The Tour May Continue?

Back on August 10, I wrote an article about Russian star Evgeny Kuznetsov signing with Sibir Novosibirsk where I joked that he could "suit up for every team by age 44 if he keeps up his current pace" of switching teams. I'm completely in the camp that Kuznetsov doesn't read HBIC, but it feels a little coincidental that Kuznetsov left Novosibirsk after just eight games yesterday. According to several posts on Instagram, it appears that Kuznetsov's father's health is behind his sudden and surprising departure from the team, but that will mark the fifth KHL team he's skated for in his career. Will he reappear elsewhere?

I take nothing away from Kuznetsov if he is spending time with his father during this time. Kuznetsov doesn't need the money that the KHL pays, and having him play with his father's health weighing on him likely wouldn't have been good for Sibir Novosibirsk who needed him at his best. My hope is that his father recovers because no one needs that kind of dark cloud, so here's hoping he's back on his feet soon and Kuznetsov can get back to playing hockey somewhere.

Assuming his father lives in Chelyabinsk where Kuznetsov was born, Kuznetsov could sign a deal with Traktor Chelyabinsk once his father recovers in order to remain closer to him. Kuznetsov got his start with Traktor Chelyabinsk back in 2009, so it would be a homecoming of sorts for the once-prolific scorer. Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg is three hours to the north of Chelyabinsk as well while both Ufa and Magnitogorsk are just over three hours away. The last two teams, however, have already had Kuznetsov on their rosters last season.

In short, the 34 year-old is running out of options quickly if he wants to remain close to home to be near his father for health reasons.

Others, meanwhile, have suggested that Kuznetsov's departure from Sibir might have something to do with the fact that Sibir is a bad team. Currently, Sibir sits with a 3-7-0-2 record for eight points which puts them at 11th out of 11 teams in the KHL's Eastern Conference. They've surrendered the most goals in the Eastern Conference and the third-most in the KHL, and have only scored more than two goals in three of their 12 games thus far. It's been a rough start so far.

I'm not here to suggest that Kuznetsov gave up on Sibir Novosibirsk, but winning once in their last five games when they were tied or led going into the third period certainly isn't a selling feature to a guy like Kuznetsov. The lede photo is of him in street clothes early in the second period of an October 29, 2025 game between Ak Bars Kazan and Metallurg Magnitogorsk after Metallurg head coach Andrei Razin benched him for poor play after the first period. I'm not saying these situations are the same, but Kuznetsov doesn't do himself any favours when he leaves a team without a clear explanation for his departure.

Whatever the reason is for him leaving Sibir Novosibirsk, Evgeny Kuznetsov is, once again, a free agent. With five out of 22 KHL teams off his list, will he add a sixth team this season or will he return to one of his previous teams? If his father's health doesn't improve, will he return at all? Here's hoping the elder Kuznetsov's health recovers so we see Evgeny Kuznetsov back on the ice somewhere in Russia.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Major Uniform History Day

Imagine for a moment that it's the fall of 1974. Colours are changing on the trees, leaves are beginning to fall, and the fashion world is wearing earth tones and flared- and wide-leg pants. There were design changes to the Ford Mustang and Pontiac Firebirds, Lamborghini introduced the world to the Countach, Richard Nixon had just resigned as President of the United States due to the Watergate scandal, and the UPC Barcode to scan products at stores was still in its infancy. The world was a different place 50 years ago as Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's career home run record, People magazine first appeared on newsstands, and Chinese farmers discovered the Terracotta Army.

We're going to focus on fashion, though, and specifically on the NHL because October 4, 1974 is a day where something happened in a preseason game that maked a major moment in uniform history as per a social media account called KingsUniHistory. As per that account, the LA Kings "wore their gold home uniform with forum blue pants for the first time in 4 years in a preseason game against the Golden Seals". I know that a lot of people will read that and think, "That's not very significant," but it was because the Kings began wearing gold pants at the start of the 1970-71 season with their gold jerseys, meaning that the "forum blue" pants were used exclusively with their purple road jerseys throughout the decade!

If you know anything about me, I much prefer hockey uniforms to have contrasting pants colours to break up the monochrome look that happens when pants and jerseys match. The Kings actually wore that contrasting uniform style from their first time on the ice until the end of the 1969-70 season as shown to the right, and that looks all sorts of correct compared to the single-colour gold choice they opted to wear in 1970-71 and beyond. Make no mistake that there were some questionable uniform decisions made in the 1970s by a handful of teams, but gold-over-gold by the Kings is a head-scratcher.

The gold-over-purple combination would only be worn on October 4, though, as the Kings continued to use their gold pants throughout that season. As the KingsUniHistory account describes, "It was the only time this uniform faced California's all teal 1974-76 road uniform," meaning that every other date between 1974 and 1976 featured the all-gold Kings versus the all-teal California Seals! Finding any sort of record of these games is next to impossible, however, but we'll go with KingsUniHistory's knowledge that the gold-over-purple only saw the all-teal Seals once in the preseason on October 4, 1974.

The other major note is that the Seals' all-teal look also debuted in this game as the California Seals went from their Oakland Athletics-inspired kelly-green-and-gold look in 1973-74 to their uniform their new look for the 1974-75 season. With Charlie Finley selling the team in 1974, the colours were swapped to a more traditional west coast feel by the NHL who owned the franchise. That all-teal look debuted on October, 1974 in the preseason game against the Kings as well, so there were two major uniform events that on occurred that day!

You might be asking if the Kings, in their first gold-over-purple game in four years, won the game against the Seals, and they did not. They didn't lose either, though, as the game ended as a 1-1 tie. As shown to the left, Mike Murphy opened the scoring for the Kings before Seals' rookie Wayne King scored off a rebound to square the score, and the final score would be recorded as a 1-1 preseason tie. Just for fun, the California Seals found a way to break through for a win two days later as they downed the Kings by a 5-2 score on October 6, 1974.

The rivalry was already starting to simmer between these California rivals as they battled for west coast surpemacy, and the weird part was they weren't even in the same division in 1974! The California Golden Seals would play in the Adams Division that season with Boston, Buffalo, and Toronto while Los Angeles was in the Norris Division with Montreal, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Washington. Both the Adams and Norris Division played in the Prince of Wales Conference that season. The NHL cared not for your geography lessons.

I searched everywhere for reasons as to why the Kings wore their purple pants on October 4, 1974, and I can't find any site or newspaper article with a reason for that uniform decision. I will say it's the right one, though, because the gold-over-gold uniform was a bad look, even for the disco era. As for the Seals, they wouldn't last past 1976 so they never saw the Kings in purple pants again.

How often do we get a uniform debut for one team and a one-game uniform note for the other in the same game? Not very often, and that's why October 4, 1974 was a major uniform history day!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Two Touchdowns Is Enough, Right?

Being that this is a Sunday, any other season would see The Rundown make an appearance in this spot. With HBIC only a few articles away from hitting 7000 on this blog and because I'm a man of my word, that's not appearing here today despite us being one week out from the Canada West regular season beginning. I do want to rekindle one thing from The Rundown, though, and that's my dislike of teams running up scores. I know that coaches don't want teams to develop bad habits by letting up, but being up two converted touchdowns on a team should be a sign that one has scored enough to win a hockey game, right?

Pictured above is Boston College and Stonehill who met this weekend for Stonehill University's home opener. The Skyhawks came into the came with an 0-2 record after dropping both games against Syracuse in western New York by a combined score of 7-1, so the Skyhawks were looking to bounce back at home against one of the best teams on the east coast in the Boston College Eagles who were kicking off their season with a game at Warrior Ice Arena yesterday.

Again, I cannot stress this enough, but running up a score against an opponent just makes good teams look bad. Setting a program record for goals scored would be fun if the game was close in score, but Boston College not only set a program record, but an NCAA record for the largest goal differential in NCAA women's hockey history on Saturday. I already have a sour taste in my mouth about this game.

Prior to this season, Boston College and Stonehill had only met once for a regular season game, and the Eagles came away with a 5-1 win on September 28, 2024 which was the game from where the lede image above was taken. Lily Geist scored Stonehill's lone goal that day which tied the game at 1-1 just 4:14 into the first period, but that would be as close as the Skyhawks got in that September game.

Saturday saw Boston College score early, score often, and score a lot more than just five goals on the Skyhawks. In fact, it took the Eagles just 12:13 to score five times in this game as they took a 7-0 lead into the first intermission, a 10-0 lead into the second intermission, and they'd retire to their locker room after the game's final horn with the scoreboard showing the score to the right. So I have to ask what would possess Boston College to run up the score like this in a non-conference game against a clearly weaker opponent? What exactly did this score prove other than Boston College is in a different tier of hockey teams than Stonehill is? Is Boston College proud of this score? How does this blowout help them be better?

Boston College used three goaltenders in this game as Avah Sedore stopped five shots in the first period, Bailey Callaway was the busiest of the Eagles' goalies with nine stops in the middle frame, and Bella Pomarico stopped six shots in the third period to keep Stonehill off the scoreboard. In contrast, Stonehill's Nicole Schumm stopped 11 of 16 shots she faced before being pulled after the fifth Boston College goal at 12:13, and Maria Duffer was thrown to the wolves as she made 32 stops on 44 shots. Again, how does this help either team?

If you believe in karma and that kind of stuff, know that the "Hockey Gods" frown on this sort of score and that Boston College likely has some sort comeuppance awaiting them down the line. I'm not wishing any player harm in any manner, but you know that Boston College will be in a tight game at some point where they need a goal and the puck simply won't bounce their way. Don't say I didn't warn you when the Eagles need a win in the Beanpot or the NCAA National Championship and some weird bounce leads to a goal against them.

Stonehill opens their NEWHA Conference schedule against Saint Michael's College this weekend, and they'll likely play with a little snarl after yesterday's game. Boston College will be in Worcester, Massachusetts for a game against Holy Cross where they'll find stiffer competition. Both teams will likely forget about yesterday's game in quick fashion for different reasons, but you have to wonder if this blowout will have an effect in future years when it comes to having these teams play again. If Boston College is just going to beat up Stonehill, why would the Skyhawks agree to play the Eagles?

Blowout scores do nothing for either program when it comes to tactics, strategies, and positives to build on as the season begins. Stonehill will likely watch a lot of video to see where things went wrong while Boston College will go back to work full of false confidence after posting two converted touchdowns and a field goal.

For outsiders, though, this is a bad look for the NCAA when it comes to how far apart these teams may be in terms of talent, recruiting, and execution. I never expected to be talking about a 17-goal difference between two teams in a single game, and I assure you that I never want to be talking about that kind of disparity again.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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 keeping 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.

As 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 a heckuva team!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

It Took Three Days

I will fully admit that I have not been watching a lot of hockey thanks to life being one event after another right now. For as much as I need and want some time to relax, it seems I'm just as busy as I was through the summer. Of course, my drive to watch NHL hockey has been low as I already admitted that I was already disappointed in the NHL in many ways which doesn't help, but being busy virtually every night hasn't allowed me to settle down in front of a broadcast and watch. Last night, though, the NHL delivered one of the things I absolutely enjoy seeing in any season, and all it took was three days into the 2026-27 season for someone to add his name to the NHL history books last night.

The Tampa Bay Lightning were in Manhattan to play the New York Rangers last night, and things weren't going well as they trailed 4-1 late in the game. Lightning head coach Jon Cooper rolled the dice and pulled his goalie for an extra attacker to close the gap, and that gave Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin the opportunity he wanted.
Igor Shesterkin becomes the 18th NHL goaltender to be credited with a goal as he netted the fifth Rangers goal in a 5-1 victory over Tampa Bay! He also becomes the first New York Rangers goaltender to accomplish the feat while making 24 saves to help New York pick up its first win of the season! That's a solid night by any measure!

What's even crazier is that Shesterkin didn't see the puck slide into the yawning Lightning cage, telling reporters, "I didn't see the puck land so I didn't know can I celebrate or not." Celebrate he did, though, as he was mobbed by his teammates after scoring the 21st goalie goal in NHL history. Officially, Shesterkin's first NHL goal came at 17:26 of the third period to put the Rangers up 5-1. With a goal and a win under his belt tonight, he joins a long list of NHL goalies who have celebrated scoring a goal in a game. They include:

• Billy Smith, NY Islanders – Nov. 28, 1979 at Colorado
• Ron Hextall, Philadelphia – Dec. 8, 1987 vs. Boston
• Ron Hextall, Philadelphia – Apr. 11, 1989 at Washington*
• Chris Osgood, Detroit – Mar. 6, 1996 at Hartford
• Martin Brodeur, New Jersey – Apr. 17, 1997 vs. Montreal
• Damian Rhodes, Ottawa – Jan 2, 1999 vs. New Jersey
• Martin Brodeur, New Jersey – Feb. 15, 2000 vs. Philadelphia**
• Jose Theodore, Montreal – Jan. 2, 2001 at NY Islanders
• Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose – Mar. 10, 2002 at Vancouver***
• Mika Noronen, Buffalo – Feb. 14, 2004 at Toronto
• Chris Mason, Nashville – Apr. 15, 2006 vs Phoenix
• Cam Ward, Carolina – Dec. 26, 2011 vs. New Jersey
• Martin Brodeur, New Jersey – Mar. 21, 2013 at Carolina***
• Mike Smith, Phoenix – Oct. 19, 2013 vs. Detroit
• Pekka Rinne, Nashville - Jan. 9, 2020 at Chicago
• Linus Ullmark, Boston - Feb. 25, 2023 at Vancouver
• Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh - Nov. 30, 2023 at Tampa Bay
• Filip Gustavsson, Minnesota - Oct. 15, 2024 at St. Louis***
• Alex Nedeljkovic, Pittsburgh - January 17, 2025 at Buffalo
• Ilya Sorokin, NY Islanders - March 1, 2025 vs Nashville
• Igor Shesterkin, NY Rangers - October 1, 2026 vs Tampa Bay

Some quick notes: the italicized goals above were scored in the playoffs. The single asterisk denotes a shorthanded goal, the double-asterisk goal denotes a game-winning goal, and the triple-asterisk goals were scored on the power-play. The Islanders, Pittsburgh, and Nashville have had two different goalies score for them in NHL history. Brodeur and Hextall have scored more than once.

If you're scanning that list, Shesterkin's goal last night was also the earliest goalie goal scored in any season, beating Minnesota's Filip Gustavsson by two weeks! It should also be noted that Shesterkin reportedly scored while playing for Spartak Moscow in the MHL in Russia when he was 17 way back on October 31, 2013. It marked the first time that any goalie had scored in the MHL, and it helped Spartak Moscow down Red Bull Salzburg by a 4-1 score that night.

Now at age 30, the netminder can officially add a second puck to his trophy case to commemorate his first professional hockey goal!

Congratulations to Igor Shesterkin for his historic goal last night, and let me just reiterate that goalie goals at any level are awesome. That's one in the books for the 2026-27 season; how many more will be scored by goalies this year? I'm hoping we get a pile more!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!