'Literally a whiteout on the plane': Jets fans cheer for team during flight
Passengers wave barf bags, chant 'go Jets go' during flight to Winnipeg Sunday evening
The Winnipeg Jets lifted thousands of fans off of their seats at the Canada Life Centre this weekend, but few could say they were elevated by Sunday night's win as much as a few Winnipeggers who got to see it while they were literally up in the air
A plane full of passengers headed to Winnipeg was flying somewhere over Saskatchewan when the Jets defeated the St. Louis Blues in the winner-take-all game to get into Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Rishona Hyman said she and the U16 water polo team she was chaperoning during competition in Calgary had just boarded the plane when the Jets tied up the score with three seconds remaining in regulation time during Game 7.
"People were going crazy in the Calgary airport before we even got on the gate," she said Monday. "Then we board the plane, and I think it was the first time people were like … 'Can we stay? We want to finish the game.'"
Hyman said as soon as the passengers got on board the plane, everyone started scrambling to get their devices connected to the plane's Wi-Fi to stream the game.
"The pilot actually came on and said, 'Okay I'm not going to actually talk because you don't want to hear me talk. We're all going to cheer for the Jets. Have a great flight,'" she said.
She said a man who was sitting at the front held up his iPad so the whole flight could see.
Hyman said it was "literally a whiteout on the plane," with passengers waving barf bags instead of handkerchiefs and chanting "Go Jets Go" as the game went on.
They were mid-air when Jets captain Adam Lowry scored the game-winning goal in double overtime.
"The flight attendants flashed the lights on and off.… Everyone's going crazy," Hyman said.
"Then the water polo team that I was traveling with started singing the, you know, 'be my girl' song they sing at the Jets arena.… It couldn't have been better."
The Jets will face the Dallas Stars in the second round of the playoffs starting Wednesday. Hyman said she's excited, but that there was no better place to be to see the team win.
"It was truly Canadian, truly Winnipeg," she said. "Everyone was into it. Everyone was cheering and screaming and, like, so excited. The excitement was palpable."
With files from Riley Laychuk