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WINNIPEG [url=www.giantsfootballauthentic.com]New York Giants Jerseys Womens[/url] , Manitoba — The Winnipeg Jets hope to keep feeling the good vibrations of their predecessors from 40 years ago.

Bobby Hull, Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson — the Hot Line — and 12 other members of the 1977-78 WHA Jets are in town for a reunion and they’re cheering like crazy for the new incarnation of the team.

They were glued to the bar television watching the 5-1 Game 7 victory over the Nashville Predators and they’re all going to be at Bell MTS Place when the Jets open their Western Conference final against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night.

Jets coach Paul Maurice was justifiably happy after knocking out the Presidents Trophy winners with three victories in enemy territory.

“The telling stat for me in this series is we played four games in (Nashville) and never lost in regulation. Against the best team in the league,” he told The Winnipeg Sun. “To play well in here as consistently as we did, it’s impressive.”

Not only that, but the Jets chased the favorite for the Vezina Trophy, Pekke Rinne, three times in the series, including in the first period on Thursday after taking a quick 2-0 lead.

“I feel very much responsible for our season ending at this point,” a despondent Rinne told a scrum at his locker stall. “It’s tough to understand. I can’t point to anything. I felt good and I was healthy. This was the biggest moment of the season and to let your teammates down is a terrible feeling.”

The Golden Knights, who won the season series against the Jets this year with two wins in three games, have had their skates up for the better part of a week after eliminating the San Jose Sharks in six games. Not even in existence a year ago, they are already the most successful first-year franchise in the history of professional sports.

Just how far they go will depend largely on the pads of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, a three-time Stanley Cup winner with Pittsburgh. He said he relishes the fact that his team has exceeded the expectations of, well [url=www.ravenscheapstores.com/hayden-hurst-jersey-cheap]Hayden Hurst Jersey[/url] , everybody.

“It was maybe a little bit of a shock, but I’m proud of our team, our organization, the way they did things here,” he told a media scrum. “I’m proud to be where we are right now.”

Coach Gerard Gallant told a media conference there’s no doubt his troops deserve to be where they are.

“We’re a good team, we play hard and we played well all season long,” he said. “The two teams we played were very good hockey teams and we were very evenly matched with those teams.”

The ’78 Jets not only steamrolled through their season, winning the AVCO Cup in four straight games over Gordie Howe and the New England Whalers, they also became the first North American team to defeat the mighty Soviet national team, without a doubt the strongest team in the world at the time, when they won 5-3 on Jan. 5, 1978, at Winnipeg Arena.

Game 2 will be played Monday night.

The Minnesota Vikings picked offensive tackle Brian O'Neill from Pittsburgh in the second round of the NFL draft Friday night, adding a mobile yet raw player to help with the critical task of protecting prize offseason acquisition Kirk Cousins.

 

"I know if I can get the coaches this type of athlete, they can develop those guys [url=www.buccaneerscheapshops.com/cheap-authentic-m.j.-stewart-jersey]Cheap M.J. Stewart Jersey[/url] ," said Vikings general manager Rick Spielman, who used the 62nd overall selection on the 6-foot-6, 305-pound O'Neill before trading the team's third-round pick, No. 94, to net an extra selection for Saturday.

O'Neill played left tackle for the Panthers as a junior in 2017 and was a first team All-ACC honoree. He spent the previous two seasons at right tackle after joining the program as a tight end. O'Neill ran the 40-yard dash in 4.82 seconds at the combine, the fastest time by an offensive lineman.

"You watch this guy get out and pull, and it's unbelievable how fast he moves," Vikings director of college scouting Jamaal Stephenson said.

If the Vikings feel confident enough that O'Neill is ready to start, he could take over at right tackle with Mike Remmers making a permanent move to one of the guard spots. Remmers was signed last year as a tackle, but injuries prompted him to shift inside late in the season and in the playoffs. O'Neill left college a year early, though, so the Vikings have essentially taken on the task of continuing to develop him.

"He's got to get stronger. That's one of his weaknesses at this point, but we feel we can easily get that corrected," Stephenson said.

If Remmers stays at tackle for now, Danny Isidora [url=www.thedolphinsfootballauthentic.com/mike-gesicki-jersey-authentic]Youth Mike Gesicki Jersey[/url] , a fifth-round draft pick last year, will become a strong candidate to start at right guard in the retired Joe Berger's place. Nick Easton started at left guard for most of last season before breaking his ankle.

O'Neill was a high school basketball star in Wilmington, Delaware. His father, Brendan O'Neill, played running back at Dartmouth. His mother, Elizabeth O'Neill, was a swimmer at Northeastern.

"I think I'm able to handle speed off the edge very well," O'Neill said. "I think that's something that's one of my strong suits, being able to protect the edge. Obviously with the new quarterback in town, Kirk Cousins, that's a big deal. Protecting him is my most important job now, and it's a job I take very seriously."

The run on interior linemen accelerated from the first day of the NFL draft, with three guards going in the first five picks of the second round. The Browns led off with Nevada guard Austin Corbett, the Giants took UTEP guard Will Hernandez and the Colts grabbed Auburn guard Braden Smith. The Bears went with Iowa center James Daniels, who could play guard [url=www.dolphinscheapstore.com/jerome-baker-jersey-cheap]Jerome Baker Jersey Dolphins[/url] , with the seventh pick of the night, 39th overall. Another guard was taken off the board when the Cowboys picked Texas guard Connor Williams at No. 50 overall.

"I've never seen that many offensive guards go this high in the draft," Stephenson said.

The last time the Vikings took an offensive lineman in the first three rounds in consecutive years was 2005 and 2006, when they took Marcus Johnson from Mississippi and Ryan Cook from New Mexico in the second round of those drafts. The Vikings drafted center Pat Elflein out of Ohio State in the third round last year.

Like cornerback, where the Vikings looked in the first round for Central Florida's Mike Hughes , a team can never have enough quality offensive linemen. The dearth of them has been their biggest downfall in recent seasons, a deficiency badly exposed in the 38-7 loss at Philadelphia in the NFC championship game.

Hughes found some off-the-field trouble as a freshman at North Carolina in 2015 with his home-state school, which led to a nomadic college career with a stop at Garden City Community College in Kansas before landing at UCF once fall camp had already begun. He quickly integrated himself with the team and picked up the defense, making a strong impression on head coach Scott Frost.

"I think he's the type of player that's going to thrive up there," Frost said on a conference call with Minnesota reporters. "Mike's not just a cover corner, he's a guy that will come up and hit. He'll really embrace being around a bunch of other guys that play with that kind of attitude."

He's only 5-foot-10, but this high school quarterback has used his physical size as a psychological advantage.

"I don't want to get the ball caught on me," Hughes said. "I hate having the ball caught on me, even in practice. I just like competing."

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