The Winnipeg Jets open their 2026-27 home schedule on Friday, October 2 against the Boston Bruins at Canada Life Centre, 300 Portage Avenue. What follows is the longest regular season the NHL has ever played: 84 games rather than 82, the first year of the new number. These are the questions guests ask us in the weeks before a game night, with the answers we give them.

When are the Jets actually in town this season?

More often in some months than others. After the October 2 opener the team leaves immediately for Detroit on October 4, and the calendar has two stretches worth knowing about. Between January 28 and February 15 the Jets play six straight games away from Canada Life Centre, split by the league's nine-day break for the 2027 All-Star Game from February 4 to 12. The counterweight comes a fortnight later: a six-game homestand from March 1 to 13, the longest of the season. If your dates are flexible and you want two games in one trip, early March is the stretch to aim at.

Which home games go first?

The Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic on Sunday, October 25 is the obvious one, though it is not at the arena at all: the Jets host Montreal outdoors at Princess Auto Stadium, and we have written that one up separately in our Heritage Classic guide. The Jets and Canadiens alumni play the night before, Saturday October 24, at Canada Life Centre. Of the indoor schedule, the club's own season preview flags the Dallas back-to-back on Saturday December 19 and Sunday December 20, the last two home dates before the Christmas break, Toronto's visit on March 11, and Edmonton on April 7, which is the only time the Oilers come to Winnipeg all season.

Where do tickets come from?

Ticketmaster. True North sells through it as the Jets' official marketplace, and the team's own ticket pages hand you off to the same place, so there is no separate box-office site to hunt for. Single-game seats sit alongside four and six-game packs and the Jets Passport option; prices move by opponent and by date, and the Bruins opener and the Edmonton game are not priced like a Tuesday in November. Tickets arrive on your phone rather than as a printable file. A screenshot will not scan at the gate, which catches out at least one visitor a season.

How do we get downtown from Crescentwood without driving?

Walk east about 25 minutes from the Corydon blocks to Osborne Village and take the BLUE line. It runs on the Southwest Transitway and then along Portage Avenue, which is the arena's own street, so you step off within a block or two of the doors rather than navigating a transfer downtown. Winnipeg Transit lists the 2026 fare at $3.45 in cash or $3.10 with peggo e-cash, paid when you board. Coming home after a 10 p.m. finish, check the last departures on Navigo before the third period rather than after it.

Driving instead: the arena is roughly a 10-minute drive from Crescentwood outside rush hour, but the last 10 minutes of that drive are the ones everyone else is making too. Leaving an hour before puck drop is not excessive on a Saturday.

If we drive, where does the car go?

The closest parkade is under True North Square, with its entrance on Hargrave Street and a walkway connecting it to the arena, so you never step outside. Cityplace, at Hargrave and St. Mary, is the other heated option, and Winnipeg Square and the Millennium Library lots also tie into the downtown walkway system. Event rates vary by game and by lot; Canada Life Centre keeps a parking page in its fan guide that lists them. In January the walkway connection is worth more than the difference in price.

What time do doors open, and what can you carry in?

Gates open an hour before puck drop. Everyone passes through a metal detector before the ticket scan, and bags are restricted to small sizes and inspected at the entrance, with exceptions for medical and childcare bags. There is no bag check on site, which is the part worth planning around: a backpack you bring is a backpack you carry back to the car. Leave it at the house.

What do you wear to a game in January?

More than you think if you are coming from somewhere milder. Winnipeg's January overnight lows average around -21°C, and the block of Portage Avenue in front of the arena is open enough that a north wind funnels down it. Inside, the building runs warm, so the answer most locals land on is a heavy coat that comes off and gets stuffed under the seat, rather than layers you sweat through by the second intermission. White, if you are here for a playoff game: the Whiteout is a real dress code, and the crowd enforces it by example.

Where should we stay for a game weekend?

Our Crescentwood house sits about three kilometres southwest of Canada Life Centre, which is the 10-minute drive or the BLUE line ride described above, and it is quiet in a way downtown is not when a game lets out. The dates that tighten first are the Heritage Classic weekend in late October and the two Dallas games before Christmas, when the city is already full of people home for the holidays. If you are building a trip around a particular game, check our calendar once the schedule is out rather than the week of.

For the rest of what a hockey weekend here looks like, our coffee guide covers the morning after, and the Exchange District guide covers the few blocks north of the arena where most of the pre-game dinners happen.