Roof it!

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/10/2011 (5110 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The grinding noise was almost unbearable and sparks cascaded down as a maintenance crew completed some last-minute work on one of the MTS Centre luxury suites just the other day.

Watching the scene unfold, one observer cracked:

“While they’re at it, I sure hope they check the bolts and beams on this place, because the roof could blow off Sunday night.”

Good idea, that.

And as a swarm of media invaded the Winnipeg Jets’ dressing room Saturday morning on the eve of the team’s historic home opener, captain Andrew Ladd predicted the day will be remembered as “epic.”

Yes, that would seem to just about perfectly describe it.

“Trying to imagine what it’s going to be like with the energy in this building… I still don’t think we know what it’s going to be like,” said Ladd.

“But you have to use it the right way. We can’t get running around and trying to do too much. It’s got to be controlled and smart hockey on our part.”

And therein lies one of the great unknowns as the Jets embark on what should be a memorable season in which the building is guaranteed to be jammed every night:

What will home-ice advantage actually mean to this squad in the standings, especially for a team that missed the playoffs last season?

“I think it’s huge, man,” said Jets’ winger Chris Thorburn. “I played in one exhibition game here at home and the reception from the fans and the energy was incredible.

“It’s an educated crowd that knows the game and they understand when the team needs a boost. Nothing against the Atlanta fans, because when there was a packed house there it was rockin’, too. But it’s different here.

“We want to make this a hard place to play. We know it’s going to be loud, but we want it to be frustrating for other teams to come in here and our fans will play a huge role in that.”

The old Winnipeg Arena — on those nights when it was actually full or close to capacity — was considered one of the NHL’s loudest barns. And most winters the Jets were hardly an easy mark for visiting teams that often stepped off the plane and instantly began moaning about the frigid temps and then exited afterward spitting curses about one of the loop’s smallest markets.

The Jets finished with a winning home record in 10 of their first 17 seasons in the NHL, but this time the atmosphere should be different. There will be no crowds of 10,000 on those minus-35 nights when Hartford rolled into town, like there were back in the day. Blizzards won’t stop a soul from trekking downtown now. And the opponent will hardly matter, either.

But does all this actually translate into more wins?

“I’m 100 per cent sure it will,” said goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. “Sometimes you have a bad day, sometimes you feel tired and (the fans) give you that special energy.

“I mean, sometimes in Atlanta we’d play in front of 6,000 people and it was kind of… different. But now you can feel it, you can feel the support of the fans. It’s unbelievable. They understand hockey and they enjoy hockey.”

Today’s debut will be pure bedlam, that’s a given. And the day will inevitably come when all the euphoria has diminished and when a game against Columbus in November is just that, and not painted as part of a city getting its soul back or a country reclaiming a lost franchise. And it’s exactly that which will make the Jets an interesting case study this winter — how they manage the emotions of Sunday, how they use the regularly full house to their advantage, if at all, and if the MTS Centre can morph into a feared place to play.

“Just the exuberance around here will lend itself to a few points, whatever that is,” Jets’ head coach Claude Noel said Saturday. “But it will also bring heavier competition. People are coming in to play in a building in Canada, in Winnipeg, and they’ll be excited to play here, too. We’d better have our ‘A’ game, as well, so it’s going to be demanded from both sides.

“There’s going to be a lot of excitement. We’ve got a lot of young players not used to this stuff. It’s going to be like a seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals. You can draw that picture up all you want, you can visualize it all you want and you can watch Stanley Cups until you’re blue in the face, but until you’re in it, it’s not the same thing.

“It’s not going to be anything I have to say, I don’t think I’m going to have to charge anybody up. But what happens with your emotional level — sometimes it’s flat, it’s so calm that we’re not doing anything. Then we’ve got to ramp them up.”

Of course, all this is an angle to further explore later this season. Right here and right now, it is about living in the moment. It’s about soaking up everything that comes from a once-in-a-lifetime game.

And if the pre-season madness at the MTS Centre was simply a dress rehearsal for what happens today, then hard hats may be required, because the joint will most definitely be jumping.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Thursdays

Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter.

Sign up for Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

“Winnipeg hasn’t had NHL hockey in 15 years so history is going to be made,” said Evander Kane. “It’s a humbling feeling to be a part of that history and to be able to throw on a Winnipeg Jets jersey in their inaugural game in this city with these passionate fans… it’s going to be great. You play hockey because you love the game. You play for these kind of moments.

“You know, the pre-season was electric. It was pretty crazy. But from my interaction with some of the fans, they told me we haven’t seen anything yet. I’m trusting them and taking their word on that. When guys scored in that pre-season game and the crowd erupted, it felt like the roof was going to blow off.

“I can’t imagine it being louder. But I think it will be.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait