Note: With the Jets playing an afternoon contest (2 pm) be sure to tune into a special early morning edition of the Illegal Curve Hockey Show Saturday on TSN 1290 Winnipeg from 8 am until 11 am. The guys have an action packed show including a look back at the Jets/Hawks game, looking ahead to the Jets/Wild match and other NHL topics of interest. Guests: Bob Duff (Windsor Star), Robin Short (The Telegram) and Frank Provenzano (Former AGM for Stars, currently with ESPN).
Note II: Following today’s Jets Papers, you can ensure you are up to speed with our game set-up written by Ezra Ginsburg. Keep it locked to the site to get pre game audio from coach Noel. After the game, be sure to check us out for all the post-game reaction. As soon as the site is updated we notify you via twitter @illegalcurve and Facebook.
Note III: For home games we have both our #ICGWG and #IC5050 contests. Make sure to @ tweet @illegalcurve with your guess. Remember that for your vote to qualify you must send in your guess using a hashtag (#). (i.e. #ICGWG Scheifele & #IC5050 $34,575.00).
Jets news:
CBC: 5 things to watch. Jeff previews the game and looks into five areas of interest for the afternoon contest including a not-so Wild affair, return to the blue line for Stuart, special teams boost, pp turnaround and beating the odds.
Winnipeg Free Press: Little taking on leading role. He isn’t the loudest guy in the room by any stretch of the imagination but his play on the ice is likely giving him more confidence to lead this team.
Winnipeg Free Press: Trying might help. Time to have everyone studying the same page because clearly not everybody is reading the assignment properly. In the NHL you can with with oodles of talent if you take the occasional night off but the reality of this team is the effort needs to be there collectively if they want to match up against many teams they will face in the NHL. That means everyone on board the bus and ready to play when that puck drops.
Winnipeg Free Press: Kane’s scoring slump a touchy subject. While he may not have given the best answer it is somewhat understandable that a player is a bit sore about a subject.
Winnipeg Sun: Stuck in a rut. The Jets have been consistently inconsistent this season. Aside from the four game win streak they put together the team just cannot seem to get any traction. The season will continue to slip away and it is clear that the players are aware that time is not on their side if these trends continue.
Winnipeg Sun: Stuart back but Jets might be without banged up Buff. After a day that saw Stuart become available to play, Zach Redmond going back to the IceCaps and having to put Zach Bogosian on the IR, the worst news possible would be the loss of Buff for any amount of time.
CBC: In the Room with Keaton Ellerby (video). Mitch spoke about the Jets loss to the Chicago Blackhawks Thursday night and how the team will move forward.
TSN 1290 Winnipeg: Rona Roundtable replay (audio). Missed this yesterday but Rick had Elliot Friedman of HNIC on to talk about the hole the Jets find themselves in in a tough Western Conference.
IceCaps news:
The Telegram: Cormier, Pasquale shine in IceCaps’ win over Penguins. Sounds as if they expect to get Redmond into the lineup when these two teams face off at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Pennsylvania. Be sure to tune into the Illegal Curve Hockey Show today on TSN 1290 Winnipeg from 8-11 AM as we will be having Robin Short of the Telegram to give us an update on all the latest IceCaps news.
Wild news:
Minneapolis Star-Tribune: Backstrom, Ballard practice but not expected to play. Some insight into what the Wild lineup composition might be for today’s game.
Winnipeg Sun: Wild goalie Josh Harding plays his way into Team Canada discussion. You cannot read about what he has undergone and not be inspired by his hard work to maintain such a high level of play. Do you think his play this season will be sufficient to garner Team Canada consideration?
