Before the San Jose Sharks game against the Winnipeg Jets, NBC Sports California posted (now deleted) video about Winnipeg. It was described as "cold and dark" and said that it was the worst city to play in.
The Jets would end up beating the Sharks 4-1, but that didn't mean that this little feud had to end.
Scott Brown, the Jets’ Senior Director of Communications, spoke about the importance of the city coming off well to others.
“The widely held misperception of the city is one of the challenges we face as an organization and one of the reasons we always say it is important for us as an organization to treat the players properly and show them what a special organization and place this can be.”
What may have started as a little inside joke began to escalate. Heck, even Jets head coach Paul Maurice was asked about it and answered in perhaps the most Canadian way possible.
A great moment during Paul Maurice's media availability this morning. This was his answer when asked by @WFPJasonBell about the video of San Jose players complaining about #Winnipeg. A fantastic perspective from the coach. pic.twitter.com/Ofxu3yGE7G
— Tyler Esquivel (@Mr_Skeyval) January 9, 2018
Here is the transcript of Maurice's answer:
“I didn’t read it so it’s dangerous to comment on the whole thing. I heard it’s cold and dark. Well, that happens in Canada, occasionally. Pretty regularly every winter. It’s dark at night. Yep, that happens pretty much around the world.
I don’t think any coach, any player, trainer, referee should ever complain about a day in the National Hockey League. We got a sold-out building, pretty sure that goes into hockey-related revenues and everybody cashes their check.
The thread count at your hotel isn’t right or your frappuccino isn’t frothed right…I don’t even know what a frappuccino is, but my point being, we got nothing to complain about. Pretty good life. Every day. Every city’s got a pretty darn good one.”
Frothed cappuccinos and hotel thread count talk. What a world.
It doesn't end there though. Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson was upset about the question asked and it airing when it did. Curtis Pashelka of The San Jose Mercury News spoke to the GM who was incensed by his regional network.
“It’s disappointing that our broadcast partner would put our players in that position. First of all, by even asking that question, then putting it on our broadcast,” Sharks general manager Doug Wilson told this newspaper on Tuesday. “That was a question that was one of 30 that were asked earlier in the year. To me, it was an inappropriate question that should not have been asked. Whether it was an attempt at humor, it was not appropriate.”
This rivalry is like a parfait. It has a lot of layers to it. Although the off-ice barbs may be tiresome to many, this should light a fire under both sides butts next time they play.
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