Winnipeg Jets kick off training camp with fully vaccinated team
The Winnipeg Jets kicked off training camp on Thursday, as the team announced they are all fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
On Thursday, the Jets took the ice for the first time since being swept out of the playoffs last season.
This comes as the team tweeted a quote from head coach Paul Maurice saying, “We are 100% vaccinated as a group and as a staff.”
Since the entire team is fully vaccinated, NHL COVID-19 vaccination protocols will not be keeping any players off the ice.
However, getting vaccinated wasn't an easy decision for all the players, including goalie Connor Hellebuyck who got his second shot shortly after a bout with COVID-19 late in the offseason.
"I'm not anti-vax by any means but I'd like to have that decision for myself,” Hellebuyck said.
“It felt very forced on me and just where I am with my health, I had just gotten COVID, gotten over it and then had to get the vax, which made it feel like I got COVID all over again. So if I could have at least had some time to choose maybe I would have gotten it when they recommended it, three months later, but it felt a little forced and I would have liked to have that choice."
SENSE OF EXCITEMENT AT TRAINING CAMP
Following an offseason that saw the Jets re-sign key players like Paul Stastny and Andrew Copp, while adding two veteran defenceman in Brendan Dillon and Nate Schmidt, there was a sense of excitement among players as Winnipeg kicked off training camp.
"It's been definitely a change, We haven't historically had offseasons like that and I think that gives some of the guys who've been here for awhile a little extra boost,” said Jets captain Blake Wheeler.
Returning to a typical central division this season, an improved roster comes with higher expectations from the outside.
However, Wheeler said games are not won on paper.
“It doesn't mean a thing. The best team on paper is not the team that wins,” he said.
“Tampa's got some talent, but they had talent when they were swept by Columbus too, right? So there is way more to it than that."
Unlike last season, the Jets will play six exhibition games throughout training camp before kicking off the regular season, which is one of a few things Maurice said he will not be taking for granted this season.
"I'll tell you this – I have a better appreciation for hockey, whether it's the National Hockey League and fans than I ever had before, and I’m really, really excited about this training camp, It's been fun,” he said.
The Jets pre-season kicks off Sunday at home against the Ottawa Senators.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.