Scores of former Jets eager to play in the Heritage Classic

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This article was published 28/04/2016 (2918 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The alumni game at this fall’s Heritage Classic between the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers will stir up all kinds of great memories, but there’s going to be one big problem — it’ll be impossible to find enough jerseys for all the players who want to suit up.

“If you don’t have a little heart flutter when you hear about something like that, then you’re not a hockey player,” said Doug Smail, who scored 189 goals for the NHL Jets over 101/2 seasons.

The man who shares the record for the fastest goal to start a game — Smail scored five seconds after the opening faceoff against the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 20, 1981 — thinks everybody who pulled on a Jets jersey over the years will want to play.

“If you don’t, you don’t have a soul,” he said.

Two guys who appear to be locks for the roster, which is being put together by Hall of Famer Dale Hawerchuk, are Dave Babych and Dave Ellett, who regularly went to war against the Oilers.

“I better have a good summer. Maybe I’ll have a mini-training camp and get in shape,” Ellett said.

“The hype and interest is extremely high but I’m not surprised. I think the NHL and the hockey world will be pretty amazed at the interest for both (the alumni and regular-season) games.”

Babych said there’s no question he wants to play at Investors Group Field, but he’s worried Hawerchuk might form his roster after doing body fat tests on the veterans.

“I think all the guys who are going to be playing will eat a few salads and be prepared,” he said with a laugh. “There is still a lot of tradition in the Jets name. Sure, it’s not the same franchise, but it’s the Jets name that has been here for a long time.”

Morris Lukowich, who was one of the few Jets to play in the NHL and World Hockey Association, said he knows Hawerchuk is in a tough spot because so many players will want to participate.

“It would be really fun to play in it but if it doesn’t work, that’s OK. Hockey players are entertainers. The thing we really cherish is the opportunity to get in front of people and show our stuff,” he said.

For what it’s worth, Lukowich has ample experience playing outdoors. When he played in Italy near the end of his career, some of the teams didn’t have indoor rinks.

“I’ve played in the rain, in thunder and lightning with an aluminum stick just waiting to get zapped, in the snow and in wind so strong you couldn’t skate to the other end, but if you were going the other way you were flying,” he said.

Some of the Jets will be content to take in the festivities. Ab McDonald, 80, the first captain of the WHA Jets who scored the franchise’s first goal against the New York Raiders, said he’ll leave the playing up to the young guns.

“If I was younger, I’d be out on the ice playing. I’d like to be a part of it, as one of the guys who was here in 1972. If it wasn’t for the team in 1972-73, there wouldn’t be a team here today,” he said.

Joining him on the sidelines will be Bill (the Tractor) Lesuk, one of a select few Jets to be on all three AVCO Cup winning teams. Not only did he spend four seasons with the WHA Jets and one in the NHL, he also scouted for the team for nearly 20 years.

“Virtually everybody who will be there will have been my teammate or I’ll have scouted them. It’s very exciting for me. We’re going to have a wonderful time,” he said.

Ellett, who scored the double overtime goal to put the Jets up three games to one in the 1990 playoffs, a series ultimately won by the Oilers in seven games, said he doesn’t think this will be a typical alumni game.

“I think it’s going to heat up,” he said. “There’s a lot of pride on both sides,” he said.

Asked if he has anybody in mind for a subtle two-hander when the referee isn’t looking, he replied, “all of ’em. There’s a lot of payback there.”

About 10 WHA and NHL Jets are in town participating in the Battle of the Badges Celebrity Hockey Challenge fundraiser at Southdale Community Centre. It continues today.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca