I'm Booked Today

My whirlwind start to October will continue today as I am booked for the entire day. The image to the left is related to the reason I'm booked as I'll be emceeing a wedding today that features two people who are genuinely awesome. Neither are Boston Bruins fans nor are they even big hockey fans, but the wedding cake to the left is pretty amazing in terms of how it looks. I know weddings are mainly about the bride, so I'm assumning the bride who had this cake is a huge fan of the Bruins. In any case, I'll be running the music during the ceremony in the early afternoon before keepoing everyone on time at the reception as the master of ceremonies. I'm honoured to have been asked to be part of this day, and I'll deliver my best.

Wedding chatter aside for a moment, I did want to draw attention to the list of EBUGs that the NHL published yesterday. Feel free to read through that list if you like, but I want to point out two of the goalies on that list who have U SPORTS experience! It's pretty awesome to see a couple of guys who played at the Canadian university level getting a chance to sign a contract with an NHL team, and no, it doesn't matter that it's an EBUG contract. It's still a valid NHL deal.

We'll start out in Calgary where the Flames signed former Mount Royal Cougars netminder Dustin (Dusty) Nickel! Nickel actually joined the Cougars in 2011-12 for their final ACAC season where he played in one game, but he was on the roster for the 2012-13 season when Mount Royal made the jump to the Canada West Conference! He was listed as one of four goalies on the Cougars' roster that season and didn't get into any Canada West games in that season.

His 2013-14 season would end early thanks to Nickel suffering a knee injury in training camp. That knee injury would require him to miss the entire season in his third year of eligibility, and his fourth year was spent in the pressbox as well. Nickel never actually got to wear his #32 jersey on the ice in a regular season game for Mount Royal which seems cruel. He did graduate, however, with his business degree from Mount Royal University, and he's putting that to good use today as he owns his own construction business and works as a senior coach for Apex Goaltending! Not bad for a guy who missed time!

What makes this story cooler, though, is that Nickel's name should ring a bell for Flames fans as he was the team's old EBUG before the new rules went into place! Back on November 27, 2023, he nearly got his shot to stop pucks for the Flames after Jacob Markstrom was deemed to ill to play after the daily transaction period had passed, leaving Calgary with only Dan Vladar as a goalie. The Flames quickly signed Nickel to an Amateur Tryout Contract, and all eyes were on #40 after Vladar was bowled over by Golden Knights forward William Carrier minutes into the game! Would Nickel get his chance to shine?

"There was so much going through my head at that point," Nickel told the assembled media post-game. "I was hoping he would get up... especially when you look up and there's 55 minutes left in the game."

Vladar would recover, though, and the Flames went on to win 2-1 that night, but Nickel had been a mainstay with the Flames for some time before his night as the backup goalie as he was practising with both the Flames and the AHL Wranglers. In fact, he suffered a torn groin in 2022 while stopping pucks during a shooter's drill, but the Flames organization never asked anyone else to be the EBUG once Nickel was healthy again, bringing Nickel back for 2023 and beyond.

"The guys love Dusty," head coach Ryan Huska said. "Dusty comes out with us a fair bit whenever we need to rest a goalie, or if we have someone that needs some extra time. They love having him around."

The other guy who will do his best to not be pressed into action, but be ready if he is needed, is former Nipissing Lakers and former MacEwan Griffins netminder Brett Epp! The Edmonton-born Epp was signed by the Edmonton Oilers this season after serving as an unofficial EBUG over the last couple of seasons. Epp, however, actually got his university career started south of the border with the Nichols College Bison in Dudley, Massachusetts where he was 10-16-3!

After transferring to Nipissing University in North Bay, Ontario, he spent two years at Nipissing where, unfortunately, the COVID pandemic limited him to six games where he went 4-2-0 with a 2.78 GAA and a .915 save percentage before he signed with the ECHL's Newfoundland Growlers. Epp would bounce around the SPHL and a few lower leagues, but he'd resurface back in Alberta in 2024-25!

Epp would use his final year of eligibility to play with his hometown MacEwan Griffins where Epp would make a little history. His regular season wasn't all that great with the Griffins as he went 3-9-1 with a 3.90 GAA and an .888 save percentage, but he did record the program's first Canada West playoff win with a 41-save effort in a 3-2 overtime win over UBC on February 21, 2025! UBC would win the next two games to eliminate MacEwan that season, but Epp's name went into the record books for picking up that win for the program!

Epp has yet to play a single minute for either of the Oilers or the AHL's Bakersfield Condors, but he'll be listed on their roster this season as the official EBUG! And, despite his lack of experience, he seems to be the right guy for the job as Edmonton goalie coach Peter Aubry told Janson Duench of The Athletic, "The big reason he’s here is the guys like him. Fortunately, we had a free peek last year where Brett had come out and done a few practices with us, so that was a good thing and gives everyone a little bit more comfort."

What makes both of these stories even better is that, as per the NHL's mandate, both men will wear #00 on their jerseys if they ever are pressed into action or to backup one of the everyday NHL netminders. On that note, Epp had an even cooler story that he told to the Edmonton Journal's Gerry Moddejonge on Thursday, saying, "My grandma had her birthday last week, and we went out and got a double-zero jersey made for her, so that was pretty cool."

While a handful of teams have yet to have an EBUG on NHL.com's list, the fact that both Alberta NHL teams have local kids who played for a university in their repsective cities as their EBUGs is pretty cool. Frankly, it would be awesome if Montreal and Vancouver signed local guys who played for universities in their cities, so I'll hold onto the hope that the Canucks find a UBC or Trinity Western goalie while Montreal looks at a Concordia or McGill netminder for their EBUG.

Ad for me, the only letters I'll wear today are M and C. I'm definitely not qualified to be an EBUG in any capacity, but I don't think a wedding needs nor have I ever heard of an Emergency Backup Groom either. I'll let the couple who have been preparing and rehearsing for this day handle those responsibilities while I make announcements. An an wedding emcee, that's the kind of pressure I can handle.

I'm off to get things organized, so enjoy your day, folks. I know mine will be fantastic as I witness two people wed in a beautiful union that will last forever because they're awesome and make one heckuva team!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!