From Savannah, Georgia to Winnipeg, Manitoba to see a Jets game and experience some Canadian hospitality

The trek to Canada Life to see a Jets hockey game is different for everyone. Some folks can get to the arena in minutes while others come from much farther away in order to see the NHL club of Winnipeg.

There remain numerous fans from Georgia that we interact with online that continue to support this hockey club which was once the Atlanta Thrashers. At the game last Saturday night against the Penguins our incredible photographer Colby Spence noticed a fan holding this sign.

I posted it on twitter and Instagram with a simple ‘Welcome to Winnipeg’ message. It really resonated with folks and because the internet is a big beautiful place (sometimes) eventually Rebekah Liebsack of Savannah, Georgia replied that it was her in the photo. Her brother John, who is also a huge Jets fan, saw her photo on the Illegal Curve Instagram page commenting “That’s my sis. We’ve been Thrasher fans for life!!! Go Jets go!”

After messaging Rebekah she was kind enough to detail her family experience coming to Manitoba. She came with her husband Joe and her two sons, Joey and David. Obviously the sign literally explains why she came to Winnipeg with her family but was there something behind the trip?

RL: The purpose of our trip was a high school graduation gift to my oldest son, Joey. He has followed the Jets his whole life (formerly the Atlanta Thrashers) and it has always been his dream to go to a home game. We have been to one other game in the states, but a home game is a different experience. We have talked about this trip for years. I’m really thankful we were able to do it.

As I began at the start of this piece it is easy to come from St. Boniface or River Heights to Canada Life but what’s it like coming from Savannah, Georgia? According to Rebekah it wasn’t too difficult a proposition.

RL: The trip to Winnipeg was actually very easy. We woke up early on Friday morning and drove the 3 1/2 hours to the Atlanta airport to fly out. We flew WestJet. The direct flight was great. I was very happy when I saw there was a direct flight available. The flight was around 3 1/2 hours which wasn’t too bad at all.

I was curious if this was their first trip to Manitoba and what were their first impressions of our province. Turns out it was their first time coming to Canada.

RL: This was our first trip to Canada. We had to get passports back in October so that we could come. I was a little nervous at first because I googled, “How is the weather in Winnipeg in February” and it said VERY BAD. Since we are from the deep south, we are not used to snow or very cold temperatures. But, from what everyone said, this was a “mild” winter for y’all. We were obviously excited about seeing snow, and I was glad it did snow some while we were there. We thought Manitoba was a beautiful place. It was very cool to experience Canadian life for a weekend. We didn’t venture too far from the arena area because we were there for such a short period of time.

Often, because of the power of the internet, folks are part of online communities who assist fans coming from other parts of the world with information about Winnipeg. Letting them know in advance places to see, good food options, etc. I was curious if Rebekah came with some insight prior to arriving in Manitoba.

RL: We did not have any connections to people in Winnipeg. I have celiac disease, though, so I had joined a group on Facebook called Celiac in Winnipeg to get some suggestions on safe places for me to eat, and they were all very helpful with that.

Of course they do call this province ‘Friendly Manitoba’ for a reason so I asked her if she made connections while here and what her impressions were of Canada Life Centre. She had quite the answer.

RL: The arena was beautiful. A crazy thing actually happened to us. We flew in on Friday afternoon. We stayed right across the street from the arena in an Airbnb. We could see it from our balcony. My son wanted to go into the Jets store, but we didn’t get there until 5:03 and it closed at 5. So, we decided to walk to the arena and look around at what we could. While we were standing inside, a lady approached us and wanted to make sure we knew the game was on Saturday night. We told her we knew and we had tickets. We then told her that we had just flown into Winnipeg from Georgia and why we were there. She was quite shocked that we had come that far, but said she worked for True North and if we wanted she would take us into the arena to see the ice and to look around. We were thrilled. So, we ended up getting a private tour of the whole arena on Friday night. It was amazing.

RL con’t: She told us all the history and different cool things about different spots all over. Including the gray seats that are in the shape of an arrow pointing true north. We were facetiming my dad and brother back home and showing them everything. She even made a note where we were sitting and made sure we made it onto the big screen fan cam at the game and took pictures of it for us.

RL con’t: She also gave my son a VERY special graduation gift. We got a picture with her and even got her phone number and address because we are going to send her some special things from Savannah. Her name was Kendall and she made our trip the most memorable experience we could have ever dreamed. She said she usually takes a different bus, but decided to switch things up that night and boy are we glad she did!!! These are memories we will keep with us forever. One thing I found on this trip was Canadians are some of the nicest people. Everyone we came in contact with was wonderful, but Kendall went above and beyond for us. We definitely made a friend for life in her.

That was certainly quite an excellent experience.

What about the game itself? What did she think about the game experience at the sold out Canada Life Centre seeing the Jets take on the Penguins?

RL: It was electric. It was our first Jets home game and it was everything and more than we expected. We have seen on tv how passionate the home fans are and to experience that in person was a core memory that we will never forget. It was a sold out crowd and you could feel the electricity when the whole arena erupted into GO JETS GO. We went down to watch them warm up and Ehlers threw Joey a warm up puck over the glass.

RL con’t: He was THRILLED about that. My son is very passionate about sports and we were sitting near some Penguin fans. They got a good dose of his big mouth all night and I don’t think they liked him much by the end. haha. But, the fact that the Jets had been on a losing streak and then won the game we came to was so awesome. Also, being able to scream TRUE NORTH during the anthem was my favorite part. We always hear it on tv, but being there in person was the best. We had third row seats and our family watching at home could pick us out of the crowd every time the puck was on our end of the arena. So, we have been able to see pictures of that.

RL con’t: One of my favorite things was watching the video on Facebook that the Jets posted of Mark Scheifele scoring the first goal and I could see my son jump out of his seat cheering. He was wearing his Scheifele jersey, too.

After 50 games what are her impressions of this team?

RL: We think this team is special and will go very far this year. Hopefully all the way. We will be watching and cheering them on from Savannah!

While this was the first time they saw the Jets live in Winnipeg it wasn’t their first live game experience.

RL: This was our second game. We saw them in Tampa in January 2017.

But they won’t be waiting seven years to see their next Jets game.

RL: Our next game is going to be on Saturday, March 2nd in North Carolina. Joey’s 18th birthday is on March 5th, so we plan to take him to that game for a birthday gift. He is looking forward to it. Thankfully, it’s not as far a Winnipeg. haha.

This discussion really began because of social media buzz. I asked Rebekah what it was like receiving that sort of attention and so many nice comments.

RL: The instagram and tweet of that picture of me was surprising. I saw the guy with his camera pointed towards me, but I had no idea if he was actually taking my picture or where it would end up. I just looked and smiled. I was absolutely shocked a little while later when my brother, who is a huge Jets fan as well, texted it to me. My husband kept up with the number of views on X and kept updating me throughout the night. It was a pretty surreal experience. On X, it is up to 14k views!

There is a strong family connection to the Jets Rebekah added.

RL: I just wanted to add that the reason my son became a fan is because my dad (John) has followed the Thrashers/Jets forever and got my son into it as well. He will even sometimes go to their house to watch the game with his papa. 

Nice to see that this province lived up to it’s official slogan of Friendly Manitoba.

My thanks to Rebekah for sharing her thoughts and experiences coming to Winnipeg with her family.