How bout that Scheifele?

Well the Thanksgiving weekend has finally arrived and any Jets fan with a ticket to the home opener has a lot to be thankful for. Barring some sort of miracle, I will not be at game one, but I am still excited for the start of the season.


Instead of doing a flowery story about how the Jets are back and it's good for the city, I thought I would profile a young man who is quickly catching the hearts of Winnipeg hockey fans. And that man is of course rookie Mark Scheifele

Well it now seems almost certain that Mark Scheifele will make the Winnipeg Jets for at least nine games. He was tied for the lead league in scoring in the NHL preseason and Jets coach Claude Noel has said publicly that he is a big fan of his talent and work ethic and that he would be schocked if he didn't make the team. Scheifele is quickly becoming a fan favorite in Winnipeg and there is a great back story to this kid, with a Winnipeg connection


Dale Hawerchuk was selected first overall by the Winnipeg Jets in the 1981 NHL entry draft. The Jets were coming off one of the worst seasons for an NHL club in history, only winning nine games in the 1980-1981 season.


Hawerchuck made the team in 1981 and in his first year in the league put up 45 goals and 58 assists for 103 points, easily winning the Calder trophy as rookie of the year.If your not up on your Hawerchuk history here's a little video to get you up to snuff.

Hawerchuck is now the coach of the Barrie Colts, the CHL club that Mark Scheifele played for last season. It now appears that Scheifele will make the Winnipeg Jets as an 18 year old, just as his coach did twenty years ago. With that being said the Scheifele pick was one that was definitely questioned by many Jets fans.

There was a weird and somewhat awkward moment at the NHL draft party back in June that deflated the arena for a moment. After the Ottawa Senators picked Mika Zibenegad, there was a eruption in the crowd from the more knowledgeable hockey fans. Sean Coutourier, a player ranked number one by central scouting at the beginning of the hockey season was still available and now the Jets had the chance to scoop him up.


When Kevin Cheveldayoff announced that the pick would be Mark Scheifele, the room suddenly looked confused and somewhat deflated. A man in front of me flipped furiously through his rankings to try and simply figure out who this kid was. Jets fans were definitely surprised and a bit worried about their first round pick. The old Jets had a history of making bad first round draft picks and some thought we were on the same course once again. You can see in this video that even the announcers for TSN were suprised with the pick.

And why wouldn't they be?  Many were not so much shocked with who we picked but more with who we did not pick. When the Ottawa Senators picked Mika Zibanegad with the sixth pick most Winnipeg hockey fans believed that there was no doubt that Sean Coutourier would become our first draft pick.

Coutourier is a player who started his season in the QMJHL as the player rated number one by central scouting. At 6’4 and 190 pounds he has the size to make an immediate impact in the NHL. He played well in last years World Juniors and he had two consecutive 96 point seasons with Drummondville of the QMJHL. If he went on to have a great career for the Philadelphia Flyers and Scheifele did not work out for the Jets it could have become an embarrassment for the new Jets franchise. It was a high risk/high reward move by the Jets. However I took some time to research Mark Scheifele and really see what this kid is all about. The more that I read I started to realize that although it was a bit of a risky move it looks like it was a calculated risk.


There are a ton of positives about Mark Scheifele. One of the biggest positives about this kid is his performance in his first year with the Barrie Colts. He was selected in the 7th round of the OHL draft in 2009 and in his first year with the Colts he put up impressive numbers tallying 22 goals and 53 assists good for 75 points in 66 games. As a rookie on a last place team there is no denying that these are impressive numbers and The 53 assists show that this kid has playmaking abilities. Now Scheifele has just finished the NHL preseason tied for the league lead in scoring.

Let's watch Scheifele's first ever goal with the Jets.

I also think that his size although a bit lanky is impressive. He is 6’3 but only 170 pounds. However at only 18 years old I believe this kid will fill out and I also believe that he will work hard and undergo a rigorous training program to begin bulking up for the NHL. By all accounts he is an extremely hard working and passionate kid and he will do whatever it takes to get to the next step. He also put up impressive numbers in the world under 17 tournament last year putting up 8 points in seven games. From all reports he is a smart two way player, he distributes the puck well and he sees the ice very well. He proved all of this in the preseason.

The new Winnipeg Jets are looking to build a club that has character and work ethic. They are not interested in quick fix free agent signings as Kevin Cheveldayoff has said from the start that this is not the way to build a winning hockey club. The Winnipeg Jets are looking to draft smart and bring guys up that will have not only solid hockey skills but also good character and passion for the game of hockey.

As I said before, former Jets legend Dale Hawerchuk spoke highly of his skill and character and it was a great endorsement for Scheifefle.

Was picking Mark Scheifele a risky move for the Winnipeg Jets? Yes. But his play on the ice in the preseason is quicky changing alot of minds in Winnipeg

More than a quick glance at "Page One"

This week I'll be talking about the movie Page One: Inside the New York Times. I can't tie the topic specifically to the Winnipeg Jets, as that would not do justice to what was an exceptional movie. However, I can tie it in to blogging in general and the changes that have taken place in media in the last ten or so years.

The movie is a documentary showing the inner workings of the New York Times office, but also showing how social media, blogs and the internet age in general are changing the game for mainstream media publications.

The film starts with video of a printing press at work printing traditional newspapers. It was a great way to start the movie. Even though there are printing presses at work all over the world, the viewer still feels like they are looking at something nostalgic, as more as more people switch to online sources for their news.

The person in the film who most spoke to me was New York times reporter David Carr, who can be seen in the image below. It wasn't his animated personality or troubled past that caught my attention. What got me about Carr was the fact that he defends and stands up for the New York Times, and shows such an immense loyalty to his employer. I got the sense that he truly loves his employer and I was inspired by this loyalty. But Carr also made me believe that traditional media is still important.

The internet allows me to have a voice and that is one of the great things about the internet age. Without having specific journalism credentials, I can write a weekly post and use social media to get it out to people. I have had total strangers read JetFiles and comment on it, and I like that I can have a voice to discuss a subject that I love.

With that being said, I still go to traditional media first when there is a breaking news story. For the most part, I trust that I will read something true and ethical if I go to a traditional media source. Some may call me niave but I would rather go to a reputable source first and then get different angles on social media and blogs.

I believe that it is not traditional media that is dying but just traditional news that is printed on paper. As the world slowly abandons printed news, traditional media will have to find ways to make money through their online publications. The New York Times now charges for a subscription to their website but continues to be the number one news website in the world. We may not be getting our news from the paper boy anymore but I believe a majority of us are still getting it from mainstream sources

Page one taught me that traditional news media is not dead. It's just working to adapt and ensure it's survival. Ultimately I believe it will adapt and survive.

The View from P2

There is not much I can say about the first Jets game in fifeteen years that hasn't already been said. I was not one of the lucky ones who was there.  On T.V the building looked electric, and the Jets looked solid.

My Dad, however, was lucky enough to be there. Five years of supporting the Manitoba Moose has paid of nicely for Brian Baxter, and I couldn't be happier that after fifeteen years he and my Mom are once again doing what they love to do. Going to Jets games. Well Dad also took his camera with him and got some amazing video so let's let the videos do the talking on this blog and why don't we start with the very first Winnipeg Jets goal.

Before the game even started one of the best moments of the night was watching 15,000 people singing Oh Canada in unison. Fifeteen years ago many Winnipegers thought that the United States was stealing the game of hockey from us and I think the way that the crowd belted out the song was in some ways a response to that.

If there were two players that stole the show on Tuesday it was rookie Mark Scheifele and of course big Dustin Byfuglien. Bigg Buff is a taylor made fan favorite and his center ice hit at the start of the game looked like someone skating into a brick wall. It didn't take long for Buff to irritate a few of the Blue Jackets and there were a couple fights within the first minute. So here they are.

No Jets game could be complete without the wave.

Well at the end of the game the crowd stood and cheered for the entire last minute. You would have thought the team had just won the stanley cup and this was just a preseason game. So let's end by watching that last minute in all it's glory.

 

Social Media and the Return of the Jets

Well now the hard part. For this week we've been asked to blog specifically about our experiences with Twitter.  Well I can't just say that this week won't be about the Jets because I have to talk about Twitter. If this is going to be a blog about the Winnipeg Jets than taking a week off from writing about the Jets ain't gonna fly. (pardon the pun)

So, as a way to tie the two topics together I thought I'd talk about the role that social media like Twitter and Facebook had in fueling the frenzy among Winnipeg's hockey fans over the last two years. It was two hockey seasons ago that I started to hear whispers that Mark Chipman had been having conversations with Gary Bettman about wanting an NHL team for Winnipeg. It was around the same time that the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes were struggling to find ownership that would keep them in Phoenix. The stars seemed aligned for the Coyotes to make a return trip to Winnipeg but just as quickly as the city got excited. these dream were dashed by a city council in Glendale Arizona who agreed to foot the bill for the teams losses for the entire next season.

Well this definitely seemed like a band-aid solution for the Coyotes as they still had no prospective owners and were in the red for millions of dollars. It appeared to be a matter of time before the Coyotes or another money losing NHL team would be packing their bags for Winnipeg.
and this is where Twitter comes into the story.

I began noticing that the public hunger for any information about the situation in Phoenix became so great that mainstream media sources weren't enough to give the public here in Winnipeg what it wanted. I watched in amazement as a new rumour hit Twitter and Facebook almost every day. One day it was that Gary Bettman was golfing with Marc Chipman at Cresentwood Golf Course. Another day I heard that a secret podium had been set up at the forks for a press conference. There was the teenager seen below known in the twitterverse as "epicpuckbunny" who posted a fake news release that the NHL was returning and fooled the whole city into believing that it was true. This girl even made the front page of the Winnipeg Sun for this little trick.

Then there was the moment I knew things had gotten completely out of hand. Someone on Twitter shared a link that could track if any private Jets were heading towards Winnipeg, because if there was one on it's way, than Gary Bettman would definitely be in it ready to tell us the good news. It was at this point that I realized the whole thing had gotten a little out of hand, but it also made me realize the power of social media.

It was not long ago that people got their news from their trusted anchorman at supper time and from the morning paper. If something urgent was happening they would flip on the radio.  These days media is immediate. Smartphones allow us to get updated on any topic in real time. Facebook and Twitter allow us to comment on stories and get in on the conversation. Twitter is great for quick updates and links to articles. However, as good as social media can be for getting information to people it is also good at getting wrong information to people.

In many ways following the possible return of the team was fun not only for monitoring if we were getting a team but also to watch the way in which social media grabbed such a huge part of the story. It seemed like Twitter and Facebook weren't just there to tell the story but instead became part of the story.

I started out just wanting to know about a hockey team, but by following the story so closely I also learned more than I could have imagined about social media.

Jets are Back where they Belong

The last two years have been an emotional roller coaster for anyone in the city hoping for the return of the Winnipeg Jets. Starting with rumours as early as May of 2010 that the Phoenix Coyotes may be moving back to Winnipeg, the city was whipped into a frenzy, that was only fueled by rumours flying around, not only in the mainstream media, but also on facebook, twitter and by countless bloggers all claiming that they had the big scoop on whether or not the Jets were really coming back.

The funniest part of the whole scenario was that people obsessed over the situation in Phoenix, while all the while it would be the Atlanta Thrashers who would move to Winnipeg and become the Winnipeg Jets.

Well the Jets are back now and all is right in the city of Winnipeg. The last five months in the city have been arguably the most exciting months for sports in the history of the city. In one beautiful, mosquito free summer, we knew that our beloved Jets would be back to play in October and like a sweet cherry on top of our ice cream the Bombers had one of their most successful summers in franchise history.

One of my greatest memories of this new and very young Jets era was the NHL draft party held at the MTS Center on July 24th. It was such a great feeling to walk into that Arena and see all the fans decked out in their jerseys and hearing the buzz in the crowd. It brought back memories of attending Jets games at the old Winnipeg Arena. The atmosphere at the old Arena during the whiteouts was something you could only understand if you were there, and videos and youtube clips really do no justice to how loud it really was in the old barn. But hey, it's the next best thing so why don't we all sit back and watch a video of what many believe was the greatest and loudest moment in the history of the old Winnipeg Arena. Dave Ellett's famous double overtime goal.

So anyways back to the draft party--It gave us the moment we had all been waiting for. Mark Chipman went up to the podium and asked GM Kevin Cheveldayoff to make the first pick "on behalf of the Winnipeg Jets. It was all the people in the stands needed to hear and the building exploded. At that moment it was real. The Winnipeg Jets are back

It has been speculated that the True North people considered going with a different name and I can understand why. The old Jets were a money losing franchise that played in an outdated Arena and missed the playoffs as much as they made them. The old Jets also struggled with a bad reputation, as many players simply did not want to play here.

Despite all that the emotional attachment that the fans had to the name and the brand was far to great and the fans made it clear from the start that they wanted to cheer for one team only and that was the Winnipeg Jets. Calling the team anything else would have turned into a marketing disaster,as fans at the MTS Center would have been chanting Go Jets Go no matter what they called the team.
But this will be a new Winnipeg Jets. The team has deep pocketed owners and will play in a state of the art building. True North will make this a team that players will want to play for and will treat it's players and staff first class the same way they did for 15 years with the Manitoba Moose. If you have any doubts about this exciting and first class new era of the Jets just check out this video of the new jerseys being unveiled.

I can only imagine what the scene will be like on opening night when the Jets take on the Montreal Canadiens. A fifteen year wait will be released on these players and it will be like nothing they have ever experienced before. The NHL is back where it belongs and this time it's not going anywhere

Welcome back Winnipeg Jets!!