from Roy MacGregor of the Globe and Mail,

In the afternoon they had arrived at the MTS Centre two hours early to line up in -26 windchill and swirling snow gusts. They came in painted faces and replica jerseys and carried Thundersticks and sang and danced and cheered with sheer delight that the hometown heroes were finally back on the ice and winter could be put back in its proper place.

In the evening, they called in to the radio talk show. Someone wanted an “APB” put out on forward Kyle Wellwood. Another wanted one put out on centre Bryan Little. Both had been invisible, though they were hardly alone among the Jets in turning in weak performances.

The odd fan called for calm, saying it was but one game out of 48, saying the team – the Atlanta Thrashers until fall 2011, when they relocated to Winnipeg – is in a rebuilding phase that will likely take five years. They have good draft picks coming up – six in the first three rounds this June – and it is going to take time.

But other callers were having none of it. They didn’t like the forwards, they didn’t like the defence, they didn’t like the goalie. One caller said he’d wasted $200 on tickets to the home opener.

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