White-hot sales for white-out shirts

WINNIPEG — The line ups extended out the door at several Jets Store locations as fans eagerly bought into the return of a decades old-tradition.

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The whiteout will be making a comeback to the MTS Centre, and True North Sports and Entertainment, the owner of the Jets, was one of the first to signal its return by placing whiteout banners outside the rink early Friday morning.

Inside a simple shirt with the slogan “Our team, Our tradition” was on sale.

Jody Travassos came to buy five of the shirts for herself and her family when a complete stranger asked if she could help him out.

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Murray Doerksen had come to the store with his father but never imagined there would be a 45 minute wait.  He says he needed to get his dad to an appointment, but also wanted the shirts. So he approached Travassos for help.

“He’s like ‘here’s my credit card’ and I’m like, ‘what?’ and he says ‘I will give you the pin and I’m like, ‘what’?” said Travassos.

Travassos had the day off and later drove the shirts to Doerksen’s work place.

“We are just like a great Winnipeg Jets family, and she was part of the family and I figured she could help me out and I appreciated that,” said Doerksen.

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Tickets for games three and four of the Western Conference quarterfinals, which will be played in Winnipeg, go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m., the Jets organization announced after the Calgary Flames win over the Los Angeles Kings Thursday ensured the Winnipeg team a playoff spot.

READ MORE: Jets clinch playoff spot, 1st post-season since return to Winnipeg

True North Sports and Entertainment also signaled it would embrace fans’ tradition of wearing all white during the playoffs.

Whiteout banners featuring players standing in falling snow quickly went up outside the MTS Centre, the Jets’ arena, early Friday morning.