Winnipeg Jets Morning Papers

Note: During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in Canada and around the world. With their “Mo’s”, these men raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and male mental health initiatives. If you’d like to help the Illegal Curve team as we raise money and awareness you are welcome to do so; Dave, Ezra & Drew.

Note II:  I am taking a few days off but fear not as Michael Remis, producer of the Illegal Curve Hockey Show, the Rona Roundtable on TSN Radio 1290 as well as being an occasional contributor to Illegal Curve.com will be taking over.  You are in good hands!

Jets & Affiliate news:

Winnipeg Free Press:  Play of Jets prospects draws mixed reviews.  Taking a look at how some of the Jets prospects are doing and not surprisingly for some the news is good and for others they have some work to do.

Montreal Gazette:  Therrien goes on rant after fantasy loss to Jets.  If this isn’t an indication that it is time to end the lockout nothing is!  A respected reporter like Pat Hickey is covering an imaginary game played between the Jets and Habs using EA Sports NHL 13.  Of course it must be fantasy since Evander Kane had 2 assists, something he only accomplished 1 time in 74 games played last season.  Quick trivia:  Which ‘real’ Jets game did Kane get 2 assist in?

Western College Hockey:  Jacob Trouba’s hit.  He didn’t simply hit the Northern Michigan player, he hit him into next week.  There was a significant amount of controversy over the hit with some saying it was high and others having said it was clean.  The hit resulted in a 5 minute major for contact to the head.  Fair or foul?

CBA news:

Winnipeg Free Press:  Easier said than done.  As fast as fans want these negotiations to end, the process is not geared towards speed, so the only thing you can do is sit and patiently wait.  Both sides have their positions and despite what we may think, it isn’t easy to compromise same.

Globe and Mail:  It’s not the casual fan Bettman and Fehr should be worried about. A nice breakdown by Eric Duhatschek on the types of fans the NHL and NHLPA are taking for granted.  I still think that the hard core fans will ultimately return when hockey does.  They may grumble but when the puck drops, many if not all, will be back in their seats or at home watching the game on TV.

TSN:  NHL, NHLPA talk for five hours; plan to meet again today.  Four straight days of negotiations.  Will wonders never cease.  While nothing earth shattering has occurred the hard work continues and hopefully we will be hearing some major announcements on the near horizon.

Globe and Mail:  All talk, no action yet as NHL lockout drags on.  While neither side was particularly forthcoming, this should probably be seen as a positive, since neither is demonstrating enough frustration to use the media to get the message out, which could easily derail any progress that has been made between the sides.

Toronto Sun:  Dynamo trying to keep Ovechkin post-lockout.  Considering he still has over 80 million dollars in contract money tied up in Washington, Dynamo would have to make it pretty, pretty, pretty worth his while to stick around in Russia.

NHL news:

CBC:  NHL opposes sports betting bill.  Seems the only betting is whether or not there will be an NHL season this year (Current odds of that, courtesy of Bovada.lv, are: 1/2 (-200)) but the NHL and other professional sports leagues seems to oppose this measure.

CBC:  Connor McDavid impresses in OHL’s loss to Russians in Super Series.  The 15 year old continues to shine as his OHL team fell short last night.  Next up is Jets first round pick in 2011 Mark Scheifele as his OHL squad will battle the Russians in Sarnia on Monday.

Sportsnet:  2013 HHOF possible inductees. Some big names on that list, although Jets 1.0 fans will likely pull for former defenceman Phil Housley who was instrumental in getting Teemu Selanne all those passes in the early 90’s.

Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia:  Reflective Lindros inducted into Philly Sports HOF.  Who could forget the player who was supposed to be the successor to Lemieux and Gretzky but an injury shortened career ended his quest to become the next big name in hockey.  However, his Legion of Doom line with John LeClair and Mikael Renberg was unbelievable.

CFL news:

Illegal Procedure: Winnipeg Blue Bombers Papers. If you are a fan of CFL football, check out our other site, which gives you all the latest Bombers & CFL news.  Bombers are firing coaches like it is going out of style as the axe fell again in Winnipeg yesterday and speculation as to who might be the new coach is already spreading throughout the city.  On a positive note, 7 Bombers were named East Division All-stars.