Replaced By Whom?!?

I will fully admit that I am befuddled when it comes to what Rogers Communications is doing with its hockey broadcasts. Aside from raising prices to drive away subscribers and killing access to NHL hockey by eliminating CBC as a partner, their most recent decision to not renew Kelly Hrudey's contract seems to be another boneheaded decision from the TV network gatekeeping hockey in Canada.

Hrudey worked Calgary Flames broadcasts on Sportsnet during the week before travelling to Toronto to join the national broadcast on Saturday nights. He was an excellent analyst that brought a goaltender's perspective to the game, and he was excellent in his breakdowns and examinations of what was happening on the ice. His analyses often caught subtle things that others on the Sportsnet panel missed and I, for one, appreciated his insights on the game.

Hrudey reportedly received the news on June 19, ending a run that saw the former NHL netminder join CBC's Hockey Night in Canada in 1998 after completing a 677-game NHL career. The former Islanders, Kings, and Sharks goalie had been contributing to CBC's coverage for four seasons before he retired after his team had been eliminated, so a 32-year run for Hrudey came to an end because Rogers is cheap.

Is Rogers Communications purposely trying to kill hockey broadcasts?

That answer might be "yes" after news broke today that Kelly Hrudey's now-vacant seat will be filled by Winnipeg Jets analyst Kevin Sawyer. The Athletic's Sean Shapiro and Harman Dayal compiled the 2021 NHL broadcast rankings, and the reviews and ranking of Winnipeg's broadcast team of Dennis Beyak and Kevin Sawyer read,

"Outside of Winnipeg, the Jets broadcast scored as one of the best in the league. Locally, however, it ranked 21st with mixed reviews. That discrepancy in ranking — rated fourth nationally but 21st locally — is the largest around the NHL in our survey."

That 12th-overall ranking of NHL broadcasts was pulled down by negative comments about the color commentator that read,

"'Kevin Sawyer's unconditional praise of the team is a bit hard to take even for someone who loves the Jets like me,' said one of many local respondents who believe the broadcast isn't balanced enough."

I'll fully admit that I disliked almost everything about Sawyer's comments and delivery when he spoke on the broadcasts, so TSN letting him walk to Sportsnet is a huge bonus for the sixty Jets games I'll watch this season on TSN. His preference for talking into the next play while Beyak and Dan Robertson sit quietly as the play unfolds annoyed me to no end, and his refusal to criticize anyone for mistakes made his analyses sound phony. I don't need a homer.

If Sawyer is replacing Kelly Hrudey on Calgary Flames broadcasts, Flames fans will notice the drop-off in the quality of the analyses between Hrudey and Sawyer. I have no idea why Sportsnet would view this as a smart upgrade when there are a pile of people they could have tapped for Hrudey's spot like Meghan Mikkelson, Jason York, Cassie Campbell-Pascale, or recently-retired Tyson Barrie.

Sawyer has 110 games of NHL experience compared to years of working around the Flames franchise like the four people listed above. What would even suggest to Rogers that Kevin Sawyer would be an adequate replacement for an outgoing legend like Hrudey?

I'm bewildered by what Rogers is doing with their broadcasts after committing $11 billion to the NHL for the next twelve years of games. If they're just going to drive their broadcasts into the ground by cutting excellent broadcasters and replacing them with mediocre analysts, why did they spend the money at all?

As I wrote at the start of July, Sportsnet buying the rights to NHL hockey hasn't seen the game get better on TV. Arguably, it's gotten worse since they owned the rights, and it got much worse with the news this week of Hrudey leaving and Sawyer joining. But why should Rogers care if people keep throwing money at them to watch hockey?

This is the proverbial rock and hard place, Flames fans. You lose a competent, intelligent analyst for a guy who waxes poetic about players who should be in the pressbox. I'd suggest cancelling your Sportsnet subscription, but it's the only way you can watch the majority of Flames games this season. And this is the gamble that Rogers Sportsnet is making: you won't cancel your subscription to watch the Flames no matter what talking head is doing analysis.

Isn't it fun when corporations hold your hockey fandom hostage?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 724

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back tonight with a little fun, some hockey news, and some bizarre stories from the hockey world. There will be stories this week that appeared on week's prior, but new details have emerged. The business of hockey never seems to go quiet when so many people are making what appear to be bad decisions, but that's life in professional hockey. Of course, our hosts will try to work in some laughs as well tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will look at the alarming trend of hockey teams eliminating radio play-by-play from their offerings for fans, Rogers Communications making life difficult for fans once again, a hockey camp being held in a weird location, one of the ECHL's most storied franchises is celebrating an anniversary and another individual award, fans will have more jerseys to choose from for an NHL team, the Hurricanes are enjoying their Stanley Cup success, and there's a fun story about a long-time GM who was a head coach for one summer! It's a busy show with a ton of topics to go over tonight, so settle in for some fun 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 about creating experiences, financial loss, dumb camps, fun history, jersey madness, ticket sales, bad coaches, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

It's Icy Again!

I usually don't spend a lot of time talking about mascots on HBIC simply because they don't generate many stories. I did spend a little time on July 24 talking about the mascot to the left in Icy D. Eagle after Friend of the Blog Fiona Quinn asked about Icy's appearance as the Winnipeg Jets' mascot back in 1995. In that article, I had mentioned that Icy was " a regular in the nominations for the annual ECHL Mascot of the Year award", and that voting happened this week for the 2026 award. Of course, you shouldn't be surprised that Icy D. Eagle won his third ECHL Mascot of the Year award as Komets fans put Icy on the map again, but you should be impressed with what else they did to celebrate Icy's third crown as the ECHL's best mascot!

You may have heard that the Fort Wayne Komets are celebrating their 75th anniversary this season, so they're really digging into their history. They'll wear three jerseys representing the championship teams from each of the eras in which they won the Turner Cup. Frankly, those jerseys look incredible, and I'm seriously giving those 1991-92 jerseys some thought about joining my collection.

Personal closets aside, the Komets also produced a video celebrating their long-time mascot's history of how Icy joined the Komets! Check out this great video of Icy, and note the Winnipeg clip in the footage!
How amazing is that? Full marks to the Fort Wayne Komets for creating this video! How many other teams have videos of their mascots from all different eras with an audio recap of the mascot's history? Hint: not many, if any, at all. This video is more evidence as to why the Komets are one of the classiest minor-pro teams, though!

I feel pretty proud that I contributed two seconds of footage to the video above thanks to finding that YouTube video of the Jets and Stars in 1995. Fiona gave me a shout-out on Twitter after the Komets posted the video, but I will gladly downplay my "work" because the other 80 seconds that the Komets provided is so darned good!

I clearly have no effect on how the Komets play or how they'll finish the 2026-27 season, but they are starting this season off by doing everything right. The three historical jerseys are replicas of the ones worn in each of the three championship seasons, they're honouring their past with reverence and resepct, and they're signing good players to make a run when the action on the ice starts. If the hockey gods are watching, everything they're doing since kicking into 75th anniversary mode should win the graces of said hockey gods!

Congratulations to Icy on being voted as the ECHL's best mascot for the third time, and keep up the great anniversary work, Komets!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Coach Chevy?

Full marks to any hockey fan who can name the jersey to the left because I certainly could not when I first saw it. If you are old enough to remember Roller Hockey International as a hockey fan, you may remember the Denver Daredevils wearing these jerseys. I certainly did not, but we didn't get many roller hockey games broadcast in Canada and there was no local team in Winnipeg. The Daredevils lasted just one season in RHI where they weren't all that great, but we need to talk about the head coach in their lone season of wheeled hockey action because he's well-known in Winnipeg hockey circles.

Specifically, I want to bring to your attention this snippet of news.

You're reading that correctly as Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff was the head coach of RHI's Denver Daredevils for one season! Can anyone picture Cheveldayoff behind the bench of a pro roller hockey team? I can't see him enjoying that experience at all.

It happened in the summer of 1996, though, and the Daredevils went 8-17-3 with those three games being losses in overtime. They only had two NHL players on their roster in Stephane Roy who played 12 total games with the Minnesota North Stars and Derek Laxdal who played 67 NHL games with the Leafs and Islanders. They mostly had players who found success in minor-pro hockey like Jay Neal, Kevin St. Jacques, and Darryl Olsen, but the Daredevils struggled.

Their first game was a 13-7 loss to the Vancouver Voodoo on June 1, 1996 which means that Brandon Sun snippet was filed two months after Cheveldayoff coached his first game and one week before he coached his last game on August 16, 1996 when Denver beat the Oakland Skates by an 11-10 score. With the Daredevils finishing at the bottom of the five-team Pacific Division standings, there wouldn't be a playoff run for the first-year, Mile-High roller hockey team.

Denver would finish as the third-worst team in the RHI that season, ahead of the 3-22-3 Ottawa Loggers and the 7-17-4 New Jersey Rockin' Rollers. The Long Island Jawz, who expanded into the RHI at the same time as Denver, finished with a 16-9-3 record, so it's pretty clear that whoever put together the Daredevils' roster didn't exactly build the most talented team. That may have included the 26 year-old head coach who had no roller hockey experience at that time.

Obviously, I have no access to the Winnipeg Jets nor any of their front-office staff, so I'm hoping that someone from those who have been granted access can sit down with Kevin Cheveldayoff and pick his brain about his one season in Denver coaching roller hockey. The Daredevils would cease to exist after their one summer in the Mile High City, but there's a fun connection to explore between the NHL's Winnipeg Jets and Roller Hockey International's Denver Daredevils!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Peppers Over Hockey

It's officially the first Monday of August where there isn't a lot of important hockey happening. I feel like it's going to be pretty slow for the remainder of the month, so I'm going to dive into a little cooking today as let my mind escape any thoughts of work, hockey, events, and everything else that has locked up hours of my life. If there's one thing that puts my mind at ease, it's making a delicious meal! And bonus points for what I'm going to highlight in this article because the main ingredient came straight out of the HBIC vegetable garden!

I had purchased an Asian pepper plant at the local greenhouse earlier this spring as I was looking for some variety for my pepper choices. There are the standard jalapeno and banana pepper plants that are growing with it, but this Asian pepper plant produced a ton of waxy, green peppers that have been waiting to be plucked from the branches! I fully admit I had no idea these peppers had when it came to spice level nor was I sure about their taste, but I was determined to find a dish or preparation method for these peppers that would make me appreciate them!

I went to the internet to find that I had planted shishito peppers which are green while growing, but turn red when ripe. The pepper is mild when it comes to the spice level with only 5-10% having noticeable heat, and this heat is brought on by environmental stressors such as high heat and drought-like conditions. Clearly, this was something to note so I wasn't biting into an eye-watering, mouth-burning pepper! Thankfully, we haven't been short on water.

Most recipes suggested simply pan-frying them in oil and lightly salting them. However, one recipe noted the irregular shapes that shishito peppers take on, and it was suggested to toss the peppers in oil so that the peppers' skins would be evenly coated no matter which side was on the pan. I opted for this route and I have to say that not only did it work well, but there has hardly any oil left in the pan once I was done cooking. That's a tip I'll use again in the future!

Cooking them was quite easy as I simply put the heat on medium, popped the peppers into the frying pan once it heated up sufficiently, and they started to do their thing. There was sizzling and popping that happened where I failed to poke a hole in the skin to allow the air to escape from inside the pepper, but it made no difference in the end. Nothing exploded thanks to the shishido pepper's thin skin, so I got out alive on that one. That being said, let the peppers blister and char as much as you like, and then remove from the heat!

Once they had cooled slightly, I drizzled them in lemon juice, sprinkled them with salt, and added them as the side to my grilled salmon entree. The real test for these peppers was moments away!

Before we get into the taste test, I didn't cut or open up the peppers in any way, so there could have been more absorption of the salt and lemon juice I added for a bit of taste. I'm not saying that adding any flavouring or spices is a guaranteed way to make the peppers taste better, but that waxy coating that was trying to blister off may have prevented some of that absorption. I'm all about the simple flavours, though, so this worked for my taste requirements. The peppers were also easier to eat with the small stems that I left on as I could eat them with my hands, but it was just as easy to stab them with a fork. Alongside the salmon, they provided a great side option that pulled the lemon flavours together, and a 100-gram serving is 4.7 carbohydrates, around 2-3 grams of fibre, and 2.5 grams of protein!

Overall, they have a slight peppery taste as one would expect from a bell pepper, but they are very mild and taste pretty good! The salt and lemon juice helps, but they could easily be tossed in garlic and tomatoes for a delicious side or, as some suggested, eaten raw in a salad. With another crop of peppers nearly ready on the plant already, I'll be going back for more shishido peppers this summer! And, of course, I will be planting these peppers again next summer!

I spent my Monday afternoon doing a little learning about shishito peppers, preparing some salmon, making sugar-free chocolate pudding, and cooking Big Mac meatloaf for quick meals this week! Don't think that I won't be enjoying that meatloaf this week at work or elsewhere because it sounds incredible. However, I was very impressed with the shishito peppers I'm growing as a side dish, and I may start incorporating them into more meals as the summer closes!

It's back to hockey on HBIC tomorrow, but it was worth getting to know the shishito pepper after tonight's meal! Bon appetit!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!