Winnipeg Jets

The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment and plays its home games at the MTS Centre.

The Jets began play as the Atlanta Thrashers in the 1999–2000 NHL season. True North Sports & Entertainment then bought the team in May 2011 and relocated the franchise from Atlanta, Georgia to Winnipeg prior to the 2011–12 season (the first NHL franchise to relocate since the Hartford Whalers became the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997). The team was renamed the Jets after Winnipeg's original WHA/NHL team, which relocated after the 1995–96 season to become what is now known as the Arizona Coyotes.

History

Original Winnipeg Jets (1972–1996)

On December 27, 1971, Winnipeg was granted one of the founding franchises in the World Hockey Association (WHA). By 1979, the vast majority of the WHA's teams had folded, but the Jets were still going strong and they were absorbed into the NHL along with the Quebec Nordiques, Edmonton Oilers and Hartford Whalers as part of the WHA–NHL merger. Team owner Barry Shenkarow sold the team to American businessmen Steven Gluckstern and Richard Burke. Burke and Gluckstern originally planned to move the team to Minnesota (which had lost the North Stars to Dallas in 1993), but eventually reached an agreement with Phoenix businessman Jerry Colangelo that would see the team move to Arizona and become the Phoenix Coyotes. The Winnipeg Jets played their last game on April 28, 1996.

2011–12 Winnipeg Jets season

The 2011–12 Winnipeg Jets season was the 13th season for the National Hockey League franchise and the first in Winnipeg, Manitoba, after 12 seasons as the Atlanta Thrashers. The franchise played in Atlanta since the 1999–2000 NHL season, and relocated to Winnipeg following the conclusion of the 2010–11 NHL season. The relocation of the Thrashers to Winnipeg was confirmed by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on May 31, 2011, and approved by the NHL Board of Governors on June 21, 2011. The 2011 season also marks the first appearance of the Winnipeg Jets name in the NHL since the previous franchise moved from Winnipeg to Phoenix in 1996. At the end of the year, the team failed to qualify for a playoff spot.

Off-season

On May 31, 2011, at a press conference at the MTS Centre, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed that the Atlanta Thrashers had been sold to True North Sports and Entertainment and will relocate to Winnipeg for the 2011–12 NHL season after a unanimous vote favoring the sale and relocation at the Board of Governors meeting on June 21, 2011. On June 4, 2011, the new owners informed General Manager Rick Dudley that he would no longer be the GM of the franchse, and that the last four years of his contract were to be bought-out.

Winnipeg Monarchs (WHL)

The Winnipeg Monarchs were a junior ice hockey team that played in the Western Canada Hockey League from 1967 to 1977 under three names. The team played as the Winnipeg Jets from 1967 to 1973; the Winnipeg Clubs from 1973 to 1976, and the Winnipeg Monarchs from 1976 to 1977. The Monarchs franchise played at Winnipeg Arena in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The team was the direct namesake for the Winnipeg Jets professional hockey club that began play in 1972; the junior Jets changed their name to disambiguate themselves in 1973.

In 1977 the Monarchs moved to Calgary to become the Calgary Wranglers. They are today the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

See also

Winnipeg Jets (disambiguation)

The name Winnipeg Jets has been used for three ice hockey teams, two professional and one amateur:

Winnipeg

Winnipeg (ⁱ/ˈwɪnɪpɛɡ/) is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba, Canada. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers.

The name "Winnipeg" comes from the Western Cree words for Lake Winnipeg nearby, referring to muddy or brackish water, or possibly the natural colour of the Red River that flowed into the southern basin of the lake. The region was a trading centre for aboriginal peoples long before the arrival of Europeans. French traders built the first fort on the site in 1738. A settlement was later founded by the Selkirk settlers of the Red River Colony in 1812, the nucleus of which was incorporated as the City of Winnipeg in 1873. As of 2011, Winnipeg is the seventh most populated municipality in Canada.

Known as the "Gateway to the West", Winnipeg is a railway and transportation hub with a diversified economy. This multicultural city hosts numerous annual festivals, including the Festival du Voyageur, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, the Jazz Winnipeg Festival, the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, and Folklorama. Winnipeg was the first Canadian host of the Pan American Games. It is home to several professional sports franchises, including the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (Canadian football), the Winnipeg Jets (ice hockey), Manitoba Moose (ice hockey) and the Winnipeg Goldeyes (baseball).

Winnipeg (disambiguation)

Winnipeg is a city in Canada and the capital of the province Manitoba.

Winnipeg may also refer to:

Union Station (Winnipeg)

Union Station is the inter-city railway station for Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is a grand beaux-arts structure situated near The Forks in downtown Winnipeg, and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1976.

History

Initial Construction

Constructed between 1908 and 1911, the station was built as a joint venture between the Canadian Northern Railway, National Transcontinental, Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and the Dominion government. The first train to enter the station did so on 7 August 1911, with the official opening the following year on 24 June 1912.

Union Station was designed by Warren and Wetmore, the architects responsible for Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Designed in the Beaux-Arts style and constructed from local Tyndall limestone, Union Station was one of Western Canada’s largest railway stations.

The building extends for 350 feet (110 m) along Main Street, with the entrance close to the intersection of Main Street and Broadway. The building's entrance doors are located under a decorative iron canopy that projects from the austere white limestone. Atop the building is a large dome.