Jets will enjoy the company of about 7,500 noisy fans

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/02/2022 (1309 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It still won’t be the same raucous hometown crowd they’ve come to know and love. But the Winnipeg Jets believe they can still get a boost from a beefed-up Canada Life Centre that will welcome 7,500 fans through the doors beginning Tuesday night.

At this point, the struggling team will take any help it can get.

“Absolutely. That’s a step in the right direction. There will be some atmosphere,” interim coach Dave Lowry said Monday.

Winnipeg played its first 17 games of this season with no capacity restrictions, drawing an average crowd of nearly 14,000 in that span. They also amassed a serviceable 10-6-1 record in front of their faithful. But COVID-19 and the highly contagious Omicron variant took hold in late December, throwing plans into turmoil.

Six home dates were postponed as new public health orders restricted attendance to a paltry 250 people. True North hoped that pushing them further down the road could stave off at least some of the lost revenues, especially coming off last year’s truncated season in which all 28 regular-season home games were played in an empty building.

The gamble paid off as our numbers recently began to decline and restrictions were relaxed, beginning today, to allow for 50 per cent capacity.

“Coming home, playing two games with 250 people, when we did it last year, that was the norm. Then you go and play in the States this year and everybody has full crowds and lively buildings, for us to come back and play it was hard,” said Lowry. “But we will be excited, we’ll have some people in the building, we will have some noise and we will take it one day at a time.”

Indeed, the Jets did play two home dates in late January in front of just 250 fans, losing 5-3 to Florida and 5-1 to Vancouver.

“Those two games at home were pretty tough, honestly,” said captain Blake Wheeler. “You look around the league, obviously except for the Canadian teams, sold out barns and back to what we love about the game. To go back to nothing was pretty deflating, if I’m being honest. Obviously we’re professionals and we have to suck it up and do our best. We didn’t get the results we were looking for either.”

The current public health orders run until Feb. 22, meaning the Jets will be able to have 7,500 fans for four more dates this month. That will leave them with 17 regular-season home games in March and April, where they no doubt hope even bigger crowds will be allowed. Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s chief public health officer, said last week the goal is to have no restrictions in place by spring.

“There is definitely excitement about getting people back in the building and working our way back to full crowds again,” said Wheeler.

***

Calling up players from the Manitoba Moose has become the norm this season, as injuries and illnesses have created a revolving roster door. But the Jets took it one step further on Monday, calling up a coach from the AHL team.

Marty Johnston, an assistant down on the farm, was on the ice with the big club for practice and will remain with them for at least the next three games. He’s temporarily taking the spot of Jets associate coach Jamie Kompon, who is in California.

“Marty is in for the week. Jamie (Kompon) had to go home for some personal reasons so Marty will come in and just give us a hand,” said Lowry.

Kompon’s wife, Tina, is battling breast cancer. Other than being with the Jets for opening-night in Anaheim last October, he was away from the team until Dec. 17 — the very same day Paul Maurice announced he was vacating the bench and Lowry took over.

Kompon took another brief leave in early January after his father died suddenly in Thunder Bay.