She Got Game

In keeping my word that I was going to check out the action, I was out and about earlier today in the town of Stonewall where the 2022 Women's Invitational Baseball Tournament was being held! In checking my schedule and coordinating it with the tournament's schedule, I landed on the 11:45am game on Saturday that featured Nova Scotia and Alberta squaring off on the diamond. While I have no affiliation to either province in any way, I do know a few of the players who were playing for these two teams thanks to their hockey exploits! Settle in for a recap because HBIC is reaching into the baseball world for this article!

As the sun rose high in the air and was offset by the occasional passing cloud, Nova Scotia was the visiting team on the scoreboard and wearing white as the Alberta squad poured out to their defensive positions in their blue uniforms. The public address announcer gave the batting order for both teams, and this is where my focus was as I listened intently to the lineups for three specific names.

The first name I was listening for as the Nova Scotia lineup was read was "Carly Jackson". Carly, as you may know from listening to The Hockey Show, is a former Maine Black Bears goaltender who played with the PHF's Buffalo Beauts before signing with the PHF's Toronto Six in this offseason! Carly wore #7 for Team Nova Scotia as she played third base and batted seventh in the lineup for the Maritimers on this day. And before we move to other names, Carly, as you can see to the right, is wearing the pyjama pants style of baseball pants. Some of her teammates were in stirrups, and I have to admit that I liked the look of breaking up the mono-white uniform that Nova Scotia sported with the colourful hosiery. Regardless of my uniform opinion, though, Carly was out there playing the hot corner!

The home team had a couple of players that are familiar to Canada West fans, and we'll start with the woman on the mound as she's well-known for her scoring exploits and offensive skills on the ice! Madison Willan took the mound for Alberta on Saturday wearing #6, but anything hockey in the summer can be overshadowed by this young woman's baseball skills. I've written about her baseball skills before on this blog as a member of Canada's National Women's Baseball Team, but seeing her play live and in-person is like watching a baseball superstar. From her warmup to her preparation to her focus on the mound and at the plate, Madison's skills with the glove and bat were on display in Stonewall as she was looking to sit the Nova Scotia hitters down with every pitch! Honestly, I didn't expect to see Madison on the mound on Saturday as her game was better known for her defensive play on the infield, but, based on what we've seen on the ice, is there anything she can't do including pitching? Hint: that answer is no. For the record, Madison batted third for Team Alberta.

The other name I was listening for was the woman who is usually one-half of the battery for Team Alberta, and that's Kaitlyn Ross! Kaitlyn is better known to hockey fans as one of the stellar goalies who protects the net for the Mount Royal Cougars, but her summers are spent on the baseball diamond where she's calling a game from behind the plate! Wearing #17, I can confirm she has a cannon of an arm as her throws to second during the warmups were on the mark, and she and Madison clearly had a gameplan going into this game based on the chatter between them prior to and during the game. Kaitlyn batted in the clean-up spot for Team Alberta!

The two teams battled through three innings with only one runner reaching base after a fielding error, but the fourth inning and second time through the lineup was where Alberta struck. In the bottom of the fourth, Madison Willan drew a walk and stole second base to give Alberta a runner in scoring position for Kaitlyn Ross. Ross followed that up with a walk of her own to put two runners on for Alberta. Andie Suhai, batting fifth, loaded the bases moments later with an infield single!

That's when Tyra Stanich stepped to the plate and made her impact felt. After taking a strike, Stanich lined a shot over the head of centerfielder Ellie MacAulay on a ball that looked to carry in the warm air, and it would eventually stop at the wall as MacAulay scrambled to recover it. The miscue allowed Willan to score from third, Ross to score from second, and Suhai would make her way home all the way from first base. Stanich had a good head of steam, and she got the wave home from the Alberta coach at third base. With the relay coming, Stanich slid into home and beat the throw to record the grand slam for Alberta as they went up 4-0 at the bottom of the fourth inning! Would that be enough run support for Madison Willan on the mound?

Willan continued to pitch well as she kept the Nova Scotia hitters off balance. One hitter who managed to figure her out for an at-bat was Carly Jackson as she lined a shot up the middle into shallow centerfield for a single! Despite Jackson's single, there wasn't a lot of offence to talk about on the Nova Scotia side as any ground ball was turned into an out by the infield while a number of hits that looked to find holes were erased by the Alberta outfielders. If one was looking for a solid defensive effort in this game, Alberta certainly turned one in thanks to some timely diving catches in the outfield and some solid defensive play on the infield!

The sixth inning saw Madison Willan's legendary bat come alive once again as she turned on a pitch and sent a rocket down the third base line that landed just in front of the warning track before bouncing over the outfield wall for the ground rule double. With Carrie Jespersen having reached base on a single before stealing second base and tagging up on a fly ball to reach third, the double by Willan gave her an RBI in this game as the score moved to 5-0 in favour in Alberta. Willan would be stranded at third base in the inning, but the damage had been done as Nova Scotia were three outs from a final score in this contest.

Three more batters would be all that Willan saw as she induced a ground out before a couple of fly balls to right field were caught for outs as she went the complete game for the win! Willan showed great pitch control all day in pacing Alberta to the win with 67 strikes on 115 pitches, and she allowed just two hits over seven innings while striking out one and walking none. I know Ross isn't Crash Davis from Bull Durham, but Willan was playing Crash Davis ball as she got ground balls on 10 of 21 outs in the game. And she likely saved her own life when she flashed the leather off a Tessa Hood line drive ripped right back at her in the fifth inning! All in all, it was a great pitching effort by Willan in earning the two-hit victory while going 2-for-2 at the dish with a double, a walk, two stolen bases, a run scored, and an RBI!

Kaitlyn Ross had a solid afternoon for Team Alberta as she finished the game 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored in the victory. She was tagged with a passed ball on a pitch that allowed Nova Scotia's Leah Copeland to advance from first to second in the top of the sixth inning, but she was very steady behind the plate for Team Alberta. Meanwhile, Nova Scotia's Carly Jackson finished the day going 1-for-2 while being charged for two throwing errors. In Carly's defence, at least one of those balls seemed very catchable at first base, but the scorers at the game assigned the error on the throw. For the position players who normally wear the most pads on the ice, it was a solid day on the diamond as both Carly and Kaitlyn were on-base and making things happen!

Both teams will play tomorrow after Alberta, playing in the Saturday night quarterfinal against Ontario 1, lost 16-0 in a game that got away from them in the second inning when Ontario scored 12 times. That ends Alberta's run for a medal at the event, and they'll square off in the fifth-place game against Ontario 2 at 2:30pm CT.

Nova Scotia, who needed a win against Alberta to advance to the quarterfinals, fell to the Albertans, so they'll be on the diamond at 8:30am CT against winless Saskatchewan in the ninth-place game. If Nova Scotia plays like they did against Alberta, there's no doubt in my mind that they'll likely win that early-morning game. They do need a few of the balls hit to the outfield to fall, though, so we'll see if they can come up big against the rectangular province tomorrow morning!

Overall, this was an incredible game of baseball that you should be watching. A number of the girls playing in Stonewall this week will be headed to Thunder Bay as part of Team Canada for the five-game Canada/USA Friendship Series from July 28 to August 1! I can honestly say that I'm pretty sure at least one or two women from the game I witnessed today will be there, and it's likely a number more from the other eight teams at the Invitational Tournament will be there as well! I highly recommend you get out and see these games if it's possible or tune in via a webstream if one is available. The baseball was amazing, and these women will wow you with their skills!

We know that Carly Jackson, Madison Willan, and Kaitlyn Ross are stars on the ice for their respective teams, but I can honestly say that these women are two-sport superstars based on the efforts they gave today. Well done, ladies, and count me in as a fan of each of you for your baseball talents as well!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Flames Show A Flicker

It's been some time in the NHL since we got a legitimate blockbuster trade. Sure, there are trades all the time, but it was shocking, to say the least, to see two 100-point players dealt for one another late on a Friday night. Whatever the case may be, the Flames, after losing Johnny Gaudreau in free agency, had a problem on their hands when Matthew Tkachuk told them that he wouldn't re-sign as well. It seems that GM Brad Treliving wasn't going to allow Tkachuk to go quietly without getting a player back who can keep them in the Western Conference champion discussion this season and, perhaps, beyond.

The Calgary Flames traded winger Matthew Tkachuk and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2025 to the Florida Panthers for winger Jonathan Huberdeau, defenceman MacKenzie Weegar, prospect forward Cole Schwindt, and a conditional first-round pick in 2025. After being traded, the Panthers inked their new star winger to a deal that sees Tkachuk in Panthers' colours for the next eight seasons at $9.5 million per year.

Blockbuster? I'd say so considering the 24 year-old Tkachuk was eighth-overall in scoring last season with 104 points while the 29 year-old Huberdeau was tied for second in scoring with 115 points. I'm not here to pick a winner in this, but the Flames will have one season of convincing Huberdeau that he's the guy in Calgary moving forward before he goes to unrestricted free agency. With over $9 million in cap space available right now, signing him shouldn't be an issue if Huberdeau wants to stay as "the guy" in Cowtown. Adding a playmaker of Huberdeau's ability, though, doesn't come along often, and kudos to GM Brad Treliving for adding him in a situation that could have been much worse in knowing that Tkachuk wanted out.

Defensively, Weegar makes a decent Calgary blue line better as the top-five skaters will likely be Weegar, Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, Rasmus Andersson, and Nikita Zadorov. Oliver Kylington should round out that top-six, but Juuso Välimäki could push for a roster spot this season after posting 18 points in 35 games with the Stockton Heat in 2021-22. While no one will celebrate this defence corps as being all-world, the Flames will have a very capable blue line when the season opens in October with the addition of Weegar.

Schwindt looks like he'll play down the depth chart, but his addition into Stockton's lineup will be welcomed as the 6'2" centerman does a lot of the little things right while putting points on the scoresheet. He's adapting to the pro game nicely with his fist season in AHL Charlotte in the books, and he's showing a lot of the stuff coaches like to see - defensive responsibility, good play away from the puck, efficient play with the puck, and a knack for finishing - when it comes to cracking an NHL roster.

The worry about Tkachuk was always whether he was a product of the players around him or whether he drove the line he was on. That's not to say he's not a good player - he absolutely is - but his 42 goals and 62 assists last season came mostly when he was playing alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm. Gaudreau, it should be noted, was the player who was tied with Huberdeau in scoring this past season, so can Tkachuk find the same magic in Florida alongside players like Aleksander Barkov, Anthony Duclair, and Sam Bennett?

The prevailing answer would be yes after seeing those 62 assists that Tkachuk handed out, but chemistry is something that takes time to develop. We saw Huberdeau go on an incredible points run last season alongside Duclair and Bennett in the regular season, but postseason success alongside Barkov and Giroux was harder to find, particularly against Tampa Bay. Tkachuk, Lindholm, and Gaudreau were effective all season as a unit, but they too found themselves watching from the couch after they were bounced by Edmonton in the second round.

Both players average about nine points for every ten games played in their careers, so there won't be a lack of scoring for a few seasons at the very earliest from either player. Huberdeau is nearly five years older, though, so it will be interesting to see when a dip in scoring may occur as he ages, but the prevailing thought is that he should be at the top of his game for the next 4-5 years at the very least. Tkachuk has time on his side, so the eight-year deal he signed should see Florida benefit long-term as he rounds into prime form as a veteran player.

I'm not sure about this, but this could be the first trade in a long time that benefits both sides despite the high cost of the contracts the teams will have to negotiate. Tkachuk makes the Panthers a little tougher to play against with his physical brand of hockey combined with a solid finishing effort around the net. Huberdeau brings the playmaking winger back to Calgary after they lost Gaudreau, but he too can finish in tight like Tkachuk can if given the opportunity. Weegar adds a solid all-around defender to Calgayr's blue line, they get a solid prospect in Schwindt, and both teams get a pick in the 2025 or 2026 draft depending on the conditions.

A blockbuster hockey trade that works for both sides? That's the kind of wheeling and dealing that will keep both teams in the hunt for playoff spots, but it shows that, despite adversity the Flames faced this offseason, there's still at least a flicker of hope that they can take the next step in their quest for a Stanley Cup!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 513

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, took a bit of a field trip this week to get some great hockey chatter from some amazing people! It seems that there's always something happening that's hockey-related whether it be camps or tournaments throughout the summer, and The Hockey Show will make an attempt to get out to these great events! In saying that, there was a camp that happens annually being held this week in Winnipeg where a large number of girls got to meet some of their hockey heroes and play a little hockey while working on skills, and that's where this field trip took place!

As she does every year, the Sami Jo Small Hockey School was in session at the Gateway Recreation Center over this past week, and it's always an honour to be invited to meet players, parents, and instructors at the camp! Sami runs an amazing week-long camp for girls who are ages 6-17 and for every skill level, and I cannot say enough good things about Sami's hockey school! Based on the vast number of smiles and laughs heard at the camp, I'd say the 25th edition of the Sami Jo Small Hockey School was shaping up to be another great session for girls looking to take their games to the next level, and I really encourage any and all girls who want to have fun while learning the finer points of the game to consider Sami's camp for next summer!

Tonight, Teebz had the privilege of sitting down with three of the instructors at the camp as he spoke with Jenelle Kohanchuk, Susie Yuen, and Billy Bridges! We get updates on Jenelle's busy life and her new hockey camp that she's running. Susie talks about her time playing at the 1990 Women's World Hockey Championship, coaching the Chinese national women's team, and some of the impact that had on hockey. Billy discusses some of the current challenges that sledge hockey in Canada faces, whether he's thinking about a seventh Paralympics appearance in 2026, and how to grow the game of sledge hockey a little better so that more people can play. It's a great chat with three people who have done amazing things in the game, so make sure you're listening to The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on 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 new UMFM website's online streaming player is pretty awesome if you want to listen online so you cnn call in for the contest as well. If you're using an Apple device, the player doesn't seem to like Safari yet, so if you want to stream the show I'd recommend Radio Garden to do that as it works nicely with Safari. 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 do use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. 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!

Tonight, Teebz has the honour of speaking with three people who have done so many great things while wearing the maple leaf on their chests and so much more in the community and for the sport as Jenelle Kohanchuk, Susie Yuen, and Billy Bridges sit in for an episode of The Hockey Show during their time at the Sami Jo Small Hockey School exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: July 21, 2022: Episode 513

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Canada West Primary Points

I have used past articles based on Canada West statistical analysis to examine goal scoring with respect to scoring the first goal of the game and how important it is to play with the lead at the university level. I've posted information on goal percentage and expected wins when it comes to predicting the standings based on how a team is playing. I've posted trends on how teams finished. The one thing that I haven't done is talked about individual performances by players because I truly believe that hockey is a team game. Yes, players can have a larger affect on the outcomes than other players, but the game requires offence, defence, and goaltending.

Primary points - goals plus primary assists - include two of the main skills that teams need from players in order to win. Goals are pretty self-evident as no team has ever won a game tied 0-0, and not scoring enough goals on a per-game basis usually results in losses in games. You have to score goals to win, so goal-scoring talent is something all coaches want in players.

Primary assists are more of a contentious issue since some will argue that all assists are important when it comes to winning. Let me state a very obvious point: assists do not exist without goals, so you need goals to be scored to record assists of any kind. Primary assists, though, are seen as a "repeatable skill" in that good playmaking players will see opportunities to set up teammates for goals more than, say, a player who simply dishes a puck off to the winger on the half-boards.

I'm not here to debate the significance of secondary assists, though. Primary assists are seen as part of the primary points category because playmaking skills should persist from year to year for players if they are setting up goals directly. There could be an element of luck to this, but the statistic is seen as a player recognizing an opportunity more than it is getting a lucky rebound to bounce to an open teammate. Good players see shooting lanes to make those types of plays happen.

Broad Street Hockey had a solid write-up and data on this where they stated, "Someone who sets up a lot of goals this year probably has vision and puck control skills that make him likely to do so again next year". I tend to agree with this assessment, so primary points - goals plus primary assists - give us a better idea of who is doing all the scoring in Canada West more accurately.

2021-22 Scoring

It needs to be said that we're going to see veteran players lead the way on this list simply due to the fact that coaches have a tendency to play veterans more than rookies. I can't help that portion of the scoring, but I will show the rookie list as well. Each of these tables shows the Canada West scoring list from last season on the left and the Canada West primary points list on the right. I'll breakdown some of the information after the tables.

Top Scorers

Name	Team	Pts	Name	Team	PrPts
C. Bassi	UBC	22	C. Bassi	UBC	19
R. MacKinnon	UBC	21	L. Carpenter-Boesch	REG	18
M. Willan	ALB	21	C. Kollman	MRU	17
L. Carpenter-Boesch	REG	19	R. MacKinnon	UBC	17
I. Perrott	UBC	19	M. Willan	ALB	16
C. Kollman	MRU	19	M. Kordic	UBC	16
T. Ko	MRU	18	E. Lang	CAL	15
M. Kordic	UBC	18	I. Perrott	UBC	13
N. Kieser	ALB	16	T. Ko	ALB	13
H. Edwards	MAN	16	N. Kieser	ALB	13
E. Lang	CGY	16	H. Reuther	CGY	13
K. Robinson	UBC	16	H. Edwards	MAN	13

As you can see by these totals, these women are driving the offence for their teams. Most of the top scorers are also the top primary point producers, but I should note that all of Chanreet Bassi, Lilla Carpenter-Boesch, Courtney Kollman, Elizabeth Lang, and Mackenzie Kordic equalled or moved up the scoring leaderboard when looking at the primary point totals. These five certainly drove the play for each of their respective teams this season, and that was very noticeable when they were on the ice.

Rookie Scorers

Name	Team	Pts	Name	Team	PrPts
N. Kieser	ALB	16	N. Kieser	ALB	13
A. Johma	MRU	14	A. Johma	MRU	11
A. Keller	MAN	11	K. Lesuk	MAN	9
K. Lesuk	MAN	11	A. Keller	MAN	8
S. Gaskell	UBC	11	K. Borbandy	MRU	8
J. Bird	MAN	10	G. Elliott	UBC	7
K. Borbandy	MRU	9	J. Bird	MAN	6
G. Elliott	UBC	9	S. Benko	MRU	6
S. Benko	MRU	7	L. Focht	REG	5

It would seem the kids are alright based on these scoring totals. All of the rookies shown above had significant impacts on their teams' successes this year, and it would appear that girls who are recruited for their scoring ability are still able to do that at the university level. I'm not saying coaches should play the kids more, but the bias that veteran players may be more reliable scorers seems very wrong when one considers how many primary points each of the players above scored with respect to their overall points. Hint: scorers score!

Defender Scorers

Name	Team	Pts	Name	Team	PrPts
R. MacKinnon	UBC	21	R. MacKinnon	UBC	17
H. Koroll	UBC	16	H. Koroll	UBC	9
M. Butz	MRU	12	M. Butz	MRU	9
S. Gaskell	UBC	11	E. Bergesen	MRU	7
E. Bergesen	MRU	10	E. Hill	CGY	6
L. Warkentin	MAN	8	A. Chambers	MAC	6
T. Anker	ALB	8	K. Miswaggon	UBC	6
E. Hill	CGY	7	L. Warkentin	MAN	5
A. Chambers	MAC	7	T. Anker	ALB	5
K. Miswaggon	UBC	7	K. Machry	ALB	5
I. Pozzi	SAS	7	M. Wilson	ALB	5

What these stats show, more than anything, is that these are the defenders who transition to offence the best in the conference. That's not to say they're not effective in generating offence once in a structured system in the offensive zone, but defenders are often throwing the stretch pass to a forward more than forwards do. UBC has three defenders in the top-seven primary-point defenders, so it's pretty clear, whether making passes up to forwards or having defenders jump into the play, that UBC was transitioning to offence very well. MRU was also solid when it came to the quick transition as well. I think we can all agree, having watched both teams play in 2021-22, that their transition games and breakouts were the best in the conference through the regular season. These stats would back up that assessment.

So what does this all mean? Well, if a player can do it for one season, there's a likelihood that they'll continue to drive plays in the future. I'll have to keep an eye on the stats this season, but I'll track primary points once again to see if they correlate to some of the findings here. If you notice, there are teams that weren't mentioned or got a lot of mention above.

Here are the top-three primary point producers for each team!

Madison Willan - 16
Natalie Kieser - 13
Payton Laumbach - 12

Elizabeth Lang - 15
Holly Reuther - 13
Alli Borrow - 12

Jayme Doyle - 7
Aryn Chambers - 6
Chantal Ricker - 6

Halle Edwards - 13
Kate Gregoire - 10
Kylie Lesuk - 9

Courtney Kollman - 17
Tianna Ko - 13
Tatum Amy - 12

Lilla Carpenter-Boesch - 18
Jordan Kulbida - 11
Ireland Sorestad - 6

Sophie Lalor - 10
Bailee Bourassa - 10
Kennedy Brown - 8

Brooklyn Anderson - 8
Neisha Germann - 7
Olivia Leier - 6

Chanreet Bassi - 19
Rylind MacKinnon - 17
Mackenzie Kordic - 16

As always, if you're reading this and you want information on other players, I do have the breakdown from the entire season. If you're attending games next season, though, you now know who to watch for when it comes to generating offence. I'll track the stats again next season, but you now know who drove the offence for each team in 2021-22!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

End It All

With today's bombshell about Hockey Canada that was published by Grant Robertson in The Globe and Mail, any shred of human decency left within the walls of Hockey Canada's offices were incinerated. Ethically, there was always a joke about Hockey Canada being more about the money than about the hockey, but the receipts produced by Robertson today not only prove that Hockey Canada is morally bankrupt, but they may very well be one of the most shameless, vile, and dishonourable organizations on the planet. And, yes, that includes Fox News.

According to Robertson's reporting, Hockey Canada has been sitting on "a special multimillion-dollar fund, which is fed by the registration fees of players across the country, that it uses to pay out settlements in cases of alleged sexual assault without its insurance company, and with minimal outside scrutiny." This fund, which "has exceeded $15-million in recent years", has been in existence since before 2013 as shown in audited financial statements filed in court last year as part of the Hockey Canada's defence of an injury lawsuit.

Let that sink in: any registration monies sent to Hockey Canada through your local hockey registration saw a portion of those monies that you paid going to an account that was used to pay off accusers who claimed sexual assualt and have them sign NDAs in order for them to go away, and this account, funded solely through Hockey Canada registration fees that you pay to register your child has absolutely zero oversight when it came to these payoffs to keep accusers quiet.

Allow Luke Roberts, as Governor Woodes Rogers on Starz's Black Sails, to state the very obvious after today's damning revelations.

The people involved in this rather dispicable decision are many, so the only solution is to start over. Anyone with any affiliation at the executive level of Hockey Canada in the last 15 years should be fired with prejudice and, at least, be held accountable of potentially aiding or abetting these crimes by setting aside the money to make them go away. After all, one doesn't set aside money for legal problems unless one knows there will likely be legal problems, so it seems very hard to play ignorant on this one.

Some will point out that Hockey Canada may have been doing this because they didn't want to fight civil lawsuits regarding liability, but liability is usually determined after an investigation takes place. With the insurance company not being involved and with no one scrutinizing the evidence in each of the claims, Hockey Canada was simply running a "keep quiet and go away" scheme. With no investigation, Hockey Canada's amount of liability in each of the claims would also not be scrutinized, so they may have avoided even larger payouts to accusers as well.

In short, Hockey Canada used your registration monies for your child's minor hockey to hide repeated claims of sexual assault - Hockey Canada CEO Scott Smith stated at the Parliamentary hearings last month that Hockey Canada "dealt with an average of one to two sexual assault cases a year for the past six years" - and pay the accusers to keep quiet for more than a decade.

Anyone else feeling betrayed right now? A little sick to one's stomach? Absolutely outraged? All of this is a normal reaction when the level of moral and ethical corruption has dropped below "WHAT IN THE ACTUAL (expletive)" level.

There used to be a prestige in wearing the Hockey Canada logo or playing under Hockey Canada's umbrella. That's no longer the case thanks to the last few months of discoveries, and I don't know how the organization expects to earn the trust of Canadians again if they don't make sweeping and drastic changes when it comes to their executive and financial teams. And, honestly, that is only correcting the exceedingly glaring problem that exists right now. Building trust may take years or decades to earn once again.

Full marks to Grant Robertson and his article in The Globe and Mail that exposed this new level of abhorrent behaviour from hockey's governing body in Canada. This is the kind of investigative reporting that is so sorely needed in our world today, and Robertson deserves some kudos for the work he did.

If "money is the root of all evil" and "absolute power corrupts absolutely", Hockey Canada may be the best Canadian example of both of those adages. And it makes you wonder what else they've been hiding all these years.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!