Season tickets to their ‘Jets cave’

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This article was published 02/09/2011 (5314 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jean and Gerry Roch weren’t lucky enough to score season tickets for Winnipeg Jets games this season so they’re doing the next best thing — turning their rec room into a “Jets Cave” with a giant television screen and surround sound.

“We tried to get tickets, we lost out and I cried,” said Jean Roch, a longtime hockey fan who first caught the bug when the Jets were the class of the WHA in the 1970s.

Rather than cry into her beer, she decided to turn a “bag of lemons” into lemonade and has planned a “have-nots” party at their North Kildonan house for Oct. 9, the night of the Jets home opener against a little team known as the Montreal Canadiens.

“We have a lot of friends that didn’t get tickets so we thought we would have a party instead,” she said.

But you can’t watch a big game on a small screen so they went out and picked up a 60-inch plasma television for their newly-renovated rec room. They’ve got a few items for a Jets motif, including a small Jets jersey from when their 15-year-old, hockey-playing daughter, Olivia, was an infant, as well as a few knick-knacks from the “Anders Hedberg” days.

The Rochs are far from alone. Electronics stores around town have been inundated with hockey fans looking for the best viewing experience for the return of the NHL to Winnipeg.

Nate McLeod, floor manager at Visions Electronics, said the big sellers are 50 and 59-inch televisions but a 70-inch model is moving well, too. Adding on five or seven speakers and a sub-woofer will transform your den into a miniature version of the MTS Centre, he said.

“You could have four speakers behind you, so you’ll hear (the action) moving from left to right. You’ll hear everything, especially the crowd, which is really cool,” he said.

And if you’ve ever wanted to see what it’s like when an announcer says something is “coming right into your living room,” you can try watching hockey in 3-D now, too.

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“Depending on the angle, you might have to duck because the puck is coming at you,” he said.

The sporting excitement doesn’t just include the Jets, of course. Rob Olinyk, store manager of Advance Electronics, said the buzz around town includes the first-place Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Winnipeg Goldeyes, too.

“You can definitely feel it in the store. There’s a really good feeling about all the sports teams in the city right now,” he said. “We have customers saying, ‘I’m redoing my bar. I want to put showcase TVs in there so I can have two different things playing at the same time.”‘

Olinyk said the price of big-screen televisions has dropped by half over the last couple of years, meaning you can pick up 60 inches of viewing pleasure for about $1,700. If cost is less of an issue, you can buy a projector with a motorized 103-inch screen for about $2,500.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca