Whiteout street parties are coming back to downtown Winnipeg starting this Sunday, as the Jets are at home to take on the Colorado Avalanche for their first game in their best-of-seven first-round NHL playoff series. Here’s what you need to know.
Puck drop
Puck drop at the Canada Life Centre is at 6 p.m. Doors to the arena open 90 minutes before the game starts.
The outdoor licensed whiteout party will start at 4 p.m. CT, two hours ahead of game time. The event is ticketed, with tickets costing $10, of which $5 will go to the United Way.
All 5,000 tickets to the whiteout party were sold out within about an hour of going on sale on Wednesday, a True North Sports and Entertainment spokesperson told CBC earlier this week.
Tickets for the Game 2 whiteout party, to be held Tuesday evening, are also sold out.
The game will be broadcast live on three large screens on Donald Street, between Portage and Graham avenues.
The Party in the Plaza at True North Square will also return. Tickets to that outdoor event are $20, and $5 of that will also go to the United Way. As of Saturday afternoon, Ticketmaster indicated tickets were still available for the Party in the Plaza on both Sunday and Tuesday.
To mark Game 1, the Royal Canadian Air Force plans to fly two fighter jets over the Canada Life Centre and the street party shortly after 6 p.m.
Road and sidewalk closures
The city is closing some roads in downtown Winnipeg on Sunday to make way for the setup and teardown of the first whiteout street party of the Jets’ playoff run.
Southbound Donald Street between Ellice and St. Mary avenues will be closed Sunday starting at 8 a.m. It will reopen at about 3 a.m. Monday.
Graham Avenue will be closed in both directions between Hargrave Street and Smith Street, starting at 8 a.m. Graham will reopen at 1 a.m. Monday.
Sidewalks on Donald Street, between Ellice and St. Mary, and on the north side of Graham between Hargrave and Smith will close at noon Sunday. They’ll reopen overnight into Monday.
The city is asking drivers to use alternative routes around those areas.
Transit
Winnipeg Transit buses that normally run on Graham between Kennedy and Smith streets will be rerouted starting at 8 a.m. Sunday, and will return to regular service by Monday.
Passengers can catch any bus affected by this reroute on Graham at Vaughn Street or Fort Street, and on Donald Street at Ellice Avenue or York Avenue.
The Winnipeg Transit Plus loading zone on southbound Donald at Graham will also be relocated to eastbound Portage Avenue, next to the Radisson Hotel.
The Millennium Library Winnipeg Transit Plus loading zone will be moved to the eastbound front driveway of the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters, and the City Place Winnipeg Transit Plus loading zone will be relocated to northbound Hargrave on the north side of St. Mary.
The Millennium Library parkade’s Donald Street entrance will be closed starting at 8 a.m. Sunday. It will reopen at about 3 a.m. Monday.
The Millennium Library branch will be closing early on Sunday, at 4 p.m.