Print Edition: September 14, 2011 It was a sad day on April 28, 1996 when Winnipeg residents watched their NHL team, the Winnipeg Jets, play what they thought would be their last ever game as a Canadian team. Nearly fifteen years later there remained a small group of ever-faithful Jets fans who believed that one day the Jets would return to their friendly prairie home even though as the years wore on the chances of that happening grew more and more unlikely. And yet, that distant dream became a reality on May 31, 2011 when NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that after a fifteen-year absence an NHL hockey team would be returning to Manitoba.