Best. summer. ever. seriously, if every summer in Winnipeg was like this, we would have a gigantic overpopulation problem.

Let’s start with our sports teams. The return of the National Hockey League to Winnipeg, which was announced on May 31, has set off a kind of euphoria not seen in years, if ever.

Some 13,000 season tickets sold out in a few days, Winnipeg Jets merchandise, both new and retro, has been flying off retailers’ shelves ever since, and people are anxiously awaiting the home opener on Oct. 9 against the Montreal Canadiens as if it’s the Second Coming — of Hull, Hawerchuk and Selanne, that is.

How about football? The Winnipeg Blue Bombers, despite a mini-midseason slump, have moved from the Canadian Football League’s outhouse to the penthouse and are playing in front of record-setting crowds. The team is on pace to sell out eight of its nine home games, which would be topped only by the inaugural season at the soon-to-be bulldozed Canad Inns Stadium more than a half-century ago. Swaggerville, indeed.

Even the Winnipeg Goldeyes, the city’s minor league baseball team, won its division this year and led the league in attendance before faltering in the playoffs. For perhaps the first time in this city’s history, it could very well be argued that Winnipeg is the sports capital of Canada right now.

The weather is usually an awkward conversation starter, but not when it’s 30C and hot all summer. There were more than 20 such days this year, which, in addition to attracting swarms of people to Grand Beach and other cottage-country communities, also prevented mosquito eggs from hatching. They need moisture and then heat. No moisture? No mosquitoes.

Almost as important, the jokes about the Mosquito Capital of Canada moved two provinces west to Edmonton. (Didn’t it used to be known as the City of Champions?)

To top things off, the ceremonial ribbon is about to be cut at some of the biggest capital projects the city has ever seen, including the new $585-million terminal building at the Richardson International Airport.

Next year, construction of the much anticipated Canadian Museum for Human Rights will be completed. All told, more than $2 billion in construction projects are currently on the go and set for completion within the next two years.

And, just in case you don’t believe that everything is coming up Winnipeg, check out the economic forecasts from the banks. Royal Bank of Canada, for example, is calling for Manitoba to have the fourth-highest GDP in the country in 2011, at 2.8%, and at 3.5% next year, which will put the province in second position.

Unemployment in Manitoba, at 5.4% this year and 5.2% next year, will trail only Saskatchewan’s, as well.

Of course, not everything is perfect. The agricultural sector was hampered by a wet spring this year. But, on the flip side, manufacturing is making a strong comeback.

So, how do you top the best summer ever? With the best winter ever, of course. Go, Jets, go!  IE