Ever wonder what happens to all those hats thrown on the ice when a Winnipeg Jet scores a hat trick?
For years, it wasn’t an issue the team had to deal with. The first hat trick after the team moved from Atlanta wasn’t until Bryan Little scored three on December 5, 2014.
But there have now been ten hat tricks in Jets 2.0 history thanks to a recent flood of goals. Nine of those hatties happened at Bell MTS Place (the lone exception being Nikolaj Ehlers’ three goal effort in Edmonton last month) so the hats have been piling up.
So where does the team put them all? The team’s new hat trick display, which can be found in the second level atrium by the escalators at the Portage and Donald entrance.
“As we really renovated the concourses this summer, we put in a hat trick display,” explained Rob Wozny with True North. “When hats are thrown on the ice, we collect them and we put them in this display. It has 24 sections and three rows, and fans who throw their hats on the ice can go to this display, have a look and find their hat.”
For the years that the Jets had no such display, the team held onto the hats. They stayed in storage, waiting for a home. Now, they have one.
“We took a look around the league to see what others were doing. Philadelphia, Washington and Columbus are the three other teams that do something similar,” Wozny said. “We thought it was a great fit for us, and so far it’s been a fun display for the fans and certainly for us, too.”
“Fans see their hats, and say, ‘Hey, I was at that game, I remember that!” Wozny said.
There is still room for more hats in the display, but given how potent this Jets lineup is, it’s inevitable that it will eventually fill up.
Wozny said they don’t yet have any plans for when that day comes. He said donating hats to homeless shelters like the St. Louis Blues and Ottawa Senators do could be one thing they look into down the road.
Where were you when? List of Winnipeg Jets 2.0 hat tricks:
- Bryan Little: December 5, 2014 (3 goals, 6-2 win vs. Colorado)
- Mathieu Perreault: January 13, 2015 (4 goals, 8-2 win vs. Florida)
- Nikolaj Ehlers: January 26, 2016 (3 goals, 5-2 win vs. Arizona)
- Mark Scheifele: March 5, 2016 (3 goals, 4-2 win vs. Montreal)
- Patrik Laine: October 19, 2016 (3 goals, 5-4 OT win vs. Toronto)
- Patrik Laine: November 8, 2016 (3 goals, 8-2 win vs. Dallas)
- Patrik Laine: February 14, 2017 (3 goals, 5-2 win vs. Dallas)
- Nikolaj Ehlers: October 9, 2017 (3 goals, 5-2 win at Edmonton)
- Blake Wheeler: October 29, 2017 (3 goals, 7-1 win vs. Pittsburgh)
- Mark Scheifele: November 2, 2017 (3 goals, 5-2 win vs. Dallas)