Jets debate hometown allegiances in Grey Cup

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This article was published 21/11/2011 (4138 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Provincial allegiances die hard, it would seem. And so Winnipeg Jet winger Evander Kane makes no secret of who he is rooting for in this Sunday’s Grey Cup between the Blue Bombers and the B.C. Lions.

“I guess the politically-correct answer would be the Bombers,” said Kane Monday when asked who he would be cheering for on Sunday. “But I think I’m going to have to stick with my hometown B.C. Lions on that one.”

When he was asked if he had a friendly wager with Manitobans on the Jets, namely Derek Meech and Eric Fehr, Kane’s eyes lit up.

“That might be a good idea,” he said with a grin. “It might be a good way to collect some cash.”

Of course, not long after Kane was done with his interviews the media scrum then moved to Fehr, the pride of Winkler.

“I haven’t talked to (Kane) yet,” said Fehr. “There’s a couple guys from B.C. (including Andrew Ladd and Brett Festerling) so it will be interesting. I’ve put a lot of faith in the Bombers this upcoming week so we’ll see what happens.

“I’m from the area so I obviously cheered for the Bombers growing up. It’s been a bit of a struggle lately, they haven’t won a Grey Cup since I was five years old so I don’t really remember that one too well. But I’ve definitely been following them throughout the years.”

Interestingly, Bomber head coach Paul LaPolice and Jets’ boss Claude Noel do know each other well and text message each other regularly. Noel was running some errands on Sunday, but listened to the game on the radio, caught the ending on television and then sent LaPolice a note.

“I told him he did a wonderful job. I’m sure he got more than one text,” said Noel. “He’s done good. I think it’s wonderful to see that team have success, especially where they went last year where their club was just forming, much like us. And then in the second year they’ve had some really good success and played really well. It’s nice to see, especially for Winnipeg.”

Asked for a prediction, Noel added:

“You have to go with Winnipeg. I wouldn’t have (a prediction), but I’d like to see Winnipeg take it and win it. B.C. will be a formidable opponent, no doubt, especially playing at home.”

The Jets practiced for 90 minutes at MTS IcePlex on Monday without Jim Slater, Ladd and Nik Antropov, but all three are expected to be back on the ice Tuesday before the team embarks on a three-game road trip that will take them from Washington, D.C. to Raleigh, N.C. to Boston over the span of four nights.

Ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter:@WFPEdTait