Pioneering 1975 Jets reunite in May

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This article was published 14/04/2024 (538 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It might be the final time the 1975-76 Winnipeg Jets walk down memory lane together and reminisce about the trail the team blazed.

Members of the pioneering squad will reunite at the Fort Garry Hotel on May 11 to remember the World Hockey Association season that culminated with the franchise’s first Avco Cup.

Ulf Nilsson, Peter Sullivan, Veli-Pekka Ketola, Mike Ford, Norm Beaudin, Thommie Bergman, Bill Lesuk, Lyle Moffat, Perry Miller, Heikki Riihiranta, Bobby Guindon and Joe Daley will be in attendance.

“We’ve lost a number of players, but to be able to see the others again, that’ll be awesome,” said Lesuk, who has lived in Birds Hill since coming to Winnipeg in 1975. “It may be hard to explain, but that was one of the highlights of our lives, being able to play with the Jets, and having the European influence was just outstanding.

“That meant everything to me.”

Next month’s roster will be missing a few names, including Bobby Hull, Lars-Erik Sjoberg, Larry Hornung, Ted Green, Larry Hillman and head coach Bobby Kromm, who have all died.

“It’s to complete the trilogy of reunions for the Avco Cup-winning Jets,” said event organizer Geoff Kirbyson, who has held reunions for the two other championship Jets squads (1977-78 and 1978-79). “Also, I think this is the most important of those teams because they had all these Europeans.

“They were groundbreaking and trailblazing and playing a brand of hockey that people hadn’t seen.”

The Jets were high-flying hockey that no one in the WHA or rival NHL was playing in an era stamped by Philadelphia’s Broad Street Bullies.

Spurred by the prolific “Hot Line” of Bobby Hull and a pair of Swedes, Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg, Winnipeg finished atop the Canadian Division and faltered just once in their playoff run, which they capped by sweeping the Houston Aeros — led by 47-year-old Gordie Howe — in the Avco Cup final on May 12, 1976.

The championship effectively put Winnipeg on the hockey map, a little more than a year after the Jets became the first team to roster Swedish and Finnish players in 1974.

“It was quite exciting because we didn’t know really what we should expect, we didn’t have any idea what hockey would be in North America,” Ketola recalled. “It was very exciting to come there and meet those superstars like Bobby Hull, it was a very big thing to us.”

Calls to end the European experiment rained down on the organization after missing the playoffs in 1974. The foreigners’ flashier style was a tough sell to North American fans who celebrated a north-south brand of hockey.

Ketola, who eventually became a fan-favourite, said it took a couple of years to settle in — partly owing to the punishment he endured on the ice — but the support for his teammates shielded the Europeans from the outside noise.

“It was quite obvious Bobby wanted to have Europeans and, of course, Bobby had two great (players) for him with Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson. I think it was a big thing for Bobby because Bobby liked to play (that style) of hockey,” Ketola said.

Lesuk pointed to the Jets hosting their training camp in 1975 in Europe, where they visited Finland and Sweden. Players not only bonded in the home cities of their new teammates but also gained an appreciation for their culture, which proved to be invaluable to the team’s success.

“To me, it didn’t matter where you come from. You look at all the guys we played with from Europe, you couldn’t ask for better people. That was the key to me,” Lesuk said.

Ketola said some Finnish players catch up every couple of years at home, but that it will be extra special when he’s reunited with his North American friends.

“That’s a big thing to me to see all those guys, I haven’t seen them in I don’t know how many years.” he said. “I’m very excited to see them and talk about hockey… and how excellent we were.”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

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