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Winnipeg Jets – Jet Stream

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Throughout the year, the Sip Advisor will alphabetically travel the National Hockey League (NHL), discovering the best and worst each team has to offer in a variety of subjects. We will also feature a drink based off the franchise. Today, we brave frosty temperatures to fly with the Winnipeg Jets:

Establishment Story: Version 2.0 of the Jets was born when the Atlanta Thrashers were relocated to the Manitoba capital in 2011. The Thrashers had joined the NHL as an expansion team in 1999. After some debate, new Jets owner Mark Chipman/True North Sports & Entertainment decided to return to the Jets nickname, which had been given to the previous World Hockey Association/NHL franchise that had relocated to Phoenix in 1996.

Stanley Cups: The Jets have yet to win a Stanley Cup, coming closest in 2018, when they were eliminated in the Western Conference Final by the Vegas Golden Knights. As for the Thrashers, they only qualified for the playoffs once in their existence, being swept in the first round by the New York Rangers in 2007. The original Jets won the WHA Avco World Trophy three times, but that legacy belongs to the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes.

Celebrity Fan: Professional wrestler Chris Jericho is such a big Jets fan (original and 2.0) that the Winnipeg native has donned his team gear at opponent rinks, including his current home of Tampa Bay, even when he’s been given free tickets by Lightning employees. When jokingly told “You can’t do that,” Jericho simply replied “Watch me!” Jericho also once appeared on WWE Monday Night Raw in a Jets t-shirt.

Thrashers to Jets

Super Fan: Len ‘Kroppy’ Kropioski was often featured on the Winnipeg scoreboard, as the World War II veteran sang the Canadian national anthem and saluted the country’s flag. Kroppy had been a season ticket holder since the Jets returned in 2011, making a 2.5-hour trek from Kenora, Ontario for each home game. Sadly, Kroppy passed away in 2016, at the age of 98. In 2018, Kroppy was immortalized with an Upper Deck hockey card release.

Mascot: Mick E. Moose was the mascot of the minor league Minnesota Moose, moving with the team to Manitoba in 1996. When the Jets returned to the NHL in 2011, Mick E. was called up to the big leagues. He now represents both the Jets and Moose. Benny, the mascot of the original Jets, was resurrected at the 2016 Heritage Classic, becoming a secondary mascot for the Jets 2.0. While in Atlanta, the team’s mascot was Thrash, a brown thrasher, the state bird of Georgia.

Tradition: The Winnipeg White Out was first used for the opening round of the 1987 playoffs, when fans were encouraged to wear all white, as a counter to their opponents, the Calgary Flames, whose fans created a ‘C of Red’. When the Jets won the series, fans continued the tradition. Fans are also known to emphasize the “true north” portion of the Canadian national anthem, an homage to Winnipeg’s geographic location.

Appearances in Media: On the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, character Robin Scherbatsky was occasionally seen wearing a Vancouver Canucks jersey. That all changed in a later season episode, when she is shown wearing a Thrashers jersey, with the logo removed. All this, despite the team having moved to Winnipeg years earlier. Also, the Jets 2.0 franchise is profiled in a series of documentary shorts called Jets Legends, on the Crave streaming service.

White Out

Events/Scandals: When an entire article is devoted to a timeline of a player’s behavioural incidents with a team, you might call said player a problem. Despite his obvious talent, drafted fourth overall in 2009 by Atlanta, Evander Kane caused many headaches during his time with the Jets, including issues around his social media use, relationships with local businesses, angering his own teammates, allegations of faking injuries, benchings by coaches, and even legal matters.

Rivalry: While the new incarnation of the Jets shares some minor rivals with their original predecessors (Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks), these battles aren’t what they used to be, given they no longer all share the same division. The honour of current top rival would likely go to the geographically close Minnesota Wild, with the Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators being other options.

Tragedy: On September 29, 2003, Dany Heatley crashed his Ferrari with his Thrashers teammate Dan Snyder in the vehicle with him. Heatley suffered a number of injuries, but eventually made a full recovery. Sadly, Snyder never awoke from his coma, succumbing to septic shock on October 5, 2003. Despite the team’s relocation, the Jets continue to present the Dan Snyder Memorial Award for perseverance, dedication and hard work, in his memory.

Player Nicknames: Nikolai Ehlers earned the nickname Fly thanks to his speed and finesse. Ehlers has spent his entire career with the Jets, drafted ninth overall in 2014 by the team. Friend and former teammate Patrik Laine also once dropped the moniker ‘Little Buddy Nik’ towards Ehlers in an interview. The 6’5” Laine is definitely big, but Ehlers holds his own at a respectable 6’0”.

Dan Snyder

Line: One notable line from Jets history was the checking unit of Tanner Glass, Jim Slater and Chris Thorburn, dubbed the GST Line, a reference to the Canadian Goods and Services Tax. Going back to the Thrashers days, Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk were a dangerous combo, even as freshmen. The duo were both nominated for the 2001-02 Calder Trophy (rookie of the year), playing on a line together.

Captain: Blake Wheeler was named captain of the Jets prior to the 2016-17 season. He remained in the role until September 2022, when he was stripped of his captaincy, with Winnipeg electing to go into the season with no selected captain. New head coach Rick Bowness stated he wanted to go with a committee leadership approach, with a number of assistant captains, rather than one particular captain.

Enforcer: Chris Thorburn holds the Jets/Thrashers franchise record for career penalty minutes with 832, while Jeff Odgers tops the list for most penalty minutes in a single season with 226. Had Dustin Byfuglien not surprisingly retired at the age of 35 (more on that later), he certainly would have surpassed Thorburn, as he sits second on the Jets all-time list with 826 penalty minutes. Big Buff is best remembered for his bone-crunching hits and not shying away from the rough stuff.

Family Values: Father and son, Dave and Adam Lowry, enjoyed a coach/player relationship from November 2020 to April 2022. Adam was drafted by the Jets in 2011, with Dave joining the team as an assistant coach in 2020. Dave was named interim head coach just over a year later, with the departure of Paul Maurice, leaving the team at the end of the season to join the Seattle Kraken as an assistant coach.

Dustin Byfuglien

Returning Players: Paul Stastny first joined the Jets at the 2018 trade deadline, brought in to be the team’s second line center. Despite being a perfect fit with the club and the team having a successful playoff run, Stastny signed with the Vegas Golden Knights in the off-season. After two season with Vegas, Stastny was again traded to Winnipeg, where he resumed his spot on the team’s second line for two campaigns.

Short Stint: When Hall of Fame member Chris Chelios retired in August 2010, at the age of 48, he held the record for most games played by a defenseman, with 1,651. The last seven NHL contests of his lengthy career were spent with the Atlanta Thrashers. Chelios had signed a 25-game tryout contract with the minor league Chicago Wolves, being recalled by the Thrashers to close out the 2009-10 season.

Undrafted: Brandon Tanev was signed by the Jets out of college in 2016, joining the team for their final three games of that season. Tanev remained with the organization until 2019, when he was lured away by a six-year, $21 million contract offer by the Pittsburgh Penguins. For much of his time with Winnipeg, Tanev was used in a checking line role, often playing with Adam Lowry and Andrew Copp.

Trade: The organization’s final season in Atlanta saw the Thrashers take great advantage of the Chicago Blackhawks, who had serious salary cap issues. In two separate moves, the Thrashers brought in Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd (among others), who were coming off the Blackhawks 2010 Stanley Cup championship and would be important members of the franchise once moved to Winnipeg.

Chris Chelios

Signing: The Jets don’t often dip their toe into the big name free agent market, preferring to draft and develop their players, while acquiring others via trade. In this vein, one of the biggest moves the organization has ever made was re-signing center Mark Scheifele and goalie Connor Hellebuyck to identical seven-year, $59.5 million contracts, when everyone in the hockey world assumed the players were as good as gone from Winnipeg and would be dealt for packages of draft picks, prospects and other pieces.

Draft Pick: The Thrashers/Jets franchise has had the first overall pick twice, taking Patrik Stefan in 1999 and Ilya Kovalchuk in 2001. Stefan proved to be one of the biggest draft busts of all-time, while Kovalchuk enjoyed some success with Atlanta, before being traded. Mark Scheifele, taken seventh overall in 2011, was the first-ever pick of the franchise after it relocated to Winnipeg. A definite draft steal was selecting goalie Connor Hellebuyck at 130th overall in 2012.

Holdouts: A number of top Jets players have staged holdouts with the organization. Both Josh Morrissey in 2018 and Patrik Laine in 2019 missed training camp, but put pen to paper before the start of the season. Jacob Trouba was a different story, missing the first month of the 2016-17 season and even requesting a trade out of Winnipeg, before finally coming to terms with the organization.

Buyouts: Blake Wheeler played 12 seasons in Winnipeg, the last remaining player to come over from Atlanta. In 2023, the Jets bought out the last season of Wheeler’s five-year, $41.25 million contract, leading to the player being owed $5.5 million over two years. Wheeler left the organization as its career leader in games played (897), assists (550) and points (812). He signed a one-year deal with the New York Rangers for the 2023-24 campaign.

Blake Wheeler

Unique Game: The Jets have been involved in two Heritage Classic games, facing the Edmonton Oilers at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg in 2016, and the Calgary Flames at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan in 2019. The Jets were shutout 3-0 at home against Edmonton, while they defeated the Flames 2-1 in their neutral site game, although they were listed as the hosting team.

Goal: On November 24, 2018, Patrik Laine scored five goals against the St. Louis Blues. Even more impressive, the Finnish sniper only had five shots in the game. The feat earned a Winnipeg man $1 million, as part of a promotional contest. Another notable tally in team history was Nik Antropov scoring the first goal of Jets 2.0 history, giving fans their first chance to erupt for an NHL marker in 15 years.

Fight/Brawl: While the original Jets had their fair share of melees, version 2.0 hasn’t shied away from scuffles with opposing teams, particularly against divisional rivals such as the Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues. A memorable one-on-one tilt, saw unlikely fighters Blake Wheeler and Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins drop the gloves, as Wheeler looked to avenge an elbow to the head by Malkin during the teams’ previous meeting.

Injury: In an injury that would make all men squeamish, former Jets captain Blake Wheeler suffered a ruptured testicle when hit with a friendly fire shot during a December 15, 2022 game against the Nashville Predators. Amazingly, Wheeler finished the contest, quipping afterwards: “There’s a difference between being hurt and being injured. I didn’t know I was injured until the next day.” He missed five weeks of action to heal.

Patrik Laine

Penalty: During the second round of the 2021 playoffs, the underdog Montreal Canadiens were on the verge of winning Game 1, when Jets center Mark Scheifele decided to take his frustrations out on Canadiens forward Jake Evans, who had just scored an empty net goal, with a massive hit. Evans had to be stretchered off the ice and missed multiple games recovering from a concussion. Scheifele was handed a four-game suspension for the infraction.

Wildest Story: Dustin Byfuglien was among the Jets top defensemen coming into the 2019-20 season. As training camp was set to begin, news broke that Byfuglien had been granted a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons. Then, the popular player just never returned, being suspended by the team, so his contract wouldn’t affect Winnipeg’s salary cap. Byfuglien never played again, his contract mutually terminated in April 2020. In retirement, Byfuglien became a professional fisher.

Blooper: During an October 6, 2013 game between Winnipeg and the Anaheim Ducks, Jets defenseman Zach Bogosian retrieved the puck from behind his own goal line. When he attempted to pass the puck up the ice, he fanned on it, sending it straight to Ducks center Corey Perry, who promptly put it past Jets netminder Ondrej Pavelec for an easy goal. Worst of all, the marker was a 3-2 game-winner for Anaheim.

Miscellaneous: Although technically not connected to the original franchise, whose history belongs to the Arizona Coyotes, Jets 2.0 has honoured those jerseys retired by the first club. This includes Bobby Hull, Dale Hawerchuk and Thomas Steen. The team has also built a Hall of Fame, annually recognizing members of the original Jets, such as Randy Carlyle, Teemu Selanne and Teppo Numminen.

Winnipeg Jets: Jet Stream

Jet Stream

  • 1.5 oz Crown Royal
  • 0.5 oz Crème de Violette
  • 0.5 oz Sweet Vermouth
  • Splash of Lime Juice
  • Dash of Agave Syrup
  • Dash of Angostura Bitters
  • Garnish with a Lemon Slice

I found this cocktail on a Jets Reddit page. Crown Royal is produced in Gimli, Manitoba, so I appreciate its inclusion in the beverage. This wraps the year-long NHL project. I hope you’ve enjoyed travelling the best sports league in the world with me!

Ottawa Senators – The Statesman

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Throughout the year, the Sip Advisor will alphabetically travel the National Hockey League (NHL), discovering the best and worst each team has to offer in a variety of subjects. We will also feature a drink based off the franchise. Today, we’re off to Canada’s capital city for some parliamentary meetings with the Ottawa Senators:

Establishment Story: The Senators – not to be confused with the original Ottawa Senators (1883-1934) – entered the NHL as an expansion team for the 1992-93 season. The successful expansion bid began with a ‘Bring Back the Senators’ campaign, launched by real estate developer Bruce Firestone. After 11,000 season ticket pledges were secured, Firestone was granted the new franchise in 1990.

Stanley Cups: The original Senators claimed the Stanley Cup 11 times, with only one championship coming under NHL operation, when they won the first NHL Stanley Cup Finals over the Boston Bruins in 1927. Version 2.0 of the Senators has never won the big prize, coming closest in 2007, where they were defeated by the Anaheim Ducks in the Finals in five games.

Celebrity Fan: While fans’ hopes for movie star Ryan Reynolds to become part of the franchise’s new ownership group didn’t pan out, it should be noted Friends star Matthew Perry has been a supporter of the Senators for the team’s entire existence. Perry was raised in Ottawa and attends occasional games. Another long-time fan is comedian Tom Green, who wore a Senators hat in the video for Check the O.R., by his rap group Organized Rhyme.

Senators Logo

Super Fan: Jonathan Pitre was born with a rare skin disease, which results in painful blisters. Pitre worked hard to spread awareness of his condition, including being named an honourary scout of the Senators on November 21, 2014. He later attended the NHL Awards as an invitee of the team. Sadly, Pitre passed away on April 4, 2018. The hardest working player at Senators developmental camp is presented the Jonathan Pitre Award.

Mascot: Spartacat is a lion, whose ‘paw-sition’ with the Senators is Ambassador of Fun. Spartacat debuted with the rest of the team on October 8, 1992, with his ‘mane’ goal being to make people laugh. One of his preferred hobbies is “raking Leafs”. Spartacat is heavily involved in community programs, such as Read to Succeed and regularly visits the Sens Zone at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

Tradition: During playoff runs, fans of the team (the diehards are known as the Sens Army, with some even dressing in Roman legion gear) tend to congregate along Sens Mile, otherwise known as Elgin Street. These gatherings are called Red Rallies. The Senators also have their own theme song, created by Carmelo Scaffidi, who would often play the trumpet tune from the stands of the arena. When Scaffidi passed away in 2016, the Senators paid tribute to his association with the club.

Appearances in Media: The Game Changers documentary series ran from 2015 to 2019 and profiled the not-for-profit community programs being operated by the Senators organization and the people behind them. With the tagline “Passion has no off-season”, initiatives highlighted by the show included mental health awareness, pediatric palliative care, school programs and summer camps and work being done by the wives and girlfriends of Senators players.

Spartacat

Events/Scandals: For years, the Senators have pursued a new arena closer to downtown Ottawa, as they currently play in the suburb of Kanata. The most likely site for this project is the LeBreton Flats land, which is currently owned by the National Capital Commission. Former Senators owner Eugene Melnyk had a development deal in place for the area in 2016, but issues between Melnyk and his own partners resulted in the deal falling through and multiple lawsuits being filed.

Rivalry: Ottawa has long-time feuds with geographical rivals the Toronto Maple Leafs, known as the Battle of Ontario, and the Montreal Canadiens. All three teams have shared the same division since the 1998-99 season. In the early 2000s, the Senators and Maple Leafs met in the playoffs four out of five years, including three straight from 2000 to 2002. Toronto won all four heated encounters.

Tragedy: Bryan Murray was a hockey lifer, his coaching career beginning in 1976 and taking him through multiple leagues before he finally reached the NHL in 1981. From there, Murray spent time with a number of teams, in various roles. Murray joined the Senators in 2004 and remained with the club until his death on August 12, 2017 from colon cancer, which he had battled for a few years. In December 2016, Murray was the first member inducted into Ottawa’s Ring of Honour.

Player Nicknames: When Andrew Hammond joined the Senators from their minor-league team late in the 2014-15 season, it was unlikely the team would make the playoffs. Hammond, nicknamed Hamburglar, put together a record of 20 wins, one loss and two overtime/shootout losses, to propel the Ottawa into the post-season. Given his nickname, fans began throwing McDonald’s hamburgers on the ice following wins.

Hammond

Line: The unit of Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley was so successful they earned at least three nicknames, including Capital Punishment Line (Ottawa being the capital of Canada), CASH Line (Captain Alfredsson/Spezza/Heatley) and Pizza Line (due to a promotion from the Pizza Pizza chain, which saw fans be able to convert a home game ticket into a free slice of pizza, if the Senators scored at least five goals).

Captain: Daniel Alfredsson served as the Senators captain for 13 seasons and holds numerous team records, including goals (426), assists (682), points (1,108), power play goals (131), short-handed goals (25), game-winning goals (69), hat tricks (8), and more. His number was retired by the team in 2016, becoming the first modern day Senator to receive that honour.

Enforcer: Chris Neil played his entire NHL career with the Senators, amassing a team record 2,522 penalty minutes over 1,026 games. He added a further 204 penalty minutes in 95 playoff contests. Along with his physicality, Neil also provided offense, scoring 112 goals and 250 points. Neil’s tenure with Ottawa ended unceremoniously in 2017, as the sides agreed to part ways, with Neil later announcing his retirement.

Family Values: Brothers Gord and Kevin Dineen both played for the Senators, albeit not at the same time. Gord was a member of the team during its expansion years, playing two campaigns with the club from 1992 to 1994 and being named captain for the last 17 games of his Ottawa tenure. Kevin played a single season with the Senators in 1999-2000, before being left unprotected for the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft.

Alfredsson

Returning Players: Chris Kelly was drafted by the Senators 94th overall in 1999. He spent the first 10 seasons of his career with the organization and was part of their 2007 Stanley Cup Finals run. Kelly was traded to the Boston Bruins in February 2011, going on to win the Stanley Cup that year. The checking forward returned to Ottawa for the 2016-17 campaign, appearing in all 82 games, despite breaking his leg the previous season. In 2018, Kelly retired and joined the Senators coaching staff.

Short Stint: Legendary goalie Dominik Hasek signed with Ottawa for the 2005-06 season, stating he hoped to play with a Stanley Cup contender. He played well in his 43 games, but was injured at the 2006 Winter Olympics and lost for the rest of the regular season and playoffs. Given his age (41 years old) and injury history, Ottawa chose not to re-sign Hasek, who returned to the Detroit Red Wings and won a second Stanley Cup before retiring from the NHL.

Undrafted: Defenseman Artem Zub was signed by the Senators on May 1, 2020, based on his play in the Kontinental Hockey League and as part of the gold medal-winning Olympic Athletes from Russia at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Zub has signed two more contracts with Ottawa, his latest taking him through the 2026-27 season. The stay-at-home defenseman doesn’t pile up the points, but has solidified the team’s defensive efforts.

Trade: A great move by the Senators was trading constant headache Alexei Yashin to the New York Islanders, in exchange for defenseman Zdeno Chara, forward Bill Muckalt and the 2001 second overall draft pick, used to select future top center and star Jason Spezza. Another good transaction was trading for Dany Heatley, sending Marian Hossa and Greg de Vries to the Atlanta Thrashers, before Heatley also became a problem for the team.

Yashin

Signing: Among the best signings in club history was bringing in Claude Giroux (three years, $19.5 million) in 2022 to provide veteran leadership for the up and coming Senators. Giroux would record the 300th goal and 1,000th point of his career in his first season with Ottawa, notching a career-high 35 goals. If Giroux can keep up his production, while the team’s young stars develop, the future is looking bright for the Senators.

Draft Pick: In a four-year span, the Senators held the first overall pick three times, selecting Alexandre Daigle (1993), Bryan Berard (1995) and Chris Phillips (1996). The results were mixed, with Daigle being viewed as one of the biggest draft busts ever and Berard being traded within his draft year, never suiting up for the team, while Phillips became a lifetime Senator. A great draft steal was selecting Daniel Alfredsson 133rd overall in 1994, while the 2020 draft netted Tim Stuetzle (3rd overall) and Jake Sanderson (5th overall).

Holdouts: Drafted second overall in 1992, Alexei Yashin was a constant thorn in the side of Senators management, repeatedly trying to renegotiate his contract with the team. Yashin refused to play the final season of his deal and missed the entire 1999-2000 campaign. The two sides went to arbitration afterwards, with the ruling being that Yashin’s rights still belonged to Ottawa and he would have to play the final year of his pact. He was eventually traded to the New York Islanders in 2001.

Buyouts: The largest financial buyout in Senators history went to winger Bobby Ryan, with the final two seasons of his seven-year, $50.75 million deal signed in 2014 wiped out, with $7.33 million paid out over four seasons. Fellow forward Colin White also had an abrupt ending to his tenure in Ottawa, having the final three seasons of his six-year, $28.5 million pact bought out in 2022, resulting in $5.25 million owed to him over six seasons.

Daigle

Unique Game: The Senators have taken part in the 2014 Heritage Classic versus the Vancouver Canucks, as well as the NHL 100 Classic versus the Montreal Canadiens. They have twice travelled to Sweden for games, first for the 2008 NHL Premiere, taking on the Pittsburgh Penguins in a pair of contests and next for the 2017 Global Series, where they played another pair of matches against the Colorado Avalanche.

Goal: With a spot in the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals just a win away, Daniel Alfredsson scored the overtime winner in Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Final, giving the Senators their first championship round appearance in franchise history. Speaking of firsts, it took a Steve Duchesne goal in the final game of the 1996-97 season to clinch Ottawa’s first playoff berth since their 1992 debut.

Fight/Brawl: On March 5, 2004, the Senators and Philadelphia Flyers combined to set a new NHL record for penalty minutes in a game with 419, most of which occurred in the final two minutes of the contest. The mischief started when respective enforcers Rob Ray and Donald Brashear fought, causing a line brawl including goalies. More fights occurred after each restart. The final score, a 5-3 Philadelphia win, is largely forgotten.

Injury: Two injuries at the hands of Philadelphia Flyers players stand out in the history of the Senators. First, in October 1998, forward Andreas Dackell was driven head-first into the glass by hulking star Eric Lindros. 36 stitches to the face and a concussion was the result for Dackell. Next, in January 2000, winger Magnus Arvedson was hit into an open bench door by checker Marc Bureau, requiring emergency intestinal surgery. Arvedson still suffers from stomach issues to this day.

Brawl

Penalty: More about the Senators-Flyers brawl, following the fight-filled affair, which resulted in only three Flyers and two Senators being left on the bench, it took officials 90 minutes to sort out all the penalties. For the following season, the NHL added a rule that gave one-game suspensions to anyone instigating a fight in the final five minutes of a game, while coaches could be fined $10,000.

Wildest Story: 2018-19 was a difficult year for the Senators, due to off-ice issues. Prior to the season’s start, defenseman Erik Karlsson and his wife Melinda filed a protection order against Monika Caryk, the fiancée of teammate Mike Hoffman, over harassing online messages. Both Karlsson and Hoffman would be traded before the start of the campaign. Months later, a number of Senators players were caught on viral video by their Uber driver criticizing assistant coach Martin Raymond. The players later apologized.

Blooper: During a December 2022 game, defenseman Thomas Chabot was taking his frustrations out on his stick while on the Senators bench when he accidentally hit teammate Travis Hamonic in the head. Luckily for Chabot and the team, Hamonic wasn’t seriously injured and remained in the game. The Senators would eventually go on to win 3-2 over the Nashville Predators.

Miscellaneous: Modern day Senators who have had their numbers retired are joined by Frank Finnigan in the rafters of the Canadian Tire Centre. Finnigan played for the original Senators from 1923 to 1931 and 1932 to 1934, and was the last surviving member of the 1927 Stanley Cup champions team. He participated in the ‘Bring Back the Senators’ campaign, but passed away before the team’s 1992 return. Finnigan was to have dropped the ceremonial face-off for the team’s first ever game.

Ottawa Senators: The Statesman

The Statesman

  • 2 oz Rye Whiskey
  • Splash of Lemon Juice
  • Splash of Maple Syrup
  • Dashes of Angostura Bitters
  • Float of Peated Scotch
  • Garnish with a Lemon Twist

Another team I struggled to find a cocktail for, which is more surprising given it’s a Canadian franchise and we’re all looking to combine our two favourite loves of hockey and drinking together. Do better, Canada!

Anaheim Ducks – Triple Deke

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Throughout the year, the Sip Advisor will alphabetically travel the National Hockey League (NHL), discovering the best and worst each team has to offer in a variety of subjects. We will also feature a drink based off the franchise. Today, we begin this trek with a look at the Anaheim Ducks. Let’s just see how mighty they are:

Establishment Story: The Ducks joined the NHL in 1993 as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The expansion team was born from the 1992 Walt Disney Company movie The Mighty Ducks, as Disney looked to expand into the sports ownership world. As of 2005, Disney is no longer behind the franchise and the team has dropped the ‘Mighty’ portion of their moniker, simply going as the Anaheim Ducks.

Stanley Cups: The Ducks lone Stanley Cup came in 2007, when they defeated the Ottawa Senators in five games. They reached the Stanley Cup Finals one other time, losing to the New Jersey Devils in seven games, ending their 2003 Cinderella post-season run. Despite being the Stanley Cup runner up, Ducks goalie Jean-Sébastien Giguère was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs MVP.

Celebrity Fan: Emilio Estevez, star of The Mighty Ducks movie franchise as coach Gordon Bombay, is a fan of the team his movies are responsible for. Estevez often makes appearances in the Anaheim crowd when the team is in important situations, such as the Stanley Cup Finals. From time to time, Estevez also supports the team on his social media accounts.

Emilio Estevez

Super Fan: Given the Ducks beginnings as a popular movie franchise and its Disney connection, fans of the team stretch far and wide. Season ticket members of the club are known as the Orange Alliance. Among the diehards is Ned Marr, who can be easily recognized for his face and head paint (he’s bald after all), which he first donned during the 2013 playoffs. His popularity even led to appearing in a Papa John’s commercial.

Mascot: Wild Wing made his debut with the rest of the team in 1993. His name was picked through a fan vote and he wears the number 93, referencing the franchise’s founding year. In a case of fiction-inspiring-reality-inspiring-fiction, the character of Wildwing Flashblade from the Mighty Ducks cartoon series is based on Wild Wing the mascot. The Ducks very first game featured a secondary mascot, nicknamed The Iceman, but the electric guitar-playing hype man disappeared soon after.

Tradition: Through all incarnations of the Anaheim franchise, Fowl Towels have been a popular fan item, with folks at games waving the towels to cheer on the squad. The towels were originally white, but are now orange, matching the team’s home jerseys throughout the years. Some Ducks supporters also use duck call devices to root on the club.

Appearances in Media: The team’s logo and jerseys appeared in the aforementioned Mighty Ducks movie franchise, as well as its spinoff cartoon series. The reboot TV series Mighty Ducks: Game Changers has included cameos from current Ducks players, such as Trevor Zegras, Troy Terry and Max Jones. Lastly, in the first season of TV show Boy Meets World (a Disney production coinciding with the Ducks inaugural season), main character Cory Matthews wears a Mighty Ducks jersey.

Mighty Ducks

Events/Scandals: Bob Murray’s run as the Ducks GM both began and ended abruptly. He took over the role in November 2008, when previous GM Brian Burke suddenly joined the Toronto Maple Leafs. Murray’s term ended almost exactly 13 years later, when he resigned while under investigation by the team for an alleged history of verbal abuse to players and other staff members.

Rivalry: Fellow California-based teams, the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks, are natural rivals to the Ducks. Anaheim’s feud with Los Angeles is dubbed the Freeway Face-Off. Despite the animosity between the teams and fan bases, the two squads have only met in the playoffs once, with the Kings winning the 2014 series in seven games. The teams have also faced each other for the 2007 NHL Premiere from London and the 2014 Stadium Series at Dodger Stadium.

Tragedy: There are no direct tragedies associated with the Ducks, but fan favourite Ruslan Salei, who played in Anaheim for nine seasons, was among the 44 killed in the September 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team plane crash. The Belarussian was drafted by the Ducks ninth overall in 1996 and once held the franchise record for games played by a defenceman. Salei’s popularity led to the Honda Center, Anaheim’s home arena, being nicknamed ‘The House that Rusty Built’.

Player Nicknames: Corey Perry’s style of play has earned him two nicknames, one on each end of the spectrum. The first, Scorey Perry, was earned for his scoring prowess, including the career-high 50 he potted in 2010-11, earning him the Rocket Richard and Hart Memorial Trophies. The second, The Worm, comes from Perry’s knack of irritating his opponents.

Corey Perry

Line: Speaking of Corey Perry, his long-time partnership with Ryan Getzlaf led to a lot of success for the Ducks. The duo played together with Dustin Penner as the Kid Line/PPG Line and with Bobby Ryan as the RPG Line. Another very successful pair for the team was Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne. Their most notable third linemate was Steve Rucchin, a rare player to come to the NHL from the Canadian Interuniversity Sport route.

Captain: Ryan Getzlaf played his entire 17-season career with the Ducks, serving as captain from 2010 until his retirement in 2022. He holds the franchise record for most games played (1,157), points (1,019) and assists (737). Getzlaf was twice nominated for the Mark Messier Leadership Award, but failed to win the trophy. In retirement, Getzlaf is still an active member in the Anaheim community.

Enforcer: While I’d love to put the Bash Brothers (Fulton Reed and Dean Portman) here, from D2: The Mighty Ducks, the honour has to go to Todd Ewen, who holds the franchise records for penalty minutes in a season (285) and in a period (37). Sadly, Ewen commited suicide in 2015, aged 49. He had been suffering from depression for years, with chronic traumatic encephalopathy from his years as a fighter perhaps contributing to his death.

Family Values: Brothers Scott and Rob Niedermayer not only got to play together on the Ducks for four seasons, they got to share winning a Stanley Cup together. It was Scott’s fourth championship – following three with the New Jersey Devils – and Rob’s first. Scott was the team’s captain, while Rob was an alternate. After Scott finished his lap around the ice with the trophy, he passed it to Rob, which Scott described as a highlight of his career.

Ryan Getzlaf

Returning Players: Defenseman Francois Beauchemin had three stints with the Ducks. He was first traded to Anaheim in 2005, being part of the 2007 championship squad. Beauchemin joined the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent in 2009, but was traded back to Anaheim in 2011. His final tenure with the team was for the 2017-18 season, which he announced would be his final campaign, retiring as a Duck.

Short Stint: Dany Heatley’s NHL career wrapped up with six games as a member of the Ducks during the 2014-15 season. While playing for the Ducks minor league affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals, Heatley was traded to the Florida Panthers organization, but didn’t get into any games with them, instead playing for their minor league team, the San Antonio Rampage. Heatley then retired from hockey after a season in Germany.

Undrafted: Chris Kunitz was signed by Anaheim as an undrafted free agent in 2003, following being named a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the top NCAA men’s hockey player. He was actually lost to the Atlanta Thrashers on waivers in 2005, but reclaimed weeks later by the Ducks. Kunitz would go on to be a member of the 2007 Stanley Cup championship team.

Trade: Acquiring superstar Teemu Selanne and pairing him with Paul Kariya was one of the greatest moves in Ducks history. To nab Selanne, the team had to part with two former first round picks in Oleg Tverdovsky and Chad Kilger, but it was certainly worth it. Selanne would return to the club later in his career and be part of the franchise’s only Stanley Cup victory. Selanne holds many of the Ducks offensive records, including regular season goals, power-play goals and game-winning goals.

Teemu Selanne

Signing: The signings of Scott Neidermayer and Teemu Selanne (returning to the club) following the 2004-05 NHL lockout, would eventually lead to winning the 2007 Stanley Cup. On the flip side, the signing of Todd Bertuzzi in 2007 to a two-year, $8 million deal was eventually bought out after one season, as the Ducks had players like Corey Perry they needed to resign and were tight against the salary cap.

Draft Pick: The Ducks first ever player selection, Paul Kariya at 4th overall in 1993, was a very good one. Kariya became the face of the franchise for its first decade of existence, with his jersey number retired by the team in 2018. The 2003 draft also yielded great results, with Ryan Getzlaf (19th overall) and Corey Perry (28th overall) being chosen. The pair were integral to the Ducks 2007 Stanley Cup win.

Holdouts: When Paul Kariya’s first NHL contract expired in 1997, he and the Ducks failed to agree on a new pact. This led to Kariya missing the first 32 games of the 1997-98 campaign, prior to inking a two-year, $14 million deal. The holdout meant Kariya, a Japanese Canadian, was absent from the lineup as the Ducks and Vancouver Canucks played a pair of games in Tokyo to open the season.

Buyouts: It came as a bit of a shock when Corey Perry was bought out by the Ducks in 2019. Sure, his production had dropped in recent times, but he’d been with the franchise for 14 years. Another interesting case was that of defenseman Simon Després, who was let loose in 2017, with four years remaining on his contract, due to concerns over his concussion history.

Paul Kariya

Unique Game: Aside from the above-mentioned games against Los Angeles (2007 NHL Premiere from London and 2014 Stadium Series) and the Ducks travelling to Japan to open the 1997-98 season against Vancouver, the team has also played in destinations such as and Finland and Sweden (versus the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers, respectively), for the 2011 NHL Premiere. Their contests in Tokyo were the first NHL games outside of North America that counted in the league standings.

Goal: Trevor Zegras is known for his high skill level and many highlight real goals. These include his lacrosse-style tally and batting out of the air a Sonny Milano alley-oop pass made over the net from behind it. Zegras’ flair for goal scoring led to him being invited to the 2022 NHL All-Star Game as a special guest to compete in the Breakaway Challenge. He was also made the cover athlete for the NHL 23 video game.

Fight/Brawl: A rather ordinary December 2001 game between the Ducks and the Calgary Flames took a turn late in the third period, when the teams took turns taking runs at each other’s goalies. The result was the last minute and a half featured constant fights off of each faceoff. By the end of the game, only one substitute player remained on each bench, with 309 penalty minutes recorded. A number of players were suspended or fined in the aftermath.

Injury: During the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, Devils defenceman Scott Stevens caught Paul Kariya with a crushing open ice hit that knocked the Ducks superstar out cold. In the days before concussion protocols, Kariya would return to the game just minutes later and even score a goal. Sadly, in 2011, Kariya would be forced to retire due to post-concussion syndrome and many point to this hit as one that contributed to Kariya’s issues.

Trevor Zegras

Penalty: During a March 2008 game against the Vancouver Canucks, Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger stomped on Ryan Kesler’s leg after the two had become tangled up. While the NHL originally let the incident pass unpunished, further video evidence resulted in an eight-game suspension for Pronger. Although Kesler wasn’t injured on the play, many thought the punishment was light, compared to Chris Simon’s 30-game suspension for a similar incident earlier that season.

Wildest Story: In the summer following Anaheim’s Stanley Cup triumph, Edmonton Oilers GM Kevin Lowe signed emerging forward Dustin Penner to a five-year, $21.25 million offer sheet. Ducks GM Brian Burke responded in the only way a responsible GM should, publically criticizing and name calling his counterpart. This led to the challenge of a barn fight, where a Lake Placid venue was even chosen, before NHL commissioner Gary Bettman stepped in and made sure the bout didn’t happen.

Blooper: Mascots can sometimes be put in dangerous situations, all in the name of getting fans riled up. For the Ducks 1995 home opener pre-game show, Wild Wing was to leap over a wall of fire. While rehearsal apparently went smoothly, when it came time to perform the act live, the mascot fell directly onto the flames. Thankfully, Wild Wing wasn’t harmed in any way and was back to interacting with fans quickly.

Miscellaneous: In the early years of the franchise, Mighty Ducks merchandise sold more than all other NHL teams combined. This was assisted by items being sold at Disney theme parks and in Disney Stores. With Disney World being located in Florida, it’s likely Mighty Ducks items sold better there than their expansion cousin Florida Panthers could ever have imagined for themselves.

Anaheim Ducks: Triple Deke

Triple Deke

  • Muddled Cuccumber
  • 1.5 oz Gin
  • 1 oz Watermelon Liqueur
  • Garnish with Cucumber Slices

This cocktail is an homage to The Mighty Ducks movies, particularly the first film, when the triple deke move is used throughout. The recipe called for Watermelon Syrup to be used, but I elected to add some Watermelon Liqueur to the mix.