The Jets look for that final

playoff spot

By Josh Martin, Sports Editor

he Winnipeg Jets decided
Te come back to Vancouver

for some long awaited
revenge, only 16 years after they
were defeated by the Canucks in a
5—4 decision on February 13, 1996.
Last Thursday night they took
on the Canucks in a heated battle
that went right down to the wire
and resulted in a 3-2 affair in the
Canucks’ favour. The only regret
in that game was the fact that the
Canucks had to win in regulation
and not in Overtime where the Jets
would at least get one point to the
Canucks two.

With the regular season coming
to a close within a month and the
playoffs just around the corner,
the Jets are desperately trying
to claw some points together in
order to grab on to that eighth and
final playoff spot in the Eastern
Conference. They are currently
sitting in the ninth position with
a 32-28-8 record and 72 points
in 68 games, right behind the
Washington Capitals.

They’re going to have to string
together some wins if they want
to jump up in the tight Eastern
Conference, which appears to be
a traffic jam between the Capitals,
Jets, Buffalo Sabres, and Tampa
Bay Lightning for that final playoff
spot. And in order for them to do
so, they’re going to have to win
some big games on the road, since
they will be playing eight of their
final 14 games away from home—
something that has been fairly
difficult for the Winnipeg team.

The Jets sport one of the
ugliest road records in the NHL
at 11-174 and in their last eight
games away from the MTS Centre
they are 44, however when it
comes to playing at home the Jets
seem to play their best hockey,
right in front of their beloved fans,
sporting an impressive 21-104
record. On top of that, in their
past 10 games they hold a strong
6-2-2 record, accumulating 14 of a
possible 20 points. Pretty ravishing
for a team that was playing for the
city of Atlanta this time last year
and finished in 12th spot in the
east—not exactly a city that is as
hockey-orientated as Winnipeg, to
say the least.

“For a lot of us this is new,
being in this kind of a race this late
in the season. It’s exciting. It’s fresh.

We’re proud to be in this position,”
says winger Chris Thorburn.
“We've just grown as a team.
We've become closer and we’re
just learning how to win. Whether
its experience or whatever it is,

it’s worked out well for us. We’ve
developed a lot of team toughness
throughout the course of the year.
It’s got to show coming up on this
road trip.” In their remaining 14
games, the Jets face the likes of
some powerhouse teams in the East
in the New York Rangers (First in
the East with 91 points), and the
Pittsburgh Penguins (fourth, 85
points) along with division rivals,
the Florida Panthers (third, 74
points) and luckily some games
against the lowly New York
Islanders (14, 65 points) and the
Carolina Hurricanes (13, 65 points)
to cap off the season.

It’s going to be a huge push
toward the end of the regular
season, but head coach Claude
Noel appears to have some
confidence in his Winnipeg squad.
“We're in a good place right now.
We've used this home stand to
our advantage to get back in the
standings and get back above the
[playoff] line and build a little bit of
confidence in our game. This will
be an opportunity to see if we can
push it forward here.”

It will be an opportunity, a
desperate one if that, and if they
do manage to be successful in
getting that final playoff spot come
next month, imagine how the fans
will react in Winnipeg? The first
year they get their team back after
16 years of having to settle for
cheering for some other Canadian
team like the Montreal Canadiens
or the Ottawa Senators, and their
Jets make the playoffs?

Oh man, one could only dream.
That would arguably be the best
sports comeback ever.

Let’s go Jets! Bring’er home!

 

Cad aU

 

 

    
 

By Eric Wilkins, Staff Writer

ootball is a violent game.
Pinses know it. Fans love it.

However, in recent times it
has been reported that a particular
coach has been trying to take
football’s brutality to a whole new
level. Gregg Williams, current Rams
defensive coordinator and former
Saints defensive coordinator, has
been nailed for running a “bounty”
program whereby players are
rewarded for, among other things,
injuring opponents.

It’s horrible. I know. In a sport
where 300-pound millionaires
routinely pound each other to a
pulp, it would seem like a recipe for
disaster to introduce more money
and violence to the equation, but
it has been done. Williams is a
monster. This cruel sadistic man
is trying to recreate the Roman
gladiatorial contests of old. He
needs to be punished. Punished
severely. He has made a one-of-a-
kind program that is damaging the
reputation of the NFL. Putting out a
hit on star players? Shame on him.
Without Williams, the NFL would
have a record white as snow.

But let’s step back from the
reality the league’s publicists are
trying to paint for us for a moment.
Do you really believe that Williams,
who is also rumoured to have had
a similar set-up on other teams
he has coached, was the only one
running such a program? Keally?

I can’t possibly imagine another
DC or even a group of players
doing whatever is necessary to get

NFL

like the paper
towel; used to
clean up mess

@ illustration by
Oliver McTavish Wisden

the other team’s star quarterback
out of the game. Since the news
of Williams’ gross infraction,
there have been various players
coming forward with the mind-
boggling update that the situation
in New Orleans was not unique.
Flabbergasting. Looking back over
the history books, it is clear that this
is not a new problem. Way back in
the ‘70s, the Raiders defensive back
tandem of George Atkinson and
Jack Tatum had their own points
system between the two of them
for how badly they could hurt their
opponents. Don’t even pretend that
you're surprised the Raiders have a
history with this.

So why pick on Williams and
the Saints when it’s so obvious
that his situation is anything but
unique? Simply put, the NFL
loves to have a good scapegoat,
and, to a lesser extent, someone
to make an example of. Let’s head
back to 2007 and the infamous
“Spygate” scandal. Practically
every team in the league was guilty
of videotaping the other teams’
coaches’ hand signals, but the
NFL came down hard on the New
England Patriots. The Pats were
(and still are) flying high at the
time; the Brady Bunch was an easy
team to hate. Perfect. The bigwigs
had found their sacrificial lamb.

Skip forward to today and we
find the loveable-losers-turned-
NFL-powerhouse Saints in the
middle of this whole debacle. I
wonder how they got there?

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