How a Spider Catches a Weber

First things first, home opener against Nashville is gonna be weird for me.  Only because for the first time in 10 years
(Moose inc), I won’t be working as in-game host for The Winnipeg Jets.  Nor will I even be there!!  I’ll be with every other semi-season seat
holder; at home, or my local watering hole (after the kids go down) cheering my
face off.

I’m looking forward to being a
fan for the first time in 10 years, and down the road bringing both my boys to
the games and watching them develop their love affair with the team.  Brody Jackson (QX 104) and Drew Kozub
(Breakfast Television – City TV) will be replacing me (that’s right, it took
two to fill my shoes 😉 and I have 100% faith that it will be a smooth
transition.  I am officially retired from
MTS Centre.

Now, on to business: 
Back in the medieval ages, a Viking who resembles exactly what Shea Weber looks like would show up on your shore, conquer your land, rape your
women and lay waste to any who stood in his way.  Thank God we’ve evolved as human beings and
the worst thing that Shea Weber will do is simply lay waste to anyone who
stands in his way on the ice.  The way he
dominated at the Olympics this past season proved that he’s worth every penny Nashville paid to keep
him around.  Even better news, he’s in our division, so we’ll get to go up against his barbaric charm on more than a few occasions this season.

How does one get around an ice bully like this?  Same way you got around the bully in
school!  In case you’ve never had to
master this clever feat, it’s simple, you wait until the bully is off the ice
to plan your attack.  Being at home, take
every advantage of getting your 3rd and 4th lines on the
ice while he’s starting a shift, dump and chase on him all night.  Soft dumps in the corner, make him turn and
skate away from 2 guys deep all night. 
And yes, I would line match with him in our zone all night too, I’d
rather have my 3rd and 4th liners blocking shots from the
point if we lose the draw.  I’m also
aware that line-matching against a defenseman is rather strange and seems
silly, but if you can come up with a better way of shutting that beast down, I’m
all ears. 

We have 2 capable lines of
sharing the 27 mins + that Weber will log, fine by me.  (Writing
“soft dumps” was much funnier than I
was expecting it to be FYI!)  We’ll
probably be slugging it out with The Preds again this year come end of March
for a playoff spot, might as well try and figure out how to win the season
series against them in case it comes down to that for the wild card spot in the
conference.  I also suggest that Peluso
dress tomorrow night in place of Thorburn (who will probably start) and dance
with Ribeiro before the end of the 1st period, kind of like wearing out
your toddlers before bed before they start making stupid decisions.  BTW, I’m not saying he has, or does… But Mike
has always looked like a guy who knows how to spell Rohyphenol.

Other than that, pray Pavs is having one of his “confident”
feelings before the game (We should all chant “WE – LIKE – YOU” before games so
he feels OK.

Hashtag #JetsVsPreds for any live-tweeting, and as always, #GoJetsGo.

 

Wheeler (Section 217)