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Winnipeggers flock to Las Vegas to see the Jets faceoff against the Golden Knights

Jeff and Jocelyn Sichello ran into Winnipeg Jets players Marko Dano, Brandon Tanev, Mark Scheifele, Mathieu Perreault, Josh Morrissey and Blake Wheeler while walking the Strip in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Jeff Sichello / Submitted

While it will be all business on the ice in Las Vegas Friday, several Winnipeggers are making a vacation out of the Jets first game in Sin City.

“When we heard Vegas was getting a team and saw the arena we made an agreement we would be back here for the first game the Jets played and here we are,” Jeff Sichello, a Winnipegger who has been in Las Vegas since Monday said. “We have seen a lot more fans over the past few days.”

It isn’t just fans Sichello has spotted. On Tuesday he and his wife, Jocelyn, were walking on the Strip and ran into six of the players they were there to see.

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“My wife was in shock,” Sichello told Global News over FaceTime. “Her favourite player, Blake Wheeler, was in the crowd so she almost fainted… she calls him her boyfriend,” he said jokingly.

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Wheeler, along with Marko Dano, Mathieu Perreault, Mark Scheifele, Brandon Tanev and Josh Morrissey, all graciously took a picture with the couple.

“They just seemed like normal guys on the street,” he said. “Most people here didn’t recognize them but the Winnipeg people did.”

Sichello took the chance to congratulate the players for how well the team is doing and wished them luck for Friday’s game. The Jets and the Golden Knights are currently tied for third place in the Western Conference.

“Hopefully its an exciting game,” Sichello said. “Apparently there are a lot of Vegas fans so there should be good competition between Jets fans and Vegas fans.”

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