Team Canada Down Under

I stayed up late last night because there was some hockey to watch. As you're likely aware, the Melbourne Mustangs are my chosen squad that I'm following in the Australian Ice Hockey League, and they're struggling with consistency this season as they look to defend their Goodall Cup championship from last season. Having a long weekend in Canada means I can squeeze some extra sleep in this weekend, so I committed to staying awake to watch Melbourne battle the league-leading Sydney Bears while honouring the Canadian players on the roster with the jerseys above! Would the Canada Mustangs erupt for goals like they did two nights earlier?

Just for the record, the Mustangs showed up in a big way on June 28 against their archrivals in the Melbourne Ice. The Ice had yet to lose on home ice at the O'Brien Icehouse, so the Mustangs - who share the rink - were looking to erase that perfect record sported by the Ice at home. After being tied 1-1 after the opening frame, the Mustangs exploded for six goals in the second period as Hayden Dawes recorded a hat trick, and the Mustangs would indeed end the Ice's dominance at home with a 7-3 win. The win pushed the Mustangs to a 9-11-1-0 record where they'd face the Bears on Sunday.

The game against the Bears appeared to be one that the Mustangs would need to take very seriously as the Bears have been averaging 5.8 goals-per-game this season while surrending just 3.3 goals-per-game. Defence and goaltending would have to come up big for the Canadian Mustangs, and that goal-scoring shown on Friday would need to show up again on Sunday!

After falling behind 1-0 through 20 minutes, the fans who showed up wearing red-and-white had a little more to ponder after Sydney's Noah Moncrieff and Christopher Eaden made it a 3-0 game for the Bears at the 13-minute mark with two goals in 1:44 of play. The Canadian Mustangs would respond while down a player, though, as Vadim Virjassov scored his seventh goal of the season while shorthanded, closing the gap to 3-1 with eight minutes to go. That would be the score when we hit the second break, and it was clear the Mustangs had some work to do in the third period.

Things looked good when Rylan Freed scored his fifth goal just 5:03 in the third period to cut the Bears' lead to 3-2, but the Bears locked things down over that final 14:57 despite Team Canada Melbourne applying all sorts of pressure at times. Despite the spirited effort from the home side, the Bears would prevail by that 3-2 score.

The loss drops Melbourne to 9-12-1-0 on the season, and they get a few weeks to regroup as they won't play again until July 13 when they visit the Perth Thunder, a team they trail by nine points. The two games against the Thunder could close the gap to three points which would go a long way in improving Melbourne's chances at playoff success this season, but winning those two games would set up a very interesting July that ends with a home game against the Thunder on July 28. Third-place is not out of the question.

If there was one thing that was certain in staying up to watch that game that ended at 1am CT here, it was that the Mustangs were the best-dressed team on the ice by a kilometer. While the result wasn't worth staying up for, watching the players buzz around in the familiar colours of Hockey Canada was pretty cool to see. Well done, Melbourne Mustangs, on another incredible promotion!

With Canada Day passing tomorrow, settle into July by playing some winning hockey, Mustangs! Third-place can be had by showing some consistent play, and the title defence will begin after August's remaining games are played. Make it happen, and go Mustangs!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Simply Disingenuous

There are always a few good storylines that come out of the draft when it comes to how much the game has grown across the planet. According to the NHL's public relations, sixteen nations saw players born inside their borders drafted on Friday and Saturday, and that's a very good number. Yes, Canada and the US still led the way, but there were some surprises as South Africa was represented for the first time ever by a non-goalie and Norway had players selected in the first round for the first time while having a record four players selected. The game certainly appears to be global when the NHL publishes numbers like this, but I'm here to tell you that birth countries shouldn't give the NHL or its teams the power to claim they're growing the game as pictured to the left above with the Jets.

The player in question is Kevin He, and he looks like a decent player by all accounts as he skates well and has a quick, accurate shot. He skated with the OHL's Niagara IceDogs this past season, and it should be noted that he was born in China when it comes to his heritage. When he was selected 109th-overall by the Jets, He became the highest-selected Chinese-born player in NHL Draft history.

Just for the record, I feel like "he" and "He" can be interchangable throughout the next couple of paragraphs, but it feels weird using his last name all the time when a pronoun works better. Grammar aside, here's why I have a problem with the Jets' statement.

The NHL first played games in China back in 2017 when the NHL sent the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks over to the populous country. The games were played in Shanghai on September 21, 2017 and in Beijing on September 23 with the Kings winning both exhibition contests. If you're doing the math in your head, that was just seven years ago that the NHL introduced their brand of hockey to China, so are they really growing the game when it comes to 18 year-old Kevin He?

In a Sportsnet piece entitled "Breaking the Ice", the writer states,

In September 2007, Greg Jamison, then the Sharks president and CEO, announced that the franchise would partner with the Chinese AIHL team, sending over coaches and players in its system along with funding to help develop youth hockey in the country.

As the article states, this partnership with the China Sharks was anything but fruitful, and the team was folded prior to starting their third season of play in the AIHL. While I'm not suggesting that the China Sharks didn't have an impact at all, what was the level of the impact did they have on growing the game, specifically when it came to three year-old Kevin He when the Sharks folded?

The author of the piece also notes other NHL efforts, writing,

"The Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadians, Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals have all developed initiatives to grow the game and their brands in the country, mostly through grassroots programming. The New York Islanders have hosted a hockey tournament for teams from China for the past decade, and under former majority-owner Charles Wang, the Islanders actually preceded San Jose's efforts, launching hockey camps in China as far back as 2003. Wang has personally helped fund the construction of 30 hockey rinks in the country."

Clearly, the Leafs, Canadiens, Bruins, and Capitals are looking to help China's efforts to grow hockey, but those efforts started after Kevin He was already in Canada. And the Islanders should be commended for their efforts in trying to grow the game in China, but Kevin He was five years-old when his family emigrated to Canada so how much influence would one of those Islanders camps have had in his five years of childhood spent in China?

Did you note which NHL team wasn't part of those efforts? I'll give you a hint: they were formerly known as the Atlanta Thrashers.

Let me be clear in that I believe Kevin He should be proud of his heritage, encouraged to speak about and support grassroots efforts in hockey in his birthplace, and celebrated if and when he's asked to represent his country of birth internationally. Canada is a proudly multicultural nation which promotes people of all races and ethnicities to use their birth country in combination with "Canadian" when describing themselves, and I'd hope that Kevin He is proud of his Chinese-Canadian background. Honestly, it seems he is.

However, for the Jets and, by proxy, the NHL to claim that they had anything to do with his making the NHL as a Chinese-born player when his formative hockey years were spent in Montreal and Toronto is simply disingenuous and gross. He worked his tail off, got noticed by scouts, and was drafted by the Jets who can make the weak claim that they've now selected a Chinese-born player at the highest position in the draft, but Kevin He is a product of Canadian hockey training, not Chinese training.

The Montreal Canadiens actually should be claiming that they selected the highest-selected Chinese-born player in NHL Draft history when they took Taiwanese-born defender Rod Langway at 36th-overall in 1977. After all, Taiwan is a Republic of China, but Montreal has never made that claim while Rod Langway's birthplace is simply that: the place where he was born. Langway grew up in the US for the most part, and he played hockey in Massachusetts. Was Montreal "growing the game" in 1977?

Perhaps the Colorado Avalanche would like some credit for growing the game after drafting Brazilian-born Robyn Regehr in 1998. Or maybe the Jets can claim that their previous iteration grew the game in Germany when the Atlanta Thrashers drafted German-born Dany Heatley in 2000. Do the Los Angeles Kings get to say they're "growing the game" by drafting Slovenian-born Anze Kopitar in 2005, or are they simply looking for the best player they can find at the draft?

There are other examples:

• Two-time Stanley Cup champion Craig Adams was born in Brunei and drafted by Hartford in 1996.
• Claude Vilgrain was born in Haiti, but taken by Detroit in 1982.
• Leo Komarov claims Estonia by birthplace, and Toronto chose him in 2006.
• Olaf Kolzig has a South African birth certificate, and Washington took him in 1989.
• Owen Nolan began life in Northern Ireland, and Quebec chose him first-overall in 2000.
  

None of the teams above went out and claimed they were growing the game in any of those countries just because they selected players from what are considered non-hockey birthplaces, so why would the Jets even attempt to make that connection with their selection of Kevin He? They have zero roots in China, they had zero effect on his hockey career prior to today, and they didn't even exist until Kevin was living in Montreal. The tweet by the Jets at the top of this article is beyond bizarre and completely disingenuous.

If one is going to claim to "grow the game" in any meaningful way, one better be able to produce receipts. Drafting a player from a non-hockey country is, in no way, "growing the game" when he was born there, but played all of his meaningful hockey in a traditional hockey country. Kevin He is a proud Chinese-Canadian man who will hopefully make the Jets' roster one day, but there had better not be another claim of "growing the game" from any team just because they used a draft selection to choose a player.

Without any receipts of actually showing growth, that's the most disingenuous statement I've seen in a long, long time.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Hey, Did You Watch The Draft?

You know how many kids from the 2023 NHL Entry Draft played a game - one single game - in the NHL last year? Six. Do you know how many played in the NHL from the 2022 NHL Entry Draft? 22. That's 28 of the best young players that NHL teams coveted who played in the NHL out of the 449 players picked. 11 of those players played less than five games. Outside of the top few selections in either class, most of these players aren't ready for the NHL as proven by the reluctance to dress these players for NHL games.

I'm happy for all the players picked tonight and tomorrow, but we need to stop talking about everything they do well and everything that can be improved. They're still kids, and they should entirely be coachable at this point in their careers if something in their games need to change. But let's keep this in perspective by saying that only 93 of the 217 players chosen in the 2018 draft have skated in the NHL, and just 41 have skated in more than 82 games in their careers.

The NHL Entry Draft is fun and it's exciting to see new players and a handful of trades made, but let's keep in mind that majority of the players picked won't skate in the NHL at any point in their careers.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 614

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back tonight to close down our annual contest as Survivor: NHL Playoffs came to a close on Monday night with the Florida Panthers claiming a 2-1 victory in Game Seven over the Edmonton Oilers. Wayne finishes as the winner this year with GM Jared as the bridesmaid, so we'll send both off the island tonight as another postseason and this year's contest ends. It was fun and we'll do it again next year assuming we aren't cancelled, so make sure you put a reminder in your calendar to check HBIC for Survivor: NHL Playoffs updates! We do have a pile of other things to discuss tonight as well, however, so we'll get through all that tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason close out Survivor: NHL Playoffs by celebrating Florida's win and Wayne's win while putting GM Jared on the last boat for the mainland. They'll talk about the Panthers and needing a seventh game to get the job done, the Hershey Bears back on top of the AHL, Alex Meruelo's insane week and his unexpected finish, the Rutger McGroarty controversy in Winnipeg, a few of the trades seen in the NHL, some ECHL news, some MFHL news, and the HHOF inductees were announced for November 2024 that left both hosts a little confused. It should be another fun show with lots of discussion and laughter as Teebz and Jason tackle all these stories tonight 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 new UMFM website's online 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. 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 and Jason dive into Survivor exits, Panthers and Bears winning, Coyotes dying, Jets floundering, player moves, new teams, new inductees, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: June 27, 2024: Episode 614

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Hockey's Sorta Done?

With hockey in North America officially coming to an end on Monday, I often get asked what I do in the summer on both the blog and radio show. The answer is easy: I still cover hockey. Yes, there are fewer stories from hockey to cover thanks the sport slowing down for a couple of months, but there are interviews and historic stories to explore. One of the best ways to get into those stories is by reading books about hockey, and that's what the rest of my summer will entail as I sit on the patio with a cold beverage and flip pages.

With as busy as life gets sometimes, I haven't been able to crack the spines on the stack of books I want to tackle that are sitting on my bookshelves. These are stories from across the hockey world as well as I have Hayley Wickenheiser's story to read, Mike Eruzione's tale to take in, and a few others that piqued my interest when I saw the book. My goal is to start this weekend with it being a long weekend as I put a significant dent into that stack of books begging to be read.

I do have one book that I've been dying to read since I received it, and I want to thank Peter, a reader of HBIC, for sending me this book. I have very little reference points for the Kansas City Scouts because they had come and gone from that market long before I was born, but Steve Currier's book, When the NHL Invaded Japan, has me very curious about this jump across the ocean where the Scouts and Washington Capitals played for the Coca-Cola Bottlers' Cup in 1975-76. To be very honest, I had never even heard about Coca-Cola Bottlers' Cup or any tournament where NHL teams competed for it, so this topic is one I want to explore in greater detail. Thank you, Peter for this great book, and expect a review shortly on it as Teebz's Book Club goes into summer reading mode for the next few months!

Some of the other stuff I'll be doing this summer is watching more movies, so there will be some additional movie reviews here on HBIC. I'm excited for a few that I haven't seen plus a few coming up this summer. I do have to watch If with Ryan Reynolds, and Inside Out 2 will get seen because the first one was so good. Reynolds will get a second review this summer with Deadpool & Wolverine debuting this summer, and I'm sure I'll discover a few more than get added. I don't follow TV series very closely, but Season four of The Boys is currently running and I'm loving every second of it, and I just discovered WondLa through AppleTV which has been excellent. When the sun goes down, I know I'll have a few things to watch and review.

Finally, there may be a few late nights on the weekend where I stay up and watch the AIHL and NZIHL as their season winds down and gets into the postseason. I'm still hoping the Melbourne Mustangs can turn their season around with some consistent play, but the race for first-overall in the AIHL between the Sydney Bears and the Melbourne Ice may come down to the final game of the season for the Bears on August 10 when they host the Ice. As it stands, the Bears play the Ice this weekend with first-place on the line as both teams are tied in the standings, but the Bears could be as many as six points up by the time the weekend's over.

I haven't watched as many New Zealand Ice Hockey League games, but the Botany Swarm and Skycity Stampede appear to be the front-runners for the top spot in the NZIHL regular season. Two teams - the Canterbury Red Devils and Phoenix Thunder - have yet to record a win in seven games, but the Red Devils have lost in overtime to sit one point ahead of the Thunder. The team in third-place of the five teams is the West Auckland Admirals, and they've only beaten the Red Devils this season so far. Just for the record, the NZIHL is more like watching North American junior hockey than professional hockey, but it's fun summer hockey nonetheless.

It's still going to be a busy summer as I'm scoring professional baseball, playing slo-pitch, reading about hockey, getting caught up on movies and TV shows, and watching some hockey from the Land Down Under, but I guess I'm saying that this blog won't be exclusively devoted to hockey this summer. Yes, the hockey stories will continue, but there will be more variety in what you find on HBIC.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Other Trophy Won

It doesn't happen very often, but another team received a major hockey trophy last night as the Stanley Cup was being handed out. After winning two of three games in Palm Springs to return home with a 3-2 series lead, the Hershey Bears wrapped things up last night with a 5-4 overtime victory against the Coachella Valley Firebirds to win their 13th Calder Cup! For the first time since 2009 and 2010 since the Bears won those championships, we have back-to-back championships once again, and the Bears once again cemented their legacy as one of the best AHL franchises of all-time.

A Giant Center record crowd of 11,013 people crowded into the arena where they witnessed Pierrick Dubé score a hat trick to make it 4-3 just before the midway point of the third period as the Bears looked to close out the series. However, a Cale Fleury goal with 2:55 to play would tie things up at 4-4, forcing the dramatics of overtime.

I give you the full overtime period and celebration from last night.

A turnover inside the Coachella Valley blue line off an errant pass allowed the puck to end up on Matt Strome's stick who wired a shot past Firebirds netminder Chris Driedger's glove hand, and the celebration was underway! Take nothing away from Hunter Shepard's save on Cameron Hughes moments before the goal was scored because that save allowed the game to continue. Moments later and for just the 11th time in AHL history, the Calder Cup was won on an overtime game-winning goal as Strome scored at 1:06 in extra time!

Forward Hendrix Lapierre won the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the most valuable player of the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs as he led the AHL in playoff scoring with 22 points, including scoring seven points in the final. Head coach Todd Nelson won his third Calder Cup as a head coach and fifth of his career overall. Nelson knew they'd be the hunted as the season opened, but his team rose to the challenge.

"This year we had a target on our back," Nelson said to the AHL's Patrick Williams. "There was a lot more pressure this year to finish it off and win a Cup. We were expected to win, and it would be a crying shame if we didn't finish off the right way."

One has to wonder if the Washington Capitals may look to their AHL club for examples and help when it comes to winning. The Bears have won the Calder Cup for a fifth time since becoming Washington's AHL affiliate back in 2005, and it's hard to argue with their success. Hershey routinely is one of the better AHL teams annually which included a near record-setting regular season this year, but standing atop the podium at the end of the playoffs should have the Capitals looking inward for answers rather than copying other NHL trends.

For Coachella Valley, it's another season where they made it to the final only to come home empty-handed. It may sting a little more this season as well with head coach Dan Bylsma moving up to the Seattle Kraken's bench next season, but the Firebirds remain a talented team for whomever takes over as the head coach. Nonetheless, this one hurt because it seemed like the Firebirds were prepared for the battle.

"This is where I say I'm sorry because we didn't get what we should have gotten," Bylsma said in his press conference following the loss. "I think what those guys did and what those players put out on the ice should have gotten a championship. There's a lot of pride in the last two years. Not getting the end prize is going to leave a mark."

There has to be a victor, though, and the Hershey Bears will celebrate this summer as champions once again. SOme players will move on to NHL teams or join other AHL squads. Some may retire. Some will stay put and make a run a three-peat which would be extraordinary. All of them will be called "champions", though, and that's something that can never be lost.

Congratulations to the 2024 Calder Cup Champions and back-to-back AHL champions, the Hershey Bears!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Vamos Gatos!

Back in 1973, the Florida panther was added to the endangered species under the federal Endangered Species Act, making it illegal to harm or harass a panthers in Florida for any reason. Someone probably should have told the Edmonton Oilers of that detail because the Florida Panthers finally brought the 2023-24 season to a close by winning the Stanley Cup on home ice in Sunrise, Florida after eliminating the Oilers in seven games. I'm not sure everyone was confident after Edmonton's three-game surge to erase the 3-0 deficit they faced, but the Panthers got the job done in the biggest game of their season!

This franchise has come a long way since being founded in 1993. They shocked a number of people by making the Stanley Cup Final in 1995-96, but were swept by the Colorado Avalanche in a series where they seemed overmatched. Following that run, there weren't many playoff victories of which they could speak as the Panthers made the playoffs only four times in the next 22 seasons, and those four times resulted in total of zero playoff series wins. The Panthers couldn't give away tickets to fill their arena's lower bowl despite having some incredible players, and it seemed that the future of the franchise may be in a different city and state.

In 2013, Vincent Viola used his incredible wealth to buy the majority stake of the Florida Panthers with one goal in mind: make it successful. It's a no-brainer to say that all NHL teams want to win the Stanley Cup, but Viola needed fan support, butts in seats, and a new outlook in building a team if he was going to claim success.

Some of the more interesting moves included offering Tim Thomas a PTO in 2013, acquiring via trade and signing 44 year-old Jaromir Jagr to one year-deal in 2016, and panther logo was retired in favour of the new "shield panther" in 2016 as well. In 2014, co-owner Doug Cifu told reporters that "the current business model is not sustainable" as the Panthers reported losses of $30 million annually, they dressed goalie coach Rob Tallas as an EBUG in both 2013 and 2015, and there was the Gerard Gallant firing that made a lot of people question the way the Panthers were being run.

Along the way, though, they did get some things right. We'll start in 2020 when they hired Bill Zito to replace Dale Tallon. In 2022 after Zito made a few changes to the roster, the Panthers won the President's Trophy only to lose to Tampa Bay in the playoffs, costing head coach Andrew Brunette his job. Zito decided to change the outlook of his team in dealing Jonathan Huberdeau for Matthew Tkachuk, and the Panthers found themselves in the Stanley Cup Final last season. Yes, they came up short against the Vegas Golden Knights, but the experience they gained and confidence they built in their run last season can't be denied.

Tonight, it almost look like that experience and confidence carried them one game short, but Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart found enough offence for the Cats while Sergei Bobrovsky looked like a $10 million goalie with his 23 saves on 24 shots including a handful during the late flurry Edmonton created as they pressed for an equalizer. Dmitry Kulikov had an outstanding defensive play late as well that may have saved a goal, and Florida's best players blocked shots, took hits to make plays, and skated harder on the backcheck to make the win happen tonight. A win's a win, and no one said it had to be pretty.

In short, the Florida Panthers earned the parade tonight!

For guys like Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad who have been playing in Sunrise since 2013 and 2014, respectively, they deserve this victory after going through a lot of lean years.

For guys like Bobrovsky, Reinhart, and Sam Bennett who were seen as playoff underachievers and guys who simply couldn't get their teams to the next level, they deserve this victory to quiet their detractors.

For Paul Maurice, the victory was sweet after all his time in the NHL without a Stanley Cup, but perhaps a better ending was finding out that he's still a Winnipegger at heart even if he's not from Winnipeg.

I don't know if that's going to happen next season or in any season beyond, but that's a heckuva statement on national television from a guy who won the hearts of Winnipeggers with his humour and candidness every time he spoke. Paul Maurice may not be from Winnipeg, but he'll always have a place here thanks to his eight memorable seasons with the Jets.

It took 31 years for the Florida Panthers to finally stand atop the mountain in the NHL, and they'll celebrate their first Stanley Cup with a parade on Sunday. For the fans who went through ownership sagas and players wanting out, the victory will be sweeter in knowing that this team was all-in after missing their shot the season before. Expect south Florida to be in party mode for the rest of the week as they get set to celebrate the first Stanley Cup by the NHL's southernmost team!

In 2024-25, the Panthers go from being hunters to being the hunted after winning the Stanley Cup tonight! To all Panthers players, fans, coaches, staff, and owner, enjoy the spoils that being the victors brings! Congratulations to the 2024 Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The First Squad

The woman to the left has been busy over the last week as she put 26 players through the paces, watched film of practices, had discussions with players, and weighed all of those factors with a few more intangibles to come up with a team. Karissa Kirkup, the head coach of the very first U18 AAA Brandon Wheat Kings hockey team in the MFHL, has made her choices, and she's ready to lead her players into battle against some of the best players the province of Manitoba can boast. Kirkup will have her players ready by the time September rolls around, but there's a ton of work to do between now and then as she aims to find staff, come up with jerseys, and prepare for a long season. Today, though, the 17 girls chosen by Kirkup who will skate for the very first MFHL Wheat Kings team have been named!

I wrote about the expansion of the MFHL into the Brandon region last week, and everyone I've spoken with has said this will make hockey better in Manitoba by having another team in the western portion of the province playing. There has been no shortage of compliments about the effort shown by Kirkup to not only have the U15 team as good as it was, but for her experience and hockey knowledge continuing to be passed onto the next generation via the U18 AAA route. In short, everyone who has a stake in the game at the U18 AAA female level seems excited about Brandon joining the fun!

Kirkup's team has a good mix of veteran leadership and youthful enthusiasm, it seems, and that should bode well in setting the Wheaties up for future success. A number of players who made the team have MFHL experience while the remainder appear to be high-calbre players from quality U15 programs. Make no mistake that the Wheat Kings will compete in every game this season. Where they finish in the standings will be entirely up to them as they'll have talent at all positions.

Here is your first Brandon Wheat Kings MFHL team by position.

Goaltenders

Name	Last Team	Age	Record	GAA	SV%
Danica Averill	Westman Wildcats	15	13-4-1-2	1.98	.926
Shannon Hees	U15 Brandon	15	13-4-3-3	1.23	.948

It appears that Kirkup decided to go younger in the crease rather than bringing in a veteran, but I like this idea as both Averill and Hees will compete and push one another to be better while being the backbone of the Wheat Kings team for the next few years. Averill's experience with Westman is big when it comes to helping her teammates adapt to the MFHL, but Hees will push for playing time. If teams are built from the net out, Kirkup has an outstanding tandem this year and for the future.

Defenders

Name	Last Team	Age	GP	G	A	Pts
Bailey Anderson	Central Plains Capitals	17	25	0	1	1
Kasia Baranyk	U15 Brandon Wheat Kings	14	30	2	2	4
Devyn Moncur	Westman Wildcats	16	28	0	2	2
Haley Blaine	Westman Wildcats	17	28	1	3	4
Chloe McBeth	Central Plains Capitals	16	28	0	0	0
Chloe Kachur	U15 Brandon Wheat Kings	15	27	2	6	8

The mix of veteran players and younger defenders is evident on Kirkup's blue line. Anderson was an alternate captain with the Capitals last season, and she could be the first captain of the Wheat Kings. Blaine was a pillar of strength on the Westman blue line, and her and Anderson will lead the way. Devyn Moncur and Chloe McBeth may be reunited as they were defensive partners while skating for the U15 Wheat Kings while Chloe Kachur and Kasia Baranyk are going to get opportunities as they gain experience. This should be a fun defensive unit to watch, but they won't back down from anyone.

Forwards

Name	Last Team	Age	GP	G	A	Pts
Paige Crossley	Westman Wildcats	17	28	13	7	20
Madison Blaine	Westman Wildcats	17	27	0	4	4
Ffion Devonald	Hamiota/Rivers Jetskies	16	18	11	12	23
Kaia Stewart	U15 Brandon Wheat Kings	15	28	10	11	21
Sydney Sass	Westman Wildcats	16	11	1	1	2
Kaylee Dittmer	Central Plains Capitals	17	28	3	1	4
Jordan Bell	Central Plains Capitals	17	28	8	6	14
Quinn Twordik	U15 Brandon Wheat Kings	14	27	6	11	17
Kiera Vines	U15 Brandon Wheat Kings	15	28	3	7	10

Again, the mix between veterans and young players takes center-stage again in the forward ranks, but there are some definite bright spots that Kirkup can lean on for scoring. Paige Crossley comes over from Westman as the top scorer at the highest AAA level in Manitoba, and Jordan Bell will be relied on for scoring and leadership after she was an alternate captain for Central Plains last season. Madison Blaine and Kaylee Dittmer will be given larger roles than what they had on their previous teams, and it will be interesting to see how Ffion Devonald adapts in moving from the Rural Manitoba Female Hockey League to the MFHL.

Kaia Stewart was cut from both the Wildcats and Capitals last season, but she was a solid scorer for Kirkup at the U15 level in 2022-23 while Sydney Sass was Kirkup's leading scorer from that same team. Quinn Dittmer and Kiera Vines make the jump to the MFHL where they could surprise teams with their smarts and quickness. Kirkup has a very solid group of forwards that will play well at both ends of the ice.

The 2024-25 schedule for the MFHL will be released later this summer, but a number of teams are already set and ready to play. Five teams have already held tryout camps and announced their teams on the MFHL website and on social media, and it seems Brandon is nearly ready to be the sixth team. Of those remaining who haven't made any hockey plans yet, the Westman Wildcats, Interlake Lightning, and Yellowhead Chiefs are the teams who need to get into a rink and start working.

As stated above, there's still a lot of work to do for Karissa Kirkup, but she has her 17 players that she'll direct on the ice. For those 17 players, there will be a number of firsts that happen next season, but that first game will be the culmination of a lot of hard work and dedication by a number of people. Karissa Kirkup is one of those people, and this blog will be keeping an eye on her team's progress all season long. I'm hopeful that Jules Xavier of The Brandon Sun will be on that beat as well because his coverage this week has been incredible!

Congratulatons to the 17 players named above who are the first U18 AAA Brandon Wheat Kings girls' team in the MFHL!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Drop The Rhetoric

With Mark Scheifele being the first pick of the new Winnipeg Jets in 2011, the one thing that the franchise promised was a "draft and develop" process whereby younger players would spend time in the minor leagues to gain some important experience before graduating to the NHL level where it would be expected that they could step in and contribute. The Jets have seen a handful of younger players enter the lineup and make impacts, but it's hard to explain the number of draft picks who have moved to other teams after not getting an opportunity to make the Jets' roster. Draft and develop? All the Jets seem to be doing is developing players for other teams and leagues.

I say this due to the breaking news that Jets' 2022 first-overall pick Rutger McGroarty has informed the team that he will not sign with the Jets. The news exploded onto the hockey media circuit after the 32 Thoughts podcast, hosted by Jeff Marek and hockey insider Elliotte Friedman, reported that Kevin Cheveldayoff was examining the options when it came to trading McGroarty's rights. If this shakes the earth for the Jets, it might be the wake-up call this franchise needs when it comes to their prospects.

I say that because there have been obvious successes in the Jets' draft history, but there are significant shortfalls as well. While Mark Scheifele and Adam Lowry are the most tenured Jets to have been selected by the team, there are cases like Jacob Trouba and Jack Roslovic who are now doing quality work for other teams. No one is faulting the Jets for moving players who wanted out or for trying to improve their teams, but the number of young players who have expressed a desire to leave after seeing their careers stall in the minor-league system should worry Jets fans.

If you're wondering who has expressed a desire to leave, consider all of McGroarty, Nathan Smith, Kristian Vesalainen, Leon Gawanke, Mikhail Berdin, Sami Niku, and Logan Stanley have all made it clear over their time skating for the Jets organization that they wanted out or wouldn't sign with the club, and there were cases where the Jets simply moved younger players who didn't fit into their immediate plans like Nic Petan, Chase De Leo, Jansen Harkins, Nelson Nogier, and Declan Chisholm. That's an incredible amount of players since 2012 who the Jets spent draft picks on only to watch them play somewhere else or wanted to play somewhere else.

Again, no team keeps all their picks, but what should noted is that five of the players listed above were picked in the first 50 picks. Those are highly-regarded players who are considered as some of the best players in their draft classes, and the Jets have convinced them that there's no room for them in Winnipeg. I agree with with source who told Scott Billick of the Winnipeg Sun, "It's not a good look."

I respect that the Jets have had seasons where they've pushed for first-place in their division where the acquisition of a veteran scorer or defender that could push some of the less experienced players to the pressbox or the AHL. That's expected in the high-stakes NHL where experience still rules over youthful exuberance.

Where I struggle, however, is when you look at the production some of these players have shown while skating with the Jets only to be removed for those experienced players. Cole Perfetti might be the best example of this most recently where his 38 points in 71 games (0.535 ppg) was parked in the pressbox for four of five playoff games while Mason Appleton (.439 ppg) skated in all five games. The Jets likely should have gone with more scoring against the Colorado Avalanche, but I'd argue that Perfetti's defensive awareness is also better than Appleton's awareness which should have put him in the lineup. Yet Appleton skated in all 82 games in the regular season and all five playoff games as the Jets took a first-round exit.

This isn't the first time that the franchise finds itself trying to defend itself from the howls of fans over playing the kids either. In 2015, there was a cry for Nic Petan to play more. It was hard to explain why Ville Heinola wasn't playing with Jets in 2021, and it's even harder today. In 2022, fans wanted more of Morgan Barron playing in a middle-six role. The demotions down the lineup for Perfetti were difficult to watch and harder to explain.

In 2017, Kevin Cheveldayoff told reporters,

"Very fortunate to have the ownership group that we have that shares the same philosophy on how we were going to do this. We were patient with the development of some of our young players. In today's day in age you can't rush them.

"We feel that's going to help them in the long run."

Again, I understand the sentiment here, but the 2017-18 Manitoba Moose produced five NHL players from the group under 25 years-old. Namely, only Mason Appleton skates for the Jets. The others include Brendan Lemieux (CAR), Jansen Harkins (PIT), Tucker Poolman (VAN), and Eric Comrie (BUF). Based on what Cheveldayoff said in December 2017, the Jets are not a "draft and develop" team when it comes to filling gaps on their own roster. Not even close.

2019 saw the Jets develop Logan Stanley into a player who is widely regarded as an NHL seventh defenceman at best. 2020 saw the Jets develop Jack Roslovic (NYR) who was part of the Patrik Laine trade. 2021 saw Cole Perfetti, Dylan Samberg, and David Gustafsson become semi-regulars by 2024, but Declan Chisholm (MIN) is no longer part of the equation. 2022 saw the Jets develop Morgan Barron, but Mikey Eyssimont (TBL) is playing against Winnipeg. 2023 had Kevin Stenlund (FLA) in the Moose lineup, but he is now skating in the Stanley Cup Final with Florida. While all of these players have skated for Winnipeg at times, the fact of the matter is that the Jets developed six players out of the 14 players who ended up as some of the better Moose players. And if you're reading the names, none of the players the Jets developed and promoted play on their top two lines in 2024.

Do I blame McGroarty for wanting to go to a team where his skills might be more appreciated? Well, if the Jets re-sign Sean Monahan which sounds like their plan, I don't. McGroarty is not a fourth-line center, and I doubt he's going to want to compete for ice time with the likes of Cole Perfetti, David Gustafsson, Rasmus Kupari, and Morgan Barron. That likely means he's going to play in the AHL with the Moose, and it seems that McGroarty is asking for real consideration for a roster spot with the Jets rather than accepting his predetermined fate as the top-line center for the Moose. If that's the plan at Canada Life Centre, I don't blame McGroarty for looking for other options.

You can make the case that McGroarty is putting himself ahead of the team, but that argument is ridiculous in today's day and age where players hold more power to determine where they play than ever before. If he signs an ELC with the Jets, they hold most of the control when it comes to where he plays, and it seems like the AHL might be where we see him. This is the reason why a lot of young players want out of Winnipeg - the chances of cracking the roster simply aren't there, and the Jets have proven time and again that they'll hold a younger player back in favour of a lesser-skilled veteran.

You won't convince me that an Ehlers-McGroarty-Perfetti line wouldn't be absolute chaos for opposing teams to contain in the offensive zone. You can't tell me that a Connor-McGroarty-Lambert line wouldn't be an analytics nightmare for opposing teams. Even a Connor-McGroarty-Perfetti line would be scary despite some of the defensive challenges they'd cause for the Jets, but that's why playing the kids at the NHL level wouold give everyone a better idea at what can be improved and what would send fans clamoring to the ticket booths to buy tickets.

Remember this when you look at the likes of Wyatt Johnson Logan Stankoven on Dallas, Brock Faber and Marco Rossi on Minnesota, Logan Cooley and Michael Kesselring with Utah, Luke Evangelista with Nashville, and Scott Perunovich with St. Louis. All of those players were rookies this season, and they all had outstanding seasons as they became regulars for their teams. We'll see a lot of them next season when they pass through the Canada Life Centre, but one has to wonder if we'll see any of the players the Jets drafted as their next stars.

It seems one player we won't see is Rutger McGroarty which is an absolute shame, so it's time for the Jets to drop the "draft and develop" rhetoric because they might be the worst team in the NHL at practicing what they preach.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Arizona Tire Fires?

It hasn't been a good week for this fellow. If you're not sure who that is, that's current NHL-owner-without-a-team executive Alex Meruelo, and his week went from bad to worse when news broke twice about his little organization that's working to get an NHL team back in the Phoenix area. Public relations people will tell you that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about, but the news stories that were reported this week makes me wonder if the NHL would actually consider Meruelo as a potential owner if the five-year grace period expires.

I say this because it was reported on Monday by PHNX Sports' Craig Morgan on Twitter that the Coyotes reportedly laid off employees beginning late last week where those employees "were told they are employed until the end of the month and then will get a severance package that includes an amount equal to an additional paycheck along with healthcare for the month of July."

Considering that there is no Arizona Coyotes franchise in operation, no one should be surprised that the layoffs were coming. How it was done and the little compensation given to those affected employees, though, are what drew the ire towards Meruelo of many on social media. Imagine being told that your job is done at the end of June and all you get is one additional bi-weekly pay statement and four weeks of health insurance? How would you feel if that's the message you got at the end of last week?

Meruelo received $1 billion to hand his franchise over to the NHL in the deal to move it to Salt Lake City. The total cost of his severance package he's offering to his soon-to-be-terminated employees likely won't even break $100,000. If you're doing the math, the optics simply look terrible when you consider everything that's happened over the last few months with this franchise.

The Athletic's Katie Strang reported on April 24, "Employees within the franchise's business side have been told their jobs are safe until the June 27 land auction. Meruelo said on Friday that those jobs will be evaluated over the next 60 days but that his intent 'is to keep everything intact.' Those who remain behind have been told to focus efforts on the Tucson Roadrunners, the Coyote’s AHL affiliate that Meruelo still owns."

And that leads to the next embarrassing gaffe for Meruelo this week. Today, a whole new level of stupidity was revealed by the Arizona State Land Department, and this one's a doozy.

Corina Vanek and Taylor Seely of the Arizona Republic reported today that the "Arizona State Land Department announced Friday it scrubbed an auction for desert land in north Phoenix that the hockey team owner Alex Meruelo eyed for development of a new arena."

Yes, that's the same auction that Meruelo thought he was going to win outright, stating on April 4, "My family and I are committed to winning this land auction and building a transformative entertainment district that will not require taxpayer funding for the first time in Arizona history. We will buy this land, build this development and finish a project that will incur the cost of more than $100 million in infrastructure improvements with no burden placed on taxpayers."

With no auction taking place, there's another commitment on which Meruelo failed to deliver which is almost his modus operandi at this point. Nonetheless, there are some details here that really need to be examined because it seems that Meruelo's team simply does not like to read rule or fine print when it comes to major deals like securing land for an arena.

According to Vanek and Seely, "Phoenix spokesperson Teleia Galaviz said the Land Department asked for an interpretation of the zoning on the site, and the city had determined a sports arena was not allowed under the existing zoning. An arena would require 'approval of a special permit through the rezoning process,' she said."

Doubling down on that statement, "Phoenix Councilman Jim Waring, whose district the proposed arena would be in, said Friday that the Coyotes should 'get a zoning attorney. They don't have one. Get in the city, come up with a plan and go through the process. Then buy it.'"

Imagine being Alex Meruelo for a second here. He spends all this time, energy, and money to come up with designs for a new sports and entertainment complex, he gets a number of people on his team to review the auction details and be prepared for bidding, and he states confidently that he will win the auction for the land... yet he didn't check with a zoning attorney on whether he could actually build an arena on that land? He made his fortune in real estate and construction, but FAILED TO CONSULT A ZONING ATTORNEY. How does anyone at the NHL offices think this is acceptable?

How many gaffes is the NHL willing to let this guy make? He's clearly not qualified to own a professional sports franchise after he was kicked out of Gila River Arena for not paying $1.3 million in taxes, failing to pay players signing bonuses, having the NBA reject him as an owner, having unpaid bills and invoices, and fostering a wholly toxic environment. He not only failed to build an arena in Tempe, but also failed to win the hearts of voters who made it clear they didn't want his arena in their neighbourhood. At this point, Meruelo doesn't seem remotely qualified to run a lemonade stand, let alone a professional sports franchise.

As per Katie Strang of The Athletic, "On March 6, Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly met with Meruelo and asked whether he could look his players in the eyes and give them an honest answer of when they’d have an NHL-caliber home. He told them he could not."

Things only get worse after speaking with David Leibowitz, a former communications consultant for the Coyotes, who told Strang, "I have not witnessed a group more committed to doing things the wrong way and failing to develop any sort of meaningful support in the political community, business community and with the influential stakeholders they need to make this happen."

If I were a conspiracy theorist, the termination notice being given to all his employees a week ago despite telling Strang that everyone was safe until the land auction almost makes me think Meruelo knew that the auction would be called off. I don't subscribe to the conspiracy idea, but that's almost too coincidental in terms of the timing. Nevertheless, Meruelo has stated that he'll push forward with the idea that he'll get his special land permit and start building his arena and entertainment complex despite having no staff to assist him nor any support from politicians and power brokers in the city.

I don't know how the NHL views Alex Meruelo as anything but a problem, and I'd be convincing 31 other owners to cut Meruelo loose if I owned a team. The very obvious and egregious missteps he's shown in his short time as an NHL owner shouldn't be overlooked, and the NHL should be looking to terminate their business with him ASAP based on these latest gaffes. No other league would tolerate this kind of stupidity and embarrassment from one its owners, and yet the NHL sits by quietly in the hopes of securing the Phoenix television market.

If the NHL somehow grants a revival of the Coyotes under Meruelo's watch, there should be one condition for that to happen: rename the franchise as the "Arizona Tire Fires". That's the only way this entire mess will make any sense.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 613

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, returns to the airwaves tonight from the comfortable confines of the UMFM studio where we'll chat a little puck for an hour. What are we talking about? Well, it's been a busy week in the hockey world that will take us all over the planet as we have stops locally, nationally, and internationally where hockey news is happening. There are still two major trophies to be awarded to teams in North America as well, and our hosts will update those situations tonight on the program! There's a lot to discuss tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Where on the map will hockey take us tonight? Teebz and Jason will provide a few updates on the Stanley Cup Final and Calder Cup Final before jumping into a day of trades, there was a coach dismissed, an assistant GM was promoted, an affiliation was renewed, three teams will meet overseas, a star was honoured, an introduction is needed, an NHL star will be appearing on TV regularly, there's expansion in the province led by a familiar face, some new threads were leaked, and anything else we can get inside the sixty minutes of hockey chatter. Despite it being the first day of summer, the hockey news doesn't seem to slow down as we'll tackle all these stories tonight 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 new UMFM website's online 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. 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 and Jason chat about the finals, the trades, the hirings and firings, the schedules, the accolades, the opportunities, the new clothes, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: June 20, 2024: Episode 613

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Burning Through Teams

When Pierre-Luc Dubois agreed to join Team Canada for the IIHF Men's World Championship in May, I thought this might be the opportunity for him to show the Los Angeles Kings that he could take games and dominate on the ice like many had hoped he would do with the Kings. His nine points was certainly a solid showing, but it wasn't like he proved to be the game-changing player that the Kings wanted when they traded for him. Today, though, he became someone else's problem as the Los Angeles Kings found a way to move Dubois and his bloated contract to another team as Dubois officially was traded for the fourth time in his career before the age of 26.

In a move that had been rumoured for some time, the Los Angeles Kings traded Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Washington Capitals for goaltender Darcy Kuemper. Neither side retained salary in the deal for the players they moved, and both players get a chance to find opportunities where their games may fit better than what happened last season where both players struggled.

For the Capitals, they may have found a centerman who can step in where the once-prominent Nicklas Bäckström skated. Bäckström, as you're likely aware, was the setup man for Alexander Ovechkin for most of the last decade, and they found some incredible chemistry over that time. After Bäckström was injured, the Capitals simply had no one who could replicate those results alongside Ovechkin, and that seems to be the underlying reason for this trade: the Capitals have no one to center their first line.

As the always-revealing Russian Machine Never Breaks blog states, Dubois seems to have found the most success in career playing with Russian players. The only issue I have with that assessment is that both of the Russian players named - Evgeny Svechnikov and Artemi Panarin - are good enough to carry lines on their own. If the thought is to somehow push a 38 year-old Ovechkin to play more like his 28 year-old self, this could be an experiment that goes horribly wrong for the Capitals.

The talking points from GM Brian MacLellan sounded a lot like what both Kevin Cheveldayoff and Rob Blake said when acquiring Dubois. Let's review those statements:

• Cheveldayoff: "Pierre Luc-Dubois is a big hard two-way centreman that makes other people around him better and that's an important factor if you're trying to win."
• Blake: "Pierre-Luc Dubois is an elite two-way center with a unique skillset, and we're excited to have him join the organization and commit to us long-term. Over the last few seasons, he has proven the ability to contribute to all facets of the game and we are thrilled to be able to add a player of this caliber into our lineup."
• MacLellan: "This acquisition brings in a talented 25-year-old with immense potential to become a top-tier center in the NHL. With his size, exceptional skating, and high hockey IQ, we are confident he will thrive in our organization with increased responsibility and opportunity."

With two statements commending his two-way play, it's pretty clear that's not an actual asset that he brings to any team after being traded for the third time in his career. All three GMs were convinced he'd step in, contribute in a big way, and lead those teams to greater heights, but it was clear that he was more of a headache and a passenger with both the Jets and Kings. I can't understand why Brian MacLellan believes he'll be a different player with Washington when he's proven what kind of player he truly is time and time again.

Let's not forget this statement from Kings GM Rob Blake last month.

"We need to make him better," Blake told the Los Angeles Times. "He's had a consistent performance over his career and deviated from that this year. So it's up to us as a staff - coaches and management - to help him become more productive to us."

I guess that falls on MacLellan and Spencer Carbery now, and they'll have to find a way to get Dubois more productive than he's ever going to be if Ovechkin wants to break Gretzky's goal-scoring record. That being said, the logjam down the middle in Washington with Dylan Strome, Connor McMichael, and Nic Dowd being pushed by the likes of Henrix Lapierre down in Hershey means someone will likely need to be moved at some point. McMichael as a winger, perhaps?

The catch, of course, is that none of the three players listed before Lapierre had any success as Washington's top center outside of Strome, but Strome's game didn't mesh entirely well with Ovechkin's game. I'm not saying Strome will be moved to a different spot or traded, but Washington will be in the same position once more if Dubois can't find his apparent potential alongside the Great Eight. Finding a centerman for this generation's greatest goal scorer appears to be the most difficult job on the planet.

That role now falls to the $8 million man in Pierre-Luc Dubois, and MacLellan is hoping that Dubois can find the same chemistry he had alongside Panarin and Svechnikov earlier in his career. A 38 year-old Ovechkin won't have the same skill set that a 17 year-old Svechnikov or a 25 year-old Panarin does, but the Capitals need Dubois to help Ovechkin find a way to have one last gasp of greatness.

After being run out of Columbus, Winnipeg, and Los Angeles, one has to wonder how long Pierre-Luc Dubois will last in Washington. If things don't click with Ovechkin and he's a passenger again this season, that will have been four teams he's burned through with little to show for it. At that point, one has to expect he may be out of chances altogether.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Friendship Series?

There are always teams who play in U SPORTS that head over to Europe to play a little hockey, do some team bonding, and see some of the sights offered by the cities in which they play. From what I understand, the Regina Cougars women's team will spend some time in Finland in August, and it seems a couple more U SPORTS teams are going to make the jump across the pond for a little hockey action. Announced today by the EIHL's Belfast Giants, they'll host and play the OUA's Carleton Ravens and Canada West's Alberta Golden Bears in preseason action in late August and early September this year as all three teams get ready for their respective leagues' action in the 2024-25 season.

According to the release put out by the "Stena Line Belfast Giants", the Giants will play the Carleton Ravens on Friday, August 30 at 7pm local time before taking Saturday off to watch Carleton and Alberta tangle at 7pm local time. On Sunday, they'll be back on the ice to play the Golden Bears at 4pm local time, and this game to finish off the three-team weekend should be a beauty based on how Alberta builds their teams.

Both teams have personnel loosely tied to the EIHL and Belfast. Ravens' Head Coach Mark Cavallin was a Belfast Giant from 2000-02 while Golden Bears' General Manager Stan Marple spent ten years skating for the Guildford Flames. As we know if you're a reader of this blog or listen to The Hockey Show, there are a pile of U SPORTS players who skate in the EIHL currently, so this might be a good primer for Belfast if they're looking for late-season additions once the university season in Canada ends for both Carleton and Alberta.

Steve Thornton, Group Head of Commercial and Hockey at The Odyssey Trust, said, "Over the last few seasons, we've had a lot of success recruiting players who have played in U Sports, including Kendall McFaull, Josh Roach, Steve Owre, and Sam Ruopp, so the quality of the league is clear to see. In addition to the Friendship Four, these games will be the ideal opportunity to showcase our great city and the fantastic setup we have here at the Giants."

Spelling and grammatical mistakes in their release aside, the Giants are a well-run club over in Northern Ireland, and the squad finished in third-place last season with a 28-15-4-7 record before falling in the EIHL championship to the Sheffield Steelers. They are one of the most successful professional hockey clubs in all of the UK, having won six EIHL regular season titles and two playoff championships. As Thornton pointed out, this may be a tryout for the Giants when it comes to some of the players looking at their future as well.

What shouldn't be overlooked is that the Golden Bears missed out on a U Cup berth last season after being a perennial attendee at the National Championship, so I'd expect a hungry, talented Bears team to land in Belfast a few days before August 30. They'll get their legs under them, get a skate or two in, and then get down to business.

They may have their hands full with Belfast who seemingly are reloading in this offseason as well. They added former Detroit Red Wings netminder Tom McCollum, UND standout and Milwaukee Admirals forward Grant Mismash, and former UMD Bulldogs forward Kyle Osterberg already. Joe Cassetti and Zak Galambos from Western Michigan University signed with the club two weeks ago, and former Saskatchewan Huskies defender Josh Roach will wear Giants colours once again. In short, the Giants could win both games with the talent they have, and they still need to fill other key spots in their lineup!

Keep your eyes peeled for social media information on how these games can be watched. I'm hopeful the Giants will broadcast all three games so we can get an early fix of U SPORTS hockey, but we'll have to see what's available come August 30. What I can be sure of, though, is that three teams who have goals of winning their league's respective championships will compete to see who owns Northern Ireland for at least one weekend!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Led By An Incredible Person

The fact that there hasn't been an announcement from the MFHL is rather strange considering that leagues don't often add teams on a regular basis, but it seems that the demands from the southwestern portion of the province were heard by both Hockey Brandon and Hockey Manitoba. While the Westman Wildcats and the Yellowhead Chiefs do a great job in developing Manitoba girls into high-level hockey players, there was certainly a void on the map when it came to the province's second-largest city. That void will be erased this season, though, as Hockey Brandon, Hockey Manitoba, and the MFHL agreed on the approval for the U18AAA Brandon Wheat Kings female team will join the circuit for the 2024-25 season!

The addition the Brandon Wheat Kings pushes the MFHL to nine teams as the Wheaties will compete against the defending champion Winnipeg Ice, the Winnipeg Avros, the Pembina Valley Hawks, the Westman Wildcats, the Yellowhead Chiefs, the Central Plains Capitals, the Eastman Selects, and the Interlake Lightning. Obviously, that means as many as 20 more girls will play AAA hockey in Manitoba this winter which is exciting growth, but it also makes the pool of players that can move onto postsecondary school hockey programs even deeper. If you're a fan of the women's game, this is where a lot of the women playing professionally got their starts in Manitoba!

No one said that starting a new team will be easy as there are hundreds of things that have to be done at the outset before the first jersey is hung in a locker room, but it seems that the Wheat Kings will be led by one of the sharpest minds I've ever encountered in the game as former Bisons sniper Karissa Kirkup has been named as the team's first head coach!

Kirkup's success in the Brandon hockey community is no surprise, and her appointment to this position seemed almost elementary considering the success she's had at the U15 level where she led the Wheat Kings to their third consecutive championship in the 17-team Winnipeg U15 AAA Hockey League this past spring. Having her move up to the U18 level where she'll be familiar with a lot of the players who came through that U15 program could make for a much stronger team this season thanks to that continuity.

Kirkup, however, isn't just looking to rebuild those rosters she watched over at the U15 level. Her requirements at the U18 level sound a lot like how she played the game.

"I'm looking for players with a high compete level every time they are on the ice," Kirkup told Jules Xavier of The Brandon Sun. "They have to be good skaters of course, be able to communicate well on the ice, and have a positive attitude. For me, players need to work hard every shift and have a positive attitude. They need to battle even if they lose the puck... what is your next move without the puck?"

What may slow the Wheat Kings down a little is that some of their best players are playing for other teams after not having a U18 AAA team for so long. Knowing Kirkup, though, her team will make up any differences through hard work and solid team play - two hallmarks of her U15 teams. However, with some U18 AAA teams already having camps to determine their 2024-25 rosters, the Wheat Kings may be starting at the back of the pack in the arms race for elite-level talent this season.

"With this being our inaugural season, the team still has a lot to do to establish ourselves once we have a roster," Kirkup admitted. "It's interesting to see teams having tryouts this early, as you'll have the trickle-down effect as players cut in Winnipeg will look to teams like Eastman and Central Plains to play on."

Who lines up on the roster for Kirkup will ultimately be in her hands, but who attends tryouts is something she's letting Hockey Brandon and Hockey Manitoba sort out when it comes to player transfers. Administrative stuff aside, Kirkup knows her responsibility is also more than just winning games.

"I want to help these girls to the next level, not just what they do on the ice," she told Xavier, "and school and hockey are big stepping stones for players at the AAA level. There has to be balance playing hockey, student life and making friendships."

"You have to value the academic side of your life, not just playing hockey," she continued. "I plan on doing what's best for each individual athlete playing for this team to reach their potential. Where will they be one, two or three years from now? You still have to take your school seriously because hockey can complete your academic goals. Hockey can help that if you realize you're a student first, and an athlete second."

Those are wise words from a woman who knows what it takes to be a champion at the highest academic level this counntry has to offer, and I suspect the U18 Wheat Kings are going to make some noise this season. The MFHL is ultra-competitive with four teams finishing between 18-20 wins last season with five of eight teams finishing with records above .500. Judging the first-year Wheat Kings on wins and losses alone isn't entirely fair, but we should give some weight to how many girls move on to play at postsecondary institutions. That's a point of pride among all the coaches in the MFHL, and Kirkup already has that mindset.

"I will push the girls to be their best and will do everything I can as coach to make it happen," she confidently told Xavier. "As a player I learned a lot of life lessons, and will share those with the girls I'm coaching this season."

Honestly, I'm excited to see where Kirkup leads her team this season. Getting a new team up and off the ground is a huge task for any league and coach, but Kirkup has never shied away from a challenge in her hockey career. She's a brilliant hockey mind, has a keen eye for talent, and is an excellent communicator, so I suspect that the players who suit up under her watch will go on to do incredible things not only in their MFHL careers, but beyond this level of hockey.

For Kirkup, it seems she's just as ready for the challenge, telling Xavier, "I'm excited. This is going to be a lot of fun starting this team."

Congratulations to the city of Brandon who will see the U18 Brandon Wheat Kings, under the guidance of Karissa Kirkup, begin play in the MFHL next season at the J&G Homes Arena in southwest Brandon! Get out and support these women as often as you can before they're off and playing at the U SPORTS, NCAA, or international levels!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Everyone Is Busy

The abode pictured to the left is not HBIC Headquarters, but my house has looked like that at times throughout the build-up to summer. I'm not a fan of letting my grass grow extra long as the effort to cut becomes more laborious, but my schedule for the next week will hinder any plans to stay on top of yardwork needing to be done. Thanks to various commitments by other people, I have something scheduled for every night until next Sunday beginning tonight. I don't fault people for being busy because everyone deserves to have a life, but I suddenly wonder how I'm going to have one if I never have time to make that happen.

I will say that the majority of the commitments I'm now required to attend are baseball games I'm being paid to watch, so I'm not complaining loudly about that part. After all, getting paid to watch baseball is a pretty cool gig and I'm not about to give that up for a night off. That being said, though, I've easily worked the most nights early on in this season, and the idealism of "spreading the shifts around to all" seems to have hit a few snags thanks to people needing time off for their commitments.

Let me be clear that yardwork has never and will never prompt me to take a day off work from any job. The length of the grass was getting longer in previous weeks thanks to the combination of rain and sunlight helping it jumpstart its growth, but I got it all mowed down to a reasonable length for any home owners' association yesterday. No one should consider my house abandoned based on the lawn care and flowerbed weeding I'm keeping for this week. Hopefully.

For the record, I don't live under any HOA rules either. I have nothing against anyone who moves into a community where one exists, but the idea that specific people can determine what you can and cannot do to your property seems rather idiotic to me. Before any HOA people or anyone in an HOA community jumps all over me, I'm not crtiticizing your person, your property, or anything in between; rather, I don't get why anyone can tell me what plants I'm allowed to have in my flowerbed. That seems like madness from my perspective.

Consider this your warning that I won't be watching a lot of hockey this week with both the Stanley Cup and Calder Cup Finals underway. It's almost like the universe is telling me that I should have walked away from this blog on the original end date of when the U SPORTS National Championship ended. In any case, my busy week starts this evening and runs through to and includes Sunday next weekend.

No rest for the wicked, right?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Mental Rest Mattered

I don't think anyone would blame the Hershey Bears if they looked flat last night following their dramatic series win over the Cleveland Monsters. Having led 3-0 in that series, it seemed like the Bears were in completely control until Cleveland rattled off three-straight wins to force a Game Seven. Again, Cleveland would not go away until overtime of that final game in the series, finally allowing Hershey to meet the Coachella Valley Firebirds in the Calder Cup Final.

Even in Game One of the final, the Bears were fired up as the puck was dropped with Joe Snively notching his third goal of the postseason just 75 seconds into the game on an odd-man rush that saw the puck bank in off a defender as the Firebirds looked a little rusty after waiting for nearly a week for their opponent. However, the fatigue may have started to set in after the emotional opening minutes as a puck at the blue line hopped over Snively's stick, allowing John Hayden the opportunity seen in the lede photo as his shorthanded goal tied the game at 6:34.

Ryan Winterton would make it a 2-1 lead for Coachella Valley at the 13:52 mark as they took advantage of a mini 2-on-1 with Jimmy Huntington late on the backcheck. After one period of play, the score showed Coachella Valley with a 2-1 advantage, but it was Hershey with the 10-9 edge in shots. The two mistakes that led to pucks finding the back of the net, though, was something we hadn't seen from Hershey very often this season.

A Winterton backhander started the scoring in the second period as he put Coachella Valley up 3-1 at 9:49, but Hershey would get that one back quickly. A centering pass from Huntington hit the skate blade of a Firebirds defender and landed on the blade of Hardy Häman Aktell who buried his second goal of the postseason just 3:02 after Winterton's goal to make it 3-2. However, the two-goal lead would be restored just 2:20 later when John Hayden won a puck battle inside the face-off circle, turned, and fired home his ninth goal to put Coachella Valley up 4-2 at 15:11. That score would carry into the break with the Firebirds holding a 20-14 edge in shots.

The third period wasn't pretty, but the Firebirds went into lockdown mode as they attempted to ride the two-goal cushion to victory. Hershey did find a little life when Hendrix Lapierre's one-timer from the right face-off dot found twine with 1:56 to play as the power-play marker made it 4-3. The 6-on-5 through the majority of the rest of the game didn't get either side any additional goals as the Firebirds captured victory in Game One By that 4-3 score!

Hershey head coach Todd Nelson was asked if his team looked a little fatigued as the game wore on, but he was quick to downplay that.

"I'm not making any excuses," he told reporters, "but it was a pretty emotional series. We looked mentally tired at times, making mistakes. Puck-decision mistakes. Just not bearing down on passes."

He's not wrong in this case as the first two goals were uncharacteristic of how the Bears played all season, but one had to wonder if the grind is starting to affect the Bears. Yes, Coachella Valley gave up two goals off limbs of their defenders, but they simply executed better and wore the Bears down with their defensive play, limiting Hershey to just nine shots over the final 40 minutes of play.

"When you look at the four goals against, they're all preventable," Nelson said. "A team like Coachella, you have to make them earn their goals because they're a highly talented team, and they can finish. Just like we saw last year. We've got to make it tougher on them."

The Firebirds, however, know that there will be a hungrier Bears team in Game Two, but they'll take this win against a good squad.

"It's not just another win, that's for sure," Firebirds head coach Dan Bylsma told Andrew John of the Palm Springs Desert Sun. "We're racing to get to four wins to win a Calder Cup, and it was huge to be able to come out in a tough place to play and be able to get the win right off the hop in Game 1."

Nothing is decided after Game One, and I expect the Bears will want to answer in Game Two before heading to Palm Springs for three games. Coachella Valley is gunning for a first Calder Cup after losing to Hershey last season, so they'll be motivated for Game Two as well. It should be a beauty tomorrow at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania as these two teams dig deep for wins!

By the way, highlights of this game are below!


Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!