It’s blue, covered in stickers and mini-sticks, topped with a replica Stanley Cup, filled with gas and ready for Round 2 of the NHL playoffs.
It’s hard to miss Dan Nolin’s Jets mobile. And that’s the whole point.
The 1971 Chevy Vega wagon is meant to get attention — the wailing rooftop siren demands it — and drive excitement among Winnipeggers for their beloved Jets.
“It’s amazing. I get smiles — everywhere you look it’s smiles,” said Nolin, whose voice started to crack and get emotional. “It’s just fun. It’s just so much fun.
“Kids come up, they want pictures. And I don’t worry about people touching it when I park it downtown. I gotta have faith in people.”
Not only does it get attention, it sparks goodwill.
While driving around ahead of Sunday’s deciding Game 7 between the Jets and St. Louis Blues, Nolin was approached by a stranger with a spare ticket.
Nolin told his friend, Richard, to take it. It was the first game Richard had ever seen and proved to be one of the greatest games ever played at Canada Life Centre.
“He went in there first time in his life. And for that game? Awesome.”
The Vega is festooned with rope lighting, Jets hubcaps, flags held aloft by hockey sticks, a goalie mask, a jet fighter plane, a plush version of Jets mascot Mick E. Moose and mini-sticks on the hood, doors and wiper blades.
“I’ve had it for 12 years and I just keep having fun with it,” said Nolin, who is similarly sheathed in everything Jets, from his pilot helmet through to his whiteout pants and sneakers.
His Jets suit jacket, which hangs open to reveal a Jets jersey, has a miniature Mick E. Moose attached to the breast pocket like a corsage. He even has a secondary helmet for passengers to get into the spirit.
Nolin’s obsession launched in 2015 with a simple Jets licence plate. Not long afterwards, the Jets clinched their first Stanley Cup playoff appearance since relocating to Winnipeg from Atlanta.
“Ever since then, I just keep on going. I just keep having fun with it,” Nolin said.
The Jets advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with Sunday’s victory, a double overtime comeback shocker against the Blues, punching their ticket to the next series matchup against the Dallas Stars. That best-of-seven begins Wednesday.
So what are their chances of motoring deeper into the post-season?
“On paper, if we were looking at this very subjectively, you would say the task just got a lot more daunting for the Winnipeg Jets,” said Rogers Sportsnet’s Sean Reynolds.
The Stars nipped at the Jets’ heels during the stretch run of the regular season, and the teams finished 1-2 in the Western Division.
That said, so much has already defied expectations. The first round between the Jets and Blues was officially the NHL’s best against a wildcard team. The Blues were last to book a playoff spot.
But as the Jets and their fans quickly discovered, they were far from an easy foe.
Fact is, they were the NHL’s hottest team in the final two months, rapidly climbing the standings after a mediocre season.
“And the Jets shouldn’t have been able to win without [injured star] Mark Scheifele, and they still were able to,” Reynolds said.
“As surprising as it was for them to win that Game 7, it shouldn’t be, because they showed time and again throughout the season that they were a team capable of doing that. The Winnipeg Jets seem to have something special.”
At the beginning of the year, the Jets winning the President’s Trophy would have been an improbable notion, Reynolds said.
Once they started setting records for wins early in the season, everyone thought they were going to slow down, but they didn’t, he said.
“On paper, the Dallas Stars should be the more superior team.… [The Stars] are deeper and maybe have more high end power. But the Winnipeg Jets keep finding ways to prove people wrong.”
The Jets have the reigning Vezina Trophy winner as the league’s best goalie and Connor Hellebuyck is generally considered a shoe-in to win it again. He’s also up for the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player.
But he struggled mightily against the Blues before returning to form in the double-overtime of Game 7.
One place Winnipeg and Dallas draw even is in their flair for the dramatic.
Like the Jets, the Stars pulled off a Game 7 comeback, rallying with four straight goals in the third period for a 4-2 win to eliminate the Colorado Avalanche.
But the X factor for the Jets could be the people like Dan Nolin — the fan base, the extremely loud whiteout crowd.
The Blues’ fans created a menacing experience for the visiting Jets, but “Dallas will not have that kind of environment,” Reynolds said, calling their fans more subdued.
So if that’s the environment Dallas is used to, the one in Winnipeg has the potential to buckle their knees.
“What you saw in St. Louis was amazing. What you see in Winnipeg is supernatural,” said Reynolds.
