Last night, The Winnipeg Jets clinched their way into a playoff spot after pulling a point from a shootout loss while reigning champs, the LA Kings fell to the Calgary Flames. Now, while it's only the second playoff berth for the Jets in franchise history, it's the first time NHL playoffs will return to the city since the first round loss to the Detroit Red Wings in 1996, tearing the beloved hockey team asunder. Which, as you can imagine, Winnipeg and its young, hip music scene, never forgot. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find anybody in Winnipeg who wouldn’t cite the event as the single most tragic thing to happen in the city’s history. And mind you, this is the same city that hosted the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, resulting in what’s now called “Bloody Saturday,” and has no shortage of very real and pressing problems today. But, you know, sports! Sometimes a bit of quality media distraction is necessary when you live in a beautiful, but troubled, sleepy riverside city. Fortunately, for the Jets playoff push, local weirdo-rock outfit Smoky Tiger has released a new video that is unapologetically Winnipeg.Beginning in black and white with the quiet chord progression of “Jump” by Van Halen, a group of dirty-lookin’ Prairie boys congregate near the banks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers (The Forks, in Winnipeg-speak). The group lies dormant in their surroundings-much like some would have you believe the city did between 1996 and 2011-while ghostly recordings remind us of ‘Peg sports fans quietly buzzing: “one way or another, hockey will always be a part of Winnipeg, and no one can take the game from us.” Soon after our boys magically come to life, colour washing into the footage along with barely excusable dance moves. And if you thought that was a bit too much city pride, the rest of the five and a half minute video is more Winnipeg-ian than getting stabbed. Over old Jock Jams favourites and archival Jets footage, Smoky Tiger recalls old and new Winnipeg hockey memories, like Dancin’ Gabe, fans booing “The Star-Spangled Banner”, and beating Wayne Gretzky when he played in the WHA in the 70s. Then there’s Saint Teemu Selanne’s machine gun goal celebration from when he surpassed Mike Bossy’s rookie goal record. It even has some footage of the glorious, massive painting of Queen Elizabeth II that once graced the old concrete Winnipeg Arena. Graciously, the video ends with Smoky Tiger valiantly and loudly declaring, “we will be champions again!” Whether Portage and Main can possibly handle the insanity that outcome would cause we may never know.Matt Williams is a Winnipeg native but a proud Habs fan, sorry. - @MattGeeWilliams
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