Baby Jets Showing Bright Future For Jets Franchise

With a seventh game win in the second round over the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins, the Ice Caps are on to their first Eastern Conference Final in St. John's.

Remembering back to the 2006-07 season when, as a Montreal Canadiens fan, I saw Carey Price almost singlehandedly help the Habs AHL affiliate the Hamilton Bulldogs win the Calder Cup, I thought the future would be bright for the Habs.

I was right in one thing - Price is a bright part of the future and present, but besides that not much else has been something of note for the Habs as they traded the biggest stars that were on that team (Grabovski, D'Agostini, Lapierre, and Halak).

But if there is something to be said about how an professional sports organization builds itself, then the Winnipeg Jets are on the right track.

After moving the former Manitoba Moose franchise to Newfoundland, the winning ways have not seemed to stop.

Not only did the St. John's Ice Caps win an Atlantic Division title in their first season on the rock, but they are on their way to the franchise's third conference final and first as the Ice Caps.

The last time the franchise was there was during the 2009 Calder Cup Playoffs when the former Moose got by the Houston Aeros in six games and made their only appearance in the Calder Cup Finals.

But for the Moose franchise, the Jets took what was a winning tradition - one conference championship, two division championships, and a regular season title - and transferred it into their own organization.

The Moose's success was primarily based on Canucks prospects and personnel mixed in with whatever GM Craig Heisinger could find to bolster the lineup.

But in St. John's, Heisinger is both the GM of the Ice Caps and assistant GM of the Jets, which helps him to be in a position of strength to make his baby Jets as good as they can be.

With former Moose Jason Jaffray leading the way as captain, the Ice Caps have the same core of players that left Winnipeg for St. John's last year as Moose players, namely Marco Rosa, Travis Ramsey, Kevin Clark, Tom Maxwell, and Garth Murray.

The commitment to winning and to being dedicated to developing relationships with players shows how committed the Jets are to breeding success at the AHL level.

Not only are those Ice Caps players, former Moose players, making a difference in the playoff run, but the young Jet prospects - including Eddie Pasquale, Paul Postma, and other pickups like Brock Trotter, Aaron Gagnon, and Maxime Macenauer are making a difference.

With winning in the minors breeds winning in the big leagues - and as Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff keeps preaching his philosophies on how the Jets are going to properly and slowly develop their top prospects, there is no doubt that players who are Jets draft picks will look forward to playing under head coach Keith McCambridge in St. John's.

Jets Trim Roster; Assign 20 To St. John's Ice Caps Training Camp

The Winnipeg Jets announced they have assigned 20 players to training camp of their AHL affiliate St. John's Ice Caps Tuesday afternoon.

Included in those 20 players are ex-Moose players Marco Rosa, Travis Ramsey, Kevin Clark, Mark Flood, Jason Jaffray, and Shawn Weller.

The Jets still have 36 players on their roster, which will need to be trimmed down again by opening night October 9th.

Also going down to the Ice Caps were goalies Chris Carrozzi, Peter Mannino, Edward Pasquale, defensemen Ben Chiarot, Arturs Kulda, Julian Melchiori, Zach Redmond, Cody Sol, and forward Shayne Wiebe, John Albert, Akim Aliu, Mike Forney, Riley Holzapfel, and Eric O'Dell.

Still on the team are both Mark Scheifele and Paul Postma, who have both had impressive pre-seasons so far with Scheifele leading the league in pre-season scoring and Postma chipping in heavily with two goals through three games.

The final 36 man roster of players still in camp includes 20 forwards, 10 defenseman, and three goalies as well as three injured players.

Also still on the roster looking to finally get some full-time NHL work are forwards Kenndal McArdle, Spencer Machacek, Jason Gregoire, Aaron Gagnon (injured), Carl Klingberg, Derek Meech, Randy Jones, Patrice Cormier, and Brett Festerling.

The Jets next play on Wednesday night at the MTS Centre against the Carolina Hurricanes.

That game is available on TSN-Jets and Sports Radio 1290 at 7:30 PM CT.

Jets Sign More Ex-Moose Players

Home cooking is always a good thing.

For the Winnipeg Jets, it's a theme that has been central to the players they have signed and acquired over the course of the off-season.

After signing Manitoba born player Derek Meech and trading for Winkler's Eric Fehr, the Jets went out and made sure they kept some ex-Manitoba Moose players in the fold.

Already under the Jets name are Rick Rypien and Mark Flood who both spent time with the Moose last season.

According to CJOB 680's sports reporter Brian Munz, the Jets have signed more ex-Moose players to AHL contracts to play for the AHL affiliate in St. John's.

The Jets have signed ex-Moose players Marco Rosa, Shawn Weller, Kevin Clark, and Travis Ramsey to AHL contracts.

Also signing with Winnipeg were three undrafted youngsters in North Sydney, Nova Scotia's Michael Kirkpatrick, Brandon, Manitoba's Shayne Wiebe, and Concord, Ohio's John Albert.


Kirkpatrick spent four seasons with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL league collecting 251 points in 266 games. While perhaps an undersized centre at 5'10, 175 lbs, the 21 year old shows promise as he helped the Sea Dogs to the 2011 Memorial Cup.





Wiebe two full seasons with the Kamloops Blazers before being dealt to his hometown Brandon Wheat Kings midway through the 2009-10 season. Wiebe finished third in scoring for the Wheaties this last season with 65 points in 72 games and played one game in the AHL with the Conneticut Whale. Another centre at 5'10, 185 lbs, it adds yet another home grown talent to the Jets organization.








At 5'11, 180 lbs, 22 year-old John Albert completed his fourth and final year at Ohio State University scoring 34 points in 37 games as the Buckeyes captain. In his four season, Albert collected 124 points in 159 games, including a year best of 39 points in 2008-09. Albert was originally drafted by the Thrashers in 2007, 175th overall.