WINNIPEG—This is the usual at the end of a playoff series: The losing team stands at centre ice in a lineup, waiting to shake hands. They’re waiting on the winners, the guys celebrating. They want to get off the ice and out of the building in a hurry, those losers.
The scene was different in Winnipeg on Monday.
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The Anaheim Ducks completed a four-game sweep with their most convincing win, a 5-2 victory led by Most Hated Duck, Ryan Kesler, who scored twice, despite the fans’ constant reminder that he “sucks,” which they cheered often and loudly. And it was the Ducks—the post-celebration winners—who waited at centre while the Jets patted each other on the pads and the heads, and shared words. Then the teams shook hands, and the Jets saluted their fans.
A sweep. The only one in the first round. And, if you ask the Ducks, it wasn’t expected, despite their standing as No. 1 seed in the West. “I never thought it would be 4-0 in my wildest dreams,” said Ducks coach, Bruce Boudreau. “I thought it would be a six, or seven-game series.”
Jets fans sure would’ve appreciated that.
The history
The feeling in the MTS Centre this week was special. Even when the Jets were all but done, down 4-2 with a couple minutes left in Game 4, fans were on their feet yelling “Go Jets Go.” After they’d lost both games at home, fans were on their feet, cheering. Both losses ended with cheers.
“I certainly appreciated it at the end of the game,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. He has a great sense of humour, but it wasn’t on offer Wednesday night. He had his hands in his pockets. “It’s still a little raw here, right?”
The fans were unrivalled in the costume department.
Only in Winnipeg would you find multiple Elvis costumes, more than a couple of brides, random Bear mascots, some sort of Michelin man/toilet paper fan, a guy in a full white horse costume, and Macho Man Randy Savage in a white cowboy hat yelling “Woo!” Oh, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, sitting in the eighth row behind the Jets bench, in a white Team Canada jersey.
Harper posed for hundreds of pictures. He even swapped seats with the guy beside him so the couple sitting nearby could get a better selfie. (And, eight snipers reportedly joined him at the game, which meant this was the safest Jets playoff game thus far, which is nice).
A couple guys sitting side-by-side in the stands wore white onesies for the Whiteout. On one: “As long as we play together.” On the second: “As a team, we’ll be alright.” It was a reference to Dustin Byfuglien’s repetitive interview from a day before.
The fans were the hottest topic of discussion in the Jets locker room, post game. A straight-faced Blake Wheeler met the media in blue shorts, a blue Jets dry-fit shirt, and flip-flops. “You saw the fans out there,” he said, when asked whether this sweep meant the Jets had taken a step backwards. “I think we’re headed in the right direction. We’re disappointed, don’t get me wrong. There’s no feelings of being gratified right now.”
But the Jets didn’t look any more dejected than they had a game earlier. Bryan Little, who scored his second of this series to put the Jets up 1-0, said the fans took a bit of the hurt out. “It’s not easy to lose like we did but it definitely makes it easier when you got the fans behind your back like that,” he said.
Third period magic
Through three games in this series, the Jets held the lead heading into the third period. Trailing 2-1 on Wednesday, you wondered whether this might be their chance for a win. This is, after all, a city that had not only faced 19 years of no playoffs, that had not only lost its team, but it’s also a franchise that has won just two playoff series, if you count Jets Version 1 and Jets Version 2. They needed a win.
“We felt really confident,” Wheeler said. “We’d given up a couple these the last few games so we thought maybe it was our turn to do the same so. It just wasn’t meant to be tonight.”
Ducking Kesler
Much of the blame falls on Kesler.
The Ducks centreman is the guy who once again sucked the air out of the MTS Centre, following a third-period goal that put Anaheim up 3-1. The fans, as they did after every Ducks goal, grew quiet for a minute at most, then busted out their ‘Go Jets Go’ cheers.
After he banged home a Simon Despres rebound, Kesler got right down for a very involved fist-pump that you’d really hate it you were a Jets fan. You could hear a pin drop in the building, then.
With just under 10 minutes remaining, after a Ducks timeout, the fans stood and waved towels and roared like they did at puck-drop. Then a Mark Stuart point shot slid through the legs of Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen, who was exceptional this series.
It was 3-2, and the fans were back in it. It was the most sustained “Go Jets Go” chant we’d seen all series, complete with towel waving and a standing and clapping Prime Minister.
Then Kesler scored his second of the game, with less than five minutes to go. Some fans put their towels over their faces for a bit.
The last minute, it was over. But the fans were still going: ‘Go Jets Go.’
Kesler was the last to leave the ice, following a post-game interview. The last guy to leave the Jets dressing room was Stuart, the veteran defenceman who’d scored in the third to put the crowd back on its feet, and make them believe in the rally. When the barrage of media was done asking questions, he broke through the crowd and walked out, flip-flops squeaking.
The season’s done in Winnipeg. The whiteboard in the locker room, which earlier in the day said, “Why not us,” was wiped clean.
