Winnipeg Free Press http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/jets-328749651.html Jets goalies shine in opener Wild win in first glimpse of 3-on-3 OT By: Tim Campbell With two pre-season rosters full of hopeful NHL prospects, of course a Central Division game broke out. It s just in the DNA of the Winnipeg Jets and Minnesota Wild. Wild defenceman Matt Dumba scored off a faceoff at 4:12 of overtime the league s new three-on-three variety and lifted the visitors to a 1-0 victory over the Jets before 15,294 at the MTS Centre. It was the Jets first outing of the pre-season. A different group of Jets will travel to Edmonton today and meet the Oilers in a pre-season game at Rexall Place tonight at 8 p.m. The game went back and forth much of the night but the scorers were foiled by Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom and Jets goalies Ondrej Pavelec and Connor Hellebuyck, who came in to start the third. The Jets outshot the Wild 28-26. September Sharpie Pavelec was the sharpest of the trio, and surely of his team. "We ve got good goaltenders," said Jets coach Paul Maurice. "We ve got some good goaltending here. You wanted more (analysis)? Let s just save it for the regular season." Of the 19 shots he faced, Pavelec had three major second-period saves that would likely have brought standing ovations during the regular season. He stopped Tyler Graovac s one-timer about three minutes into the second, moving to his left, then made a beauty of a save on Erik Huala at the 14:20 mark of the period. In the final minute of the second, he was unflinching and gloved Charlie Coyle s deke attempt when Coyle was left unattended for enough of a moment at the edge of the crease. "I don t know if (sharp) is the right word," Pavelec said. "It s the first game. You never know what you re going to get. You never know what the game s going to look like. A lot of new guys. I felt good. I tried to do the things simple and wait for the puck and get that feeling again. "It was a good game, good scoring chances on both sides."
The kids Among several youngsters on audition for open jobs with the Jets, Maurice just didn t feel like heaping on further pressure by singling any of them out. He did admit that one or more furthered their case with Tuesday s effort. "I don t know that I would use significantly, but yes," the coach said. There was a pause in the interview room, hoping Maurice would say more. "Not a chance," he continued, using an example by just pulling a name out of the air. "Because then it becomes the Blake Wheeler watch (as in) I thought Blake gave himself a far better chance to play on our team this year, and I ll have to answer questions about Blake for the next two weeks. "This is going to get tougher and tougher as we go and the lineups are going to change. I may have a young player I liked an awful lot and in two weeks time that may not be right there and we re talking about the failure or what he s done wrong or how he s fallen off when he s been good. "So just let this play out and we ll see where we are." The return Alex Burmistrov said after the game he was "nervous." The 23-year-old centre is back from Russia and Tuesday was in a North American game for the first time in more than two years. "I think we played pretty good," he said. "Me, I could have played better but it was the first game and it s always hard to play the first one. "It s different hockey. Big difference (in ice). It s tougher here. For sure it s tougher. Hockey s faster. You have to think faster." He said he s got one goal for his next outing. "Shoot the puck more, probably," he said. "We had lots of chances to shoot the puck and didn t do it." New overtime format promises excitement One renovation that was overlooked at the MTS Centre this summer seatbelts. Based on the first pre-season game of the new NHL season and the appearance of the league s new three-on-three overtime format, it s going to be buckle-up time when games go to extra time in 2015-16.
Tuesday, the Winnipeg Jets and Minnesota Wild played 4 minutes 12 seconds worth of it before the Wild finally broke the scoreless tie for a 1-0 triumph. The extra period featured eight shots on goal and more than four minutes with wide-open ice and end-to-end chances. I guess it s exciting as heck, Jets coach Paul Maurice said after the contest. It will be interesting to watch it develop over the course of the year when more strategy comes into play and teams starting running more defined routes and you get groups of your three guys that you put together that you ll keep together. Maurice employed several trios, but relied heavily on Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Dustin Byfuglien, who started and had three shifts. The Jets also used Toby Enstrom with Mathieu Perreault and Nikolaj Ehlers, and Drew Stafford with Alex Burmistrov and Jacob Trouba, and combinations of those groups. Scheifele had a breakaway and Perreault what looked to be an open net. On the Wild side, Tyler Graovac had the best chance (before Matt Dumba scored), looking skyward when Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck made a three-on-one one-timer look almost easy. Is there a philosophy that s going to guide the Jets in this situation? I think everybody s coming up with their own deal, Maurice said. Nobody s going to tip their hat of what they think s important. Most of what we looked at of the offence in these games are generated in two or three situations that just repeat themselves. I think you saw some of those you take your chance, they get their chance. Line changes are a key piece to it and faceoffs are a huge part to it. And it will be a work in progress, Maurice said. All this stuff will get watched and charted now because it s so unusual, he said. You ve got a generation of hockey players that haven t played it, so it s a completely different game out there. From the Jets locker-room, there was one overwhelming vote in favour of the change in formats. It s fun, said Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec, who watched it from the bench after playing two periods Tuesday. A lot of scoring chances. One mistake and it s an odd-man rush. But I still think it s better than shootouts. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/morrissey-banking-on-better-camp- 328776611.html Morrissey banking on better camp
By: Tim Campbell Josh Morrissey's training camp a year ago went wrong and ended in disappointment. The Winnipeg Jets' 2013 first-round draft pick was still trying to figure out optimum weight and conditioning matters and was sent back to his WHL team prior to the start of the NHL season. Fast forward to Tuesday's start to the 2015 pre-season games and Morrissey appears to be on a better path to success. Now 20, he'll be a pro this year no matter what and he's sounding more prepared than ever. "I'm trying not to think about it too much," said the fleet defenceman, asked about last year's experience. "I'm just trying to play, to get it started. I think last year I probably put too much pressure on myself coming into these games, got a little bit afraid to make a mistake then and stopped moving my feet. Then you never play well." In so many ways, including having had a normal summer for a change, Morrissey is recalibrated for a better showing this fall and was in the lineup against the Minnesota Wild Tuesday night. "As far as the game goes, you want to try to show what we've been working on in the scrimmages and practices and some of the systems the Jets are running," he said after the morning skate. "Overall I'm just excited to get out there, trying not to put too much pressure on myself and just have a good first shift." -- -- -- First impressions were on the mind of Jets centre Alex Burmistrov Tuesday. Well, first impressions this time around. The 23-year-old forward is back from a two-year hiatus in the KHL and made his first preseason appearance with the Jets against the Wild Tuesday night. After the morning skate, he was relaxed and not overly concerned with how he'd be received by fans at the MTS Centre. "You know, sometimes I think about that," he said. "So far they've been good to me so I hope they're not going to boo me. They've been nice. "I just feel good about it. Nobody's told me anything bad." -- -- -- A man of few words, Joel Armia has been flying somewhat under the radar so far in training camp. The Finnish-born 22-year-old, a big part of the future element for the Jets in last February's trade with the Buffalo Sabres, also skated in his first pre-season game for his new team Tuesday night.
"I feel really good," Armia said about the first few days of camp. "I think it's been a good camp so far but there's lot of days ahead." Armia, who has played two pro years, mostly in the AHL, said he wasn't nervous at all about his first game in a Jets' uniform. "Actually no, I haven't thought much about it," he said. "I'm a little surprised myself. But I feel like I'm confident and I'm relaxed and that's a good thing. Not nervous at all." -- -- -- Singing the national anthem Tuesday night at the MTS Centre was local legend Randy Bachman. The former Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive guitarist and songwriter will also being taking care of the O Canada business Friday night. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/policing-the-players-328764851.html Policing the players Jets trying to be proactive in wake of NHL bad behaviour By: Gary Lawless Prevention and personal relationships between the organization and its players is the Winnipeg Jets answer to controlling conduct. "We try to build personal relationships with our players. We want them to be comfortable coming to us to talk about anything," said Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff. "We talk about putting family first. But it can t just be talk. We encourage a family atmosphere here, not only for the players but for their families. Our culture goes beyond the players in the room. It extends to their families. (Coach) Paul (Maurice) talks a lot about players taking care of one another. We repeat that a lot. We aspire to take care of one another in our organization." Code of conduct has become an oft-repeated phrase this summer as the hockey world has watched the Los Angeles Kings come apart. One player went to jail for beating his wife. Another was arrested with a pocket full of cocaine. A third is before the courts for possession of a controlled substance. The Los Angeles Kings somehow developed a troublesome culture and GM Dean Lombardi has called what happened with his team over the last year "eye-opening," and labelled the Kings approach to off-ice conduct as "negligent." He s now trying to turn it around with an education program and the hiring of recovering addict and former NHLer Brantt Myhres in a new player assistance position. The Kings have adopted The Herren Project to educate players about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. They ve also added sexual-harassment training and a conduct-awareness program.
The Jets have been proactive in a number of ways, including bringing in former NHL defenceman Rob Ramage to talk to their players about drunk driving and the tragic results it can have on one s life. Ramage had a long and productive NHL career but was jailed in 2008 on an impaired-drivingcausing-death charge as a result of a 2003 car accident in Woodbridge, Ont., that killed one of Ramage s passengers, former Chicago Blackhawk Keith Magnuson. Ramage provided a scared-straight speech to the Jets, and management followed up with its message of having open lines of communication between the players and the organization. One NHL executive recently said to me, "When I played it was rye and coke. Now it s just (cocaine). Times change. These kids have money and we can t pretend they re not doing what other kids are doing. Because they are and we have to be ready to deal with it." Cheveldayoff was asked about the changing times in the NHL "It s an interesting dynamic. The league is getting younger and younger all the time, when it comes to the players it s composed of, and the contracts seem to be getting larger and larger on a quicker basis for some of these guys. And sometimes, those two things don t meet. When younger people get a lot of money and reality, sometimes, isn t per se, the normal thing that most people go through, there can be some difficult things. But we are concerned, we re a family here. We re concerned about our players, we re concerned about our players wives, and obviously their families," said Cheveldayoff. "When you see issues happen with players, you certainly want to reach out and be able to provide guidance, or at least let players know there s help around the corner here, within any organization. For the most part, I think there s 700-some-odd players in the National Hockey League, and there s a lot of mature players, a lot of players that, obviously, take pride in where things are at. You do look and want to wish the best for everybody, but whether it s that or even on the injury side of it, you take a lot of things very, very seriously. There s players lives, long past the hockey world, that you re concerned about." One way the Jets have tried to reach their players is through its player-development staff made up of Jimmy Roy and Mike Keane. From the moment a player is drafted by the Jets, he gets a pair of new uncles and all the advice that comes from a combined 2,000-plus pro games. "Jimmy and Mike spend a lot of time with our prospects. We try to prepare them for a lot of these pitfalls before they get to a pro camp or arrive in the NHL," said Jets director of communications Scott Brown. "They talk a lot about how to be a pro. How to train, how to eat and all of the things that are part of reaching the NHL. They also introduce them to our organization and the culture we have here." Winnipeg Sun http://www.winnipegsun.com/2015/09/22/wild-edge-jets-in-ot-in-pre-season-opener
Wild edge Jets in OT in pre-season opener By Ken Wiebe, Winnipeg Sun On a night when most of his teammates were simply trying to shake off the rust, Ondrej Pavelec was in fine form. Early-season form, mid-season form, late-season form? That's still a bit too early to tell. No matter what you call it, the Winnipeg Jets starting goalie was excellent as his team played its first game of the pre-season, making 19 saves through two periods before giving way to Connor Hellebuyck. Hellebuyck, who was making his NHL pre-season debut, had six saves in relief but defenceman Matt Dumba beat him high to the glove side with 47.4 seconds left in overtime to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 1-0 victory over the Jets on Tuesday night before a crowd of 15,294 at the MTS Centre. The Jets are back in action Wednesday night at Rexall Place against the Edmonton Oilers. Jets head coach Paul Maurice was in mid-season form during his post-game address, deflecting several questions, though ultimately admitting several players advanced their cause of earning a roster spot. Without naming names, of course. We've got some good goaltenders, we've got some good goaltending here, said Maurice, when asked for his biggest takeaway from the game itself. I saw a couple of things that I liked. I don't know that I've necessarily formed an opinion on anybody and what they're capable of doing. There were some good things. We were handling the puck a little more than we needed to at times but I liked the confidence. Indeed, there were numerous times when Jets' forwards tried to feather a perfect pass in a situation where the shot from a prime-scoring area was the higher-percentage play, but that's what the pre-season is for to work out the kinks. The most exciting part of the contest was the three-on-three overtime which saw both clubs create several glorious chances and odd-man rushes before Dumba ended things. Pavelec was the best player on the ice for a good chunk of this one, getting in position to make plenty of saves look routine while adding a few highlight-reel stops to round out his night. Pavelec made a good read to get across to stop Tyler Graovac on a one-timer, but his best save came in the final minute of the second period when he used his glove to snare a shot from Charlie Coyle. Perhaps the only one not impressed with the performance was Pavelec himself.
I don't know if sharp is the right word, said Pavelec. It's the first game and you never know what you're going to get. You don't know what the game is going to look like. But it's good to get that game feeling and definitely nice to get in a game again. I tried to keep things simple and then stay in the crease, don't do anything crazy, just wait for the puck. That's what I tried to do. There were a lot of mistakes and a lot of scoring chances on both sides, a typical exhibition game. Speaking of strong goaltending, Niklas Backstrom made 28 saves for the Wild to record the shutout. Going into the contest, there were plenty of eyes on the Jets' young forward prospects. Although it's important not to put too much stock into the first pre-season contest, not many of the young guns really jumped off the page. But they didn't make many costly plays either. Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers, the ninth overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, showed some creativity on a line with Alex Burmistrov and Mathieu Perreault and received a vote of confidence when he was sent out on the ice during the overtime session. I used my speed a lot and played the game that I should play here, said Ehlers, who had four shots on goal. Jets forward hopeful Brendan Lemieux also made his presence felt, crunching Dumba with a big check behind the net during the third period while finishing with five hits overall. Lemieux is true to form, that's his game, said Maurice. And as Maurice pointed out early in training camp, in order for those players on the bubble to make their case, it's a matter of playing the Jets' game that will ultimately determine whether they stick around or not. http://www.winnipegsun.com/2015/09/22/three-on-three-ot-a-smashing-success--hellebuyckknocking-on-the-door--lemieux-carrying-family-name-well--pardy-at-home Three-on-three OT a smashing success... Hellebuyck knocking on the door... Lemieux carrying family name well... Pardy at home By Paul Friesen, Winnipeg Sun It was as ragged as a Keith Richards guitar riff, and just as wrinkled and uneven as the old Stone. Then they dropped the puck for three-on-three overtime, and what had been a dishwater-dull NHL pre-season game between the Winnipeg Jets and Minnesota Wild, Tuesday, came to life. Every missed chance at one end turned into another at the other, the teams trading two-onones and three-on-twos like Richards and Ronnie Wood trading licks.
Back and forth they went, until Minnesota's Matt Dumba ended it, but only after one of the more insane saves you'll ever see by Jets reliever Connor Hellebuyck. The final score, 1-0, Wild. But score one for the NHL, which appears to have come up with one bang-on rule change, if a few years too late. How does it compare to a shootout? Don't even ask. If you thought the breakaway contest was a good way to decide a hockey game, you'll still like the new overtime format. It's pond hockey, without the pond. Shift after shift of skill players, with more room than they've ever known. A goalie's nightmare, sure. But not as bad as the shootout. And for everyone else: satisfaction. NEXT IN NET? It's probably not going to be long before Hellebuyck is knocking on the NHL door, his sprawling, glove save on Tyler Graovic in overtime announcing his presence like a doorbell in the middle of the night. He also stopped Justin Fontaine in close on the Wild's lone power play chance early in the third Relieving starter Ondrej Pavelec, who pitched a shutout for 40 minutes, Hellebuyck was perfect through 20. With Pavelec and Michael Hutchinson entrenched, another season on the farm looks likely for the 22-year-old. But Hellebuyck's combination of size and athleticism points to a gig in the big leagues eventually. TOP GUNS The intact Jets line of Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Drew Stafford took 20 minutes to get untracked, then began to dominate their shifts in the second and third periods. But you know what they say about rust. It comes off the hands last. So plenty of chances but no goals the story of the game.
NO ANGEL Kudos to Chris Thorburn for ignoring heavyweight Kurtis Gabriel's offer to drop the mitts in the first period. Thorburn doesn't need that crap this early in the pre-season. Heck, he doesn't need to oblige any young toughs until the games count. Unless one of them tries to mess with someone like Nikolai Ehlers, that is. SUPER-ROOK Speaking of Ehlers, he showed a burst of that famous speed midway through the third, getting in alone off the side boards but failing to beat Niklas Backstrom in goal. The line of Ehlers, Mathieu Perreault and Alex Burmistrov generated some offence, but nothing to write home about and certainly not enough to make Paul Maurice look like a genius for putting it together. Of course, even the best chemistry experiments take time. PRODIGAL SON RETURNS In his first NHL action since returning from the KHL, prodigal son Burmistrov made some nice plays and coughed up a puck or two in a bad spot. Overall, he appeared to do less of the east-west zig-zag that put him in former coach Claude Noel's doghouse. Of the rookies trying to make an impression, Nic Petan showed he's a big-league passer, among his dishes a perfect long-range saucer that sent Thomas Raffl in on a breakaway. Raffl couldn't finish -- so he fit right in on this night. LIKE FATHER... Jets prospect Brendan Lemieux had a pretty quiet night. That is, until he belted defenceman Matt Dumba behind the Minnesota net in the third period. Dumba's D partner, Marco Scandella, didn't appreciate that and took a swipe at Lemieux. Somewhere, father Claude was smiling. GEARED UP Dustin Byfuglien didn't waste any time getting his motor into gear, as he was all over the ice, roaming with the puck, going to the net and knocking people down on occasion. He even had a bit of a running feud going with Gabriel, although it never did boil over.
The Jets came out gunning in the third period, apparently determined to turn a scoreless game their direction. And when Perreault's net-crashing drew a Minnesota penalty, the game's first power play immediately put the pressure on only to be negated by a Byfuglien slash. WHY COME BACK? Looking at the crowded Jets blue line, you wonder why Adam Pardy re-signed instead of taking advantage of his unrestricted free agent status to go elsewhere. You can look at it as, 'Crap, I'm not going to play.' But then you look at what happened last year, Pardy said. Everybody did play. Besides, he feels at home here. I've bounced around to a few teams now. And the grass isn't always greener on the other side. You go to a new team, you have coaches that don't know you, teammates that don't know you, management who don't know you off the ice, as a person. And once you spend a couple of years here and you build relationships and trust... it's not something you want to leave and try to start over. You can look at it like it is crowded and I might not play as much, but it's quality. Quality of living, quality of your career. Pardy is coming off shoulder surgery. He'll get his first taste of pre-season action as early as Wednesday, in Edmonton. Canadian Press http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/jets-suffer-1-0-ot-loss-to-wild-in-winnipeg-s-1st-preseason-game-1.3239648 Jets suffer 1-0 OT loss to Wild in Winnipeg's 1st pre-season game By Judy Owen, The Canadian Press Matt Dumba scored with 48 seconds left in 3-on-3 overtime to give the Minnesota Wild a 1-0 exhibition victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. The defenceman took a pass form winger Justin Fontaine and sent the puck high past goalie Connor Hellebuyck to give the Wild a 1-1 exhibition record. It was Winnipeg's first pre-season game in front of a capacity crowd at MTS Centre and fans cheered their first look at the five-minute, 3-on-3 overtime. After a scoreless first period, Jets right-winger Raffi Thomas got a chance to go in alone on goalie Niklas Backstrom in the second but was denied.
Winnipeg also had a goal waved off because the net came off its mooring. The Jets used a top line of left-winger Drew Stafford, centre Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler. The second line featured Mathieu Perreault, centre Alexander Burmistrov and 2014 first-round draft pick (ninth overall) Nikolaj Ehlers on the right side. Ondrej Pavelec, who helped guide the Jets into the playoffs last season, looked sharp, making a couple of close-in saves late in the second. Shots on goal after two periods favoured the Wild 19-16. Hellebuyck, who played 58 games last season for the AHL St. John's IceCaps, took over for Pavelec to start the third. Winnipeg had the game's first power play at 2:01 of the third after Wild defenceman Tyson Strachan was called for roughing, but 19 seconds later Jets blueliner Dustin Byfuglien was sent off for slashing. The Jets got another power-play chance with just over seven minutes left in the game when Dumba was called for high-sticking, but came away empty. Both clubs sat some key veterans. Winnipeg was without captain Andrew Ladd and centres Bryan Little and Adam Lowry. The Wild, which lost its first exhibition game 3-2 Monday to Buffalo, 3-2 didn't dress forwards Zach Parise and Jason Pominville and defencemen Ryan Suter. Darcy Kuemper backed up Backstrom, but didn't get any ice time. The game was the first opportunity for fans to see $12 million of renovations to the rink, including a new, larger high-definition scoreboard and extra seating that brings capacity up to 15,294. NOTES: Fans had a chance to cheer before the game as Randy Bachman of Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive fame played both national anthems on his electric guitar without singing, and paused so fans could yell "True North" during the Canadian anthem. Winnipeg plays the Oilers in Edmonton on Wednesday. Minnesota visits Columbus on Thursday