Jets end regular-season with win over Canucks
9:32 PM
The Winnipeg Jets have ended the regular-season on a winning note.
A 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night at Canada Life Centre was the club’s eighth straight triumph, which ties a franchise mark set earlier this year. Their 52nd win of the season also ties the franchise-best they established in 2017-18.
Cole Perfetti scored twice to lead the way, the last one into an empty net. Rookie Nikita Chibrikov, playing in his first NHL game, notched the winner early in the third period. Rookie Brad Lambert, who also made his big-league debut, had an assist on Gabe Vilardi’s first-period goal.
Winnipeg finished second in the Central Division with 110 points and have home-ice advantage in their first round playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche, which begins Sunday.
PTE artistic director parting ways with company
4:52 PM
Prairie Theatre Exchange announced the departure of artistic director Thomas Morgan Jones on Thursday. In a media release, the company said Jones has accepted a position at an arts company outside the province.
Jones will continue to co-lead the company through the end of the 23/24 season. His tenure will end on July 31, 2024.
“The past six years at Prairie Theatre Exchange have been absolutely extraordinary,” Jones said in the release. “I am deeply grateful and humbled to have been a part of the history of this organization. My heartfelt thanks to the board, staff, audiences, donors, funders, and the wonderful artists of the Winnipeg theatre community. It has been an honour and a great privilege to serve as artistic director.”
Jones is the second member of PTE management to leave the company in the past month. Managing director Lisa Li announced her departure in the first week of April; she will join Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre as executive director in June.
20,000 litres of sewage leaks into floodway
4:37 PM
An estimated 20,000 litres of sewage leaked into the Red River Floodway over about 4 1/2 days beginning last week.
City of Winnipeg employees noticed a discharge from a maintenance hole on the southwest corner of the parking lot at the drinking water treatment plant on April 12. The city began to investigate a potential leak in the aqueduct Monday and on Wednesday found a leak on the wastewater air release valve support pipe in the maintenance hole. The leak was stopped at about 11 a.m.
“The majority of discharge was collected by the water treatment plant’s land drainage catch basin and eventually discharged into the Red River Floodway,” the city said.
The city reported the incident to the province Wednesday.
The plant is located just east of Winnipeg.
Hellebuyck’s star shines brightly for Jets
4:26 PM
Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck will be recognized as the team’s Three Stars Award winner tonight.
He has been selected as a star more times than any other Jet during the 2023-24 NHL regular season. The 30-year-old from Michigan has won the award six times in the last seven seasons.
The Wawanesa Insurance Community Service Award will be presented to Jets captain Adam Lowry for his commitment to the community.
Finally, defenceman Dylan DeMelo is the recipient of the Dan Snyder Memorial Award, given to a member of the Jets who shows dedication and hard work without reward or recognition, so that his team and teammates might succeed.
The awards will be handed out following Winnipeg’s game tonight against the visiting Vancouver Canucks.
Dog dies in Nairn Avenue house fire
2:34 PM
A dog was killed in a house fire on Nairn Avenue on Thursday morning.
Fire crews were sent to the one-and-a-half-storey home on the 300 block of Nairn Avenue at 7:13 a.m. Crews fought the fire from inside the home and declared the situation under control an hour later.
“Preliminary observations suggest the fire was accidental, caused by a malfunctioning clothes dryer,” the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service said in a news release.
Later, at 10:35 a.m., crews were sent to a single-storey house on the 600 block of Grierson Avenue. The fire was declared under control at 10:58 a.m.
Residents of the home got out safely before crews arrived at the scene.
The fire appears to have been caused by an electrical malfunction, the WFPS said.
Bachman selling guitar collection
1:22 PM
Randy Bachman is selling more than 200 guitars from his vast collection, including the axe he used to create the famous riff to the 1970 hit song American Woman.
The 80-year-old former Winnipegger, who is a co-founder of the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, has teamed up with Julien’s Auctions of Beverly Hills, Calif., on the sale, which will take place May 29 and 30 at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York as well as online at juliensauctions.com.
Jets prospects Lambert, Chibrikov to make NHL debuts
11:55 AM
The Winnipeg Jets have called up four players from the Manitoba Moose in advance of their final regular-season game tonight against Vancouver.
Moose forwards Brad Lambert and Nikita Chibrikov will make their NHL debuts tonight, while forward Parker Ford isn’t expected to suit up. Veteran goaltender Collin Delia is expected to serve as the backup to Laurent Brossoit, giving Connor Hellebuyck (in addition to several regular skaters) the night off.
The Jets are locked in to second place in the Central Division and will have home-ice advantage against the Colorado Avalanche in their playoff series regardless of what happens tonight.
Nomination period for LRSD byelection nears
11:18 AM
The nomination period for a byelection to replace a school trustee who quit after being suspended for racist and anti-LGBTTQ+ social-media posts opens next week.
Nominations will be accepted for the Louis Riel School Division Ward 1 byelection from April 25 until May 1 at 4:30 p.m.
Nomination papers must be filed by the candidate in person and have at least 25 signatures from residents whose names are on the ward’s voters list.
The byelection is set for June 6.
Candidates can withdraw their nomination, in writing, until May 2 at 4:30 p.m.
Francine Champagne quit in November while on her third consecutive unpaid, three-month suspension. The school board was in the process of filing a court application to seek permission to oust her.
Sargent Avenue gun call unfounded
9:47 AM
A 911 call about a person armed with a gun that closed Sargent Avenue to traffic for several hours Thursday morning turned out to be unfounded.
Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Claude Chancy said police were called about a person armed with a gun at a home on the 600 block of Sargent Avenue in the early morning, before the rush hour.
Police, including members of the WPS heavily armed tactical support team, blocked a stretch of the road to traffic while investigating the call. Chancy said officers eventually made their way into the house but made no arrests.
“Nothing was found inside the house,” Chancy said, adding the call appears to have been unfounded.
Police probing ‘serious assault’
8:48 AM
Winnipeg police are investigating a “serious assault” in the North End.
Drivers and pedestrians are being warned to avoid the area of Selkirk Avenue at McKenzie Street, the Winnipeg Police Service announced on social media Thursday morning.
“The immediate area is closed to pedestrian and vehicle traffic while police investigate,” the post said. “Police are requesting the public avoid the area, traffic delays can be expected.”
The intersection of Selkirk Avenue at McKenzie Street is closed to all traffic as Winnipeg police investigate a “serious assault” in the North End.
240418 – Thursday, April 18, 2024
