From Hawerchuk's ten to Hellebuyck's glove
i remember2011 like it was yesterday. i'm down in barrie running my little shop, and some fella at the counter is streaming that press conference at the forks on his phone, both of us half ignoring customers. grown men crying in the rain over a logo and a name, and you know what, fair enough. i got a bit misty myself and i'd never even lived in manitoba.
been watching hockey as long as i have and you learn that franchises leave and sometimes they come back. doesn't happen often, and when it does you savour it. from hawerchuk's ten to hellebuyck standing on his head night after night, the whiteout just changed addresses. the young lot here probably don't remember watching games wondering if the team would even survive, never mind pack an arena every spring. glad you all do 😄
Barrie lad here too 😅 my old man had the stream going at the rink canteen and everyone just stopped skating drills. grown men blubbering, no shame tbh 🔥💪
what gets me still is how quiet the old boys got when they wheeled out the Jets name, like everyone was afraid to breathe in case it got taken away again. my dad watched that from his kitchen in hamilton and phoned me after just to say "we got our team back," nothing else. thirty years of him cheering for whichever canadian club was closest to a cup, and 2011 was the first time he sounded like a kid again 😄
Been here longer than some have followed.
Funny how those 2011 tears were about just having a team again, and now we get stressed over second-round exits - that's progress in a weird way. That first squad was pure relief and hope, this one's got Hellebuyck stealing games and a real shot at the Cup someday. Dad's phone call from Hamilton still hits harder than any playoff series though, eh.
I keep my own tables 📊
man that whiteout at canada life gives me chills every playoff game 🔥 my first jets memory is dad yelling at the tv during hawerchuk games, now im yelling at hellebuyck saves. same blood, different decade ✈️💪
You don't abandon your own.
i was 12 at that fork presser, soaked to the bone, bawling my head off. hellebuyck robbing guys now feels like hawerchuk dangling back then, same lump in the throat, different excuse for it 😄
Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
I was 12 at The Forks too, cried so hard my buddy thought I got emotional damage 😂 whole city soaked, zero regrets. Hold my pint, tissues edition 🤣✈️
Hold my pint.
man that whiteout at canada life gives me chills every playoff game 🔥 my first jets memory is dad yelling at the tv during hawerchuk games, now im yelling at hellebuyck saves. same blood, different decade ✈️💪
@UpsetKingFC the generational handoff angle is cute until you remember your dad watched Hawerchuk score goals and you get to watch Hellebuyck save them 😏 that's basically admitting the offence has been on a 30-year coffee break.
But yeah, the whiteout chills thing is real, I'll give you that. First playoff game I ever attended at Canada Life my voice was gone for two days and I dropped like forty bucks on merch and a couple of puck line wagers I'd rather not discuss 🤡💸 honestly the strangest part is that the crying at The Forks crowd and the Hellebuyck glove crowd are somehow the same people, just older and colder. Same blood, different decade, sure thing, mate, but I'd take a decade where someone scores in the second round too 😂
Show me your ROI first 😏
Millie he'd still rather watch hawerchuk dangle than a 40-save shutout any night tbh... but a goalie bailing you out hits different when your offence ghosts 😅✈️
You don't abandon your own.