Jets fans pumped and ready for Game 1 Whiteout in Winnipeg

WINNIPEG – Sheila Hathaway was bedecked in her Winnipeg Jets Whiteout best, including a white-and-blue wig with the Stanley Cup affixed to the top and face makeup of the team’s logo, a silver jet with edges of the Canadian maple leaf surrounding it.

It’s an outfit the Winnipeg native has put together each of the eight times the Jets have been in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since relocating here from Atlanta prior to the 2011-12 season.

“Forty-five minutes,” she said on how long it took to get ready. “I’ve been a season ticketholder since Day 1.”

Hathaway was one of a few thousand people outside enjoying the Winnipeg Whiteout street parties taking place around Canada Life Centre prior to Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round between the Jets and the St. Louis Blues (6 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX, FDSNMW).

Fans gathered along Donald Street for pregame festivities, enjoying everything from pizza to tater tots and music that blared from the main stage, situated closer to Portage Avenue.

There was plenty of creativity in the outfits, from white wigs to white fur coats to a Darth Vader mask – in white, of course. Another fan had a stuffed animal with a saxophone attached to emulate the “Saxophone Squirtle” video played at Jets games.

“This is our first Whiteout party, but we’ve come to a few games this year and been lifelong fans forever,” said Shannon Burnette, who was attending with fellow Winnipeg native Kasper Pogrzevski.

The Whiteout inside the arena, where fans dress in white from head to toe and bring deafening noise to support the Jets, has been a part of Winnipeg hockey since 1987 with the original Jets.

In 2018, when the Jets made a run to the Western Conference Final, Winnipeg expanded the Whiteout tradition to include outdoor watch parties. Since then, more than 170,000 fans have participated in them.

Tickets were $10, with $5 donated to the United Way Winnipeg. Those attending games can use their gameday ticket to get into the parties. More than $312,000 has been raised to provide critical support in the areas of homelessness, addiction, and hunger through the Whiteout Street Parties. The outdoor party crowd is capped at 5,000 fans and tickets go fast.

Fans can also be part of the True North Square party in the plaza, where they can gather three hours before puck drop to watch the game indoors at Hargrave St. Market or outdoors in the plaza. The Jets also have whiteout watch parties for away games during the postseason.

It's been a frustrating few seasons for the Jets, who advanced to the Western Conference Final in 2018 but have been eliminated in the first round the past three seasons.

So what convinces fans this year will be different?

“Connor Hellebuyck is going to get the monkey off his back. He’s due,” said Pogrzevski of the Jets goaltender.

Hellebuyck won the Vezina Trophy, awarded annually to the League’s best goalie, last season and in 2019-20 and he’ll probably win it after another stellar outing this season. But he has struggled in the postseason, going 18-27 with a 2.85 goals-against average, .911 save percentage and three shutouts in 45 starts.

Hathaway had other ideas.

“This year is definitely different because this year we have four lines deep,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what line we put out. The next line is going to do it. We don’t have a weak line this year. That’s our power play this year.”