Winnipeg Jets Season Scrapbook

Issue 1

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instantly fell in love with. The Winnipeg Free Press website traffic, while always high, spiked with every new piece of Jets information, and every new piece of the Jets puzzle coming together, and people who had followed the Jets for years during the 70s, 80s and 90s came to our website from all over the world, particularly from the hockey hotbeds of Sweden and Finland, where the connection to the Jets of Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson and Veli-Pekka Ketola are still strong. In September, we culminated a new five-year partnership agreement with True North as the official newspaper of the Winnipeg Jets, which allowed our properties to closely align with the booming Jets brand. At roughly the same time "MONDAY, OCTOBER 10TH, THE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS PRINTED AND DELIVERED A NEWSPAPER WITH A WINNIPEG JET ON THE COVER, IT WAS THANKSGIVING MONDAY AND WE HAD PLENTY TO BE THANKFUL ABOUT. " we, along with international publishing giant Penguin, published the definitive book of record for the story thus far; "Back in the Bigs: How Winnipeg Won, Lost and Regained its Place in the NHL". The 222-page hardcover book, brilliantly and lovingly penned by our own Randy Turner, rocketed onto the national bestseller list as interest across the country grew for the newest member of the NHL. The intensity of the anticipation grew exponentially as we approached the actual moment when the players would appear on the ice in the new Jets sweaters. While the regular season opening game was still weeks away, on September 20th the Jets skated onto the ice to a spine-tingling, ear-splitting roar of a sold out MTS Centre, a rabid Stanley Cup playoff-like atmosphere, all for a split squad pre-season game with no meaning, against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The love affair bordered on the irrational, but the message was being sent around the league; the Jets fans are going to be a factor. The NHL got the message too; the league's launch party was moved to the Forks, the national media converged on our city and the story grew. On October 9th, the Montreal Canadiens and the Winnipeg Jets played the first game of the regular season. Not many remember the details of the game, the story was all about the pure emotion and elation of seeing the beloved sport and the beloved team on the ice in front of us. On Monday, October 10th, the Winnipeg Free Press printed and delivered a newspaper with a Winnipeg Jet on the cover. It was Thanksgiving Monday and we had plenty to be thankful about. As the relationship between the Jets and their fan base grew so too did the role of the Winnipeg Free Press in fostering the connection. Winnipeg's largest newsroom put its resources to work creating a team of reporters, columnists and photographers to capture all the action and every nuance of the new team. Veteran sports reporters Ed Tait, Tim Campbell and columnist Gary Lawless have provided readers with the complete picture of the team, their ups and downs and put the impact on the city and the league in context. In addition, our online properties have been adding more and more opportunities for fans. Jetcetera, a unique video series hosted by Geoff Kirbyson, has provided Winnipeg Free Press audiences with a behind-the-scenes look at every aspect that goes into creating the NHL big-league experience. Jetstream, an online fan forum and community hosted by superfan Darren Ford, is the go-to place for the growing number of hardcore Jets followers. In January, 2012, the Free Press launched the first official Winnipeg Jets commemorative medallion collection featuring the entire roster from December 1, 2011. The collection became an instant hit with readers and subscribers and will become a coveted piece of Jets history in years to come. At about the same time, Jets budding star Evander Kane came onboard with the Winnipeg Free Press as his first official promotional arrangement, writing a blog under the banner Citizen Kane, and appearing in the first local television commercial featuring a new Winnipeg Jet, as he showed how an NHL sniper would deliver the day's news. In March, the Winnipeg Free Press re-launched Download today on iTunes! version 2.0 of the WFP Hockey App as the WFP JETS NEWS app which is available for the iPhone and iPad and provides the most complete coverage of the team as it navigates through the season, including schedules, stats, news and opinion and the goings on down on the farm club in St. John's. Season O`ne is in the books. In fact a game by game analysis is laid out for you in this book, but the buzz around the Jets never stops, Stanley Cup playoffs continue, the 2012 Amateur draft is on the horizon and the summer can't be short enough before Jets fans crank it up for season two and the love affair continues.

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