Note: Normally the purposes of the morning notes is to advise the readers as to the schedule for the Jets and Moose on this day. But with the NHL deciding to suspend/pause the 2019-20 season as did the AHL a few hours later due to the coronavirus pandemic it means that for now neither the NHL or AHL squad in Winnipeg will be up to much of anything. True North chairman Mark Chipman spoke at length yesterday following the announcements about the situation and the impact on the pro hockey teams in the city.
Note II: Today is basically day 1 of no organized sports in North America.
Jets news:
Winnipeg Sun: NHL did the right thing. Paul caught up with Jason Kindrachuk, research chair on emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba to get his insight into this pandemic.
Winnipeg Sun: Playoff games in July possible. Hockey in June is already way too late in the spring. Hockey in July sounds downright awful and that isn’t factoring in the ice condition. They may as well have played the games in front of empty arenas cause I find it hard to believe anyone outside of folks whose team is in the playoffs actually caring about the NHL in the summer.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence
Winnipeg Sun: NHL hiatus comes at bad time for Jets, but that doesn’t matter. What makes it all the worse for the Jets is that while they are in a wild card spot based on points if they were to select playoffs teams by points percentage then Winnipeg would be out by 0.001%. Of course that seems very far away at this point.
Winnipeg Free Press: From commish to players, all say right move made. (Paywall). It is quite amazing to see how galvanized the movement across the sporting world was to shut things down over the course of a short period of time.
Winnipeg Free Press: Sports world goes dark. (Paywall). Mike makes a good point about the escapism that sports offers folks and this combining of sports and “real life” is tough.
Winnipeg Free Press: Jets’ playoff push on hold as NHL suspends season. (Paywall). While it doesn’t matter in the bigger picture it certainly has to sting the Jets a bit given the 4-0-0 run they were on in March and 5-1-1 in their last seven games.
The Athletic Winnipeg: Mark Chipman reacts to NHL pausing season, possible financial implications. (Paywall). Ken breaks down the presser that concluded events at Bell MTS Place on Thursday.
The Athletic Winnipeg: From 2 to 88: Jets players reveal why they wear the numbers they do. (Paywall). A fun, non-coronavirus related article from yesterday which is a nice distraction and why I am posting it a second day in a row.
