Winnipeg Jets name new security puppy after team’s superfan

It’s official.

Meet Lenny.

Joining Dante, Daisy, Grace and Ryp, we are excited to announce the newest member of our in-house security dog team…

By popular demand…meet LENNY
#GoJetsGo pic.twitter.com/IJOygoQSIB

— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) November 11, 2017

And the Jets.

Lenny is the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets latest draft — for its security detail.

A contest was held to name the adorable pup.

Who’s a good boy? 🐶

Lenny’s a good boy! pic.twitter.com/zqf884wrKy

— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) November 11, 2017

But his name is no riff off Elton John’s Benny and the Jets.

(Though that was also an option — kind of.Benny was the name of the Jets original mascot during the 1980s and 90s.)

Instead, his handle is on honour of a Second World War veteran.

Len Kropioski, nicknamed Kroppy, often made the 2½-hour drive from his home Kenora, Ontario, across the Manitoba boundary to Winnipeg to take in home games.

He died last year at the age of 98.

In addition to the other security dogs — Daisy and Dante — brought in by True North Sports and Entertainment, which owns and operates the Jets and Bell MTS Place, other puppies have meaningful names.

One is named Ryp, for Rick Rypien, a Manitoba Moose player who died in 2011. And there’s Grace, so named after The Tragically Hip song of the same name, in memory of lead singer, Gord Downie, who died last month.