If hockey isn’t quite your thing, or you’re just discovering the thrill of the playoffs, we won’t hold it against you.
DALLAS — This is a safe space, aspiring Stars fans. If hockey isn’t quite your thing, or you’re just discovering the thrill of the playoffs, we won’t hold it against you or stop you from hopping on the bandwagon.
The Stars’ comeback win over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 7 of the first round Saturday night sent Dallas into a second-round matchup with the Winnipeg Jets, who finished atop the Western Conference standings during the regular season.
If your knowledge of Winnipeg starts and ends there, or if you only know of the Jets as a football team from New York, we’re here to help.
Now we can’t claim to be experts ourselves. But we know our way around a Google search or two.
Here’s our unofficial, far-from-expert guide to the fair Canadian burg of Winnipeg:
Where is Winnipeg?
It’s in Canada! OK, maybe you knew that. More specifically, it’s located in the province of Manitoba, which borders the U.S. at North Dakota and Minnesota. For further reference, Winnipeg is located about 450 miles north of Minneapolis and 220 miles north of Fargo, N.D.
What is Winnipeg’s population?
Winnipeg has around 780,000 residents, around the same size as U.S. cities like Denver or Seattle.
What time zone is Winnipeg?
Hopefully, our location description helped give this away, but Winnipeg is on Central Time, same as Dallas.
How far is Winnipeg from Dallas?
Short answer: FAR by car, around 1,300 miles, or nearly 20 hours. But the Stars aren’t taking the bus to Canada, so they’ll get there in around 3 hours by plane.
How did Winnipeg get an NHL team?
The Jets, in name, go back to the 1970s when they played in the World Hockey Association. But it wasn’t until they were re-established in 2011 that Winnipeg got its spot in the National Hockey League. The Atlanta Thrashers, who were founded in the 1990s, ended up migrating north to Canada and adopting the Jets’ name and original city.
What arena do the Winnipeg Jets play at?
Canada Life Centre, which seats around 15,000 fans, is home to the Jets. The arena opened in 2004 and originally was just home to the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League. It now hosts both the Jets and the Moose, the latter of which is the minor league affiliate for the former.
How cold does it get in Winnipeg?
Pretty dang cold. January “highs” were in the single digits and lows were well below zero, according to Weather Underground. They also get their fair share of snow, as you might guess. The good news for the Stars is they won’t have to deal with any of that. The 10-day forecast calls for sunny skies and highs in the 70s and 80s.