Manitoba campers bring Jets games to the great outdoors
Fans of both the great outdoors and the Winnipeg Jets didn't let a little thing like having to go camping on a beautifully sunny long weekend get in the way of taking in Sunday's big game.
They brought the whiteout with them.
It's the best of both worlds, said Jodi Johnston, while watching pregame coverage of the Jet's Game 5 Western Conference finals match-up with her family under the sun at their Birds Hill Park campsite.
"This weather is great, having the Jets in the playoffs is great — it's a great weekend," she said. "We love the Jets and we love how far they've gone."
The family booked their site months ago, having no idea the weekend away would take them out of the city for the do-or-die game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
So the family packed up their TV and rigged it up to stream CBC's live coverage of the game.
We are living in the digital age, after all.
Kicking it 'old school'
But camper Myles Riddell says he decided to go "old school" for Sunday's game.
He and his friends and family were taking in the game through speakers at his site at Birds Hill Sunday afternoon.
"It's not a bad way to do — I'm going to miss some visuals — but it'll be fun anyway," said the self described big Jets fan and former season ticket holder.
Riddell says he hasn't missed a single game of the Jets' playoff run and wasn't going to let a weekend of camping stop him from following along with this one.
"They're a big part of my life," he said
Ultimately the Jets fell 2-1 to the Golden Knights, ending the team's hopes of bringing the Stanley Cup to Winnipeg this year.
But Johnston says she's loved the way Winnipeggers have "come together" during the playoffs, and says she found that same spirit throughout the campground this weekend.
"Everybody's wearing their Jets stuff and there's Jets flags on all the cars," she said. "It just seems right, the Jets are our team and its brought a community together.
"It just seems right that it spills over into the camping."
