If you’re a casual, or even regular, visitor to www.rivercitysports.com, you might not know – or care (we certainly understand that) – that River City Sports is a proud Winnipeg company.
OK, so we’re not particularly proud of the fact that Winnipeg gave up its beloved NHL franchise, but some things are out of our hands.
The fact remains, that here at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, we’re deeply proud of the hockey players who learned their craft in this province and we’re especially proud of the 14 players and one head coach who will participate in this spring’s Stanley Cup playoffs.
As the first round opens on Wednesday, April 9, we want to wish the best of luck to…
• Shane Hnidy of Neepawa, a defenceman with the Boston Bruins.
• Dustin Boyd of Winnipeg, a forward with the Calgary Flames.
Dustin Boyd Interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOKa10TNVQY&feature=related
• Tyler Arnason of Winnipeg (OK, so he was born in Oklahoma City, OK., when his dad, Chuck, played in the Central League, but he and his family are Winnipeggers) a forward with the Colorado Avalanche.
• Cody McLeod of Binscarth, a forward with the Colorado Avalanche.
• Derek Meech of Winnipeg, a defenceman with the Detroit Red Wings.
• Jordin Tootoo from Churchill, via Nunavut, via the Brandon Wheat Kings who lives in Winnipeg and is a forward with the Nashville Predators.
• Barry Trotz of Dauphin, head coach of the Nashville Predators.
• Travis Zajac of Winnipeg, a forward with the New Jersey Devils.
Travis Zajac Goal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2WJm5Ru-MQ
• Arron Asham of Portage, a forward with the New Jersey Devils.
• Bryce Salvador of Brandon, a defenceman with the New Jersey Devils.
• Nigel Dawes of Winnipeg, a forward with the New York Rangers.
Nigel Dawes goal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ7hDFSdsfM&NR=1
• Colton Orr of Winnipeg, a forward with the New York Rangers and a recent winner of the Players’ Player Award in New York.
Orr-Cote Fight
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tS8EaB9SSzU
• Riley Cote of Winnipeg, a forward with the Philadelphia Flyers.
• Jody Shelley of Thompson, a forward with the San Jose Sharks.
• Eric Fehr of Winkler, a forward with the Washington Capitals.
It wasn’t that long ago when there weren’t 14 players and a coach from Manitoba in the entire NHL. However, thanks to the wonderful programs run by Hockey Canada, Hockey Manitoba and the National Coaching Certification Program, the NHL is now loaded with Manitobans and we get to watch 14 of them play on the most important stage in the game – the Stanley Cup tournament.
If you happen to be in Manitoba this week, don’t forget to join two hockey dads, Lloyd Dawes and Doug Orr for their big parties at Boston Pizza. On Wednesday night, for the opener of the Rangers-Devils series, they’ll be at the Boston Pizza on McPhillips and on Friday night for Game 2, they’ll be at the Boston Pizza in St. Vital.
Manitoba has some great hockey memories and many more to come. Remember Teemu Selanne’s rookie goal record in Winnipeg? Watch it below and get excited all over again.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Vtk6yVqDy3Q]
It’s Cup Time, it’s Winnipeg and while we don’t have the Jets to cheer for anymore – even though former Jets’ Teemu Selanne (Anaheim), Randy Carlyle (Anaheim’s head coach), Aaron Ward (Boston, the Jets No. 1 pick in 1991), Kris Draper (Detroit), Dallas Drake (Detroit), Paul MacLean (Detroit’s assistant coach) and Stu Barnes (Dallas) are all in this year’s playoffs – we do have plenty of local guys on the Road to the Stanley Cup.
Let’s party!
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