April 28, 1996: The Detroit Red Wings defeat the Winnipeg Jets, 4-1 at the Winnipeg Arena, winning the series in 6 games, and advancing to the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
This is the last home game for the Jets, 3-time Champions of the World Hockey Association -- 1976, 1978, and 1979, also losing in the Finals in 1973 and 1977 -- but never getting very far in the NHL. The players salute the fans being abandoned by Jerry Colangelo, owner of the NBA's Phoenix Suns, and his group that had bought the team, intending to move it to Phoenix.
The 3 largest Canadian cities -- Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver -- have extensive suburbs. The other cities big enough to have teams in the Canadian Football League really don't. According to the 2021 Canadian Census, Winnipeg had a city population of 749,607, and a metropolitan population of 834,678. That's not big enough to support 2 professional sports teams. Having a pro football team, with 9 home games a year, is one thing; an NBA or NHL team, with 41 home dates, to say nothing of MLB, with 81, nearly twice that, is another.
And it wasn't just the city that was too small: The Winnipeg Arena, built in 1955, only seated 15,393 at its peak, and had hardly any luxury suites. If Winnipeg was going to get a new team, they would need a new arena.
They got one in 2004, the MTS Centre, now named the Canada Life Centre. The Manitoba Moose were one of the most successful minor-league teams. So, in 2011, when the Atlanta Thrashers failed, Commissioner Gary Bettman didn't something he really didn't want to do, and allowed a team to move from a Sun Belt City to Canada, and the Thrashers became the new Winnipeg Jets.
Meanwhile, the Arizona Coyotes are now, probably, the NHL team in the most danger of having to move. Well, at least Phoenix got a Stanley Cup out of it... Actually, no, they haven't. Minnesota/Dallas, Quebec/Colorado and Hartford/Carolina, the other former WHA teams admitted to the NHL, have. But, at this point, Atlanta/Winnipeg looks like they'll make another serious run at it before Winnipeg/Arizona does.
Shane Doan played until 2017, and was the last active member of the original Jets. That team retired only 2 uniform numbers: Bobby Hull's 9 and Tomas Steen's 25. The new Jets have added Dale Hawerchuk's 10.
UPDATE: In 2024, the Coyotes moved to Salt Lake City, calling themselves the Utah Hockey Club until they could decide on a permanent name. In 2025, they became the Utah Mammoth.
As of the 2025-26 season, Doan is the only former Coyote in the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame, and his Number 19 was the only number retired by the Coyotes. They established a Ring of Honor, which included Doan, Jeremy Roenick, and Leighton Accardo, a girl who played in Arizona youth hockey, developed cancer, led the Coyotes to support her charity, and died at age 9 in 2021.
The new Winnipeg Jets have established a team Hall of Fame, including Hull, Steen, Hawerchuk, Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson, Lars-Erik Sjoberg, Ab McDonald, Randy Carlyle, Teemu Selanne and Teppo Numminen.
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April 28, 1996 was a Sunday. This was also the day of the Port Arthur Massacre in Australia. I have a separate entry for that event.
There were 2 other games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs that day. One was an "Original Six" matchup: The New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3 at the Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre) in Montreal. And in the other, the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
Football was out of season. There were 4 games played in the NBA Playoffs:
* The Orlando Magic beat the Detroit Pistons, 92-77 at the Orlando Arena. Shaquille O'Neal scored 29 points.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Miami Heat, 106-75 at the United Center in Chicago. Michael Jordan scored 29 points.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Phoenix Suns, 110-105 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio. David Robinson scored 40 points and grabbed 21 rebounds.
* And the Sacramento Kings beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 90-81 at the KeyArena in Seattle. Mitch Richmond scored 37 points.
And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-3 at Yankee Stadium. Jimmy Key started for the Yankees, but they trailed 3-2 going into the bottom of the 6th inning. Their comeback included a home run by Paul O'Neill, to make a winning pitcher out of not-yet-closer Mariano Rivera. Rookie Derek Jeter, batting 9th, went 0-for-4.
* The New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-5 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Jeff Kent hit a home run. Bobby Jones was the winning pitcher.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-7 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The Rangers scored 4 runs in the top of the 10th inning, and the O's could only come back with 3 in the bottom half. Cal Ripken went 0-for-5.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 17-3 at the SkyDome (now Rogers Centre) in Toronto. The Tribe got home runs from Sandy Alomar Jr. (no surprise), Albert Belle (no surprise) and Álvaro Espinoza (big surprise).
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the California Angels, 10-1 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Seattle Mariners, 16-9 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Ken Griffey Jr. had an odd stat-line: 0-for-0 with 3 walks, and an RBI on a sacrifice fly.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Colorado Rockies, 21-9 at Coors Field in Denver. Mark Grudzielanek went 5-for-7 with 2 RBIs. He did not hit a home run. David Segui went 2-for-4 with 6 RBIs. He did not hit a home run. F.P. Santangelo did hit one, going 4-for-6 with 5 RBIs. Darren Fletcher also hit one, going 2-for-5 with 5 RBIs.
* The Houston Astros beat the San Diego Padres, 3-2 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Uncharacteristically, Tony Gwynn went 0-for-4.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Frank Castillo pitched a 6-hit shutout.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Florida Marlins, 10-4 at Candlestick Park (then named 3Com Park at Candlestick Point) in San Francisco. Barry Bonds went 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs. He did not hit a home run, but Matt Williams and Mark Carreon did.
* The Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals were rained out at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. The game was made up the next day. The Braves won, 4-1.
* And the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds were rained out at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 25. The Reds won, 9-1 and 3-1.
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