Students put mark on Jets street parties with flying colours

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This article was published 17/04/2025 (203 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Grade 9 art students from Hugh John MacDonald School are painting the town with Jets colours.

On Thursday, they decorated the white-washed bollards that will be used to block traffic on Donald Street during outdoor street parties at Winnipeg Jets home playoff games.

The first playoff party, dubbed “Winnipeg Whiteout Mania,” will be held Saturday afternoon ahead of the team’s first game of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Jets finished their best regular season Wednesday night with a 2-1 overtime victory against the Anaheim Ducks.

True North Sports and Entertainment called in Take Pride Winnipeg’s Tom Ethans to add decoration to the concrete barriers, which the company is required to put up for the parties.

“We got a call… saying they’ve got some cement, boring bollards, and they asked us if we could please spruce ‘em up,” said Ethans, in a parking lot on Donald Street and Graham Avenue, near the playoff party space.

“We got the… students to help beautify these cement barriers so we could really get excited about the Jets going into the playoffs — and winning the Stanley Cup.”

Ethans called Danielle Rand, an art teacher at the Bannatyne Avenue school, to see if her students wanted to add Jets flair to the plain white concrete.

The students’ paint jobs include Jets logos, the team’s colours and slogans. A mural artist, Jen Mosienko, helped oversee the work.

“We were invited… to take our own creative liberties and show some Jets pride,” said Rand.

“They’ve been having so much fun. I think being able to create art that’s functional in our community is very different from the art we’re able to create in schools. So there’s a lot of pride that comes with this, and knowing that they’re will be lots of eyes on it adds a layer of specialty to it.”

Rand said she was pleased to help eight of her students add their tough to the big event.

Ayan Ahmed, 14, spent the afternoon painting “let’s goooo” on one of the many barriers.

Ahmed said she isn’t a big hockey fan, but she was happy to help out.

“I’ve only ever been to one hockey game, but that was pretty fun,” she said.

“Being part of this community here, I feel like that’s really amazing, it gives us opportunities,” Ahmed said. “Maybe I’ll see pictures, ‘I did that, that’s me.’”

The full schedule for the Jets’ first-round playoff series with the St. Louis Blues was released Thursday.

Games 1 and 2 are in Winnipeg: Saturday at 5 p.m. Saturday and Monday at 6:30 p.m.

Games 3 and 4 in Missouri will be played at 8:30 p.m. on April 24 and at noon on April 27.

Games 5, 6 and 7 — if necessary — will be played on April 30, May 2 and May 4. The times have not been determined.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca