A look at our passion for the Jets, now and then

This has been an unprecedented year for hockey passions at both international and local levels.

In February, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s assault on Canada’s sovereignty through his tariff war, the 4 Nations Face-Off, a midseason kind-of-international tourney (absent Russia), saw Canada win over the Americans in the championship match, igniting a wave of national euphoria.

Closer to home, the Winnipeg Jets, who raced out of the gate in October to a 15-1 start, were en route to a first-ever President’s Trophy, as the points leader in the NHL regular season. Expectations were high entering the playoffs that the Jets could exceed their 2017/2018 run, and make it all the way to the Stanley Cup final.

Round 1 saw hockey fever rise and a Game 7 overtime win that defied the odds. Both the game-tying goal by Cole Perfetti, with less than two seconds left in regulation time, and the winning goal by Captain Adam Lowry, in double-overtime, are sporting moments for the ages when it comes to our city’s rich sporting history.

Round 2 against the Dallas Stars, saw the emotional rollercoaster continue. The Jets were strong at home and unable to win on the road. Passions were high throughout the city. I watched most games with my daughter and twin grandsons, and yes, we wore whiteout T-shirts.

Game 6, a must-win for the Jets, in Dallas, began with the heartbreaking news that star centre Mark Scheifele’s father Brad had passed away just hours before the game began. Scheifele played, and was the team’s best forward, scoring the team’s only goal. Ironically, he started the overtime period in the penalty box, having likely saved a goal late in the third period on a Dallas breakaway.

The Stars scored, and the Jets’ “season to remember” ended on a poignant note, with Scheifele the recipient of an outpouring of emotion from players on both teams.

The Jets’ season ended, but it would be hard to argue that the team did not ignite the passions of the community writ large

It was a very different, but equally passionate scene, 30 years ago when the public campaign to save the Jets 1.0 franchise failed and the team left after the Spring 1996 playoffs for Phoenix, Ariz.

The economics of professional hockey, in the pre-salary cap era, in a small city like Winnipeg with an aging arena, did not work. A months-long public campaign spurred emotions, saw kids empty their piggy banks in support of a fundraising campaign, saw city council flounder, and ultimately, corporate Winnipeg refuse to put forward the necessary financial support, leading to a boisterous, messy and at times, divisive debate.

This murkier chapter in the Jets history is well-documented in the book Thin Ice – Money, Politics, and the Demise of an NHL Franchise, by professor Jim Silver. Silver, and his University of Winnipeg colleague, Dr. Carl Ridd, were the face of the Thin Ice Coalition that openly questioned the propriety of a public bailout of the Jets at the behest of corporate Winnipeg interests.

Silver, a hockey player in his youth and fan of the game, stated that the campaign to save the Jets was worthy; he wrote that the team was a “valuable community asset … culturally and emotionally.”

He also argued that the campaign to save the team went too far. Costs escalated so high he argued that it forced “a consideration of fundamental questions that are not only political and economic, but also ethical.” Silver asked, “Is it appropriate to spend tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars on professional sports when … children are lining up at food banks?”

A wide array of noted writers spoke out on the conservative nature of the Winnipeg business community wanting to force public financing for a private venture they themselves would not support, including columnist John Robertson, writer Roy McGregor and Olympian and professor of physical and health education Bruce Kidd.

Professor David Whitson, co-author (with Richard Gruneau) of the widely acclaimed book, Hockey Night in Canada: Sport, Identities and Cultural Politics, offered sage advice in the foreword he wrote to Silver’s book where he said: “…we have to stop and think about what we mean when we say that professional sports teams benefit the whole community, for they do so very unequally. We also have to recognize that our interests as fans, however powerfully felt, may not coincide with our interests as citizens.”

Three decades on, I celebrate the passion and power of the 2025 Jets run. As well, I remember the important lessons from Spring 1995.

Paul Moist is a retired labour leader.