Training camp kickoff heats Winnipeg’s love affair with Jets

The honeymoon is far from over as the Winnipeg Jets get down to work for the team's first NHL season in the Prairie city.

The Jets, transplanted from Atlanta in the off-season, opened their training camp last weekend. Globe and Mail columnist Roy MacGregor reported Monday it was hard to tell Saturday's opening practice from Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.

"Had tailgate parties been part of the celebration, they'd have been grilling breakfast, as the parking lot of the suburban MTS Iceplex began filling before dawn on Saturday," he wrote. "In a rink that held only 1,500 spectators, they packed the stands and filled the lobby for the first drop of an NHL puck in 15 years, an event officially recorded at 9:04 a.m."

Perhaps nothing has galvanized Winnipeg so much in recent years as the return of the Jets. The city was heartbroken when the money-losing club packed up and moved to Phoenix to become the Coyotes in 1996.

That club is also in trouble but staying in the desert city for now. Instead, the NHL approved moving the Atlanta Thrashers north and they assumed the historic name.

The Peg has fallen hard for the rebooted Jets. The club easily met its season-ticket goal and the new Jets jersey has been flying out of stores, along with other team goodies.

The weekend turned into a kind of festival for fans, says MacGregor.

"They cheered when the first of the reborn Jets, former Toronto Maple Leaf Nikolai Antropov, stepped onto the ice," he wrote. "They drove up and down Portage Avenue with Jets flags snapping in the wind and horns honking. They cheered every play, every moment, practically blew the roof off, as they say, for the first puck to hit the back of a net.

"And when it was all over, the players gathered at centre ice and raised their sticks in salute to the fans. All this for a practice."

Defenceman Zach Bogosian, who re-signed with the club over the summer, was impressed with the reception.

"When they're screaming 'go Jets go,' it kind of gives you goosebumps," he told NHL.com. "I'm not used to practicing in front of a crowd like that. It's great. The fans are excited, and we're excited. It's a great day in Winnipeg."

But the warm welcome has not come without problems. Winnipeg, being a small-market city, has a limited number of high-end homes fit for the well-paid hockey stars.

Evander Kane apparently looked at 13 places in his house hunt, the Toronto Star reported.

"People tend to hang onto higher-end homes here, there's not a lot of them on the market," said Allan Asplin, team leader for Judy Lindsay Team Realty. "As far as rentals go, when we get a high-end rental, we can put it up on the market, and within an hour, we have five or more people very interested . . . there's a lot of interest if you have a nice place to rent."

Besides two dozen-odd players, the city will have to absorb coaches and some front-office personnel transferring from Atlanta, a much easier city to find luxury housing.

Pickings in posh neighbourhoods such as The Oaks and Tuxedo have been slim, the Star reported, but Asplin said he's confident they'll all find something they like "eventually."

(CP Photo)