The day began at Hockey For All Centre with Producer Tim getting there extra early to set up for the Illegal Curve Show which was set to begin at 9 AM.
Drew, Ez and I arrived and kicked off the show with the benefit of getting to see and interact with so many of you.
Photo Credit: Luke Perrett (Illegal Curve)
We were joined by Murat Ates of The Athletic Winnipeg and play-by-play voice of the Jets on CJOB 680 Paul Edmonds for two hours of hockey talk. Give it a listen here.
As we were on the air we didn’t get a chance to check out the skate taking place with Team Numminen but courtesy of Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press we see the lines were as follows:
Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Barron-Kupari-Namestnikov
Suess-Gustafsson-Viel
Torgersson-Lucius-Reichel
Morrissey-Salomonsson
Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-Capobianco
Sautner-Stewart
Hellebuyck
Delia
Still missing was Colby Barlow (flu).
While these guys were skating the Jets organization was unveiling their new specialty jersey that will be worn three times this season starting with a game on December 4th against the Hurricanes. The jersey was done in honour of the Royal Canadian Air Force centennial celebration. Share your thoughts on our Instagram here.
Photo Credit: Luke Perrett (Illegal Curve)
When the afternoon session got underway it was still without Nikolaj Ehlers (neck spasms). Although worth noting that Ehlers was at Fan Fest today as he was interviewed in front of fans up on stage.
Here is how Team Selanne looked:
Niederreiter-Perfetti-Malott
Iafallo-Lowry-Appleton
Toninato-Harkins- Jonsson-Fjalby
Zhilkin-Lambert-Chibrikov
Heinola-Schmidt
Chisholm-DeMelo
Dillon-Bauer
Kniazev-Lundmark
Brossoit
DiVincentiis/Salmonen
One thing that we noticed as we waited for post-skate media was Jets captain Adam Lowry leaving the ice as it wrapped up to go back out amongst the fans left at Fan Fest to sign autographs and take pictures. Normally he could have just exited directly to the dressing room but he instead chose to go out and connect to the community.
As an aside it was fantastic to see the community getting a chance to connect with players and vice versa. There was a lot of enthusiasm from fans.
Most notably head coach Rick Bowness provided an update on some of his players who were dealing with issues which began with an update on Ehlers “We were hoping that Nik would play tomorrow night” he indicated “but that’s not going to happen tomorrow.” he went on.
On a positive note he said that “Nik will skate but he’ll be with the smaller group and give him Tuesday off. Hopefully by Wednesday he’s ready to go back with the main group.”
He also added that Colby Barlow is “day-to-day. We’ll see how he feels.” And also Henri Nikkanen, who skated in a non-contact jersey, is dealing with a thumb issue and they were trying to ensure he doesn’t get further banged up.
Tomorrow is the first game of the pre-season with the game group heading to Edmonton. The non-game group is skating in the morning.
