The Jets of Winnipeg invade Philly and We Were There

Good day fellow Rioters!  As you know we at The Riot! have never hid our love for the Winnipeg Jets.  We loved them when they were in Winnipeg, led by Moe Mantha (well he technically didn’t lead much), and campaigned for their return to Winnipeg (they should have never been moved to the desert to begin with).  We were one of the first outlets to break the story about the Thrashers relocating back to Winnipeg, and gave the city of Winnipeg our love, making the Jets the first Official Riot! Team.

I take my fandom seriously and made it clear the first time the Jets visit Philadelphia (which is twice this season due to the Jets still being in the Southeast Division), I would be clad in Jets gear and openly root for them, despite being surrounded by Flyers fans.  This resulted in me getting shit from friends who called me a traitor and a fair-weather fan (which is ironic since the hopes for the Jets this season isn’t too high, so their weather isn’t all that fair).  I gave the finger to all of them and took my Jets stance to an idiot extreme and decided I would get a Jets tattoo should they make the playoffs in their first season back in Winnipeg.  If this happens, I’ll honor this and wear my Jets tattoo with pride, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.  It’s a long season and we’ll see what pans out.

I also decided to use opportunity as a social experiment.  Philadelphia gets a lot of shit about their fan base and what assholes they are and I constantly defend them.  But maybe because I’m a Philly fan my opinion is biased, so if I’m clad in an opponent’s gear I’ll see what other fans see.

For my birthday a couple weeks ago I was lucky enough to get a pair of tickets to the Jets/Flyers game, six rows from the ice, along with a Jets shirt and hat (I do own some older Jets gear, but the new logo was needed).  I was instantly stoked.

Well last night (Thursday) it was finally game day and I counted the minutes until it was time to leave and haul my ass to the Wells Fargo Center.

Arrival:  We parked the car and headed to the arena.  In most cases there’s groups of fans tailgating in the parking lot, swilling beer, and eating hoagies.  Last night wasn’t like that, mainly because it was cold as shit and raining, but there were a few troopers.  A couple people gave me random looks but only one person said something.  When we were on line to get in the arena and a guy saw my hat and just said “Jets?”  and I replied with “Damn right.”

Once we got in, armed with a beer and a couple hot dogs (as a bonus it was “Dollar Dog Night”), we made our way down to the seats and they sure as hell didn’t disappoint.  I go to my fair share of hockey games but it’s rare I’m sitting a few rows from the glass.  It was extra rad being it was the Jets game. 

I looked around and the arena was a sea of orange.  I didn’t expect to see many Jets fans but there were a couple spread throughout the stadium so I knew some people had my back.

First Period:  On paper, given the team the Flyers have and the team the Jets have I didn’t have high-hopes for a win, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to root on the Jets until the final buzzer.

From the opening faceoff the Jets pressured the Flyers and during the second minute of the game it appeared the Jets took a 1-0 lead as Chris Thorburn pushed the puck through the legs of Sergei Bobrovsky.  After review it was ruled no goal, so the score remained 0-0.  About a minute later Scott Hartnell deflected a feed from Danny Briere, giving the Flyers a 1-0 lead.  As a Flyers fan and the fact Hartnell was on my fantasy team I didn’t mind it but I was there to root for the Jets and to make it worse I had to hear the stupid song the Flyers play when they score a goal.  

Last season the Flyers played “Bro Hymn” by Pennywise after every time the Flyers put the puck in the net.  They dropped it this year and now it’s some shitty Latin dance number.  I don’t even know the name and I can’t be bothered to look it up, I know it just sucked.  Okay, I looked it up and the name of the song is “Doop”.  I don’t know who the artist is and frankly I don’t care.  It’s shit.

The Flyers spent the first half of the period looking strong and unlike other games I’ve seen this year they weren’t turning the puck over.  They applied pressure to goalie Ondrej Pavelec and had the Jets reeling.  This is when the sloppy play of the Flyers returned and they started turning the puck over, which the Jets took advantage of scoring three goals in the final ten minutes of the period.  Randy Jones, Jim Slater and Kyle Wellwood all took well timed passes and put the passed Bobrovsky, giving the Jets a 3-1 lead.

During the first intermission I went outside to grab a cigarette, wondering what kind of reaction I’d get or hopefully find another Jets fan.  I didn’t find any Jets fans but I did talk to this Flyers fan who also wrote for a website.  He and I just laughed at this old woman who had countless amounts of pins on her Bobby Clarke sweater and smoking out of a cigarette holder.  It was the equivalent of the amount of chains Mr. T would wear and she was super tacky.  Unfortunately she’s probably someone’s grandma whose grandson gets embarrassed anytime they go anywhere in public.

I did get my first taste of the Philly fans when I was walking to get a beer.  A couple of trashbags wearing Flyers tee shirts and bandanas started yelling “Winnipeg f*cking sucks!”  “Go back to Canada faggot!”  I simply replied with a casual “Look at the scoreboard buddy.”  I continued to walk to my section I did see a dude in an Alexei Zhamnov jersey (the same home jersey I had 17 or so years ago).  Then two Jets fans in my section wearing a Teemu Selanne and Dale Hawerchuk jerseys.  I dropped a “Go Jets Go!”, and high-fived then over a few Flyers fans that were less than thrilled (screw them).

Second Period:  The second period began how the first period ended with a total offensive attack by the Jets.  Tanner Glass and Nik Antropov both scored within the first five minutes of the period, extending the Jets lead to 5-1.  At this point the boos and the “You suck” comments started being tossed around.  Not toward me or any Jets fan, but toward the Flyers and their shitty play.  That’s when Bobrovsky was pulled for Ilya Bryzgalov.  In Bob’s 25 minutes he allowed five goals on fifteen shots (there was plenty of reason to boo).

The changing of goalies did spark the Flyers and Claude Giroux gave the Flyers their second goal about a minute into Bryzgalov entering the game making it 6-2.  The guy next to me sarcastically asked why I wasn’t standing up and cheering Giroux.  I just laughed at him.  A few minutes later the Jets got back on the board on a goal by Evander Kane.  That’s when I stood up and cheered which prompted people behind me to start yelling “Sit down asshole.”

With the score 6-2 and I was feeling pretty comfortable and started ribbing the kids sitting behind me, who couldn’t understand why I was rooting for the Jets.  That’s when the Flyers turned it on.  Briere and Max Talbot added two more goals for the Flyers within two minutes and if not for Pavelec standing on his head the game would have been in the Flyers favor.  The period ended with the Jets up 6-4.

I again went out to smoke and see what I would encounter, and with the exception of a few people commenting under their breath there was really nothing spectacular.  I was hoping to encounter some of the stories I’ve heard from people, but I found nothing.  I did encounter what I dubbed “The Biggest Asshole in Philly”.  I was leaving the bathroom, approaching me was some chucklehead wearing a Flyers jersey with the sleeves cut off.  He also had a Mohawk.  That’s not all.  He also had the Flyers logo tattooed on each side of his head.  As we approached each other he yelled “LET’S GO FLYERS!”  He wasn’t an asshole for yelling and cheering for his team, he was an asshole because he looked like one (I wish I took a picture of him).

Third Period:  The third period opened completely insane with the Flyers bombarding Pavelec with shots and the Jets defense being unable to clear the zone.  In the first three minutes Briere, Matt Read, and James van Riemsdyk all beat Pavelec and suddenly the Flyers went from down 6-2 to up 7-6.  That’s when Chris Mason replaced Pavelec in net.  My confidence level was still there but now the Flyers fans around started ribbing me.  All good natured typed-stuff, which is something I’ve always loved about sitting by an opposing fan at a game.  There’s nothing wrong with joking around with an opposing fan as long as you don’t act like an asshole.

The cheers and high-five’s didn’t last too long for Flyers fans as 27 seconds later, Alexander Burmistrov beat Bryzgalov through the five-hole, tying the game at seven.  One minute later Mark Stuart beat Bryzgalov giving the Jets an 8-7 lead, prompting Bryzgalov to break his stick after repeatedly beating it into the crossbar.

I was on the edge of my seat hoping the Jets can hang on to the lead even though they couldn’t get the puck out of their own zone.  Eventually they Flyers knocked on the door enough times and van Riemsdyk notched his second goal of the game tying it at eight. 

Well Fargo Center was electric and I didn’t have a good feeling about the outcome and figured overtime was on the horizon.  That was until, with a minute left in regulation, Andrew Ladd took a feed from Blake Wheeler and put it past Bryzgalov, giving the Jets a 9-8 lead.  The boos poured down from the Flyers faithful as I stood up and cheered, prompting more calls to sit down and how I’m an asshole.

I might be an asshole, but I’m an asshole on the winning side.  Go Jets go!

Overall View:  From a simple fans perspective the game was something I’ve never seen before.  I don’t remember ever watching a game with 17 combine goals.  Hell, the Jets matched the points the Browns and Seahawks had combined last Sunday.  It was non-stop action and it reminded me of a pickup game on a pond, not an NHL game.

While the action was great, from a hockey fans prospective both teams played like shit.  The goaltending was an abortion and overall defensively it was complete crap.  Even though the Jets won, they can’t be happy with the way they played.

I will say after seeing the Jets live they are a much better team than what you see in the box scores.  Although the atrocious goaltending needs an over haul and defenseman Zach Bogosian needs to have a clue what is going on when the puck is in his zone, the offense grinds the corners and moves the puck extremely well.  You have to be happy when 9 of your 25 shots end up in the net.  Unfortunately unless the goaltending and defense can get their shit together, the Jets will stay on the runway.

As far as getting shit for be an opposing fan, it really wasn’t there but I was also rooting for the Jets.  I imagine if I was rooting for the Penguins or if I rooted for the Cowboys at an Eagles game it might be a different story.  It’s something for me to think about in the future.  I do plan on catching the Jets in DC as well as The Ghettolands New Jersey and MSG New York (I won’t step foot in that shithole on Long Island).  I’ll continue to show my love for the Jets and get a vibe from different cities.

Aftermath:   I haven’t listened to any Winnipeg radio today, so I’m not sure what the buzz is in Manitoba, here in Philly it’s looking grim.  After the game Bryzgalov told the media he’s lost confidence in himself, it’s all his fault the Flyers are struggling, he stinks, and couldn’t stop a beach ball if it was shot at him.  The Flyers have him under contract for nine more seasons.  He’s going to need to man up, quit whining, and make saves for the Flyers to be competitive.

Fans aren’t talking about last night’s debacle because they are too focused on the Eagles and the Cowboys this Sunday.  Distractions always help when your team is in the toilet.