The Hockey Show - Episode 734

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back with our two usual gunslingers as Sophie is already booked as she tries to take over the world. That leaves our two opinionated hosts to discuss a number of hockey topics from this past week, and they may even chat about something fun as well! What may that be, you ask? Well, you're going to have to find a seat, a radio or internet-connected device, and tune into The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will look at what seems to be a "canary in the coalmine" situation when it comes to the Vegas Golden Knights' sellout streak ending. There are lots of reasons for it, but the comments on one blog along with comments collected by the author might surprise you when it comes to why Vegas saw a pile of empty seats last Thursday. Beyond that, our hosts will chat about a coaching being dismissed, the continued misuse of public funds to help billionaires, a significant drop in fans in one market, and something big happening in the Winnipeg market near the end of October! It's going to be a busy show with lots of chatter, so make sure you're ready for the discussion 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.

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 examine a harsh reality, a vacant job, misappropriation of funds, empty seats, a fun event, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Just Dumb Scheduling

I know this seems like I'm already breaking my plan of not posting daily, but I did something last night that I haven't done in a while: I watched a hockey game without looking for a story angle. Being that I was switching into fan mode for the first time in a long time, I decided to tap into my roots by watching the Dallas Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins. I grew up a Penguins fan and I still quietly cheer for the team, but last night was where I just wanted to watch Crosby, Malkin, and Letang potentially play together for one final season. Instead, play-by-play announcer Josh Getzoff dropped some peculiar news during the broadcast that left me scratching my head when it comes an oft-heard reason for ticket pricing and playoff format from the NHL's head honchos. And quite honestly, it doesn't make much sense from a fan's point of view.

The NHL has claimed over and over that the reason for not seeding playoff teams from one through eight is due to developing the natural rivalries between teams. By having stornger local rivalries, the NHL believes that more people will buy tickets to see games in-person, thereby justifying the supply-and-demand angle of raising ticket prices, specifically for certain games. After all, a rivalry between two teams generally gets the blood pumping in those fanbases.

In saying that, it left me wondering who was designing the NHL's schedule because Getzoff, during a discussion of Igor Shesterkin's season-ending injury, mentioned that the Penguins will not play the New York Rangers this season until January 29, 2027! How on earth in this age of the NHL do two divisional rivals not see each other in the first three months of the season? Who came up with this idea?

The catch, though, is that it's not just the New York Rangers. The Penguins have a deep-rooted rivalry with their Pennsylvania cousins in the Philadelphia Flyers. The Penguins opened the season by laying a 7-0 beating on the Flyers which will surely amp up the rivalry for this season when the two teams meet again, right? Except that doesn't happen until January 31, 2027 - exactly four months after that season-opening game! Does anyone feel like that 7-0 score, which helps to fuel the rivalry, won't be as fresh in anyone's mind?

The New York Islanders, who share a long and storied rivalry with the Penguins, won't see the Steel City team until January 13, 2027 this season either. And while I get that playoff races are more fun with in-division games later in the season, there's also a chance that one of these four teams will not make the playoffs nor be in a playoff race at the end of the season. I'm not here to speculate on which team(s) that might be, but one team just lost a world-class goaltender for the season and another has only scored seven goals in six games.

If the NHL wants rivalries within divisions to grow, sprinkle in the hatred throughout the season more. I want the bad blood, the hurt pride, and the general dislike to carry over week to week so that when that logo pops up on the calendar, both teams' blood starts to boil. I want the chirping and the face-washing and the slashes across the back of the legs to be a way of life when two divisional rivals meet. I want fanbases that breathe fire towards the other city.

That doesn't happen if teams don't play each other in meaningful games. No players are willing to put life and limb on the line if there's no chance of playing in the postseason. Alternatively, there might be more reason for players to take cheap shots against good players if those players aren't heading towards the postseason because the race already doesn't matter if he gets suspended. That will develop bad blood between teams, but that's not how one fosters a burning rivalry. That's why playoffs SHOULD feature rivalries.

The Penguins will play the Rangers three times between January 29 and April 6, and those games may not matter if they can't find decent goaltending to replace Shesterkin. They'll play the Islanders three times between January 13 and April 1, and those games could potentially be interesting if both the Penguins and Islanders stay healthy. And they'll play the Flyers three times between January 31 and April 3, and those games may not matter if the Flyers continue to struggle to score. That's not how to build rivalries between teams.

I clearly don't understand what goes into scheduling the entire NHL season because rivalries should be built and cultivated with games more often than the last three months of the season. Right now as a Penguins fan, the Rangers and Islanders are just two teams in the division. There isn't a rivalry there because there's nothing between the teams that would foster any sort of dislike other than past games and transgressions. After a summer apart, though, I need something to spark that hate again. Waiting until January isn't that spark.

Like a fire, you have to feed it fuel and stoke it every once in a while to have it burn hot. The NHL, it seems, believes that pouring gasoline onto a fire will make it burn hotter which is true, but only for short periods of time until that fuel is burned. That's the problem with how the NHL is treating these rivalries - it's a long-burning fire that requires fuel and stoking rather than an immediate, flammable fuel source. Unless that flammable fuel source is being used to re-ignite a long-burning fire that already existed, there's nothing there to stoke.

Penguins and Flyers fans will still dislike the other's team. Rangers and Islanders fans will never mix like oil and water. But the rivalry between the Penguins and Islanders won't get better or run deeper without playing one another more often. The same goes for the Rangers and, to some extent, the Flyers, yet the NHL will tell you that these rivalries have never been stronger at any time in history.

It's just not true, though, and their scheduling is part of the problem because I don't hate the Islanders like I did in 1993 when David Volek ended the Penguins' shot at a three-peat. That hatred doesn't exist with Bo Horvat, Matthew Schaefer, or Ilya Sorokin like it did with Volek, Rich Pilon, and Darius Kasparaitis. And squeezing three games into three months won't re-ignite that hatred for the Islanders in me.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Another Idea Blows Up

I'm not one to celebrate failure because I often see the importance of learning from one's mistakes, but I will celebrate another failure by the NHL when it comes to capturing popular culture in a marketing campaign. The NHL certainly brands itself as being modern and hip, so seeing it follow a trend that it once held in such contempt makes this failure all the better. After all, if the NHL had wanted to make inroads with this specific marketing effort, they could do so by being a better organization morally and ethically. Since that seems like too much work to do when it comes to simply making money, the NHL opted to go in a different direction that ended with this idea blowing up in their faces once again. That quiet sound you hear in the background is me screaming "I told you so."

On October 2, the NHL decided it was going to publish romance novel-inspired short stories starring the league's players on audiobook platforms as part of their new "Hot For Hockey" marketing campaign. The first set of stories that made it onto audio platforms like Spotify featured players like Philadelphia Flyers' Trevor Zegras, the Carolina Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho, and the Las Vegas Golden Knights' Jack Eichel. If you're reading this and already thinking this is a bad idea, you're only seeing the tip of the iceberg sticking out of the water.

The NHL decided to collaborate with popular hockey romance writers on this project who could "romanticize" the players with these stories. The stories were then hyped in 60- or 90-second ads that appeared to be nothing more than bids to get people to watch the actual games, and the stories themselves were nothing close to hockey romance stories as the players weren't paired with romantic partners. The story arc for Trevor Zegras is as follows:

"Trevor Zegras came to Philly looking for a fresh start. But after battling with Pittsburgh in the playoffs last year, he found out how gritty things could get. One heated summer later, Philly's pretty boy is looking a whole lot grittier."

There is A LOT to unpack in that short paragraph, and none of it even has to do with Gritty, the Flyers' mascot. If you downloaded the story thinking you were getting the NHL's version of Heated Rivalry, you signed up for the wrong set of stories, but there's a large chunk of ignorance shown by the NHL's infinite big brains in floating this idea.

For a league whose rosters currently feature three men named in an alleged criminal case for sexual assault, romanticizing players in the league is definitive proof that the NHL is completely out of touch with its fanbase. Two prominent hockey romance writers, Emily Rath and Chelsea Curto, both declined participating in the project with Rath posting on her social media, "Yes, the NHL contacted me to participate. And I have never turned down an offer so fast."

Lacey Conine, the founder of Double Hockey Stix, a business that makes a clothing line for underrepresented hockey fans, says she initially thought news of the NHL's romance-centric audiobook campaign was satire, telling Wired's Kate Taylor, "I had so many comments of people just being like, 'This is disgusting. We hate this. What is this? How is the NHL this tone deaf?'" And she's right.

With the Dallas Stars announcing that they were cancelling Pride Night this season, it seems entirely disingenuous of the NHL to try and ride the coattails of Heated Rivalry's momentum. Using the romance-in-hockey theme is something that can be done by people not associated with the NHL in terms of writing fiction, but adding real players to the mix opens up a can of worms that no one wants.

In 2023, Alexander Wennberg, and his wife, Felicia, posted on social media about an influx of "predatory and exploiting" comments after the Kraken posted content aimed at TikTik's BookTok scene. Earlier this summer, there was an alleged inappropriate relationship between a billet mom and a teenaged player in the OHL. Of course, there was also the online abuse to which Connor Hellebuyck and his wife, Andrea, were subjected as one of his reasons for his trade demands out of Canada. This kind of behaviour cannot be glorified through the romanticism of young NHL players, and the NHL was insane for even trying to capitalize on that. Someone had to see this coming, right?

Well, fast forward to today, just four days after the NHL's marketing wizards launched the audiobook stories, and this campaign has been shelved by the NHL. In full spin mode, the NHL said "the episodes were meant to be a limited-time offering" in their reason for removing them from audio platforms. In what has to be the biggest "yeah, we didn't think this one through," the NHL's four-day campaign might be the most limited of limited-time offers they've ever done.

That didn't stop NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman from celebrating an opportunity, stating, "I will tell you the data was overwhelming in terms of new fans that we acquired last year who were first introduced to hockey either through 'Off Campus' or 'Heated Rivalry.' And if new people want to come and be a part of game, we’re thrilled to have them."

Again, open your eyes, Gary. While both TNT and ESPN spouting off about female viewership being up 66% and 106%, respectively, the NHL celebrating "Heated Rivalry", which is about two gay hockey players, becomes laughable when the NHL is seeing teams cancel Pride Games and having players openly refuse to wear LGBTQ+-inspired clothing. "Off Campus" might be the one the NHL can support because of their lack of concern towards promiscuity, fighting, and domestic abuse, but that might be giving them credit where it simply isn't due. They didn't earn these fans through any effort on their own.

"If the NHL is trying to reach the female fan base, which is obviously what this is an attempt to do, there are so many better and stronger ways to do that," The IX Sports PWHL senior writer Melissa Burgess told the AP. "Honestly, it's the best thing the NHL could do is scrap it, put it in the past and make it a distant memory."

At the end of the day, imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but there wasn't one person asking for the NHL to do this. Like any business, the NHL always wants to expand its market share to capture the largest amount of female fans it can, but marketing itself and its players as some sort of romantic heroes in hyperbolized scenarios is only going to attract ridicule. This was one area of hockey into which the NHL didn't need to wander, yet someone in their offices pitched this idea well enough to make others go, "We can profit off of this."

Four days is all the "Hot For Hockey" audiobook campaign lasted. That was literally 96 hours too long, but at least the NHL came to its senses quickly before they "found out how gritty things could get".

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Major Uniform History Day

Imagine for a moment that it's the fall of 1974. Colours are changing on the trees, leaves are beginning to fall, and the fashion world is wearing earth tones and flared- and wide-leg pants. There were design changes to the Ford Mustang and Pontiac Firebirds, Lamborghini introduced the world to the Countach, Richard Nixon had just resigned as President of the United States due to the Watergate scandal, and the UPC Barcode to scan products at stores was still in its infancy. The world was a different place 50 years ago as Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's career home run record, People magazine first appeared on newsstands, and Chinese farmers discovered the Terracotta Army.

We're going to focus on fashion, though, and specifically on the NHL because October 4, 1974 is a day where something happened in a preseason game that maked a major moment in uniform history as per a social media account called KingsUniHistory. As per that account, the LA Kings "wore their gold home uniform with forum blue pants for the first time in 4 years in a preseason game against the Golden Seals". I know that a lot of people will read that and think, "That's not very significant," but it was because the Kings began wearing gold pants at the start of the 1970-71 season with their gold jerseys, meaning that the "forum blue" pants were used exclusively with their purple road jerseys throughout the decade!

If you know anything about me, I much prefer hockey uniforms to have contrasting pants colours to break up the monochrome look that happens when pants and jerseys match. The Kings actually wore that contrasting uniform style from their first time on the ice until the end of the 1969-70 season as shown to the right, and that looks all sorts of correct compared to the single-colour gold choice they opted to wear in 1970-71 and beyond. Make no mistake that there were some questionable uniform decisions made in the 1970s by a handful of teams, but gold-over-gold by the Kings is a head-scratcher.

The gold-over-purple combination would only be worn on October 4, though, as the Kings continued to use their gold pants throughout that season. As the KingsUniHistory account describes, "It was the only time this uniform faced California's all teal 1974-76 road uniform," meaning that every other date between 1974 and 1976 featured the all-gold Kings versus the all-teal California Seals! Finding any sort of record of these games is next to impossible, however, but we'll go with KingsUniHistory's knowledge that the gold-over-purple only saw the all-teal Seals once in the preseason on October 4, 1974.

The other major note is that the Seals' all-teal look also debuted in this game as the California Seals went from their Oakland Athletics-inspired kelly-green-and-gold look in 1973-74 to their uniform their new look for the 1974-75 season. With Charlie Finley selling the team in 1974, the colours were swapped to a more traditional west coast feel by the NHL who owned the franchise. That all-teal look debuted on October, 1974 in the preseason game against the Kings as well, so there were two major uniform events that on occurred that day!

You might be asking if the Kings, in their first gold-over-purple game in four years, won the game against the Seals, and they did not. They didn't lose either, though, as the game ended as a 1-1 tie. As shown to the left, Mike Murphy opened the scoring for the Kings before Seals' rookie Wayne King scored off a rebound to square the score, and the final score would be recorded as a 1-1 preseason tie. Just for fun, the California Seals found a way to break through for a win two days later as they downed the Kings by a 5-2 score on October 6, 1974.

The rivalry was already starting to simmer between these California rivals as they battled for west coast surpemacy, and the weird part was they weren't even in the same division in 1974! The California Golden Seals would play in the Adams Division that season with Boston, Buffalo, and Toronto while Los Angeles was in the Norris Division with Montreal, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Washington. Both the Adams and Norris Division played in the Prince of Wales Conference that season. The NHL cared not for your geography lessons.

I searched everywhere for reasons as to why the Kings wore their purple pants on October 4, 1974, and I can't find any site or newspaper article with a reason for that uniform decision. I will say it's the right one, though, because the gold-over-gold uniform was a bad look, even for the disco era. As for the Seals, they wouldn't last past 1976 so they never saw the Kings in purple pants again.

How often do we get a uniform debut for one team and a one-game uniform note for the other in the same game? Not very often, and that's why October 4, 1974 was a major uniform history day!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

I'm Booked Today

My whirlwind start to October will continue today as I am booked for the entire day. The image to the left is related to the reason I'm booked as I'll be emceeing a wedding today that features two people who are genuinely awesome. Neither are Boston Bruins fans nor are they even big hockey fans, but the wedding cake to the left is pretty amazing in terms of how it looks. I know weddings are mainly about the bride, so I'm assumning the bride who had this cake is a huge fan of the Bruins. In any case, I'll be running the music during the ceremony in the early afternoon before keeping everyone on time at the reception as the master of ceremonies. I'm honoured to have been asked to be part of this day, and I'll deliver my best.

Wedding chatter aside for a moment, I did want to draw attention to the list of EBUGs that the NHL published yesterday. Feel free to read through that list if you like, but I want to point out two of the goalies on that list who have U SPORTS experience! It's pretty awesome to see a couple of guys who played at the Canadian university level getting a chance to sign a contract with an NHL team, and no, it doesn't matter that it's an EBUG contract. It's still a valid NHL deal.

We'll start out in Calgary where the Flames signed former Mount Royal Cougars netminder Dustin (Dusty) Nickel! Nickel actually joined the Cougars in 2011-12 for their final ACAC season where he played in one game, but he was on the roster for the 2012-13 season when Mount Royal made the jump to the Canada West Conference! He was listed as one of four goalies on the Cougars' roster that season and didn't get into any Canada West games in that season.

His 2013-14 season would end early thanks to Nickel suffering a knee injury in training camp. That knee injury would require him to miss the entire season in his third year of eligibility, and his fourth year was spent in the pressbox as well. Nickel never actually got to wear his #32 jersey on the ice in a regular season game for Mount Royal which seems cruel. He did graduate, however, with his business degree from Mount Royal University, and he's putting that to good use today as he owns his own construction business and works as a senior coach for Apex Goaltending! Not bad for a guy who missed time!

What makes this story cooler, though, is that Nickel's name should ring a bell for Flames fans as he was the team's old EBUG before the new rules went into place! Back on November 27, 2023, he nearly got his shot to stop pucks for the Flames after Jacob Markstrom was deemed to ill to play after the daily transaction period had passed, leaving Calgary with only Dan Vladar as a goalie. The Flames quickly signed Nickel to an Amateur Tryout Contract, and all eyes were on #40 after Vladar was bowled over by Golden Knights forward William Carrier minutes into the game! Would Nickel get his chance to shine?

"There was so much going through my head at that point," Nickel told the assembled media post-game. "I was hoping he would get up... especially when you look up and there's 55 minutes left in the game."

Vladar would recover, though, and the Flames went on to win 2-1 that night, but Nickel had been a mainstay with the Flames for some time before his night as the backup goalie as he was practising with both the Flames and the AHL Wranglers. In fact, he suffered a torn groin in 2022 while stopping pucks during a shooter's drill, but the Flames organization never asked anyone else to be the EBUG once Nickel was healthy again, bringing Nickel back for 2023 and beyond.

"The guys love Dusty," head coach Ryan Huska said. "Dusty comes out with us a fair bit whenever we need to rest a goalie, or if we have someone that needs some extra time. They love having him around."

The other guy who will do his best to not be pressed into action, but be ready if he is needed, is former Nipissing Lakers and former MacEwan Griffins netminder Brett Epp! The Edmonton-born Epp was signed by the Edmonton Oilers this season after serving as an unofficial EBUG over the last couple of seasons. Epp, however, actually got his university career started south of the border with the Nichols College Bison in Dudley, Massachusetts where he was 10-16-3!

After transferring to Nipissing University in North Bay, Ontario, he spent two years at Nipissing where, unfortunately, the COVID pandemic limited him to six games where he went 4-2-0 with a 2.78 GAA and a .915 save percentage before he signed with the ECHL's Newfoundland Growlers. Epp would bounce around the SPHL and a few lower leagues, but he'd resurface back in Alberta in 2024-25!

Epp would use his final year of eligibility to play with his hometown MacEwan Griffins where Epp would make a little history. His regular season wasn't all that great with the Griffins as he went 3-9-1 with a 3.90 GAA and an .888 save percentage, but he did record the program's first Canada West playoff win with a 41-save effort in a 3-2 overtime win over UBC on February 21, 2025! UBC would win the next two games to eliminate MacEwan that season, but Epp's name went into the record books for picking up that win for the program!

Epp has yet to play a single minute for either of the Oilers or the AHL's Bakersfield Condors, but he'll be listed on their roster this season as the official EBUG! And, despite his lack of experience, he seems to be the right guy for the job as Edmonton goalie coach Peter Aubry told Janson Duench of The Athletic, "The big reason he’s here is the guys like him. Fortunately, we had a free peek last year where Brett had come out and done a few practices with us, so that was a good thing and gives everyone a little bit more comfort."

What makes both of these stories even better is that, as per the NHL's mandate, both men will wear #00 on their jerseys if they ever are pressed into action or to backup one of the everyday NHL netminders. On that note, Epp had an even cooler story that he told to the Edmonton Journal's Gerry Moddejonge on Thursday, saying, "My grandma had her birthday last week, and we went out and got a double-zero jersey made for her, so that was pretty cool."

While a handful of teams have yet to have an EBUG on NHL.com's list, the fact that both Alberta NHL teams have local kids who played for a university in their repsective cities as their EBUGs is pretty cool. Frankly, it would be awesome if Montreal and Vancouver signed local guys who played for universities in their cities, so I'll hold onto the hope that the Canucks find a UBC or Trinity Western goalie while Montreal looks at a Concordia or McGill netminder for their EBUG.

As for me, the only letters I'll wear today are M and C. I'm definitely not qualified to be an EBUG in any capacity, but I don't think a wedding needs nor have I ever heard of an Emergency Backup Groom either. I'll let the couple who have been preparing and rehearsing for this day handle those responsibilities while I make announcements. An an wedding emcee, that's the kind of pressure I can handle.

I'm off to get things organized, so enjoy your day, folks. I know mine will be fantastic as I witness two people wed in a beautiful union that will last forever because they're awesome and make a heckuva team!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

It Took Three Days

I will fully admit that I have not been watching a lot of hockey thanks to life being one event after another right now. For as much as I need and want some time to relax, it seems I'm just as busy as I was through the summer. Of course, my drive to watch NHL hockey has been low as I already admitted that I was already disappointed in the NHL in many ways which doesn't help, but being busy virtually every night hasn't allowed me to settle down in front of a broadcast and watch. Last night, though, the NHL delivered one of the things I absolutely enjoy seeing in any season, and all it took was three days into the 2026-27 season for someone to add his name to the NHL history books last night.

The Tampa Bay Lightning were in Manhattan to play the New York Rangers last night, and things weren't going well as they trailed 4-1 late in the game. Lightning head coach Jon Cooper rolled the dice and pulled his goalie for an extra attacker to close the gap, and that gave Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin the opportunity he wanted.
Igor Shesterkin becomes the 18th NHL goaltender to be credited with a goal as he netted the fifth Rangers goal in a 5-1 victory over Tampa Bay! He also becomes the first New York Rangers goaltender to accomplish the feat while making 24 saves to help New York pick up its first win of the season! That's a solid night by any measure!

What's even crazier is that Shesterkin didn't see the puck slide into the yawning Lightning cage, telling reporters, "I didn't see the puck land so I didn't know can I celebrate or not." Celebrate he did, though, as he was mobbed by his teammates after scoring the 21st goalie goal in NHL history. Officially, Shesterkin's first NHL goal came at 17:26 of the third period to put the Rangers up 5-1. With a goal and a win under his belt tonight, he joins a long list of NHL goalies who have celebrated scoring a goal in a game. They include:

• Billy Smith, NY Islanders – Nov. 28, 1979 at Colorado
• Ron Hextall, Philadelphia – Dec. 8, 1987 vs. Boston
• Ron Hextall, Philadelphia – Apr. 11, 1989 at Washington*
• Chris Osgood, Detroit – Mar. 6, 1996 at Hartford
• Martin Brodeur, New Jersey – Apr. 17, 1997 vs. Montreal
• Damian Rhodes, Ottawa – Jan 2, 1999 vs. New Jersey
• Martin Brodeur, New Jersey – Feb. 15, 2000 vs. Philadelphia**
• Jose Theodore, Montreal – Jan. 2, 2001 at NY Islanders
• Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose – Mar. 10, 2002 at Vancouver***
• Mika Noronen, Buffalo – Feb. 14, 2004 at Toronto
• Chris Mason, Nashville – Apr. 15, 2006 vs Phoenix
• Cam Ward, Carolina – Dec. 26, 2011 vs. New Jersey
• Martin Brodeur, New Jersey – Mar. 21, 2013 at Carolina***
• Mike Smith, Phoenix – Oct. 19, 2013 vs. Detroit
• Pekka Rinne, Nashville - Jan. 9, 2020 at Chicago
• Linus Ullmark, Boston - Feb. 25, 2023 at Vancouver
• Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh - Nov. 30, 2023 at Tampa Bay
• Filip Gustavsson, Minnesota - Oct. 15, 2024 at St. Louis***
• Alex Nedeljkovic, Pittsburgh - January 17, 2025 at Buffalo
• Ilya Sorokin, NY Islanders - March 1, 2025 vs Nashville
• Igor Shesterkin, NY Rangers - October 1, 2026 vs Tampa Bay

Some quick notes: the italicized goals above were scored in the playoffs. The single asterisk denotes a shorthanded goal, the double-asterisk goal denotes a game-winning goal, and the triple-asterisk goals were scored on the power-play. The Islanders, Pittsburgh, and Nashville have had two different goalies score for them in NHL history. Brodeur and Hextall have scored more than once.

If you're scanning that list, Shesterkin's goal last night was also the earliest goalie goal scored in any season, beating Minnesota's Filip Gustavsson by two weeks! It should also be noted that Shesterkin reportedly scored while playing for Spartak Moscow in the MHL in Russia when he was 17 way back on October 31, 2013. It marked the first time that any goalie had scored in the MHL, and it helped Spartak Moscow down Red Bull Salzburg by a 4-1 score that night.

Now at age 30, the netminder can officially add a second puck to his trophy case to commemorate his first professional hockey goal!

Congratulations to Igor Shesterkin for his historic goal last night, and let me just reiterate that goalie goals at any level are awesome. That's one in the books for the 2026-27 season; how many more will be scored by goalies this year? I'm hoping we get a pile more!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 732

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back in the UMFM studio tonight as we get set for another big show. This one will have our hosts looking at one main topic that likely needs some explaining with all the circumstances and details that surround the story, so be prepared for a lot of examination with fine-toothed combs tonight. There will be a handful of other smaller stories for those looking to avoid the elephant in the room, so make sure you find a seat near an audio device for The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason are going to tackle the big story in hockey right now as they'll break down the last month of news coming out of Arizona State University and the myriad of problems that institution faces with respect to Matthew Mayich. Assuming we get through that discussion, we'll also chat about something that hasn't happened for nearly forty years, the new NHL equipment rules and Trevor Zegras' tuck, the new NHL Board of Governors leadership, an NHL player with some artistic talent, and how CBC can make the PWHL better by doing what it always did best. There's going to be a lot to discuss and break down in that ASU conversation, though, so make sure you're ready to go for all the chatter 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.

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 Arizona State University, a missing piece, equipment rule enforcement, new leadership, arts and crafts, rediscovering talent, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: October 1, 2026: Episode 732

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

I Hate It So Much

Hockey is a fairly simple game where the winning team is the one who outscores the opponent. Normally, goals happen as a result of mistakes make by players, so human error is needed in the game if we want offence. I enjoy watching hockey to see good players exploit those errors and light the lamp, so here's hoping there are many for players this season. What I don't need to see nor will I ever care about are the "pregame fits" that seem to have invaded hockey at every level. Wins and losses matter; clothes do not.

If you're thinking this is a "you kids get off my lawn" moment from me, you're probably correct in that assumption. I was always taught to let your play on the ice speak for you, so coming out and being ready to play was vital. What didn't matter to me was what I wore to the rink to put me in a mental state to win. People have held onto the idea of "look good, play good", but would it matter if the NHL's best player showed up in sweatpants if he scored 60 goals?

Across social media sites, though, teams and their social media administrators are posting images of the walk-ins done by players to show of their fashion senses. And while I'm sure they deserve a nod for looking like they just stepped out of Milan or Paris, I could not care less if players from my favorite team showed up to the rink wearing the latest Armani suit or the world's comfiest hoodie as long as they win games. What they wear to the rink prior to suiting up does not matter and yet these "fits" images are everywhere.

As you likely know, the current CBA has eliminated the mandatory suit and tie that teams wore to the rink for decades. Players wanted the same options to wear what they wanted just as athletes in other leagues aren't restricted to a formal dress code. With the NHL going that route, my hope was I'd see less walk-in images and videos of players who were arriving at arenas for games. Instead, it feels like there may actually be more of those posts on teams' social media.

What's worse is that these posts literally add nothing to the story of the game. At what point do teams get back to talking about specific plays and posting images and video of tactics being used on the ice? Social media has the ability to be a place of learning by breaking down plays seen on the ice, but teams are instead using it to celebrate the clothes that players wear. And we wonder why Nikita Kucherov described the game as "faster, but it's very dumb. Low IQ"?

Maybe I'm in a very small minority here, but it might be part of my hatred for all things done by influencers to try to convince younger people that what they say and do is important and will improve one's social status. Having kids wear expensive suits to the rinks is simply ridiculous, and showing millionaires wearing top-of-the-line suits that cost more than some people make in two weeks is completely unnecessary and dumb. As long as they win hockey games, why does it matter what they're wearing when they show up to rink?

The NHL and NHLPA don't care if players wear suits and ties after they agreed to remove that language from the Collective Bargaining Agreement, so why do teams keep doing this? I hate it so much and it's truly one of the things I want to see eliminated from social media, so let me make this even easier to understand by posing this question: do you know what looks good on any and every player?

Championship rings. And winning always is en vogue at any level.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Pushed Aside By Size

THe old way of thinking in the NHL never seems to go away. No matter which general manager is running a team, the idea that size and experience are better than youth and speed always seems to be prevalent in the NHL. That became more evident today when the New York Islanders signed former Jets and Sabres defender Logan Stanley to a one-year deal worth $1.5 million, far less than most pundits had predicted he'd get on the open market after last season's explosion of goals. That's not to say that Stanley didn't have a good season, but that his time in Buffalo may have been more telling than what he showed in protected minutes on the blue line with the Jets.

It seemed like the Islanders were content to have either 2025 first-round pick Kashawn Aitcheson or 22-year-old Isaiah George start the season on the team's third pairing alongside Scott Mayfield, but somewhere that dream died as the team went to the free agent market to find Stanley. As a result, both Aitcheson and George were sent to AHL Hamilton where they'll start the season with the Hammers. While there's nothing wrong with giving these two a chance to play top minutes in the AHL, one has to wonder if the Islanders would get better results with either of them over Stanley.

All of Stanley's advanced stats point to a defenceman whose offensive abilities are limited by his biggest weakness: skating. Yes, he's got a big shot thanks to his size, but 90 of his 260 shot attempts last season were blocked (34.6%) as per MoneyPuck. 74 of his 260 shot attempts also missed the net (29.2%), meaning that 63.8% of his shots never reached the intended target. It's not like these shots were being deflected by teammates; these were shots that were blocked or missed the net entirely. Despite taking 80 more shots than he did in 2021, his percentage of shots that didn't hit the net actually went up!

Maybe the Islanders wanted him for his size and defensive play, but I'm going to pump the brakes once more. In no season was Logan Stanley's expected goals-against worse and high-danger chances against worse. It became much more obvious in Buffalo where he was exploited a handful of times before being relegated to the pressbox by head coach Lindy Ruff, but the fact is that his team's defensive play got worse in both cities when Logan Stanley was on the ice. For a bubble team like the Islanders may be, that doesn't help.

I have no idea why a poor-skating, defensively-challenged defender is something that Mathieu Darche wanted on his team, but Logan Stanley will start the season patrolling the blue line on Long Island. I get that he has experience at the NHL level which is something that should help him and his team, but getting Kashawn Aitcheson or Isaiah George that experience would also be beneficial for the Islanders. In fact, it may be better that they get it in a season where the Islanders aren't considered as Stanley Cup contenders because mistakes made by Aitcheson and George won't be as glaring.

If Aitcheson and George are ready to play at a high level in a year or two, they'll have one of the most young, dynamic blue lines in all of hockey with Matthew Schaefer, Alexander Romanov, Aitcheson, and George all under the age of 29. Every NHL GM would be salivating over the possibility of keeping that defensive core intact for a number of playoff runs in similar fashion to how Montreal's blue line currently has them on the precipice of something big. Of course, there are a number of factors that go into winning a Stanley Cup, but having a four-man unit of Schaefer, Romanov, Aitcheson, and George would make the Islanders a formidable foe in the Atlantic Division.

Instead, Islanders fans will get a season of Logan Stanley on the blue line. Maybe Stanley will impress and play a sound defensive game while chipping in on the offence where he can, but that never materialized in Winnipeg nor in Buffalo. There will be games where he looks and plays like the Boston Bruins' Zdeno Chara for a number of shifts, but he's far too often the New York Islanders' version of Chara where he was big, prone to mistakes, and not very good on his skates. Like Chara, Stanley will throw hits and get into fights, but I'm assuming most Islanders fans don't need that memory again.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Tuck Rule

I'll admit that the first thing I noticed about the Flyers' jerseys last night was that massive IBX add on the shoulder. We'll talk about that later, but the image to the left is of Trevor Zegras sitting in the penalty box after being sent off by officials for "improperly wearing equipment" in their preseason game against the Boston Bruins. You might be thinking that everything looks fine on Zegras when it comes to how he's dressed, but officials noticed that his jersey was tucked into his pants during play, and he was officially penalized for that fashion choice. I'll make it known: I am in favour of the NHL cracking down on equipment infractions.

At 9:51 of the second period of the Flyers-Bruins preseason game, Zegras received a two-minute minor penalty for delay of game. What was weird is that this was called moments after a face-off in the Bruins' zone, so there was some confusion. Here's that moment.

As you can see at the blue line, that's referee Francis Charron, an 18-year veteran, making the call on Zegras, and Zegras had a chat with referee Jon McIsaac as he was being escorted to the penalty box. McIsaac, a 15-year veteran, broke the news to Zegras that he was being called for his tucked-in jersey. In short, this wasn't some hotshot rookie referee that was looking to make a name for himself.

According to Kevin Kurz of The Athletic, "Zegras said after the game he was given a warning when he had it tucked to start the game, 'because that's how I usually play. It must have just went back in on the bench, and when I came out, just forgot, and (they) called it'".

Kurz also noted that The Athletic's Chris Johnston reported that wearing equipment properly is a point of emphasis entering this season, and will include "visors, neck guards and cut-resistant gear (now required for all new players), helmets in warmup and tucked jerseys". The Flyers were aware of the new mandate as per head coach Rick Tocchet who told Kurz, "They told us, in all fairness two, three weeks ago. I didn't even think about it. … Obviously, can't do it anymore. Regular season starts, we can't have a penalty like that. I actually had to put (Matvei Michkov’s jersey) down on the bench."

Some people are going to roll their eyes and say the NHL is going too far, but this has always been part of the NHL rulebook since 1964. The stricter enforcement comes with players altering their uniforms and equipment to gain an advantage which, in turn, could lower the safety aspect of the uniform and equipment. Zegras' jersey tuck, for example, is that he likely doesn't have his jersey tied down as it should be, and that's not how the jersey is designed to be worn. That, by the letter of the law, is a penalty, and Zegras broke the rule.

Admittedly, the NHL never really cared about the jersey tuck thanks to some guy who wore #99 and set a bunch of scoring records, but this rule has to be applied to all equipment or there would be chaos. Consider that the NHL penalized Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov at 6:26 of the first period in the opening game of the 2017 NHL season for his visor being pushed up on his helmet, creating an unsafe situation for Komarov. If the officials had shrugged and Komarov was high-sticked or took a puck in the face, the NHL could be liable.

As stated above, the mandated cut-resistant gear comes on the heels of Adam Johnson's death in the EIHL, Richard Zednik's scary neck incident, and Erik Karlsson's Achilles injury. Cut-resistant equipment is good, but a properly-secured jersey helps protect players as well.

No one complains about NHL players not being able to show personality or bring their style to the game while wearing helmets, yet helmets were mandated for all new players entering the NHL on June 1, 1979 following the death of Bill Masterton from a brain injury on January 13, 1968. No one complains that the players are losing personality or style with everyone wearing visors which the NHL mandated at the start of the 2013–14 season. And no one will complain that no player tucks their jerseys into their pants if the NHL makes it a point to end this equipment trend. Safety matters.

Every player will be warned this season if there's an equipment problem, so they'll have a chance to correct the issue. If they choose not to do that like Zegras chose not to, they will sit and watch for two minutes from the little bench. If they choose to continue to ignore the rule, the third violation would result in a game misconduct. Again, this is less about personal style and more about safety, and I'll side with safer hockey for all every single time.

Feel free to disagree with me if you like, but I'd rather see my favorite NHL stars on the ice rather than nursing injuries for wearing their visors improperly or spending time at the hospital as doctors try to stop them from bleeding to death. Jerseys are part of the equipment players wear, so wearing it properly should be enforced. In this case, count me as a supporter of the jersey tuck rule.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 731

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back in the UMFM studios tonight as both hosts are back on a somewhat normal schedule! There has been a pile of news that has happened in the last two weeks and our hosts will dive into a number of stories, but they also have some adventures to discuss as they have been busy while away from the studio. Of course, the regular chatter about all of hockey's bigger stories will eat up the majority of the hour, so get yourself ready tonight for The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will look at a number of stories including politics in hockey after Alexander Ovechkin appeared in a Russian political advertisement, the kerfuffle around the Edmonton Oilers' personnel, rule changes that will make two leagues more watchable, book reviews done by each of our hosts, Kevin Hayes and his future, PWHL recent announcements, and anything else we can squeeze into the hour of fun! It should be a show where opinions are stated about a number of topics, so make sure you have your device connected tonight to 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.

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 politics in hockey, vetting your people, making hockey better, good reading material, walking away quickly, women's hockey news, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: September 24, 2026: Episode 731

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Slightly Younger Boys' Club

With the NHL targeting younger owners with money such as Ryan Smith, Tom Dundon, and Geoff Hoffman as the next wave of ownership, one had to hold out hope that the NHL Board of Governors might have a younger leader sitting as the Chairman of the Board at some point. Outgoing Chairman Jeremy Jacobs is 86 years-old, so the NHL certainly was wearing its "old boys' club" pin proudly despite it constantly being years behind on trends and not keeping up with technology in the digital age. That's not to say that older folks don't understand technology or aren't tech savvy, but one would think that the NHL might aim for a younger replacement for Jacobs after he served for the last 19 years as the Chairman of the NHL Board of Governors.

Instead of looking at the younger group who recently joined, the NHL Board of Governors elected 70 year-old Ted Leonsis as their new Chairman with 66 year-old Murray Edwards serving as Vice-Chair of the Board of Governors. Both men recently served as their teams' respective Governors so both are familiar with what everything that goes on inside the room at the NHL Board of Governors meetings.

Neither of those two men likely have their finger on the pulse when it comes to the 18-64 year-old demographic upon which their teams rely, but Leonsis' background sees him as a former senior executive with America Online, better known as AOL. Edwards, meanwhile, made his fortune as a Canadian oil sands financier, so his knowledge of emerging digital and entertainment trends likely is limited.

If the NHL is going to try and capture more of the North American pro sports market, a former software executive and an oil man are now tasked to lead that charge, and I can't see them being successful.

"Long before I became an owner, I was a fan of this game and of the Washington Capitals. I love hockey and have a profound belief in its potential. We have proven in Washington how investing in a team, its fans and in a community can create a true hockey city," said Leonsis in a statement.

Leonsis isn't wrong when it comes to the Capitals' popularity in its own market as the pie chart to the right shows. That data was captured by Ben Standig, Brittany Ghiroli and Fred Katz of The Athletic, but it comes with an asterisk that winning teams always are more popular in polls and this data was captured on the heels of a 2018 Stanley Cup championship for the Capitals. The Commanders still are easily the top team in the region thanks to the NFL marketing machine, but the Capitals slightly edged the Nationals in Wahsington, DC proper in their 2020 poll.

Of course, that means nothing in places like Anaheim, Columbus, and Ottawa who played below 93% capacity last season despite two of those teams making the playoffs. With prices on merchandise, tickets, and TV options rising faster than people can afford, this is a major problem for the NHL Board of Governors that they're going to have to remedy sooner than later after nine teams played to 95% or less capacity last season. Based on everything that's happened in the TV sports landscape with losses and costs, Leonsis and Edwards may be stepping into one of the most critical times in the NHL's history.

Leonsis may have showed his hand early, telling The Athletic's Chris Johnston, "It's not about TV anymore. It's about global digital and finding the next generation of big important partners. … It's still a huge part of our revenue base and is very, very strategic for us."

That quiet sound you heard was Ed Rogers screaming into a pillow after Leonsis dropped the "not about TV anymore" comment, but this comes back to the current landscape where Bally Sports and Victory+ both went bankrupt as regional carriers of games while both ESPN and TNT have been silently stewing in the background about the national rights costing a pile more when their deals end in 2027-28.

Perhaps the one thing that potentially gives me hope is that Leonsis seems to be aware of the NHL's stature in the public eye. He told NHL.com's Dan Rosen, "The role that we play in our cities, in our communities, we're becoming the most important enterprises in many of our cities. The social responsibility and the role we are playing all comes from growth: more customers, more sponsors. You've got to keep that spiral going up. So having that growth dynamic and mindset, I think, is what our job is at the executive level."

It's this awareness of social responsibility that could win back a large number of fans - me included - if the NHL simply looked at how society is evolving. The LGBTQ+ community is embraced in other leagues, but the NHL has resisted making that community feel welcome after players' outrage over wearing Pride jerseys hit stupidity levels. And yet there are corporations and businesses who are major sponsors of the NHL who embrace the LGBTQ+ community because we live and work together. That's how people feel welcome.

Slice it how you like, but the NHL's "old boys' club" will always be that thanks to no women owning or running clubs and the Board of Governors opting to elect men who have sat in that role for nearly two decades. As some of the younger owners get more involved, however, attitudes may change on a number of things. If Ted Leonsis is serious about molding the NHL into a more socially-responsible and more welcoming and accessible league, this could be a the start of something big for the NHL. All it takes is a little courage.

Congratulations to Ted Leonsis and Murray Edwards on being appointed as the Chair and Vice-Chair of the NHL Board of Governors, but now it's time to show us what the NHL believes in under your leadership. Will we get the old boys' way of thinking or will these two usher in a new way of approaching NHL matters knowing the jury are people attending and watching games? Time, as it always does, will reveal all in the end. And that's why it remains undefeated.

The NHL doesn't need to be perfect, but it needs a few easy wins.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Here Today, Retired Tomorrow

There have been lots of players who left the NHL for the KHL for an opportunity to extend their careers. Some have found success doing that and have extended their professional hockey careers by years while others lasted a handful of games before realizing that the KHL may not be their cups of tea. Kevin Hayes, pictured to the left, will now fall into the latter category after he announced his retirement from hockey today after playing just five games with Ak Bars Kazan in the KHL. The former NHL forward wasn't playing for the money after earning $50 million over the last seven years, but he reportedly went to Russia this season after his wife, Katya Vasilyev, urged him to play in her homeland.

I'm not here to make jokes at Kevin Hayes' expense. His announcement today is a surprise considering he signed a one-year deal in Kazan, but it was also a surprise when Kazan announced his signing in knowing that he only scored more than 50 points once and more than 20 goals twice in his NHL career. It wasn't like they were getting an over-the-hill NHLer who wanted to keep playing, but the 34 year-old wasn't getting any younger so perhaps Kazan was looking to squeeze whatever they could out of his remaining hockey talents.

After five games, however, Hayes is now done. He was averaging 15:00 of ice time with the Snow Leopards, but he has no points and ended his five-game run with a -1 rating. The team went 1-2-1-1 in those five games with each game decided by one goal, and Hayes recorded six shots in those five games with his -1 coming in a 3-2 shootout loss to Metallurg Magnitogorsk. He was 17/34 at the face-off dot, saw time on the power-play in each game, and three hits. Nothing stands out, but Hayes was competing in each game.

And perhaps that was the reason - nothing stood out to Hayes in terms of how he was playing. His comments on Twitter reflected that, stating, "I have decided to end my hockey career. I can no longer play at the level I am capable of because my body does not allow me to perform at my best. And I cannot accept not being in top form."

My hope is that Kevin Hayes can look back on his twelve seasons of NHL hockey and be happy with his accomplishments. He skated in 805 NHL games with the New York Rangers, Winnipeg Jets, Philadelphia Flyers, St. Louis Blues, and Pittsburgh Penguins where he scored 185 goals and 261 assists. His first NHL goal came against the San Jose Sharks on October 19, 2014, and his first playoff point came on an overtime goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 2-1 win in Game Four of the opening round on April 22, 1995 to put the Rangers up 3-1 in the series. He certainly had some memorable moments.

With his announcement today, Hayes can now move into a more full-time family role with his wife Kayla and their son. That adventure will likely keep him just as busy as a hockey season would, and I imagine it will be just as rewarding as memories are made. Yes, it didn't work in Russia for Hayes, but he figured out that it was time to turn the page. There's no shame in that ending because it simply starts a fresh page in a new volume of Kevin Hayes' life.

Where that story now takes him is totally up to him and his family.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Tournament That Didn't Happen

I'm sure there are a few people who question my sanity when it comes to some of the things I find in the online newspaper archives I use simply because it looks like I spend a lot of time there. What normally happens is that I go searching for something, and a story will catch my eye that needs more thorough investigation because of a claim or conjecture made. That's exactly what happened today as one newspaper published an interesting "sports quickie" that absolutely needed context and examination.

First off, let's start off with what caught my attention in the archive.

According to the Austin Herald of Austin, Minnesota, the NHL was planning an "invitational tournament" for all fourteen NHL teams in 1970 that would be played in Winnipeg. Being that my parents and I are all from Winnipeg and had never heard about this tournament, this left me scratching my head. How did the NHL begin plannning a big tournament in a hockey-mad city that never materialized?

With my interest piqued, it was time to start hunting for more information on this tournament that never happened. The internet held no information on this tournament, so the newspaper archive was going to be my source for all the information for something that never happened. The next article that came up was from the Albert Lea Tribune as The Associated Press confirmed the "sports quickie" from the Austin Herald. The good news is there was more information as the NHL seemingly was planning to have the tournament in the fall of 1970 after the proposed World Hockey Tournament was cancelled for host cities Montreal and Winnipeg as Canada disputed the use of professional players at the championship.

There's a bold statement from Maitland Steinkopf, chairman of the Manitoba Centennial Corporation, about this tournament, claiming that, after talking to NHL President Clarence Campbell, there was a "75 per cent chance that it will come off." The former Progressive Conservative politician and longtime businessman made it sound like there was a better than good chance that the tournament would happen for the Manitoba capital. But did it happen, though?

Dozens of newspapers ran The Associated Press's report on between January 30 to February 5, 1970, but an article from MacGregor, Manitoba's The MacGregor Herald gave even more details on what was planned as Steinkopf was aiming for late September or early October for dates, adding "Right now we've just got to clear the dates." All fourteen teams would be able to attend using their players under contract to compete in the one-loss-and-out tournament over the planned week of games. In short, it sounded like a preseason tournament that would have brought the best professional players on the planet together for games. This could have been the start of something that the NHL could build on to spark interest for the coming season.

It appeared that Steinkopf was planning this massive hockey tournament to align with Manitoba's centennial celebration in 1970. He was instrumental in bringing all sorts of projects and events forward that year including the Centennial Concert Hall in downtown Winnipeg and a concert called "Man-Pop" that saw all of Led Zeppelin, Iron Butterfly, the Youngbloods, Chilliwack, the Ides Of March, Dianne Heatherington and the Merry-Go-Round, the Mongrels, and Sugar & Spice perform in Winnipeg for one day. That lineup is insane!

For whatever reason, nothing else was published about this NHL invitational tournament following those early reports in 1970, and it could be because Steinkopf shifted his focus to music as Man-Pop took place on August 29, 1970. My guess is that the dates proposed by Steinkopf didn't work for either the arenas in and around Winnipeg or the NHL clubs themselves, but the tournament evaporated as fast as it seemed to materialize. Winnipeg was not an NHL city in 1970.

There is a bit of a sad note to this story as Maitland Steinkopf passed away on Sunday, November 22, 1970 from a heart attack. Had the tournament happened, his passing would have been just weeks after watching NHL teams compete in the Manitoba capital. It also meant that he missed out on the WHA setting up shop in Winnipeg after luring NHL superstar Bobby Hull to the league which, I believe, would have tickled his showman's heart. Rest peacefully, Mr. Steinkopf.

There's a quick bit of history about what could have been the start of an annual event for the NHL had everything gone to plan with the league-wide invitational tournament. Maitland Steinkopf nearly put Manitoba on the map as a hockey destination with his efforts, but that event simply wasn't in the cards for the city of Winnipeg in 1970.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Jersey's Got Skills

After she left the Seattle Kraken, it seemed like hockey was letting one of the smartest minds in the game sit on the sidelines with Jessica Campbell being unemployed. Some neanderthals will argue that's where she likely deserved to be, but it's hard to argue about the work she did with the AHL's Coachella Valley Firebirds in helping them reach back-to-back Calder Cup Finals. In any case, the wait is now over as Campbell has been hired by the New Jersey Devils as the team's manager of hockey development, and this might be a role that suits her best when it comes to building skills and identifying strengths and weaknesses in players. If you want someone who focuses on the details to ensure results are being achieved, Jessica Campbell brings that to the New Jersey Devils.

Campbell's tenure with the Firebirds saw her working with players on the skill development side as a skills and skating coach, and there's an argument to be made that the Devils could use some of that knowledge she possesses after missing the playoffs by eleven points last season. That's not to say that the Devils don't have good players, but there's a case to be made that more skilled teams make the playoffs more often. If Campbell is managing the entire portfolio of hockey development, skills development should fall under her watch.

We haven't seen a lot of high-end talent come out of the Utica Devils in recent years for New Jersey, so Utica could be the landing spot for players that GM Sunny Mehta and Campbell identify as future Devils. With Mehta and his scouting staff identifying players they want to sign and Campbell evaluating their skills, adding Campbell could prove to be be a very fruitful hiring for the Devils if they start identifying and developing players quicker. That will help in a number of areas including success on the ice, on their balance sheet with respect to the salary cap, and by attracting more high-end talent.

"She's very detail oriented. She listens very well to the players and what we want to do," former Devils defender Damon Severson said of Campbell's coaching approach. "It's not always just about going out with her and putting drills on the ice and we just do them. She wants to hear the players' feedback and what we want to work on throughout the summer. She just wants to get herself better."

That kind of growth she's pursuing would have interested Mehta who in worked for the Devils from 2014-18 as their director of hockey analytics where he built the first full-time analytics department in the NHL. Clearly, Mehta is a forward-thinking guy who uses as much knowledge and data as he can to make smart moves, so having someone who can build on the skills of players that he acquires makes sense if the Devils are going to compete for a Stanley Cup.

Everything seems to point to Mehta's experiences watching and learning from the architects who built the Devils in the 1990s that led to success that spanned a decade, and it sounds like Mehta is all-in on the developmental aspect of the Devils who will look to build a strong AHL team in Utica with players who can step into an NHL role at any time. That's where Campbell will play a vital role in helping Mehta achieve that vision with her commitment to development.

For a guy who was once a poker player, rolling the dice with Campbell in charge of hockey development seems like a sure win. There might be some bumps along the way as nothing ever comes easy, but Campbell's dedication to improving player skills and Mehta's dedication to improving the Devils seems like pocket pair of aces.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

It Was Always One Name

I had a chuckle today as a co-worker lamented over Connor Hellebuyck's situation in my office. His proposal was that the Jets are now the laughing stock of the NHL thanks to Kevin Cheveldayoff's inability to facilitate a trade with any number of teams, and this poor asset management will lead to more heartbreak for Jets fans like him. I can't say he's wrong, but his proposal that the Jets should apply for a new team name as the "Jokes" made me laugh before it got the old gray matter churning as we almost had a minor-league version of the Jets before the Atlanta Thrashers headed north.

Back in the summer of 1996, the IHL approved the relocation of the Minnesota Moose to Winnipeg as current Jets' owner Mark Chipman had bought the IHL franchise. Of course, a new league and team in town generates excitement, and one of the ways to get fans involved early is to run a "Name the Team" contest. We already knew the Moose were coming to Winnipeg with that name, so did Chipman need to run this contest? Apparently, the correct answer is yes.

On Friday, March 1, 1996, the newly-relocated IHL franchise in Winnipeg took out a half-page advertisement in the Winnipeg Free Press to run their "Name the Team" contest. This is that ad.

There was a pretty cool grand prize for whoever had their entry selected as flying to Chicago to see the Wolves and Moose play on Air Canada with a friend would be pretty fun despite the game being played in Rosemont as opposed to Chicago. Nevertheless, a free trip is awesome and getting to watch live hockey always makes it better.

However, I want to point your attention to the actual "Name the Team" entry portion of the advertisement where two of the names seem very familiar if you're a Winnipeg hockey fan of any kind.

The team went ahead and proposed two names that they didn't own nor held the trademarks for by printing "Winnipeg Jets" and "Winnipeg Warriors" as two of their more popular names. The Jets had just moved to the Arizona desert to become the Coyotes while the Warriors left Winnipeg in 1984 to become the Moose Jaw Warriors. As far as I can tell, neither the Coyotes nor the Moose Jaw Warriors had given permission to Chipman et al. to use those names for his team.

Had one of those names been selected by fans, it's likely that Mark Chipman would have had to negotiate the rights for those names since they belonged to those franchises, but history tells us that the team went with "Manitoba Moose" which seems like the name that requires the least amount of work to trademark. After all, the team once was the Minnesota Moose, and the original Moose logo literally was just modified to say "Manitoba" rather than "Minnesota".

What makes this rather unbelievable to me, however, is that Mark Chipman, current owner of the Jets, proposed that name for the Moose who were the first professional hockey franchise he owned in Winnipeg. It feels like the name "Jets" was always going to be the name of a pro hockey team if one returned to Winnipeg, and, in 2011, we found out that the NHL team that moved from Atlanta would indeed be called "Winnipeg Jets". It's almost like Chipman wanted that name and wasn't going to let anyone else have it!

I want to be clear that "Jets" isn't a bad name in any way, but it seems like, with the advertisement above, that Mark Chipman would someday own a professional hockey franchise called "Winnipeg Jets". He may have missed out on having that dream achieved in the IHL in 1996, but he certainly didn't miss again in 2011 when he bought and relocated the Atlanta Thrashers franchise. And had the fans opted for that name and the NHL had given up rights to that name, we may now be talking about the fourth iteration of the Jets after they played in the WHA, the NHL, the IHL, and back again in the NHL.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!