Marcy Markusa reflects on how the Winnipeg Jets have united a city
I was in the dollar store this week with my Jets T-shirt on, so the cashier started talking hockey with me.
Actually, more correctly, she started talking about hockey's effect on the city with me. She remarked on how many people were walking around town with their Jets gear on and smiling at each other as they passed.
Strangers on any other day, but united by the pride that the Jets are in the playoffs.
She said, "I don't know much about the game" but it makes the city "feel good."
And I agree. It does feel good.
#GoWpgGo
One of my favourite signs of hometown pride has been looking at all of the photos that you've been sending to our CBC website fan gallery using the #GoWpgGo hashtag.
The photos show your babies in winter Jets hats, leaning on their chubby little hands; your dogs and cats in jerseys in front of televisions with the game on; smiling faces in toques and people wearing helmets in their cars driving to work.
In many ways, the individual pictures are unremarkable. They aren't shot from first-row seats at MTS Centre or selfies with NHL superstars. Together, however, they tell quite a story.
It's a story that's been on hold for 19 years, in a community that's more than ready to celebrate the next chapter.
So how dow we celebrate? In our homes and neighbourhoods, in our favourite restaurants and bars and with our friends and family.
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It's fitting that we asked you to use the #GoWpgGo hashtag instead of #GoJetsGo because in many ways, this particular moment in our story is as much about us as it is about what's happening on the ice.
It's a moment that we can share together. From hard-core fans to playoff newbies, season-ticket holders to those who will go out on game night for the very first time, this is an opportunity to experience something together.
The Jets might have made their return to the city four years ago, but somehow making it into the playoffs gives our team legitimacy, and that extends to our city as well.
Ridiculous nostalgia
This is also a chance to "gather round." I know, I'm a cheeseball, but there are fewer and fewer reasons to do that today with our ability to watch what we want, when we want.
Live sporting events give us a reason to be together, and without too much prodding you can even get the kids to join you on the couch.
The puck drops once, and good luck PVR-ing it. Our traffic guy, Trevor Dineen, joked on the air this week, "Shhh … don't tell me what happened in the game!"
From a personal point of view, I am ridiculously nostalgic this week because the mood is something I remember fondly growing up here in the 1980s.
Mayor Brian Bowman was on Information Radio on Tuesday saying the same thing. He recalled cutting up white plastic garbage bags to make pompoms for the original Whiteout and talked about how excited he was that his boys could make some new memories watching this playoff series.
It's something many of us thought we would never have the opportunity to pass on to another generation.
When I was a kid, we didn't have season tickets. We went to a handful of games and sat in the nosebleed section of the Old Barn, where the steps were so steep you put your life on the line to get up there.
Randy Carlyle was famous to me because he didn't wear a helmet, and so even from that point of view I could spot his mullet flying in the wind.
Hockey wasn't my life. It was just an opportunity to have fun and connect to something … and yell for my city at the top of my lungs!
I think it's so great that people tweeted me this week from across the country to congratulate Winnipeg on getting into the playoffs. Some simply said, "Winnipeg fans are the best!"
And you know what? I agree.
Saskatchewan might greenly overshadow the CFL, but we are the white light of the NHL, and on Monday we are all going to remember how good that feels. It's all about us, finally.
Come by the University of Winnipeg lawns by CBC Manitoba's downtown Winnipeg studio on Monday, April 20, for free pancakes and to meet some former players for the Winnipeg Jets. That's at 7 a.m. until 8:30 a.m.
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