Swept You Like A Hurricane

It was pretty clear from Game One last Saturday that these Carolina Hurricanes were not going to be denied. They may still lose in these Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the Ottawa Senators were not going to be the team to end the Hurricanes' dream of a Stanley Cup parade this season. Despite the heroics shown by goaltender Linus Ullmark, the depth of the Hurricanes showed in each game as they got contributions up and down the lineup that the Senators simply could not match. Mix in an ineffective power-play, invisible top-line players, and Hurricanes team that kept coming at the Senators in waves, and the four-game playoff appearance was all that was weakly written by the Ottawa Senators this season.

The Hurricanes started this series by shutting out the Senators, and that should have been seen as an omen for what was to come because the Hurricanes never trailed at any point in this series. Had the Senators won the double-overtime contest in Game Two, we might be talking about a different series with some doubt creeping into the Hurricanes' minds, but that never happened thanks to Jordan Martinook. Carolina led for 121:22 of the 213:53 of total time played in this series, and that's the telling statistic of this series.

Having the Senators score once on their 21 power-play opportunities should mean that the coaching staff will need to answer a lot of questions when it came to preparation and execution. That one goal was scored today by Drake Batherson, and it has been proven time and again that teams that win the special teams battles often win the games. In today's game alone, the Senators had three 5-on-3 opportunities and scored on none of them which, again, magnifies the importance of special teams. Ottawa now knows that well.

Make no mistake that the Hurricanes had to earn this series sweep, though. The line of Logan Stankovan, Taylor Hall, and Jackson Blake ran roughshod over the Senators in these four games, combining for seven goals and 16 points. The renaissance of Frederik Andersen was illustrated on a number of occasions where he made big saves, leading to his 1.10 GAA and .955 save percentage. When you consider that Shayne Gostisbehere, Andrei Svechnikov, and Nikolaj Ehlers combined for one assist in four games, Carolina's depth should make them a favorite to emerge from the Eastern Conference.

"Can't understate that," Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour said of Frederik Andersen's goaltending after the game. "Especially when you want to consider how well the other guy was playing there in their end, it was a goalie matchup. They were going save for save, and we needed it. Otherwise, this thing could have gone a lot different. It's probably the best hockey he's played for us."

Brind'Amour is not wrong. Andersen has never won more than eight games in a playoff year, and he's halfway there now. In a season where he lost the starter's role to Brandon Bussi thanks to a 16-14-5 record, a 3.05 GAA, and an .874 save percentage, he has been extraordinarily good in the Carolina crease thus far. He outduelled a remarkable Linus Ullmark who ends his playoffs with a 2.03 GAA and a .932 save percentage - numbers better than Jesper Wallstedt, Jake Oettinger, and Karel Vejmelka who are .500-or-better in these playoffs. Clearly, Andersen was a big part of the Hurricanes' victory.

Carolina will now let the bumps and bruises heal as best they can while they wait for the winner of the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia series. Ottawa, meanwhile, will clean out their lockers, meet with the media, and start preparing for next season. There weren't many people who believed that the Senators would win the series, but I don't think anyone expected them to be out seven days after the playoffs started. That's where questions will need to be asked.

Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, and Dylan Cozens are under contract until 2028 for $23.65 million. They had two goals (Cozens) and an assist (Stutzle). Shane Pinto had no points and his salary jumps to $7.5 million next season. Drake Batherson is a free agent at the end of next season and will need a hefty raise if he's to stay in Ottawa. Jordan Spence, Dennis Gilbert, and Nick Jensen are all free agents this year with Tyler Kleven and Artyom Zub being free agents in the summer of 2027. Ottawa will have some tough decisions to make if they felt this group was good enough to push for a Stanley Cup.

Four losses without holding a lead against a team that seems like a legitimate contender for the Stanley Cup means they weren't good enough. Not even close. The hard part begins now for the Senators as decisions will be made when it comes to evaluating this group so that, next year, the Senators aren't rocked by the Hurricanes.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

It's An IHL Night!

I had a number of errands I needed to get done tonight, so my ability to watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs was interrupted by life. As much as I try to prevent this from happening, life occasionally gets in the way and needs to be dealt with accordingly. Being that I was running around tonight, I put the car stereo to good use by tuning into Game Two of the AHL Calder Cup series between the Milwaukee Admirals and the Manitoba Moose, but I also used Bluetooth to listen to Game One of the ECHL Kelly Cup series between the Indy Fuel and the Fort Wayne Komets! Manitoba was in must-win terrotory after dropping Game One by a 4-1 score in their best-of-three matchup while Fort Wayne and Indy opened their series in Fort Wayne, Indiana this evening. It almost felt like I was back in my university days, listening to the Moose on the radio with frequent visits from their IHL counterparts in Fort Wayne and Milwaukee! So how did these three former IHL teams do tonight?

We'll start in Winnipeg where the Admirals and Moose met. A win by Milwaukee would see them advance to play Grand Rapids while a Manitoba win would push this series to a third and deciding game on Sunday. Ryna Ufko beat Dominic DiVincentiis while shorthanded early in the second period to put Milwaukee ahead, but Parker Ford erased that lead 2:11 later when he beat Matthew Murray to make it 1-1.

A tight-checking game meant things didn't open up in the third period, and it seemed like we were heading for overtime. Oasiz Wiesblatt would be whistled for an elbowing penalty with 1:52 left in the frame, and I'll let Moose broadcaster Daniel Fink handle the rest.
With 43 seconds reamining in regulation time, Moose forward David Gustafsson tipped Brendan Yager's shot past Murray, pushing the Moose to the 2-1 win in Game Two. There was all sorts of rough stuff at the end of this game between the two former IHL foes, but they'll play one more time this season when they meet in Game Three on Sunday afternoon at Canada Life Centre with another former IHL foe in the Grand Rapid Griffins waiting for the winner of this series.

If that wasn't enough IHL references for one article, we'll keep going because the ECHL's Kelly Cup Playoffs began tonight, and the Central Division-winning Fort Wayne Komets, formerly of the IHL, were in action as they hosted the Indy Fuel in Game One of their series. Fort Wyane was playing in their 606th playoff game this evening over their 74-year history, hunting for their 319th win. Indy, meanwhile, wasn't an IHL team and had only two playoff wins in their entire history. Both sides would add another chapter to their histories tonight!

Komets forward Brady Stonehouse would get things started late in the first period when he beat Indy netminder Mitchell Weeks while shorthanded to put the Komets up 1-0. There were handful of chances by both sides as the game moved through the middle frame, but both Weeks and Komets goaltender Nathan Day were putting up walls at both ends of the ice. We wouldn't see the score change until early in the third period off a turnover at center ice, and I'll let legendary Komets announcer Shane Albahrani handle this one.
Matthew Brown would finish off the passing play after the turnover at center ice, and the Komets would take a 2-0 lead on his goal. Austin Magera would add a power-play goal with just over five minutes to play, and Nathan Day stopped 30 Indy shots as the Komets took Game One by a 3-0 score to go up 1-0 in the best-of-seven series!

With their 319th playoff win in the books, the Komets will look to go up 2-0 over Indy tomorrow night before the series shifts to Fishers, Indiana for three games. The ECHL plays all their series as 2-3-2 series to reduce the travel costs for teams, so the Komets will want to sweep their home games in order to go into enemy territory in good standing. The winner of this series will play the winner of the Bloomington Bison-Toledo Walleye series in the next round.

Clearly, it was a good night for two former IHL teams in Manitoba and Fort Wayne as they picked up big wins in their quests for trophies. Milwaukee is still in the hunt despite the loss tonight, and with the Grand Rapids Griffins waiting for the winner and the Chicago Wolves in the other Central Division series there are IHL fingerprints all over the Calder Cup Playoffs. Fort Wayne is the lone former IHL team in the Kelly Cup Playoffs, but they look like a contender there as well.

Listening to these two games on the radio as I drove around the city completing tasks made it feel like 1997 all over again when Manitoba, Milwaukee, and Fort Wayne were juggernauts in the IHL. Some would say those were the "good ol' days" of minor professional hockey!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 709

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back tonight to set up another big show next week while chatting about all the news that came out of the hockey world this week. It looks like we'll have some Survivor: NHL Playoffs eliminations next week unless something dramatic happens in those playoff series, so be ready for the first wave of contestants who will make their home from Survivor Island. Beyond that, our hosts have a pile of hockey news to discuss, so make sure you're ready to go tonight for The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will likely spend a lot of time dissecting the words spoken by the man to the left at his season-ending press conference among the topics they discuss. There will be some chatter about cronyism in the KHL, some trademarked names for an AHL team, some European league winners, a quick AIHL update, a sledge hockey update, a Survivor: NHL Playoffs prizing update, a couple of quick hits about UMFM's Pledge-O-Rama that begins tomorrow, and we'll go over Kevin Cheveldayoff's words with a fine-toothed comb. It will be a busy hour of hockey chatter, so snuggle up to your radio or internet-streaming device tonight for 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 bad hirings, bad names, big winners, Australian fun, sledge developments, Survivor updates, pledge drives, lots of verbal diarrhea, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Zero Creativity

From what I've gathered, the logo to the left is the logo used by the city of Hamilton, Ontario on its letterheads and on official documents. I have no way of verifying this as I have no official documents from Hamilton, but it seems reasonable to assume that this logo would be the city's chosen graphical representation. Knowing how important a logo is for any business, one would assume that those businesses seeking a new image would aim for a great logo. With the AHL's Bridgeport Islanders moving into Hamilton next season, they also needed a new team name on which that logo can be based, and it seems the AHL franchise has chosen three potential team names as finalists.

I made the case back on March 31 that they could ressurect the Hamilton Tigers name as the AHL franchise would pay respects to the NHL team that existed from 1920-25, and it would work well with the city's CFL team who are the Tiger-Cats. It's clear that they can't be the Islanders any longer since they're not on an island, but they conceivably could be the Islanders since Bridgeport was mostly on solid land as a city. In any case, I was hoping they'd go with "Tigers".

According to today's trademark filings, they will not use that name.

Hamilton Mustangs

The first trademark that was filed was for "Mustangs" which seems like a complete sellout considering that the fictional Ontario Hockey League team in the 1986 movie Youngblood were the Hamilton Mustangs. With the new Youngblood movie featuring the same team, I assume the AHL franchise owners thought they could cash in with this name somewhat being in the pop culture spectrum. To me, this is pandering to the easiest name. I know it worked for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, but the fictional teams names can remain fiction.

For the record, Hamilton did have an OHL team in 1986 called the Steelhawks who, in 1996, became the Erie Otters after a stop in Niagara Falls. The Mustangs were never a Hamilton-based OHL team.

Hamilton Havoc

Ok, this name has a little more creativity, but this isn't a unique name by any means as the SPHL's Huntsville Havoc should be filing a cease-and-desist when it comes to this name being used. I can see the owners wanting the alliteration of "Hamilton Havoc" where they can emphasize both words, but I think of Huntsville when I hear "Havoc hockey". It'll take some time for that to change in my brain.

Hamilton Hammers

For a city that is commonly referred to as "The Hammer", using "Hammers" as the team name seems a little derivative. The sports headlines will write themselves with this name, so it makes me wonder why they wouldn't have gone for "Mjölnir" as the name while using Norse god Thor as a mascot. Maybe this imagery was too close to that of the ECHL's Adirondack Thunder, but having the mightiest hammer would set them apart from other teams. Marvel may contest my choice of name and its images, but having players skate out to MC Hammer saying "It's Hammer time" would be an interesting twist.

Ok, so those three names aren't great by any means, so there has to be other ones. I mentioned Tigers and I do like Steelhawks, but it was suggested on a Reddit thread that the team should be called "Lakers" in honour of freighters that cross the Great Lakes and use Hamilton as a port city. I'm not sure the logo would be very inspiring based on the linked image, but "Lakers" could be a team name option as well.

A fun name could be "Isotopes" which would ruin the theme night that the Springfield Thunderbirds hold, but McMaster University produces medical-grade isotopes used to treat cancer! As McMaster's website states, the isotopes produced at the Hamilton-based university are used for "treatment for more than 70,000 cancer patients every year" around the world! Could the AHL franchise be the Hamilton Isotopes?

While the three names highlighted above will likely end up as the franchise's new name, Hamilton clearly has alternate options as good or better than the three they chose to trademark. We know they won't be the Islanders which means that the Fisherman logo can be used by the New York Islanders again if they chose, so I'm hoping these three names were trademarked to throw people who were hunting for a scoop off the trail because those are terrible names.

I had high hopes that Hamilton would get a great team name and logo to use, but it doesn't seem like The Hammer will nail this one.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

A New Position Created

I try not to be too cynical about hockey's hiring practices, but there are often times where it seems like certain people were hired just because someone wants to reward that person for loyalty. We can talk about the nepotism that exists with guys like Scotty and Stan Bowman working for the Blackhawks and Dick and Chris Patrick managing the Capitals, but there seems to be a lot of times where owners simply create a position out of the blue for a legendary player or loyal player who played for the team. That seemingly happened today over in Russia as the KHL's Shanghai Dragons has new members of their front office staff after some position changes went down.

Shanghai missed the playoffs this season after playing the campaign in St. Petersburg for the vast majority of their home games, so it was expected there would be changes. In fact, Shanghai finished in ninth-place in the Western Conference in the eleven-team conference, but they finished 25 points back of the final playoff spot held by Spartak Moscow. That's how bad Shanghai, Lada and, Sochi were this season!

As a result of this finish, Dragons general manager Igor Varitsky was shown the door by ownership. Despite having Adam Clendening, Kevin LaBanc, Alex Burmistrov, and Austin Wagner on their roster, the Dragons under head coaches Gerard Gallant and Mitch Love finished with a 21-35-12 record for 54 points. Clearly, the owners of the Dragons thought the roster wasn't good enough, so the architect of that roster was dismissed today with Varitsky being fired.

The vacancy lasted entirely until Varitsky cleaned out his office because the Dragons named Evgeny Artyukhin as the new general manager today. Artyukhin spent 199 games in the NHL with Tampa Bay, Anaheim, and Atlanta before returning to Russia and the KHL from 2010-22 where he played for eight different teams. He had been working as a European scout for the Vegas Golden Knights before this management position opened up, and Artyukhin will now return to the city where he played four seasons for SKA St. Petersburg.

If you're wondering what management experience Artyukhin has when it comes to contracts and running a team, the answer is absolutely none. Artyukhin retired in 2022 after splitting the season between Admiral Vladivostok and Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik, so it's not like he's been working in front offices learning the hockey management trade or attending management and law school over the last four seasons.

His appointment, however, didn't raise as many eyebrows as the next one did because it seems the Shanghai Dragons are only hiring former SKA St. Petersburg players. There might be a reason for this as well.

According to the news on their website, the Dragons decided to appoint former NHL and KHL sniper Ilya Kovalchuk as President of the Shanghai Dragons! This would be the same Ilya Kovalchuk who officially retired from hockey last season after notable stints with the Atlanta Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, and SKA St. Petersburg. Appointing him as the president of a hockey team that hired a general manager with no experience should mean good things lie ahead for the Shanghai Dragons, right? What could possibly go wrong?

"This is a very exciting challenge for me," Kovalchuk wrote in the press release posted to the Dragons' website today. "I am grateful for the opportunity to become part of the Shanghai Dragons and to help build a competitive team that fans can be proud of."

I know this is the KHL so there won't be any reporters questioning Kovalchuk on how they plan on building this competitive team, but seeing Kovalchuk and Artyukhin hired by the Dragons - who play in St. Petersburg - shouldn't surprise anyone in knowing that oligarch Gennady Timchenko is one of the key people in SKA St. Petersburg's operations. He's currently estimated to be Russia's sixth-richest man.

The Chairman of the KHL's Board of Directors played a key role in Shanghai's move from Mytishchi Arena outside of Moscow to St. Petersburg, so it seems very convenient that two former SKA players with zero management experience were given lofty positions with the Dragons. I can honestly say it wasn't due to their vast hockey knowledge or experiences. I can't see them making Shanghai more competitive next season in any way with their lack of experience.

I don't write much about the KHL because most of the problems they have are self-inflicted, but hiring two guys who have no experience to put together a championship roster for a team that missed the playoffs by 25 points is simply ludicrous. I get that Kovalchuk and Artyukhin are likely pro-Kremlin in their political views which makes them ideal management candidates for Gennady Timchenko based on his political friends, but this egregious cronyism is just ridiculous.

Best of luck to the Shanghai Dragons. They're gonna need it.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!