Jets digging their new digs

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/11/2011 (5064 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THEY squeezed their sticks oh-so tightly in their historic re-debut against the Montreal Canadiens.

And they were booed for stretches in a loss to Florida in October.

So as the Winnipeg Jets entered a critical stretch of their 2011-12 season Tuesday night against the Ottawa Senators — the first of 13 at the MTS Centre between now and the end of the calendar year — the question was/is this:

Has this crew, still transforming in front of our very eyes, learned how to manage their emotions and the energy from 15,004 crazies who pack their joint every night?

“We’re comfortable playing at home now, we love playing here and we have to take advantage of those games where the schedule is in our favour,” said Jets captain Andrew Ladd prior to Tuesday’s game. “We feel like we can put a stretch of wins together here and get back into the playoff race.

“It’s the first time for a lot of guys to play in front of a crowd like that and you’ve got to harness it in the right way and maybe use it to your advantage. You can’t get running around and overexcited because then you get out of position a lot easier. I think early on we were still figuring out how we need to play and what Claude wanted and that played a part in it, too.”

The Jets played just their ninth home game of the season Tuesday, the NHL’s low. And many players believe the adjustment from the transfer of the franchise from Atlanta — let alone the change in envirnoment on game night — wasn’t as instaneous as you might think.

“A lot of the guys aren’t used to playing in front of home crowds like this,” said veteran defenceman Mark Stuart. “Atlanta wasn’t like this. It’s different and it takes time to get used to playing in front of a crowd like this. I mean, it’s great, it shouldn’t be too hard to get used to it. There’s no reason now to be nervous. All the guys love playing here.

“All these games at home… if we could get on a roll we could really use this to our advantage. But you can’t just think it’s going to happen because you’re at home.

“That’s exactly the thing you don’t want and what you want to stay away from. We need to use this to our advantage, but it’s not just going to happen.”

— THUMBS UP: There was a measure of support in the Jets locker-room Tuesday for NHL vice-president of player safety Brendan Shanahan’s latest suspension ruling, on Montreal’s Max Pacioretty.

Pacioretty has been sat down three games for whacking Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang in the head last Saturday while Letang was taking a shot on goal.

“I think the (number of) games were pretty bang-on,” said Jets winger Tanner Glass. “I think those are two players travelling at really high speeds and although he (Pacioretty) might not have targeted the head, recklessness is part of the criteria now and when you’re moving at that speed and you go to give a hit, you’d better be sure you’re going to get his body. If you pick his head, you’re going to be suspended.”

The one mitigating factor Shanahan mentioned — that Letang was cutting to the middle of the ice to take a shot, and that’s simply a zone where you should expect a hit — is 100 per cent correct, Glass said.

“I think that’s always been the case,” Glass said. “There have been terms like trolly tracks and if you watch the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em videos they used to have segments on going in that area of the ice. So as players we know where the dangerous areas of the ice are and if you’re taking the puck through there and you’re going to shoot, you’re going to be met with some resistance, a hit or a stick check or whatever.

“Those are the same areas of the ice your coach is telling you to protect.”

It’s still no licence, however, for hits to the head, hence Pacioretty was suspended.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca