Menu

Topics

Connect

Comments

Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.

Getting to Smashville — Winnipeg Jets fans take prairie pride south

WATCH: Lots of Jet fans went south for Round 1, but that was Minnesota. The journey for Round 2 is a little bit trickier. Global's Brittany Greenslade reports – Apr 27, 2018

As the Winnipeg Jets get ready for round two of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the journey for fans is a little bit trickier this time around.

Story continues below advertisement

Many made the familiar drive eight hours across the border to St. Paul to watch the team take on the Minnesota Wild and eventually clinch the series back home.

But Nashville… Nashville is a different story.

READ MORE: Jets Road Trip: Brittany Greenslade heads to Nashville — one reporter’s journey

Nashville isn’t easy. At least that’s what the Predators want Winnipeggers to think when the puck hits the ice Friday night.

This is the scene outside Bridgestone Arena in \’Smashville\’ as the Predators prepare to host the Winnipeg Jets in game one Friday.

This is how Nashville got the name ‘Smashville’. Predators fans pay for the chance to take a sledgehammer to a vehicle representing the opposing team. Brittany Greenslade / Global News

But what they might not know about Winnipeggers and Canadians… we love a challenge.

Story continues below advertisement

The capital of country is 2,100 kms away from Winnipeg.

A distance that wasn’t about to stop hardcore Jets fans from being able to bring the Whiteout to Smashville.

READ MORE: Winnipeg Jets to face off against Predators in Nashville Friday night

Flying into Predator territory also brings with it a little bit of prairie pride.

One of the first things you see and hear when you land at the Nashville International Airport is a Winnipeg country singer.

“I decked out the stage here,” Courtney Lynn said. “It’s Winnipeg pride. It’s in our blood. The Winnipeg Jets. They are here in the playoffs. I am 100 per cent supporting the team. I am with the fans back home in Winnipeg.”

WATCH: Courtney Lynn spends her days greeting travellers with her sweet country tunes at Tootsies in Terminal C.

While Lynn now calls Nashville home, you won’t see her put her prairie pride aside during the playoffs.

Story continues below advertisement

“I love it,” she said. “We are going to win. We are going to get this round.”

Winnipeg is the last Canadian team left in the playoffs since the Boston Bruins knocked out the Toronto Maple Leafs.

And even though scores of Jet fans will be cheering the team on, not all of them are as outspoken about it as Lynn.

WATCH: Brittany spoke to one fan whose brother hides his Jets jersey under a Predator one. 

Advertisement

You are viewing an Accelerated Mobile Webpage.

View Original Article