If You Have An Outdoor Game In Regina, It Needs To Include The Jets

A topic briefly discussed during the Headlines segment of Hockey Night In Canada by the incomparable Elliotte Friedman on Saturday Night was the idea that the NHL could be looking to have an outdoor game in Regina, Saskatchewan in the near future.

Regina of course does not have an NHL club (if they did, Edmonton would probably want one as well! *ba-da-TISS*) but they do have a sparkling new Mosaic Stadium that could hold up to forty thousand fans and it would no doubt be a fantastic host for a neutral site regular season game.

No details were shared beyond the fact that the NHL is considering Regina (and “other Canadian locations”) and that there was supposed to be an outdoor WHL game between the Regina Pats and Moose Jaw Warriors that was canceled due to poor weather.

But lack of details has never stopped us from spit-balling ideas before and admit it, when you heard the NHL was thinking about a game in Regina, you instantly thought the Jets should be part of it, right?

Winnipeg is the closest NHL city to Regina – a mere 572 kilometers away – and while they will need very little help selling tickets to the game, it still doesn’t hurt to have the team closest to you involved in some way, correct?

Here’s the fun part… You’re probably assuming the Calgary Flames or Edmonton Oilers right? Or maybe an original six team like the Toronto Maple Leafs or Montreal Canadiens head east?

Nope. Forget all those teams.

The only team fitting to play the Winnipeg Jets in an outdoor setting in Regina? The Arizona Coyotes. And they’d likely be the “home” team.

Of course there is the obvious Jets 1.0 vs Jets 2.0 connection that you’d have with this game, but there is a connection between the city of Regina – and more to the point fans of the Saskatchewan Roughriders – and the Arizona Coyotes than you probably realize.

Back in 2015, Tourism Saskatchewan and the Coyotes have worked together to host “Saskatchewan Nights” with special packages for Roughrider fans.

Every year since, a green wave of Rider fans have made their presense known at Coyotes games…

In fact they recently had their yearly visit a week ago…

The Coyotes have yet to be involved in an outdoor game, the chances of them hosting of course are super remote even with ice making technology being as good as it is now and if we’re being honest they likely aren’t much of a draw for any other Southwestern American based hockey club like say a Dallas or a San Jose should they host a game in the future.

Maybe throw the Coyotes into a green and white alternate jerseys for the day… Maybe put some gold trim on the Jets blue sweaters… BAM! Banjo Bowl: The Hockey Edition!

It’ll be interesting to see if the NHL does go forward with an outdoor game in Regina. If they do, it sure feels like the Jets would be a natural pick to be one of the teams playing in it.