WINNIPEG - Canada Life Centre was sold out for the latest Winnipeg Jets win over the top team in the NHL, the Washington Capitals and in the crowd of 15 thousand plus were five special guests from Switzerland in town to see Nino Niederreiter.
“Two of them are childhood friends and the other ones I got to know over the years,” said Niederreiter following the Jets practice at hockey for all centre.
“They try to come visit every year. They went to Carolina, they went to Nashville and now here. Try to do the annual trip and give me a nice visit and try to have some fun while they are here.”
During the 3-2 overtime win on Tuesday, Nino’s buddies made two appearances on the scoreboard. The first time it seemed like Jets fans didn’t understand who they were looking at but when they made a second showing, the group turned around and showed number 22 and Niederreiter on their jerseys and received a big applause.
“I didn’t know that they were going to wear that and I saw them and said ‘Oh no, here we go again’ and they started turning around and showing the number’,” laughed Niederreiter.
“At the beginning they had people coming up to them ‘Are you guys wearing rescue jerseys or something?’ and it was pretty funny.”
Niederreiter said he and his friends did a bunch of things around Winnipeg including getting on the ice to do some curling.
“We had a blast. Had a nice game going but at the beginning it was very, very hard, tough to watch but got better at the end,” said Niederreiter.
“I’ve curled before. It’s pretty big (in Switzerland), unfortunately we lost this year against Canada, the women (at world’s in South Korea). Definitely very popular at home and it’s such a fun sport and you definitely get a big understanding when you play how hard it is.”
The quintet will be joined by 25 more people from Niederreiter’s home town for the Jets next game which is Friday against New Jersey. Watch for plenty of Swiss power at Canada Life Centre as Winnipeg looks to take another step towards their first Central title.
