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!

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!

New Zealand Crowns A Champion

With the calendar flipping to August and the summer entering its later stages of the season, summer hockey leagues and camps will begin to give way to full seasons once more. When the seasons are flipped, though, teams who play through the winter in the southern hemisphere will get to look forward to warm summer days like we're experiencing now. That's the case for the New Zealand Women's Ice Hockey League as the NZWIHL crowned a champion today despite the game being televised during the wee hours of Saturday in North America! Which teams made the final and what were the storylines? Let's take a dive into the NZWIHL!

The two teams shown above were your finalists from the four-team NZWIHL as the Auckland Steel and Wakatipu Wild earned their way into the final game to determine the 2026 NZWIHL championship. The Wild beat the Dunedin Thunder on Saturday to book their spot in the final while the Steel dismissed the Canterbury Thunder earlier on Saturday to claim their berth as well. Dunedin, it should be noted, beat the Thunder in the bronze medal game on Sunday afternoon.

Auckland came into the final as the favorite thanks to posting an undefeated regular season where they went 11-0-1-0 for 35 points. That one overtime win came back on July 25 when the Steel needed 57 seconds beyond regulation time to win 2-1 over Dunedin. Jasmine Horner-Pascoe scored her 14th goal in overtime for that win, and she'd finish second in team and league scoring with 26 points. League leader Katya Blong had 35 points, third-place leader Lauren Askenazy had 21 points, and fourth-place leader Brooke Patron had 17 points all for Auckland. In short, they scored a lot and won a lot.

Wakapitu struggled to find their rhythm this season, posting a 2-6-1-3 record for 11 points and finishing in third-place. Kelli Burstein ha a good season with ten goals and 14 points, but no other Wild player scored more than seven points. New Zealand-born Jordan Wichman was 2-3-1-0 this season with a 2.75 GAA and a .921 save percentage, but it's hard to win games when the Wild only averaged 2.00 goals-per-game. However, a four-goal outburst by Burstein powered the Wild to a 5-1 win past the Thunder in their playoff game for an unexpected chance at Sunday's NZWIHL championship!

Would the Wild have enough left in the tank to upset Auckland?

That question was answered early in Sunday's championship game as Auckland scored three times in the opening ten minutes and five times in the first frame to pace the Steel to a 5-1 lead after twenty minutes. The teams would trade goals in the middle period before Auckland tacked on two more in third period to skate to the 8-2 championship win as the 2026 NZWIHL season came to a close!

Highlights from the NZWIHL championship game can be seen below!


What's fun in all of this is seeing a player like Katya Blong do well as she skates with McGill where she's earning her kinesiology degree. Blong looks like she's going to be one of New Zealand's best players for a long time, and it's awesome to her skating in the Canadian university circuit. Brooke Patron was a Saskatchewan Huskies defender for four seasons and she appears to be helping the NZWIHL and the Steel with her skills. Goaltender Alexa Gibson seems to be enjoying life in Auckland after skating for the Ottawa Gee-Gees!

Even cooler is that Lochlyn Hyde, who splits the goaltending duties with Gibson, has jumped into the NZIHL - the men's league - on occasion when teams have needed a goaltender. To date, Hyde has played three games in the top division where she has a 3.50 GAA and an .885 save percentage, and has helped out the second-division league twice where she's officially 1-1-0! How cool is that?

On the other side, Wakatipu had no players who suited up in U SPORTS, but Kelli Berstein did play for the University of Minnesota. However, the gap in skill between these two teams was evident in the final as Auckland outshot Wakatipu 38-22 and controlled the play a lot. I get that no one is going to tell Auckland to break their team up to disperse talent across the other three teams, but the 14-point gap between Auckland and second-place Dunedin is hard to fathom in a four-team league. Something has to change for New Zealand hockey to continue to develop good players for international competitions.

Congratulations to the Auckland Steel on winning their fourth-straight NZWIHL championship! It's their eighth championship overall in the NZWIHL, and I imaging they'll be gunning for a fifth-consecutive and ninth-overall championship in 2027 if everything goes well. Perhaps we'll see another team step in and claim victory, but another solid season is in the book for Kiwi hockey, the NZWIHL, and its players!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

What's All the Buzz?

I rarely get to enjoy a good baseball game from the perspective of a fan because I'm usually working in the pressbox for the local professional team. Last night, however, I broke free from the pressbox and sat in the patio area with a pile of my colleagues from my day job where we got to watch the Winnipeg Goldeyes baseball team don a new identity as they searched for their sixth win in a row! If you came here for hockey chatter, there will be some at the end as I relate this fun night of baseball back to hockey, but this article is all about having a good time as a fan, enjoying a beautiful night on a patio, and watching the home team as a fan rather than a stats guy for the first time in a long time! And if the Goldeyes could beat Lincoln, that's even better!

If you have a larger group who wants to attend a baseball game, the patio at Blue Cross Park is a great way to get that group to the ballgame. The Malibu Patio, where we sat, holds 65 people and located right in the left field corner above the Goldeyes' bullpen. The sightlines are incredible from this location as you can see virtually everything happening in the park, and it didn't hurt that this was prime seating for the fireworks display scheduled after the game!

The patio has serving staff assigned to it and a private bar so that the group never would never need to venture far if it needed food or beverages. We declined the serving staff as there were many different requests for food, but the private bar was used all night and was a solid added benefit. Combined with the patio tables, umbrellas, and bar-like seating around the railing, the Malibu Patio as perfect for a group of our size to enjoy a night at the ballpark!

The Goldeyes debuted their one-time-only alternate identities last night as they took the field as the Manitoba Mosquitoes to welcome the Lincoln Saltdogs to town, and the Mosquitoes were buzzing early in this game. Five runs in the first inning followed by two more in the second and four more in the third inning put the Mosquitoes up 11-0 early on the Saltdogs, and it seemed like all Manitoba had to do was nurse that lead. Adding to the fun was pitcher Ryo Kohigashi as the league's third-best pitcher for strikeouts was dealing again on Friday night, striking out nine Saltdogs to push his total to 79 this season. That leaves him ten punchouts back of the league lead, so the Fish have a hurler who could win one of the key stats races before the season is over! But the bigger question was if the Mosquitoes could keep the win streak going.

Despite surrendering four runs in the top of the fifth inning, the Saltdogs would get no more as the Goldeyes used that early run support to cruise to the 11-4 win on a gorgeous night at the ballpark. No homeruns were hit on night, but centerfielder Noah Marcelo led the way with three RBIs to pace the Goldeyes. On the fun side, Lincoln's Cary Arbolida struck out to send the fans home with free pancakes, and Lincoln's Nick Schumpert went home with a platinum sombrero after striking out swinging five times in the game! Ouch!

After the game wrapped up with high-fives and handshakes on the Goldeyes/Mosquitoes side of the field, the fireworks display literally happened right in front of us, giving us the best view of the night sky. A handful of brightly-coloured explosions brought oohs and aahs from the crowd that stayed behind for the display, and the kids who were part of our group were absolutely thrilled with the spectacle!

Some people ask me why I love minor-league professional sports, and it's stuff like this where the local team dons a new identity for a fun night at the ballpark or rink. We've seen lots of teams rebrand to represent their communities, and I honestly love that minor-pro teams do this as often as they do. I get that the professional teams are tied to their communities as well, but minor-pro baseball and hockey teams always seem to have fun rebrands and jerseys they roll out every season. Seeing these ideas come to life is so much fun!

If you want to know why I support leagues like the AHL and ECHL more than I support the NHL, it's for this very reason. Sports are supposed to be fun and every time a minor-pro team rebrands or has a crazy bobblehead night or some other zany promotion, the end result is a fun night at a stadium or arena. Our group had a blast last night, there was a buzz about the Mosquitoes jerseys and how good they looked, and the Mosquitoes showed up in a big way to send the crowd home happy. Add in good food, good baseball, an awesome fireworks display, and ticket prices that didn't put anyone into financial distress, and the end result was an incredible night at Blue Cross Park in Winnipeg.

I'm not telling you not to cheer for your favorite NHL teams and players, but I am saying you should go support the minor-pro teams whenever you can. Having fun nights as the Manitoba Mosquitoes, in my view, should be encouraged as often as possible so we see more fun jerseys like the Manitoba Polar Bears and the Winnipeg SeaBears' Space Jam jerseys. And if minor-pro teams can attract more fans with these fun rebrandings and a winning attitude, that helps the minor-pro franchise and the community it serves in a big way!

I'm off to the ballpark again tonight, only I'll be doing stats in the pressbox. There's serious buzz coming from downtown Winnipeg, though, as the Goldeyes search for their seventh win in a row and their third series win in a row. Maybe the bigger question is who could have thought that Manitobans would love Mosquitoes?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!