Summer's Unofficially Over

I don't officially make calendars nor do I hold any meteorlogical degrees, but summer officially ended for me yesterday as my final shift at the ballpark for this summer was fulfilled. The local professional team isn't going to the playoffs this season after being eliminated a couple of weeks ago, but it was still a fun season of baseball that allowed me to witness a triple play, a handful of balks, and a couple of other rarely-seen calls. With baseball season coming to a close, though, that means my focus can return exclusively to hockey and, in turn, this blog. This article is just a few shy of 6600 in HBIC's existence, and that brings me to the crossroads once again.

I've been quietly working on something new for this blog that I've wanted to add for a while, but I couldn't quite get the formatting right. I'm still not completely satisfied with the results, but Version 1.0 of this addition accomplishes what I wanted. I'll release that tomorrow for all to see, but it'll be something that I'll keep working on as time passes. Or for however long this blog keeps running.

I promised changes this summer to how this blog works and functions, and I've been quietly testing a number of things to see how I like some of these changes. A few have worked, a few have not, and I'm trying to figure out some other options for the things that did not work. Not taking a day off all summer from both jobs has contributed to less testing time that I would have liked, but I have no one to blame for that situation except for myself. C'est la vie, I guess.

Speaking of not taking a day off, let's get to the crux of this article on the final day of August. I had never envisioned this blog lasting as long as it has, but there are stories, both old and new, that are worthy of some examination. There will certainly be more stories over the coming days, weeks, and months that can be examined, dissected, and debated. The question I have struggled with for the past two years as another hockey season looms is "for how long do I want to keep doing this?" when I never expected it to get this far.

Three years ago, I said I would stop at 6687 articles as a tribute to the two players who I've admired the most in my career - Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby. Both men came into the Penguins franchise as game-changers, and they lived up to expectations by winning multiple Stanley Cups. That number is still in play as I approach 6600 articles, but the days would be numbered as this blog neared 6687 entries in total. That's something to ponder.

Maybe I just need hockey to start again. Of course, I spent most of yesterday sleeping before doing more of that today, and I find that I'm really starting to like sleep. Feeling constantly tired isn't something I envisioned for the summer, yet I found myself constantly running on empty all summer. Some of that lack of sleep could be solved simply by pushing this blog aside to allow me more time to do more of what I want, but old habits are hard to break.

With another summer in the books, I can honestly say that time is fleeting. Time waits for no man, and time is a limited resource that becomes much more valuable as it decreases in quantity. I never seem to have enough of it, and I'm always looking for way to gain more. One of those ways is to sacrifice some activity that occupies that time which could be better used elsewhere, and, at the end of the day, HBIC might be the sacrifice. No pun intended.

For now, though, I'll see you tomorrow. There's more to write.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Owner's Choice

I've never been a fan of this Nashville Predators logo. I understand that there are limited options for sabre-toothed tigers when it comes to being a logo, but this logo looks like a cheap cartoon version of the prehistoric cat. Of the two main logos that the team has used, this one falls way short of feeling and looking like an NHL team logo, but maybe that's why it fits the name "Predators" because even that name feels like it could be better. What should be noted, though, is that the other options the team was mulling over were pretty terrible options too.

The Associated Press dropped this news brief on Spetember 19, 1997.

If one were to run a contest where "Predators", "Tigers", "Fury", and "Attack" were the final four options, I'm actually learning towards "Predators" with my vote. Yes, Tigers would work and offer a number of marketing opportunities, but that may have only heightened the rivalry that Nashville found its in with the Detroit Red Wings. Fury and Attack are just awful when one considers the Predators logo.

I feel like this report is nothing more than a generic, gotta-give-them-something update. Those three names are names you'd find in one of the EA Sports' games when one is creating a team. I know Owen Sound of the OHL is the Attack and there have been a handful of Fury teams across the continent at various levels, but how does a sabre-toothed tiger logo fit either of those names?

The tiger does fit the "Tigers" name, of course, but the NHL already had a Tigers team when the Hamilton Tigers played from 1920-25. That's not to say that Nashville couldn't use that name as I doubt anyone has a trademark on it at the NHL level, but that name feels far too generic for a sabre-toothed tiger logo. I'm prety sure that the Nashville Smilodons wouldn't work very well either, so one had to wonder why they chose the sabre-toothed tiger as their logo.

On September 25, 1997, Craig Leipold and Jack Diller held a press conference where they unveiled the logo, two days before season tickets went on sale for the 1998-99 season. At that press conference, it was explained that "[t]he logo was a reference to a partial Smilodon skeleton found beneath downtown Nashville in 1971 during construction of the First American National Bank building, now the UBS Tower". With that tie-in to the city established, they just needed a solid name to build their brand.

According to reports, the three names of "Tigers", "Fury", and "Attack" were narrowed down from a list of 75 possible names, but Leipold went ahead and added a name he liked into the final mix - Predators. Fans were asked to vote for one of the four names after the logo was unveiled, and we'd get the Nashville name on November 13, 1997.

I'll ignore Leipold's outlandish claim that this was "the most researched name in team sports history," but having a 2-1 margin in votes for Predators is a pretty significant margin, but should we be surprised when the other options were so bad? As I said above, I'd vote for Predators if given those four options, so it's not a stretch.

At the end of the day, the name that the owner wanted was the one that the team eventually got. I'm not saying owners shouldn't have a say in the matter if they're investing hundreds of millions of dollars, but, in Nashville's case, it feels like "Predators" was never in doubt compared to the other three options. If those were best names from the 75 they started with, though, I wonder what the other 72 were.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

TBC: Breakaway

If there's one thing that's true about the intersection where hockey meets published writing, it's that there simply aren't a lot of great books about women's hockey. The ones that have been written are good, but they're mostly biographical and historical looks at the game that don't really give you an up-to-date sense on where women's hockey has been, the fight to get where they are today, and what may come next. Today, however, we have a book that gets us pretty close to that moment as Teebz's Book Club is proud to review Breakaway: The PWHL and the Women Who Changed the Game, written by Karissa Donkin and published by Goose Lane Editions. Karissa opens the door to one team's ups and downs through the first season of the PWHL, and she looks at some of the bigger moments and personal stories from that season in her new book that's due out on September 23, 2025.

From her biography, "Karissa Donkin writes about women's hockey and the PWHL for CBC Sports and has worked in newspapers and broadcasting for more than a decade. Since 2016, she has been working with CBC's Atlantic investigative unit, covering stories that regularly air on national programs across all of CBC's platforms. Her recent work on New Brunswick's Child Protective Services was profiled on The Current. She has won a National Newspaper Award and several Atlantic Journalism Awards for her investigative work. Her journalism was also nominated for the prestigious Michener Award. Breakaway is her first book." Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Donkin's also a St. Thomas University graduate where she worked for The Aquinian, STU's student newspaper while earning her degree.

be funded. For those thinking that Donkin wrote Breakaway: The PWHL and the Women Who Changed the Game from an investigative journalism perspective, I'll kill that suspense by saying that this book is not some sort of exposé on the game. Instead, Donkin blends women's hockey history, the efforts that led to the PWHL being created, the Montreal Victoire's first season, and a number of personal stories from the players into one great book that should allow any hockey fan to get up to speed with the women's hockey movement in North America. I'll add that you don't need intimate knowledge of women's hockey to enjoy this book.

Admittedly, the entire historical look at women's hockey isn't contained in the first few chapters nor is there any examination outside of the leagues outside of North America, but this might be better since it keeps the writing focused on the eventual goal of the PWHL. Donkin spends time talking about the NWHL, the CWHL, the second NWHL, the PWHPA, and the PHF in the first few chapters to give us a framework from where the push for the PWHL started. She explains how Billie Jean King, Stan Kasten, and the Walter Group got involved in the rise of women's hockey, and how their efforts with a few key players allowed the PWHL to be realized and founded.

The portion of Breakaway that I found most interesting was Donkin's look at some of the bigger things that happened in the league in that first season of play while following the Montreal Victoire, then known as PWHL Montreal. As you may know, I appreciate the player's stories about their individual journeys and some of the struggles they've faced, and Donkin does an excellent job in highlighting a number of players whose stories should be told. Among these players are Erin Ambrose, Catherine Dubois, Laura Stacey, and Marie-Philip Poulin, and each of them have their own unique path in reaching the PWHL.

Perhaps one of the best stories was about Montreal defender Maureen Murphy. She won the PWHL's inaugural Hockey for All Award for her humanitarian work. In Breakaway, Donkin writes,

"While adjusting to pro hockey and doing law classes on the side, Murphy and her dog, Bean, had managed to fit in more than two hundred hours of volunteer work. 'We had some ups and downs this year,' Murphy told reporters after the ceremony. 'I think it's a great reminderfor all athletes that you're a person first.... I'd love to play hockey forever, but that's not realistic. So I think [I'm] kind of doing the best of both worlds.'"

Imagine how much time a law degree takes to get. Add on professional hockey games, road trips, and practices. Now add on two hundred more hours of volunteer work with several organizations while doing both of those already time-consuming endeavours, and you can see why Murphy might have been a runaway choice for the Hockey for All Award. That's simply incredible when it comes to her selflessness, and it gave me a whole new respect for Maureen because I had no idea she was doing this before reading Breakaway.

Overall, Breakaway: The PWHL and the Women Who Changed the Game is a good read from start to finish as it gives readers some solid insight into the PWHL and allows readers to learn a little more about their women's hockey heroes. Donkin doesn't write the book where you need to know a pile of women's hockey facts prior to starting the book, but you will know a lot about the PWHL once you're done. The book reads fairly easily as Donkin's writing style doesn't get too wordy, but she still accomplishes the goal of giving us a fantastic book that will please women's hockey fans. Because of the information presented and the easy-to-read presentation, Breakaway: The PWHL and the Women Who Changed the Game is certainly deserving of the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval!

You'll need to circle the date on the calendar as Breakaway: The PWHL and the Women Who Changed the Game won't hit bookstores until September 23, 2025. The 244-page book contains some amazing stories from the PWHL's first season and a lot of good history about women's hockey including a whole chapter on inclusion, and it should be an addition to your library. As such, I recommend When the Rangers Were Young for all readers, especially women's hockey fans!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 675

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back tonight with a special show as we welcome in a guest whose new book is a fantastic read! Normally, we don't find too many authors who have written about women's hockey, but tonight's guest not only wrote about them, but followed a team through a season to document the highs and lows that the team and some of the players experienced! It will be a great chat as we hear about about this author's work writing the book and following the team and league on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason are honoured and privileged to welcome Miss Karissa Donkin to the show to discuss her new book Breakaway: The PWHL and the Women Who Changed the Game, published by Goose Lane Editions. Karissa spent a year following the Montreal Victoire, so a number of chapters have exclusive looks at the situations the team faced and interviews with players from the Victoire. She also includes some women's hockey history in the book, the key information on how the PWHL came to be, and she looks at some of the funnier moments like the PWHL's first meme and how it is still a main theme in the league. In short, Breakaway: The PWHL and the Women Who Changed the Game was a fantastic read and we'll get you set for its release on September 23 as we chat with author Karissa Donkin tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat with author Karissa Donkin all about her new book Breakaway: The PWHL and the Women Who Changed the Game, published by Goose Lane Editions, exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: August 28, 2025: Episode 675

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Coyotes Over Scorpions

I was having a little fun with an AI logo generator tonight when this story crossed my desk. The image to the left is fairly generic, but the Arizona Coyotes apparently were almost the Phoenix Scorpions when they moved from Winnipeg to Phoenix in 1995. I'm not saying that "Scorpions" is better than "Coyotes" when it comes to the name they chose, but one has to wonder if there's an alternate universe out there where the Scorpions have won a Stanley Cup and the team is thriving in Arizona. In this reality, we know the team moved to Utah to become the Mammoths, but there's a guy who was involved in a previous story this week that makes an appearance in this one.

We'll start with the news article filed by the Associated Press on April 9, 1996 where BG Hockey Ventures announced the Phoenix name.

The very last line in that article states that "[t]he name Scorpions was a strong second", meaning that there were a lot of votes for that name in the name-the-team competition that BG Hockey Ventures ran. That contest garnered more than 10,000 entries, so Scorpions were on a lot of those entries. There wasn't a number given in the article, but one man seemed to have more info than anyone else.

Coyotes' operations chief Shawn Hunter - yes, the same Shawn Hunter involved in the Colorado Avalanche name saga - was the person who told the Associated Press that the Coyotes name had won the contest. Regarding the Kachina logo that was unveiled, he said, "We think this logo is made with incredible distinction and sophistication."

I won't deny that the Kachina logo was eye-catching thanks to its design, but I feel like someone other than Hunter should have been talking about the name-the-team contest. If he was the only person, there should have been hard numbers provided because we saw what happened with the Colorado Avalanche where a fan vote selected "Cougars" over "Avalanche", but the team still opted to use Avalanche.

What should have concerned everyone in 1995 is that Hunter's line of "more than 10,000 entries" is the same number he used to justify Avalanche winning the name-the-team vote in Denver.

Remember that "Cougars" was the name that fans chose ahead of Avalanche as per the Nostalgice video, yet the team went with Avalanche anyway. If "Avalanche" lost that name-the-team vote in Denver, what's to say the same thing didn't happen here?

I'll give Hunter the benefit of the doubt that Coyotes won the contest over Scorpions, but there's that tiny bit of disbelief that creeps in simply because of what went down in Denver. Had the Avalanche owners and management been far more transparent, there wouldn't be that morsel of doubt, but, again, I'll give Hunter the benefit of the doubt in believing that Coyotes earned more votes than Scorpions.

We can't change history and it certainly stung when the franchise left Arizona, but we almost had the Phoenix Scorpions in the NHL in 1995.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Almost The First Advertisement

All six jerseys to the left have something in common outside of the company that manufacturered them, and that commonality is the logo being worn on the right shoulder. Beginning in the 2022-23 season, all NHL teams were permitted to wear jersey advertisements on a 3-inch by 3.5-inch rectangle in one of four spots on the jersey that include left and right shoulders, and left and right chest. It begs the question, though, that goaltenders could potentially use their masks, blockers, and pads as potential advertisement locations as well, and it nearly happened back in 1989.

While it seemed like everything was proceeding as it should in the summer of 1989, Edmonton Oilers GM Glen Sather found himself with a problem as the calendar flipped to June when his star netminder, 26 year-old Grant Fuhr, filed retirement papers with the NHL. If this seemed like an odd move for a goaltender who was in his prime, it was certainly unexpected for Sather who found out like everyone else did as Fuhr announced his retirement after a round of golf while still at the country club. The 1988 Vezina Trophy winner was done.

According to what Fuhr told everyone at his impromptu press conference at the country club, he was retiring due a lack of respect, stating, "If you can't play this game and have fun and get the respect you deserve, then there's not much reason for going on."

It was never clear as to exactly what lack of respect Fuhr thought he was experiencing, but some attributed Fuhr's retirement to a policy the NHL handed down to all NHL teams that mandated that any and all equipment manufacturers who wanted to display their name or logos that would be visible to the public to pay the NHL before they could be worn on the ice. That meant that companies like CCM, Brown, and Cooper had to spend a little money to have their name shown on their gear, but it also affected one other company.

According to the Canadian Press report below, Fuhr had cut a side deal with a company who would be affected by this new policy.

As shown in the Brandon Sun, Fuhr had deal in place with Pepsi to place their logo on his goalie pads for the 1988-89 season. However, the NHL's new rule on logos on equipment would prevent that from happening. Endorsement deals for players were nothing new in 1989, but having that endorsement carried onto the ice was.

As the article states, Fuhr ended his premature retirement on August 25, 1989 as he and Sather worked out the differences between the netminder and the Oilers, and "Sather said Fuhr was confused over the situation and the reason why the league wouldn't let him wear the logo" which means he intended on wearing it in games. Once Sather explained that it was the NHL, and not the Oilers, who were preventing Fuhr from wearing the Pepsi logo on the ice, it seems all was forgiven and Fuhr was once again ready to suit up for the Oilers.

After winning the Stanley Cup and the Vezina Trophy in 1988 while going 40-24-9 that season, Fuhr's numbers came crashing back down to Earth in 1988-89 as he 23-26-6 as the Oilers finished in third-place in the Smythe Division. He'd injure his shoulder in 1989-90, limiting him to just 21 games where he went 9-7-3. I'm not saying that he wouldn't have been injured with the Pepsi logo on his pads, but it would be the first significant injury of Fuhr's career.

It's pretty crazy to think that the first advertisement to be worn in the NHL almost happened in 1989. Pepsi and Fuhr clearly had some sort of endorsement deal between them, and the only reason we didn't see a Pepsi logo on the ice was because the NHL wanted their cut of the money. Pepsi may have been "A Generation Ahead" in 1989, but the NHL was having none of it without some sort of payment which almost cost the Oilers and hockey fans Grant Fuhr.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

An Early Marketing Test?

The logo to the left was one of the proposed logos for the Colorado Avalanche when the team had relocated from Quebec City to Denver. The name would have been the Rocky Mountain Extreme, and Denver Post scribe Adrian Dater has a whole article on how it was he who broke the story of the name back in the summer of 1995. Honestly, that name is pretty bad when one considers how well "Colorado Avalanche" has worked for the past thirty years, but it seems that Dater's recounting of the story may have left out a few crucial details about how the team actually was named. Let's dive into this story!

We'll start on August 11, 1995 with a Scripps Howard article from Jim Benton about the new Colorado Avalanche name and logo.

Benton's article makes it very clear that the "Rocky Mountain" name was dismissed early in the process when it came to naming the relocated franchise. Dater's recounting of him getting the scoop on everyone in the summer of 1995 sounds like it may be true, but it seems the man quoted in Dater's article, Charlie Lyons, is nowhere to be found in terms of franchise ownership despite him being President of COMSAT, who purchased the Nordiques, and Ascent Entertainment. Despite his name being left out of Benton's article, Lyons was the brains behind the Rocky Mountain Extreme name which was what he had envisioned for the club... until everything changed.

As written in the Sports Business Journal back on April 18, 1995, "Comsat has negotiated a deal to buy the Nordiques for $75M should the team leave Quebec". As we know, the team did move from Quebec City to Denver officially on June 21, 1995 after Comsat purchased the team on May 24, and the newly-relocated team needed a name for its fans in its new home. Lyons, a skiing enthusiast, kicked around the idea of using "Rocky Mountain" as part of the name in some way for regional purposes, and it almost looked like Dater's "Extreme" story was valid. Almost.

I say "almost" because a July 25, 1995 Sports Business Journal article shows that the "Extreme" name was out in favour of the Avalanche. According to the SBJ report, "Comsat COO Charlie Lyons reportedly likes the 'Avalanche' name because of marketing possibilities," keeping the disaster's name at the top of the list for team names. So how did "Extreme" fall off the table when it came to team names?

Ryan Warner of Colorado Public Radio seems to have the answer in his December 1, 2016 article. He interviewed Dater about the whole saga, and included this excerpt from Dater's book, 100 Things Avalanche Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, that reads,

"And then, the Dave Logan Show happened. A former NFL wide receiver with the Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos, Logan hosted a popular sports talk radio show on the state's biggest AM station, 850 KOA.

The day of the story, Logan fielded call after call from fans just ripping the hell out of the hockey team's new name. It was just an, ahem, avalanche of negative public opinion. Everybody hated it.

With ownership getting feedback from fans who called into the radio show to voice their displeasure, it was pretty clear that they needed to pivot quickly. Dater stated in his story that the Avalanche quickly changed their story about the Rocky Mountain Extreme name, kicking off a fan vote for the new team name that featured eight pre-selected potential names: Avalanche, Black Bears, Cougars, Outlaws, Rapids, Renegades, Storm, and Wranglers. Those names were quickly narrowed down by fan votes, and, according to the following video from Nostalgice, the winning name was not Avalanche.


We've gone from Rocky Mountain Extreme to Colorado Cougars in the span of a few weeks, but even that name didn't stick as the Jim Benton article stated that Shawn Hunter, Executive President of the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets, had said that Avalanche was the first choice early on, and that the public had "favored" the name. That brings us back to Lyons' reasons for the name: he liked it, and the opportunity for marketing possibilities. With the Avalanche name finishing among the highest-voted names in the "Name the Team" contest, it seems like the team name was validated by the Colorado market's response to it. In the end, we got to see the final product on August 11, 1995 as that was the day the Avalanche came to be.

Obviously, there were some half-truths and deception that happened when it came to Dater being fed the story about the Rocky Mountain Extreme, but his tale of how everything went down fits the smoke-and-mirror show that the Colorado Avalanche ownership team appeared to be running in the summer of 1995. Some have alleged that Lyons gave Dater the name and logos to be printed as an early market test to see if fans would respond positively to it, and the feedback received by the team allowed them to avoid a potential gaffe before registering their name and trademarks with the NHL and the trademark offices. To me, that seems like a lot of work just for feedback, but I've never unveiled a brand-new NHL franchise name.

As for the spin that the Avalanche owners put on the story of the name, the truth of what actually happened over the summer of 1995 with the team name may indeed stay buried under the snow as it seems they went to "Extreme" lengths to land on "Avalanche".

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Flanked By Real Enforcers

I don't think anyone would be surprised to know there's a statue of Wayne Gretzky in Edmonton. Of course, Gretzky won four Stanley Cups in the city with the Oilers, he was heralded as a hockey god for the records he set and success he had in the city, and he helped to put Edmonton on the sports map as the "City of Champions". The only problems was that he was traded in 1988 to the Los Angeles Kings, ruining what some may have felt was an undeniable chance to hoist multiple Stanley Cups for years to come. I'm not here to talk about the trade today, but the events surrounding that statue of Gretzky that currently sits inside Rogers Place in Edmonton where all can see The Great One immortalized in bronze.

On August 27, 1989, the bronze statue was unveiled at the old Northlands Coliseum after being designed by sculptor John Weaver, who worked for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington and the Alberta Provincial Museum. It weighs 950lbs. and stands in at a whopping 9'2" tall, and the work to get this bronzed Gretzky was paid for by Molson Breweries who gifted the statue to the city of Edmonton. From there, the statue stood in front of the old arena with Gretzky holding that replica Stanley Cup high in the air.

That's where we'll drop everyone in on the fun. Check out the details of this statue unveiling and tribute to Gretzky below!

Having never been Prime Minister in the country, it's astounding to me that Gretzky would have five SWAT team members guarding him, his wife, Janet, and daughter, Paulina, around the clock while he was honoured inside Northlands Coliseum and for his stay in Edmonton. Those five men volunteered as well, so they didn't see a dime of pay from the city of Edmonton. Adding to that, another 10-15 SWAT team members would be in the crowd of 14,000 people who paid 99 cents to see Gretzky be honoured by the Oilers and the city of Edmonton.

Were things really that crazy back in 1989 that he needed 24-hour protection in the city where he was worshipped for his scoring talents? What the heck was going on in Edmonton to warrant that?

Look, I get that people can have devotion to their teams that runs deep, but if the city is posting SWAT team members with a former player who returns to be honoured for all he did in the game and in the community we might have hit a critical stupidity point. We see it today on social media where people threaten players and their families and loved ones, and that's a line that not only cannot be crossed, but shouldn't even creep over the horizon for a fan.

For the record, Wayne Gretzky and his family were fine during their time in Edmonton, and perhaps this was the local officials being overzealous in their protection of Gretzky following the trade that shook the nation one year earlier. He shed a few tears in seeing the statue of himself, and he spoke with graciousness and humbleness that one expected of Gretzky during that era. At no point during the ceremony did it seem like he was in any danger of any sort thankfully.

I know Gretzky played his best hockey while flanked by guys who protected him like Semenko, McSorley, Messier, and McClelland, but to see him assigned real enforcers - guys who were instructed to ensure his and his family's safety by any means necessary - when he's coming back to be honoured by Edmonton for everything he did in and around the city, that's just something I never thought I'd read.

Keep your devotion in check, folks. After all, it's just a game.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

What Do You Mean By "Too Local"?

If you're aware of your hockey history, you likely have seen the logo on the left before. That was the original logo that the Ottawa Senators were using prior to them taking the ice in 1992 for the first time as an NHL team. What you may not know is that the logo on the left was abandoned nearly seventeen months before the Senators had stepped on the ice, and after a pile of merchandise with the Peace Tower logo had already been manufactured, distributed, and sold. As we're seeing with the Utah Mammoths, a logo matters when it comes to merchandise and branding, so why would the Senators switch their logo in the middle of gearing up for their inaugural season?

Before we get to the reason for the switch, it's pretty safe to say that the logo on the right is far better branding for the Senators than the logo on the left. That's not to say that the logo on the left doesn't have some positives going for it - the Peace Tower is an Ottawa landmark while the Canadian flag boosts the Senators' national identity - but it also feels a little collegiate with the city name spelled out across the jersey and it doesn't feel like a logo that would move a lot of merchandise. In the big business of the NHL, that matters, especially to a new expansion team entering Season One.

While that would be a perfectly valid reason to make the change, it seems the Senators and the NHL weren't too keen on explaining why.

That May 15, 1991 article from the Canadian Press run in the Brandon Sun seems to highlight that at least one Ottawa citizen wasn't very fond of the original logo. As explained by the writer, Senators owner Bruce "Firestone confirmed Monday that when the team takes the ice in 1992 the players will wear a different logo than the one that graced the estimated $1 million worth of Seantors products so far." It sounds like a lot of people had collector's items in their possession!

If James Powell's account on his website, Today In Ottawa's History, is to be believed, it seems the NHL may have forced the Senators' hand when it came to this logo. Powell writes,

"This emblem was never official. Reportedly, the logo was rejected by the NHL for being too local. Team officials said that it was 'the official logo of the campaign to bring back the Senators.'"

The only problem with Powell's claim is that it appears that the Peace Tower logo was official as the Ottawa NHL franchise was already running with it after selling merchandise with their branding on it.

However, we'd get our reason three days later when the new logo leaked out and everyone wanted to voice their opinions.

According to the May 18, 1991 article from the Canadian Press run in The Medicine Hat News, the reasons the Peace Tower logo was retired and replaced with the centurion head was due to the design being "too local to Ottawa" and that it didn't "emphasize the strength and speed of hockey". I'm not sure how those rules applied only to the Senators and not teams like the New York Rangers and their Lady Liberty logo and the New York Islanders' logo when it comes to being too local, but I don't make the rules for NHL teams here.

In any case, the new logo was ridiculed by fans and media as well, so it seems like the Ottawa Senators could do no right when it came to building a brand. As we now know, that centurion logo has stood the test of time despite a handful of modifications made, and the latest iteration of that logo will now appear on the new red jerseys that the Senators will debut this season. That's pretty solid for a "[h]ideous, ugly, and juvenile" logo that "could have been lifted from an American college football team or an insurance company."

What people like will always be subjective, but the rules for logos in the NHL shouldn't be. If Ottawa's original logo was "too local", there are at least two others that could classified as "too local" as well. In my view, the Senators made the right decision in going with the centurion logo because the branding is better, but it seems I would have been in the minority had I voiced that opinion in 1991.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Genericville Gargoyles

I was holding out hope that the ECHL's Greensboro Gargoyles would have a jersey unveiling that would make a lot of teams envious. With a name like "Gargoyles", the potential for this team to be fun and wear something truly unique was built into the imagery of the team name itself. I get that the Gargoyles are a professional team, but it's not like they're going to be a polished NHL franchise anytime soon. In saying that, my hopes were dashed with the Gargoyles' jersey unveiling last night in Greensboro for this team to be revolutionary for the ECHL when it comes to fun.

The three jerseys that the Gargoyles will wear are shown below.

There is nothing that stands out on these three jerseys that make them memorable or eye-catching. For a league that routinely wears promotional jerseys for specific theme nights, it's not like the Gargoyles couldn't have been a little more "outside the box" with their design. They weren't, though, and these jerseys miss the mark.

As per the linked release above, here's how the jerseys are described by the team. Prepare to be underwhelmed.

Purple Primary — Purple base with the primary logo on the chest, trimmed by a bold white stripe outlined in black and gold. Shoulders are purple and plated with the G logo, while the sleeves feature a white stripe topped with a gold accent.

This is accurate without a lot of marketing garbage mixed into the description, but it leaves one to wonder how these jerseys are different than any other generic jersey design. The purple jerseys literally have sleeve stripes, a hem stripe, and secondary logos on the shoulders. What, from that description, makes them unqiue compared to every other cookie-cutter jersey design on the planet?

White Primary — White base trimmed by a sharp stripe in purple, gold, and black. The shield logo is featured on the chest, while the shoulders are purple and plated with the G logo. Sleeves include a black stripe accented with gold.

Again, there really isn't anything unique or mindblowing here. Aside from the jersey looking like a poorly-replicated, knock-off St. Louis Blues jersey, the white jerseys could be worn by pretty much any other team if the logo on the chest was switched. That's not good.

Black Alternate — Clean black with the head logo on the chest. A crisp purple stripe ascends the shoulder plate, runs through the middle of the sleeve, and finishes along the bottom of the jersey. The two-tone design is highlighted by the shield logo featured on each shoulder plate.

A black alternate is one of the laziest ways to create an alternate jersey in all of sports. Why could they not go with a stone gray alternate like gargoyles are? Sublimate some shading on the jerseys and make them look like the stone statues on the top of buildings, and now we're talking about a fun jersey. Instead, we get a black jersey with purple stripes that could have been made on MS Paint.

For a team whose ownership group includes the Spittin' Chiclets guys, there's nothing about which one should be excited when looking at the Gargoyles' closet. The Savannah Ghost Pirates have their fun logo and funky colour scheme. The Tahoe Knight Monsters were a step down with their generic designs, and the Grensboro Gargoyles took that generic feeling one step further. I'm sure fans in Greensboro are excited for hockey and will buy a jersey or two, but the whole point of minor-league teams is that they can get away with jerseys that are a little more wacky and fun in their colours and designs.

Usually, people marvel at well-crafted architecture like gargoyles on buildings as in terms of the art they are, but these Gargoyles jerseys are like cinderblocks: boring, unremarkable, and utility. In saying that, the Gargoyles are going to have to rise when night falls from their generic, unremarkable look if they hope to find success.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 674

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back in the studio tonight at UMFM Headquarters as our two hosts reconvene after being away last week. Jason returns to his chair with stories and adventures from his time in Seattle while Teebz will just be back in his chair. Either way, there were some hockey stories that happened this past week that need discussing and our hosts will do that tonight from their familiar outpost on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight on program, Jason will fill us in on all the happenings, events, and the hockey scene he experienced in Seattle. Once we get through living vicariously through him, our hosts will chat about the new expansion announcement from the ECHL, another ECHL expansion team gaining an identity, a player not named Jagr signing on for his 26th season of pro hockey, there was a major announcement in Minnesota today, and we'll let Jason weigh in on Tom Dundon's latest purchase, the expansion of university hockey in Quebec, and the Mammoth-vs-Mammoth lawsuit. Get yourself settled around whatever device you use to listen to the chatter as it's another busy show tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat Seattle experiences, ECHL expansion, new jerseys, another season, new buildings, new acquisitions, a growing conference, dumb lawsuits, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: August 21, 2025: Episode 674

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Goal Of 32

With the NHL seemingly poised to expand back into Atlanta, Georgia sometime in the next decade, it would make sense if other leagues start preparing for that eventual expansion. After all, both the AHL and ECHL have all their teams affiliated with NHL teams, so adding more teams would make sense for future expansion. In the ECHL's case, though, they're still one team short after the New Mexico expansion was announced, but they erased that problem today with their latest announcement. The best part of this announcement is that it appears the ECHL will benefit greatly from this decision while a city who once had professional hockey will see it return once again. The ECHL is expanding again, folks!

Announced by the league today, the new team will take up residence in Augusta, Georgia where the ECHL once called home. The Augusta Lynx were once the Raleigh IceCaps, but that team was forced to move in 1998 after the Carolina Hurricanes finished their arena build in Raleigh with the intention of moving there in 1999. The Lynx, named as a play-on-words for "links" as the team looked to honour Augusta National Golf Course, made the playoffs in six of their ten seasons in Augusta, but only won two playoff rounds in their history. They twice hit 82 points in a season with 2006-07 being the high point with 39 wins, and the 1999-00 season saw the team fall in the ECHL semifinals to the Greenville Grrrowl as their best result of any season. Notable players include goaltenders Tom Draper, Joaquin Gage, and Zac Bierk, Mike Legg of lacrosse-goal fame, and former Avalanche forward Patrick Bordeleau.

The Lynx folded 18 games into the 2008-09 season on December 2, becoming the first team in the ECHL's 21-year history to relinquish its membership midseason. Owners claimed that financial troubles and a failure to find new investors were the reason for shuttering the franchise. Those financial troubles seemed to be valid as the team ranked no higher than 20th out of 23 teams in attendance in any of their final three seasons at Jim Brown Arena. Not good, right?

Aside from a short, three-year run by the SPHL's Augusta Riverhawks, the majority of Augusta's professional hockey history lies with the ECHL. In announcing that a team will return to Augusta in 2027 for the 2027-28 season, it seems pretty clear that Augusta will need to support its team as well as needing owners who have deeper pockets. With all of the Atlanta Gladiators, Savannah Ghost Pirates, and South Carolina Stingrays less than three hours from Savannah, the new Augusta team will need to have their own dedicated fanbase in and around the city if they hope to have a longer timeline than the Lynx.

The city has more than 610,000 people in the metro Augusta area, so supporting an ECHL franchise with 6000+ fans per night shouldn't be too hard to sell. The largest employers are Augusta University, a nuclear energy facility called the Savannah River Site, and the US Army. There is a growing cybersecurity industry in Augusta, and the city has both major newspaper and television outlets that likely will cover the team in-depth. The building blocks are present in Augusta.

As of July 22, 2024, the effort to build a new, 10,500-seat arena in downtown Augusta is underway. "The New Augusta Arena" replaces the old James Brown Arena on the same site, and is set to open in 2027. Regarding the old arena, a lot of the former building's features were recycled. As per WRDW's Hallie Turner, "[t]he seats, scoreboards and other fixtures were removed ahead of the demolition and either sold or given away" while concrete was used to fill the hole left by the arena and the steel inside the building was recycled, helping to keep this new arena project on budget as it moves forward.

I mentioned the ownership would need to have deeper pockets simply due to the competition in the area for fans, and the ECHL announced that this new Augusta franchise will be owned by former NFL and college quarterback Tim Tebow and David Hodges, CEO of Hodges Management Group, LLC. While both men have some wealth individually, it appears that they'll combine their efforts once again just as they did on a number of other ventures including the ECHL's Tahoe Knight Monsters which averaged 3427 fans last season.

Hodges Management Group owns real estate investment firms in Georgia and has minority stakes in the EHCL's Jacksonville Icemen and Savannah Ghost Pirates. Hodges Management Group recently got out of the car sales business after selling two dealerships - one for a record price. In short, Tebow and Hodges have business history in workign together and have enough holdings to spread the risk of failure over those other businesses. The profit margins look thin, but the ECHL seems to have faith in Tebow and Hodges when it comes to owning multiple teams just as they do with the Zawyer Group.

There's no reason why hockey in Augusta can't work, but it appears there will need to be a lot of groundwork done in building a dedicated fanbase for the new franchise. With the Augusta team forecasted to take the ice in 2027-28, it gives the Tebow-Hodges ownership some time to start developing the market for another professional hockey team, and the usual tasks of "Name the Team" contests, jersey and logo unveilings, and community appearances by players, staff, and a mascot will follow in the next two years before the team hits the ice. There's enough of a runway here to allow this new Augusta team to fly, so we'll see how this goes.

Augusta, Georgia is best known for The Masters, but today's news has the ECHL's trying once more to master the Augusta market.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Honouring A Legend

It didn't take Sergei Fedorov very long to show the world that he was a good fit in the NHL after he scored on New Jersey's Sean Burke just 3:41 into the second period in an October 4, 1990 game. His debut didn't come with a win, though, as the Devils and Red Wings finished the game in the 3-3 tie, but that goal would be the first of 483 tallies he'd collect against NHL goalies. Announced today by the team, he'll see his number next to the player's number who set him up for that first goal up in the rafters of Little Caesars Arena after his famous #91 is retired by the Detroit Red Wings this season in January.

Along with his former Soviet linemates in Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny, these were the players for whom NHL teams had been waiting since seeing them dazzle crowds at the IIHF World Junior Championships. It was hard not to be excited when these three players finally were announced as part of NHL rosters wit Mogilny skated for the Sabres in 1989, Fedorov with the Red Wings in 1990, and Bure with the Canucks in 1991. Speed, skill, and scoring arrived from Mother Russia as the final decade of the 1900s began.

Fedorov scored more than point-per-game through his first six seasons in the NHL as he helped pull the Red Wings out of being a middling team to being a dynamic powerhouse. A pair of Stanley Cup victories in 1997 and 1998 followed his first major individual awards in 1994 when he won the Hart, Selke, and Pearson trophies. A second Selke would be earned as the league's top defensive forward in 1996 as his game at both ends of the ice improved greatly once Scotty Bowman arrived in 1994. Fedorov was becoming a superstar.

After that 1997 Stanley Cup victory where he had eight goals and 20 points in 20 playoff games, it was clear that the Detroit Red Wings were going to have to pay a big salary to keep Fedorov in Red Wings' colours. After he signed an offer sheet with the Carolina Hurricanes for six years and $38 million, Detroit matched the offer and he remained as Red Wings centerman for the next six seasons, helping the team win the 1998 Stanley Cup and the 2002 Stanley Cup.

The irony of retiring Fedorov's number on Jaunary 12, 2026 is that the Carolina Hurricanes are the visitors at Little Caesars Arena that night, so this retirement ceremony might be a friendly jab at the Hurricanes franchise after they tried to grab one of the better centermen in the NHL via an offer sheet in 1997. Who says NHL owners can't have fun?

"I'm extremely grateful for this tremendous honor," Fedorov said in a statement. "Thank you to everyone with the Red Wings organization, especially those who helped bring me to Detroit and gave me the chance to play for such a historic franchise. I was fortunate to be part of some unforgettable teams, and above all, I'm proud of the three Stanley Cup championships we won for our amazing fans in Hockeytown. The memories made along the way - with legendary teammates, coaches, and exceptional ownership - will stay with me forever. Lastly, I want to thank Chris Ilitch for the call yesterday to share the news about retiring my number. It's a moment I'll always cherish. I can't wait to see everyone in January."

It feels like honouring Fedorov should have come sooner, but better late than never, right? One of Detroit's best players in he history of the franchise and certainly one of the main cogs in winning three Stanley Cups within a decade should be honoured beside the other two men who did the same thing in Nicklas Lidstrom and Steve Yzerman. That will finally happen on January 12 this season as Fedorov will be in Motor City for that once-in-a-lifetime honour.

And just in case you want to see that first goal, here it is.


Congratulations to Sergei Fedorov on this honour, and kudos to the Detroit Red Wings for celebrating one of the franchise's best players!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Everyone's Got A Price?

It's hard to imagine that Soviet hockey in the 1980s was anything but dominant. They won games in bunches, brought home all sorts of hardware, and were celebrated as heroes by the Soviet people due to all their successes. As we know, though, the Iron Curtain wasn't a prison with Sergei Pryakhin joining the Calgary Flames in 1989, and we'd see defections and legal player transfers follow in the years that followed with some players receiving big contracts to play in the NHL. The "western" influence on Russia would also see the 1987 Soviet Union national team do something it had never done before.

We know international tournaments often have sponsor advertising on players' jerseys as part of the sponsorship deal they sign with those respective tournaments. The Soviets had worn these types of advertisements in games before as mandated by the tournament, but the team itself had never received sponsor money from an individual company that only had the Soviets wear its name or logo. That changed on April 5 and 6, 1987 when the Soviets played a two-game exhibition series in Stockholm against Team Sweden in preparation for the 1987 IIHF World Ice Hockey Championship.

Here's the news clipping from The Brandon Sun on April 9.

Advertising on European teams is nothing news, but the state-funded Soviet team had never been billboards for any company, let alone "a Swedish computer firm". Obviously, there are questions that need answers here in order to make the stry complete, so let's take a deep dive into Team Soviet Union's first foray into the world of advertising.

According to the Los Angeles Times on April 19, "[t]he Soviets surprised the television audience during two friendly ice hockey matches in Sweden April 5-6 when their ususally [sic] all-red outfit had a white patch on the back saying 'WM Data.'" WM Data was founded by Thord Wilkne and Hans Mellström in Stokholm, Sweden in 1969 before being acquired by Logica PLC in 2006. It seems they're more than just a "Swedish compuer firm" as they expanded into a vast number of industries by offering IT-related services to banking, telecommunications, and data centers. In 1987, WM Data may have been less, but I'd guess they were still focused on IT-related services.

That answers the "who" part of "who sponsored the Soviets".

According to the Los Angeles Times article once again, "[t]he Scandinavian data consultancy company, WM Data, paid 100,000 Swedish kronor (less than $16,000) for the two matches." That seems like a pretty low sum of money for a team that normally carried 20 players, coaches, and team staff, but Per-Olov Wester, the Swedish public relations agent who signed the sponsorship deal between WM Data and the Soviets, said the Soviets weren't in it for the money.

"The Russians don't need sponsor money," Wester told United Press International. "But the opponents wear ads on their jerseys and the Russians want to look like they do."

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it seems the Soviets craved Europe's advertising patches more than they wanted money. With each player and staff member splitting that less-than-$16,000 among them after the Soviet government took it's cut, there wouldn't be a lot of Swedish meatballs going home with the players.

Kristian Gerner, a Swedish expert on the Soviet Union, told United Press International, "They used to fight everything Western, but it has changed totally in the last two years, coinciding with the Gorbachev years. They first learned to understand our way of living and that was new. But the big difference is that they now try to act like us."

As we know, the Soviet Union formally dissolved on December 26, 1991. However, there had been growing protests in the years leading up to the dissolution of the country as Soviet citizens looked outside their country and saw the wealth and riches that the rest of the world was accumulating. Hockey players weren't immune to this reality as they travelled to European countries for games and tournaments, and rumblings about defections began to swirl at every tournament. That western influence was certainly setting in with the Soviet hockey team, and the advertisements on their jerseys in Stockholm might have been the first metaphorical domino to fall.

"It seems like they have decided that if you can't beat them," Gerner added, "join them."

Obviously, the history that followed wasn't borne out of the Soviet hockey team wearing advertisements as the political and cultural changes within the republic eventually forced the dissolution of the Soviet Union. If Miss Gerner's assessment about the Soviets in 1987 was accurate, it sounds like the Soviet team simply was ahead of their countrymen when presented with a "western" opportunity.

As stated, it wasn't about money when it came to this sponsorship. Instead, it was about fitting into a changing world.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

A Circus Bumped By The Circus

The World Hockey Association had many stories of franchises who got in over their heads when it came to finances and running up debts, but the New York Raiders were supposed to be that one team who was going to be a cornerstone of the WHA. With the team aiming to move into Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island, it seemed like they could have been the major hockey competition to the NHL's New York Rangers had things turned up favorably for the Raiders. Instead, things continually went sideways for the Raiders, from 1972 second-overall pick Al Sims signing with the Boston Bruins to original owner Neil Shayne selling shares of ownership to Richard Wood and Sy Siegel only to have all three run into financial problems. With the Raiders on perilous financial ground, the final blow almost came from the annual Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus show in New York.

As you can see on the ticket above, the Raiders played games at Madison Square Garden. Madison Square Garden was the home of the New York Rangers, and it wasn't a secret that the NHL and the WHA weren't exactly friendly. The Raiders originally tried to secure an arena lease with Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, but Nassau County didn't view the WHA as a professional hockey league so they denied the Raiders from acquiring a lease to play at the arena that would compete with the expansion New York Islanders of the NHL. As such, the Raiders were forced to make a deal with Madison Square Garden, and let's just say that the costs for that ice rental were astronomical.

With the aforementioned Shayne, Wood, and Siegel running into money issues, the WHA assumed control of the team midway through the season. The league's takeover of the team didn't help the squad attract more fans or add more talent, and the Raiders wallowed near the bottom of the standings for the entire season. The team, though, continued to play hard and found itself in a four-way battle for the final two playoff spots. With their focus on making the playoffs, the Raiders found out in March that their home games wouldn't actually be played at Madison Square Garden if they made the playoffs.

Somehow, the contract that the Raiders signed with Madison Square Garden didn't include dates or scheduling for playoff dates. That posed a major problem as the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was scheduled to set up their production in Madison Square Garden from March 27 through to May 28 from this billboard according to the Facebook post. Outside of Knicks and Rangers games, the circus officially became third in line for dates at Madison Square Garden. This, of course, left the Raiders scrambling.

to host it On March 24, 1973, the Winnipeg Free Press reported that the New York Raiders had reached an agreement with an arena to host its playoff games. The catch? The arena still didn't want them.

According to the article, if the Raiders made the playoffs, they'd only get one round of hockey at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum after both sides settled out-of-court following the Raiders' lawsuit against Nassau County. They couldn't go back to Madison Square Garden, so the New York Raiders were metaphorically flying by the seats of their pants when it came to playoff scheduling and home playoff games.

In the end, none of it mattered as the New York Raiders finished last in the six-team WHA Eastern Division, missing the playoffs by six points. Over the summer, Ralph Brent purchased the Raiders franchise from the WHA and renamed the team the New York Golden Blades. Brent quickly found out that the lease at Madison Square Garden was an anchor, and he also relinquished the franchise back to the WHA who moved them to Cherry Hill, New Jersey with help from Jack Maxwell. From there, the newly-named Jersey Knights would miss the playoffs once again in 1973-74, and the team would be relocated to San Diego. The WHA's New York circus was over.

I find it baffling that Neil Shayne would forget to book playoff dates in his lease with Madison Square Garden only to lose any chance at playoff dates to the annual Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus event. It's hard to understand why the WHA, both before and upon taking over the team, wasn't more diligent in ensuring that its New York had playoff dates prior March 24, 1973. Whatever those reasons might be, it didn't really matter in both cases since the Raiders didn't need those dates anyway after they missed the playoffs in 1973.

It isn't often a circus of a hockey team is bumped from an arena by an actual circus, but that was the WHA in a nutshell in that first year.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Are The French Going U SPORTS?

While there may be U SPORTS teams in the province of Quebec that compete at a high level, it seems we could have French U SPORTS team, of sorts, playing in France this season. Les Rapaces de Gap are based in southeast France in the city of Gap in the prefecture of Hautes-Alpes, and the team plays in the Ligue Magnus in France. Based on its geography, the city experiences warm summers and cold, snowy winters, so the Canadian lads heading to the city to play hockey this season should feel right at home.

I don't usually talk about the Ligue Magnus as a place where former U SPORTS players land, but les Rapaces de Gap seem to be attracting some solid talent this season who have skated at the U SPORTS level. In seeing some of the landscape that Gap and other French cities have around the centers, it might be wise for more U SPORTS players to look to France as a great place to play and live. Whether it be Paris's upscale life, Grenoble's access to the Alps, Marseilles's location on the Mediterranean Sea, or Bordeaux's surrounding wine country, France offers a little of everything for those players who may want to play hockey while exploring the diverse French culture.

When it comes to the "Birds of Prey", though, Gap may have an insider when it comes to U SPORTS players. No less than three players with U SPORTS ties will suit up for Gap this season, and all of them have been involved in big games during their university careers. Two of them, in fact, played for a U Cup-winning team, so it seems Gap will have a couple of former U SPORTS champions on their roster!

We'll start with the player who has been out of school longest as former Calgary Dinos defender Ryan Gagnon will don a Rapaces jersey this season. The former WHL Victoria Royals defender played three seasons with the Dinos from 2017-22 before playing with both the Allen Americans and the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL. Gagnon's best U SPORTS season came in his senior year when he scored 15 points in 18 games while being named to the U SPORTS All-Star team that played the 2021 Canadian World Junior team. He's a solid addition.

One of the two U Cup champions joining the Rapaces is former Ottawa Gee-Gees forward Mathieu Desgagnés. Desgagnés hit double-digits in goals in three of his four U SPORTS seasons after a solid junior career in the QMJHL with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. He only got into one U Cup game with the team last season, but it was a big one as Desgagnés recorded five shots in the 3-2 overtime victory over the top-ranked UNB Reds. Desgagnés should bring some decent scoring to Gap this season.

The second U Cup champion to land in Gap is former Ottawa Gee-Gees centerman Anthony Poulin. Known more for his playmaking, Poulin did light the lamp eleven times in 2023-24, but he was instrumental in helping Ottawa win U SPORTS's most important trophy as he had a pair of assists in the game against UNB while playing solid defensive hockey in all three games. His work with Ottawa helped him land a contract with the AHL's Laval Rocket where he skated in one game. If Poulin brings the same work ethic and hustle he showed in Ottawa, he'll make a difference with les Rapaces!

It should be noted that Gap is basically overhauling their entire roster. They signed 18 new players this season as the team looks to improve on the 15-24-5 record they posted last season while finishing in 11th-place out of 12 teams. Gap hasn't finished higher than 11th in the last two seasons after they finished in fifth-place in 2023, so this appears to be a complete overhaul from Marton Vas's team last season after he was fired midseason, leaving assistant coaches Sébastien Rohat and Mickaël Perez to complete the season.

Luciano Basile will return to coach Gap this season after having been the head coach from 2014-19 where he guided les Rapaces to two Coupe Magnus titles in 2015 and 2017 as well as earning the Camil Gélinas trophy for best coach in 2015. Basile also spent time with the Briançon Red Devils where he added a French championship 2014, a Coupe de France in 2013, and three more Camil Gélinas trophy honours in 2009, 2010, and 2013. Clearly, les Rapaces are getting a top-notch coach this season when it comes to French hockey!

No one should be awarding les Rapaces with anything at this point in the summer as they were nearly relegated in the past two seasons, so major changes were needed if they are going to climb the Ligue Magnus standings. Basile, who remains as the sporting manager, will now put the team's fortunes squarely on his shoulders as he's putting together a new team compared to last season's roster. The additions of Gagnon, Desgagnés, and Poulin should help Gap in their efforts to reclaim their spot among the top teams with leading scorers Chad Langley and Dmitri Thillet and goaltender Antoine Gilbert all returning for another season. Perhaps the Birds of Prey will soar!

It should be noted that les Aigles de Nice also dipped into the U SPORTS pool as they signed former U Cup champion and Ottawa Gee-Gees forward Charles-Antoine Roy as well as former McGill Redbirds goaltender Alexis Shank. Les Dragons de Rouen grabbed high-scoring, former UQTR Patriotes forward Simon Lafrance while les Boxers de Bordeaux added former UQTR forward Pier-Olivier Morin. Perhaps with the upcoming expansion of U SPORTS hockey in Quebec, we'll see more U SPORTS players opting for a professional career in France!

The Ligue Magnus may not have the same elite status as the EIHL, the SHL, the DEL, or the Swiss League, but France is showing that they can attract good talent with a number of U SPORTS National Champions and All-Stars making the jump to the professional ranks. And, if things go well, a handful of these player may represent France on international stage one day. C'est vraiment possible!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Prototypes Aren't Final Designs

I'm not one to criticize anyone's designs since my artistic abilities are limited to stickpeople and colouring books. I will fully admit that the people who design logos are incredibly talented, but those who often design jerseys seem to lose their way when it comes to capturing a team's identity. It's no secret that there were a lot of less-than-impressive designs when Reebok took over the league-wide NHL jersey contract, but seeing some of the prototypes for what could have been often has me shaking my head. While there's nothing particularly wrong with these designs, there's nothing that makes them good or impressionable either. Thanks to a Twitter account, we got to see a Vancouver Canucks prototype that's... something else.

Full marks goes out to the Vancouver Canucks History Twitter account who, on Tuesday, decided to drop these beauties on social media.

These two prototype images were taken from the SportsLogos.Net Forums who had posted them from a Worthpoint auction listing, but let's just jump into this and say that I'm fairly happy that these never saw the lights of an NHL arena. They do have a little of the colour scheme that 1997-2001 Canucks were using, but let's call a spade "a spade" and say these are pretty terrible in design and execution.

Again, these are prototypes, though, so seeing the Canucks trying to resurrect the red-silver-and-blue scheme while sporting zero green should be considered a crime. The Canucks started as a green-and-blue team, so that's part of their history that shouldn't be forgotten. I realize that the Canucks wore red, yellow, and black for many years, but those colours should only be used if the skate logo is involved. Otherwise, stick to the original colours and wear them proudly.

It took them awhile to finally go back to their heritage colours full-time, but the return to the green-and-blue scheme in 2007-08 just looks better than all the other designs they've worn. Again, I like the skate logo being used as an alternate jersey because a lot of people in Vancouver and who are Canucks fans grew up with that look, but that green-and-blue look is uniquely Vancouver Canucks.

I'll say it again: prototypes are never final designs. In fact, a lot of designs are only steps in getting to a final design that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing. In Vancouver's case, it took them ten years to go from the red-yellow-black colour scheme to the green-and-blue colour scheme, so just remember that teams may wear more misses than hits when it comes to uniform designs.

Those prototypes above? Classify them as misses in the process.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!