the team’s 40-year reunion.

The official celebration takes place tonight with a banquet at the Radisson Hotel, but the team kicked off the festivities on Thursday with a private event at the Winnipeg Winter Club with the companies and individuals that sponsored the reunion.

“Last night, I looked at these guys who have been together for 40 years and I said they’re all sitting almost like they played a game last night,” said the 83-year-old McVie on Friday morning as the team visited the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.

“You could see the love in their eyes. And I sat there, and I’m a pretty hard-ass guy, and I had tears rolling down my cheeks. Just unbelievable.”

What’s more unbelievable is that this team won the Avco Cup considering everything they went through.

“Last night, I looked at these guys who have been together for 40 years and I said they’re all sitting almost like they played a game last night. You could see the love in their eyes. And I sat there, and I’m a pretty hard-ass guy, and I had tears rolling down my cheeks. Just unbelievable’
– Former Jets coach, Tom McVie

The Hot Line was no more, as Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg moved on to the National Hockey League’s New York Rangers, and Bobby Hull only played four games that season. The three stars were replaced by seven players from the defunct Houston Aeros franchise, as that club folded prior to the season. The Jets were also without their beloved captain for the majority of the season, as Lars-Erik Sjoberg went down in an exhibition game in September with an Achilles injury and didn’t return until March. The Jets also fired their coach in February, as nice-guy Larry Hillman was replaced by hard-nosed McVie, who was coming off a stint as head coach of the Washington Capitals. And on top of all of that, 1979 was supposed to be the year of the Oilers, as they had some 18-year-old kid with the last name Gretzky who was turning heads in the hockey world. The Oilers finished the regular season as the best team in the WHA, 14 points ahead of the Jets.

But McVie pushed his players to a whole new level, and when the playoffs rolled around, they looked like a completely different team. They scored 30 goals in four games as they swept the second-seeded Quebec Nordiques in the semifinal. And then, the Jets captured their third Avco Cup in franchise history as they outlasted the Oilers in six games in the final. The Jets finished off the series with a 7-3 win at the Winnipeg Arena.

“It’s the best team. Not even close. It was the best team I coached in my life, and I coached 27 or 28 years,” said McVie, now a scout with the Boston Bruins. “It was just amazing.”

The ’79 Jets were a young group, as Kent Nilsson was no longer in the shadow of the Hot Line. The 22-year-old Swede led the team in scoring with 107 points. Right behind Nilsson was another 22-year-old, Morris Lukowich. Lukowich joined the Jets from Houston and he had an incredible 65-goal campaign to go along with 34 assists. Both Nilsson and Lukowich are among the players in Winnipeg for the reunion.

“I believe leadership was the key,” Lukowich said on the team’s success.

“We had two of the best leaders ever in Lars-Erik Sjoberg as the captain and Terry Ruskowski as assistant captain. These were two men who just had tremendous courage and tremendous skills. And then, I believe after that, were some really talented players. Kent Nilsson was, I think, the most talented player in the world except for maybe Gretzky.”

The 1979 season was the only year Ruskowski suited up for the Jets, but it was a memorable one as he had a league-leading 12 assists in the postseason and filled in as captain when Sjoberg missed the majority of the regular season. Ruskowski said everybody may look different now, but their relationships remain the same, as the special bond of winning a championship together will never go away.

“I don’t care what league it is. If it’s the East Coast League, the Central League, or peewee league, to win a championship is a great feat and to win a championship with the guys that we did, I’m very proud of them,” said Ruskowski, who went on to have a 10-year NHL career after the WHA disbanded. “And I can seriously say that they’re friends of mine that will be there forever.”

Watching the players walk around the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame museum looking at old pictures, programs, and of course, the Avco Cup trophy, was a sight to see. Everybody was smiling ear to ear, guys were calling each other by nicknames they likely haven’t heard in years, and they shared stories and memories with such great detail that you would’ve thought their championship run was yesterday.

“There’s just no feeling like winning a championship,” the 64-year-old Ruskowski said. “It’s always in you, and it’ll always be with you. And that’s a great feeling. I sit at home and I’ll have a glass of wine with the breeze hitting my face and think about the good times here and it puts a smile on my face.”

You can find more information on the reunion dinner and buy tickets at eventbrite.ca.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31