Hamilton Goes Nuts And Bolts

There was a pile of news that happened today across this great country when it came to sports radio, but I don't want to dwell on the negative brought on by Rogers Communications and their buffoonery. Instead, I want to head down the road from Toronto to one of the cities that make up the Greater Toronto Area - the GTA - in the southeast portion of Ontario. For as muc as Hamiltonians will tell anyone that they're different in all walks of life compared to Torontonians, they still occupy space in the GTA. Like Toronto, though, they're now an AHL city once again as the Hamilton Hammers will begin play this season. Today, we got to see their jerseys!

I want it on record that I still hate the team name. I'm not here to win any points with Hamilton or its fans, though, so seeing the rest of the jerseys could potentially improve the logo's overall aesthetic or it could drag them down to 1994 levels of hate like the Islanders' Fisherman jerseys got. So what do they look like, you ask?

The design isn't actually that bad if I'm being honest. Simple arm and hem striping keep the hockey sweater look alive, there's good contrast with that horrific logo, and the numbers are easily readable. I'm not a fan of the drawstring necklines anymore, but I don't see a lot of problems here with the Hammers' jersey. The absence of the shoulder yoke isn't even a problem as it allows that solid blue colour to really stand out against the white ice in arenas, so I think the Hammers and, by proxy, the Islanders did a fairly good job here by keeping it simple. There's no wave jersey template, so it's not like they're going to get Fisherman hate spewed at them.

The back of the jersey is just as clean in its design with easily-readable block letting for the name and a standard block font for the number. The two-colour sewing allows the blue to pop with a little more colour from the orange outline, so that works nicely. I'm not fan of the AHL and CCM logos in the middle of the hemstripe as that's all sorts of gaudy and self-aggrandizing, especially when you consider that CCM's logo is already on the neckline as well. If the league dropped the AHL logo back down to the bottom of the jersey and eliminated the second CCM logo, things would improve drastically for the back of the Hammers' jerseys. Because that they don't allow me to do AHL corporate deals, my opinion is simply that the logos look terrible placed where they are.

Hamilton likely won't look bad next season when they take the ice as long as no one is focused on their logo. These are clean, simple jerseys that look like traiditonal hockey sweaters, and that's a good start to the Hammers' legacy in Hamilton. They aren't going to move a lot of jerseys because they have catchy colours or an awesome design, but the Hammers will look like a hockey team anytime they wear their jerseys. That's a win despite the logo on the front.

Should Hamilton be wearing colours that aren't the same scheme as the New York Islanders? Yes, absolutely. However, the limited scope of their colours works well in this design, so here's hoping the Hammers can rise to the occasion in spite of their logo. They aren't flashy, but they're the nuts and bolts of what a hockey jersey should look like.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Welcome To Tor-Rogers

I've been avoiding phone calls from Rogers Communications for more than a week now simply due to the call being a sales pitch for some new mobile plan they've schemed. In the slight chance that it's something else, I'm sure they would have emailed me, but I have precisely less-than-zero desire to listen to someone pitch me on a phone plan that doesn't come close to the one I have. Despite me continuing to let them know that they should not be contacting me with sales pitches, we're going to go around this carousel once again because I, as a customer, clearly don't know what's best for me. What I dislike about these cales calls the most, however, is that Rogers will use any new-found money to help finance their sports and entertainment empire that solely focuses on the Toronto market after today's major announcement.

If you thought that Rogers Sportsnet already did the country a disservice by being very Toronto-centric in its broadcasting, be prepared for more because Rogers Communications agreed to buy out Kilmer Sports Incorporated today from its 25% ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment for $4.35 billion, making Rogers the sole owner of the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs, the AHL's Toronto Marlies, the MLB's Toronto Blue Jays, the NBA's Toronto Raptors, and the CFL's Toronto Argonauts. Outside of the soccer, the Sceptres and the Tempo, Rogers owns every professional sports team in Toronto.

Beginning in September, Rogers will have spent nearly $23 billion on sports properties in just over one calendar year if one takes into account the new 12-year, $11-billion agreement for the national NHL rights, and you have to think that most of, if not all of, the Toronto Maple Leafs' schedule will be airing exclusively on Rogers Sportsnet where they can make all the ad revenue they can to help pay off this latest investment. Apparently, money is no object on Bloor Street.

At some point, the CRTC has to step in and start breaking up this telecommunications monopoly that Rogers is creating around their sports franchises. We already know that they forced CBC out of professional hockey with the costs to sublicense games. Rogers doesn't provide a French option for the Quebec region despite the fact that the Canadiens likely won't have French regional broadcasts next season. The costs of its subscription-only, premium service which gets viewers access to every NHL game next season sits at $325 annually while the basic package - four regional channels with blackouts outside your region - is $250 annually. Adding Sportsnet to a cable package starts at $15 per month. Is that even worth it?

I should asterisk the above worries by saying that Rogers Sportsnet hasn't announced any sort of schedule yet, so there's no guarantee that Sportsnet will have 84 Maple Leafs games on this season despite how real that seems. What should worry everyone, though, is that the costs of watching Sportsnet are real no matter what sport you want to watch, and that's where the CRTC needs to find some courage and tell Rogers that their telecommunications oligarchy that their prices are insanely too high and that Toronto professional sports cannot be monopolized on Rogers' television networks.

They already lost me as a viewer when the CBC announcement was made as I stand firmly by the public broadcaster's 74-year effort in turning hockey into Canada's sport. I still have ways of watching without paying, but the cost alone is a major barrier. What would be incredible is if Canadians simply stopped subscribing altogether, forcing Rogers in major losses where they have to take drastic measures. Of course, that would like mean Rogers shuttering radio and television stations to cut costs, but maybe that's the route we, as Canadians, have to take to make hockey affordable again.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are not just for the richest of the rich. Last season, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment raised ticket prices "by more than 20 percent in some sections". The purple section at the very top of Scotiabank where the "nosebleed" tickets are situated went from "went from $8,522... to $10,396" in 2025=26 for two season ticket packages. Season tickets in some of the gold sections in the lower bowl were raised "more than $2,000 to $28,240 for a pair of tickets, or $344 per ticket per game," while "[p]layoff tickets in those seats are priced at $36,152, with Rounds 1 through 4 going from $5,184 for four games to $6,224, $9,886, and $14,848".

I get that Toronto is the largest Canadian market and that, by population alone, they have more affluent fans who can afford these prices. Everyone will tell you that ticket prices are based on a supply-and-demand market, but there's a strong correlation between Rogers paying $23 billion to own most of Toronto's professional sports teams and the NHL rights in Canada to their ticket pricing being higher than everywhere else in Canada and still rising. Yes, there's a waiting list for season tickets in Toronto so demand is high, but how many people have $28,000 of disposable income for hockey tickets right now?

"It is sad that the game has become so corporate and no longer can real fans afford to go every game," Danny Russell, a a retired teacher and longtime season ticket holder in Scotiabank Arena's golds section, told James Mirtle of The Athletic. "No longer do you just 'give' your tickets to someone and say, 'Take your kid to a game.' Doubly sad."

That's the reality in today's NHL: it's no longer a night out for a family nor a bonding event between parents and kids. The NHL and its teams have made fan engagement into an investment that shuts out a lot of fans from which they can take part. The burden of this investment is that it always requires more and more money whether watching from a seat in the arena, watching at home on the television, or simply buying a piece of merchandise like a jersey to support the team.

With so few television options in Canada, Rogers has essentially cornered the market for hockey broadcasts. They have sublicensed Monday night games to Amazon for the Prime streaming service, and there are a handful of regional broadcasts for some teams on TSN networks. None of these are free, though, so one needs to subscribe to three different broadcasters in order to watch all 84 games.

If Rogers was to do the greediest thing and put all 84 games on Sportsnet Ontario with a handful of them being shown nationally, Maple Leafs fans from other regions would need to subscribe to Sportsnet's full package where all five Sportsnet stations are available. That doesn't mean there won't be blackouts, so it's back to the Sportsnet+ streaming service for fans outside the Toronto region.

Imagine paying $325 in Saskatchewan to watch the Leafs on TV! How many kids can plop themselves down on Saturday night and watch their favorite team if they can't find them on TV?

What Danny Russell said to James Mirtle about hockey being "so corporate" has never been truer today with Rogers' takeover of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. Expect prices to continue to rise, expect the average middle-class fan to stop attending games, and expect the NHL to start asking more questions and sounding the alarms about attendances in smaller markets. The economics of the league no longer make sound financial sense to most middle-class fans, but even moreso in Toronto where season ticket prices could easily eclipse $700 per ticket per game in the lower bowl.

No one told me that I had to make an NHL salary to be a fan, but that's what it's going to take if one wants to cheer on one's favorite team from inside an NHL arena while wearing that team's jersey while eating a hot dog with a beverage after parking outside. They can deny it all they want, but Rogers Communications is a major part of why hockey is failing in this country: it's too damned expensive.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Lions, Lobsters, and Dragons? Oh My!

The SPHL has been around since 2004, and they've done a fairly good job at making hockey in non-traditional southern US markets affordable while giving players a springboard into professional hockey. I don't know how long they'll last based on how hockey is going, but the league has announced that its team membership will grow from ten to thirteen teams by 2027 thanks to teams switching leagues and an expansion franchise. As we know, the profit margins on minor-professional hockey tams are small - and negative when if a team loses - so seeing the SPHL growing in their corner of the North American map is encouraging for those thirteen communities.

Before we get into who is joining, the SPHL is currently made up of nine teams in Alabama, Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois, Florida, and Virginia, so bus rides can be long for some road trips. The three new franchises will add teams in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, so the map gets a little bigger, but it also makes the map a little easier to naviagte for road trips as these three teams give better options for playing two teams in a weekend instead of just playing a baseball-like three-game series against one team.

Announced back on May 13, the SPHL welcomed the Athens Rock Lobsters into the fold as the former Federal Prospects Hockey League team will make the jump to the SPHL starting next season. The Rock Lobsters joined the FPHL in 2024 where, in two seasons, they compiled a record of 87-21-4 as one of the top teams in the FPHL in both seasons. They averaged 4486 fans per game last season, making them one of the more profitable FPHL teams, so it was clear their owners were looking for a greater challenge. Making the jump from the FPHL to the SPHL seemed like the logical choice, and the nearby Macon Mayhem will finally have a natural, in-state rival with the Rock Lobsters.

"This move simply makes sense from both a competitive and operational standpoint," Todd Mackin, President of Spire Holdings who owns the Rock Lobsters, said back on May 13. “Athens has proven in just two seasons that it is a tremendous hockey market. The fan support, the energy inside Akins Ford Arena, and the organization's commitment to innovation in game presentation have helped create one of the best experiences in minor professional hockey. We're excited to continue building on that momentum and delivering an incredible atmosphere for fans throughout Northeast Georgia."

Honestly, I have no qualms about the Rock Lobsters seeking out better competition as long they don't one-and-done this. I have full confidence they won't, so as long as the Spire Holdings group is willing to pay a little more for the SPHL's increased costs, I'm all for giving the Athens Rock Lobsters a shot at the SPHL level.

Joining the Rock Lobsters from the FPHL in the SPHL will be the Pee Dee IceCats, based in Florence, South Carolina. Announced on June 24, the IceCats had been conditionally accepted into the SPHL fold on May 30 before it was made official at the end of June. This won't be Florence's first time in the SPHL as the Pee Dee Cyclones played in the SPHL from 2005-07. Florence has hockey fans as 4763 fans came out to support the IceCats on average, and they're located just south of Fayetteville in North Carolina, giving the Marksman a natural rivalry between the two Carolina states. The reason for them leaving the FPHL for the SPHL seems a little more tenuous than Athens' reason for their jump.

While no one is saying anything out loud, it seems the owners of the Pee Dee IceCats were unhappy with the FPHL's expansion into the California cities of Fresno and Stockton (which will be covered on HBIC shortly). There are rumours of unprofessional behaviours between team and league executives at league meetings, accusations about improper ownership paperwork, and more, but it sounds like the owners of the IceCats looked at everything and decided to make their exit from the FPHL at this time, following Athens to the SPHL.

I'm not picking sides here, but Pee Dee's inclusion into the SPHL adds another strong minor-pro hockey maket. The IceCats set the FPHL single-game record for the 2025-26 season with 7837 fans showing up to see them beat the Athens Rock Lobsters 5-1 in January, they clearly have a solid rivalry with the Rock Lobsters after sweeping them out of the playoffs last season, and it appears their owners are committed to putting a winning product on the ice. That's the kind of commitment the SPHL needs from its franchises to remain strong.

While the league will push ahead with twelve teams next season, a thirteenth team is set to arrive in 2027 and it's a team that already had stakes in its community. The city of Mobile, Alabama will play home to the Mobile Mysticks hockey team as the expansion frachise gets itself setup for business over the next year. Owned by the Zawyer Group who has been moving minor-pro hockey teams into all sorts of communities in the southeast corner of the United States, the Mysticks will wear the logo seen to the left while sporting green, purple, and yellow in their colour scheme. Unveiled on June 16, the new SPHL franchise stated that the name was chosen with extensive community input including "a public naming process that generated more than 2,000 entries."

"I could not be more excited that Mobile's newest professional sports franchise will go by a familiar name - the Mysticks!" Mobile mayor Spiro Cheriogotis told Erica Thomas of 1819news.com, referencing the ECHL franchise that called the Alabama city home from 1995–2002. "This is incredible for our city, for the new Regions Arena and for local sports fans. I can't wait for the puck to drop. Go Mysticks!"

I've written about the Zawyer Group's growing hockey empire before, and it seems like their group of investors have no issues with dropping teams into cities if offered. The tough part about the ECHL Mysticks is that each year saw their attendance drop, a unpleasant trend for franchise owners. I suspect that if the SPHL Mysticks can find fun promotions and build a winning hockey team, the new Mysticks will likely be a part of Mobile's sports scene for a long time.

For a league that doesn't generate a ton of revenue, having three teams join in two seasons means that costs will go up for the other ten teams as there will be more bus trips to new destinations, more hotel stays, and more gameday meals on the road. It shouldb't be lost on anyone, though, that these teams have good arena sizes, their owners are motivated to succeed, and they have fanbases who are looking for better hockey. With tickets being less than $35 in all thirteen SPHL cities, it's fun, affordable hockey for everyone!

Five teams have won the SPHL championship since 2018, so increasing the number of teams will give more players a chance to play and, potentially, more teams a chance to win. I'm not saying that any of Athens, Pee Dee, or Mobile will win in their first seasons, but, assuming the Rock Lobsters and IceCats continue their efforts to put the best teams they can on the ice, the level of competition should rise in the SPHL. That's good for everyone in the SPHL, and that's how the SPHL can remain viable and profitable for years to come.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

This Is Why No One Likes You

I completely understand that there's a lack of news in the hockey world in the days immediately following the NHL Entry Draft and the beginning of free agency. Unless someone makes a big trade or does something dramatic with a contract offer, there really isn't anything newsworthy about which sports reporters can write. That includes the headline shown above that was posted on Sportsnet because who cares what number Gavin McKenna wears?

Everyone believes that McKenna will be a game-changer for the Maple Leafs next season, and I'm not here to debate that. He has a unique set of skills and talents that can make the players around him better as we've seen with Medicine Hat and with Penn State, and the Maple Leafs will need to maximize those skills in order for them to be successful. This seems obvious, but it doesn't make it any less true.

Does it matter what number he wears on his back if this happens?

I get that people have already bought Maple Leafs jerseys with McKenna and #72 on the back, and I don't fault those fans for being excited at the thought of Gavin McKenna leading their team to the promised land. Every season, though, there a number changes for players depending on their circumstances, and it pays to wait to see what numbers will be worn once the season starts. There a chance, albeit slimmer than a sheet of paper, that McKenna doesn't make the Maple Leafs out of camp, and that headline would be all for naught.

Again, though, this number change isn't news. It's a social media posting at the very best, and the fact that Sportsnet paid someone to write seven paragraphs and 175 words on the subject is why a lot of people dislike the Toronto-centric coverage we're force-fed in Canada. I didn't see an article about what number Kappo Kahkonen will wear in Montreal or what number Jamie Oleksiak will wear in Vancouver, so why are we dedicating a staff member to write about Gavin McKenna who has yet to take a shift or attend an NHL camp?

Don't think this about McKenna, either. I hope the kid has a big season because hockey is always more fun when Canadian teams do well, and I hope he thrives in his new #92 jersey. Frankly, he could wear any number he wants as long as he shows up to play the way everyone hopes he can, and that number change still won't have any impact on what he's doing to help the Maple Leafs win. If the kid wore a smiley face on the back of his jersey, it would not matter nor would it be news. Why this was given any coverage is baffling.

This is why people dislike Rogers Sportsnet. They have done irreparable damage to the game in Canada with their greed, they have not made the on-screen product better in any way, and their ownership of the Maple Leafs means we'll likely see more news stories posted on their website and covered on their networks that aren't newsworthy. There are ten provinces, three territories, and countless hockey teams across Canada with great stories that can be told, and Rogers Sportsnet inexplicably had someone write up and post a story on Gavin McKenna getting a new number.

This is why no one likes you, Rogers Sportsnet. Get used to it.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

TBC: Book Of Jerseys

If there's one thing that piques my interest in the hockey world, it's the fashion and design that goes into jerseys. Call them what you want - jerseys, sweaters, tarps, whatever - but the colours and designs used by teams become the identity of that franchise. Think of the Fisherman's legacy when it comes to the New York Islanders or how the bleu-blanc-et-rouge is synonymous with the Montreal Canadiens. It's those team identities that fans embrace when cheering for their favorite teams, so finding collections of amazing jerseys is always a treat. In saying that, Teebz's Book Club had a chance to review the Hockey Hall of Fame Book of Jerseys, written by Steve Milton and published by Firefly Book, and their collection of jerseys might be unparalleled for the number of teams and leagues it covers!

From the 49thshelf.com website, "Steve Milton has over forty years' experience as a sportswriter and writes for the Hamilton Spectator. He has won numerous Ontario Newspaper Awards and has been both a Gemini and National Newspaper Award finalist. He is the author of more than twenty books and is a member of both the Skate Canada Hall of Fame and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario." It should be noted that Milton retired from the Hamilton Spectator in 2023 after 38 years at the newspaper, and now spends his summers covering the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and FC Forge as a Multiplatform Columnist for Hamilton Sports Group, writing for both club's websites while lending his expertise to the Ticats Audio Network and the Forge Audio Network. He has also appeared on various programs for CTV and TSN in his career where he provided sports coverage, and he also wrote for The Sporting News.

I'll be honest when I say I did very little reading when I first went through the Hockey Hall of Fame Book of Jerseys. The pictures of some of the jerseys are amazing in showing details like puck marks and holes when it comes to how beat up these integral pieces of the uniform get, but it was downright amazing to see jerseys that I had never seen before. Brian Leetch's jersey from the Cheshire High School Rams, Rod Langway's jersey from the Randolph High School Blue Devils, and Harry Howell's WHA jersey from the New York Golden Blades were all featured in the first section of legendary players, and I had never seen these jerseys in such vivid colour and resolution!

The international section of jerseys in the Hockey Hall of Fame Book of Jerseys is a treasure trove of amazing images. Jörgen Jönsson's Färjestads BK jersey from the 1998 Spengler Cup is a gorgeous artifact, Constant Priondolo's jersey from Italy's Alleghe Sile Caldaie has an interesting story to it, and Cammi Granato's jersey from the NWHL's Vancouver Griffins is a sight to behold! Each jersey displayed in the book comes with a write-up about the player who wore the jersey, giving some insight on the career of the player whose jersey is part of the Hockey Hall of Fame. For some of the lesser-known players, it was very interesting to learn about their careers!

The section in the Hockey Hall of Fame Book of Jerseys about all-star game jerseys has tidbits of information from the NHL All-Star Games that are featured, but it's the minor-league and junior all-star game jerseys where there are some gems. The "Champions" section is loaded with interesting jerseys, but it's the "Hockey Hodgepodge" section that captured my attention. There are many interesting sweaters in this section that probably could have had their own books such as the Edmonton Flyers, the Riverdale Skeeters, the Des Moines Oak Leafs, and the Preston Rivulettes! This book is filled with history!

One of the interesting bits of history came from the All-Star Game section where it seems that the NHL was helping other leagues by giving them their old jerseys! Milton wrote of the 1972 NHL All-Star Game jerseys and the Robbie Irons' 1973 IHL All-Star Game jersey,

"Irons' IHL All-Star sweater is of the same vintage and style as Ed Giacomin's NHL Eastern Conference All-Star sweater, a design that the NHL had used for several years, ending in 1972."

Could you imagine the NHL sending their old jerseys to the AHL or ECHL today when they changed designs? I completely understand the IHL not having piles of money to outfit their all-stars every year back in the early-1970s, but to wear another league's sweaters seems a little crazy. Of course, hockey at both levels was all sorts of crazy back in the 1970s so maybe I shouldn't be all that surprised that this sort of clothing swap happened. If I hadn't read the Hockey Hall of Fame Book of Jerseys, I wouldn't have known about this fact!

Overall, the Hockey Hall of Fame Book of Jerseys is a feast for the eyes when it comes to all the jerseys shown on its 192 pages. I would have liked to have seen more information about the jerseys and that part of their careers pertaining to those players who wore them, but there's enough information about a number of players that I didn't know to make the profiles worth it. Because of the great pictures, the chosen jerseys and the historical nature of those jerseys, and the info about the players, the Hockey Hall of Fame Book of Jerseys certainly deserves the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval!

The Hockey Hall of Fame Book of Jerseys was released on August 30, 2012, so copies of the book should be available at libraries and local bookstores. The book is easy to read with no crass language and zero controversial stories, and the sections are filled with amazing images with each two-page set having a photo and a write-up, making the book easy to put down if one needs a break. In saying that, I read the Hockey Hall of Fame Book of Jerseys very quickly because of its easy-to-read nature, and it is absolutely recommended for all hockey fans, especially those who love hockey jerseys and hockey history!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!