The Final Day

The HBIC Music Festival comes to a close today on this third day of looking at musicians wearing or holding hockey jerseys, and it's a day where every other league outside of the NHL gets to shine. Honestly, if I were a touring musician, I'd want more of these lesser-known teams in my closet because that's the sign of a true hockey fan. In saying that, though, these musicians seen today are doing their part in supporting the lesser-seen teams! Of course, if you know of a band or artist I've missed, please send the image(s) through to me via email! Don't forget to check out all the jerseys over at the HBIC Musicians in Jerseys database, but let's get into the final day of music fun at this summer's HBIC Music Festival!

We'll start on the international stage where we find two Canadian artists sporting the maple leaf! Simple Plan's Chuck Comeau looks like he's ready to take the ice in his Team Canada jersey, and Our Lady Peace's Raine Maida shows his support for Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off! Hands up for those good ol' Canadian boys!

We move to the EIHL who has a couple of acts at the festival. The Sheffield Steelers gifted Def Leppard with personalized jerseys for each band member while Rod Stewart shows his support for the Coventry Blaze! For those that are unaware, Liam Stewart, Rod's son from his marriage with model Rachel Hunter, played as a forward for the Blaze in the 2016-17 season and has represented Great Britain internationally! In that 2017 season with Coventry, Liam scored nine goals and 20 points in 49 games before moving to Guildford in 2018!

We'll move to the AHL who sent two musicians to the festival as well. Rapper Trippie Redd might be the only musician I've seen in a Bridgeport Islanders jersey while Dan Campbell of rock band The Wonder Years shows off another AHL team who no longer exists in his Philadelphia Phantoms jersey! Two former teams for one league!

We'll get to see the PWHL debut their first acts at the HBIC Music Festival as well this year! PVRIS vocalist Lynn Gunn took the stage in a Boston Fleet jersey, guitarist and keyboardist Leandra Earl of Beaches was spotted in a PWHL Toronto jersey from the Sceptres' first season, and Jonathan Cain of Journey took the stage and played the keyboard in an Emma Greco Vancouver Goldeneyes jersey!

Of course, there were some musicians sporting jerseys from CHL and USHL teams this year. Simple Plan's Chuck Comeau was on the ice in an autographed Quebec Remparts jersey while also sporting a black Quebec Remparts jersey, Shockwire wore a Peterborough Petes jersey in a video, Cape Breton's own Sunsetto took the stage in a Cape Breton Screaming Eagles jersey, Mitchell Tenpenny took the stage in a Calgary Hitmen jersey, Bailey Zimmerman was on stage in a Sioux Falls Stampede jersey, and, in one of the most awesome photos ever, Jon Bon Jovi showed his support for the Sudbury Wolves by wearing one of their jerseys! How awesome is that last image?

We have a strange jersey that was seen at the festival as guitarist Greg Leskiw of The Guess Who was on stage beside Burton Cummings in what looks like a WHA Winnipeg Jets jersey, but the WHA Jets never wore that design! Further to this, the Johnstown Jets never wore a diagonal "Jets" sweater either. I have no idea whose jersey it is, but he's wearing #25 on the back as well. If you want to take a closer look, the footage of the concert can be seen here. If you know whose jersey Leskiw is wearing, drop the info in the comments!

We have a couple of SPHL jerseys making appearances at the HBIC Music Festival this year! Journey's Jonathan Cain sported an Evansville Thunderbolts jersey on stage as he played guitar, and Bailey Zimmerman was on stage in a Huntsville Havoc "Retro Rush" jersey! That Huntsville specialty jersey is awesome!

The ECHL had one act on the HBIC Music Festival stage as Journey's Jonathan Cain was on stage wearing a Worcester Railers jersey!

The BCHL makes a rare appearance on the HBIC Music Festival stage, but Shockwire was wearing a Chilliwack Chiefs jersey in a video!

And the final act for the HBIC Music Festival takes us to the NCAA world where Jonathan Cain of Journey was on stage in a University of South Carolina Gamecocks jersey! For those unaware, the Gamecocks are the defending AAU College Hockey Division 1 Champions after being ranked fourth in the nation last season! Winning the national championship and having Journey on your side? That's a great season!

That officially clears out the folder on my desktop of all the musicians in jerseys! I'll start looking for and collecting new images once again, but that's a big job off the checklist. Again, if you want to send in a band or musician for the database, please send the image(s) through to me via email! Just be sure you check the HBIC Musicians in Jerseys database first so we're not duplicating work!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

No Butting Heads Here

When it comes to team branding, we've see a number of minor-professional hockey teams use unconventional names - Knight Monsters? Ghost Pirates? Hammers? - for their franchises. The key to these franchises is that they can save their weird names by having good jerseys, a solid mascot, and an ability to have fun with their names. That's where the New Mexico Goatheads come into play because their choice of team name was, in a word, questionable. I get the tie-in to local flora with which people of the Rio Rancho area are familiar, but it's just not a great name. Today, the team held an event where the jerseys would be shown, so let's see how this party went!

I don't know how the jersey reveal actually went because I can't find a lot of great images of the event, but we did get to see the jerseys.

At first glance, these aren't bad at all. I like the simplicity of the jersey as the logo pops off the chest without the shoulder yoke. The colours are bold with enough striping on the sleeve and jersey hems to complement the logo, but I'm not certain the added colours on the neckline were needed. It doesn't detract from the jersey, but it feels little unnecessary. The thorn logo above the Athletic Knit logo is entirely unneeded, and these jerseys would be improved if there was only one logo on the neckline. That's the only major problem I see.

I went to the Goatheads' store to see if I could dig further into the jerseys when it came to secondary patches and fonts used, but they only had the white replica jerseys up for sale. More on that in a moment, but you can see the Colorado Avalanche logo on the right shoulder while the New Mexico state wordmark logo is on the left shoulder. This is pretty standard with the NHL affiliate being represented, and I have no problem with the New Mexico state logo being used as representation of the community they represent. Again, the major thing that sticks out to me are the two logos above the Goathead logo. Someone needs to do something about that. It's going to bother me every time I look at these jerseys despite the AK logo needing to be there.

Regarding the lack of photos at the event and just the white jerseys in their online store, Jared Chester of KRQE Sports spoke to Goatheads GM Jared Johnson who said, "Unfortunately, we were only able to get 100 of each color here today, but we're expecting to get the rest here in the next couple of weeks to a month. They turned out unbelievable. We're really excited to get those out to the fans. That's been one of the biggest requests we’ve had so far."

Clearly, there's a demand from fans for their new team's threads, so that's a good sign for the expansion franchise. Of course, having a winning team helps to sell tickets and merchandise, and the Goatheads made an announcement at the event as to who will guide this franchise in their inaugural season with a head coach unveiling! The man to the left is who will take the reins this season as former NHLer Zach Stortini is the team's first head coach! The former hockey pugilist was an assistant coach with the OHL's Sudbury Wolves before joining the AHL's Tucson Roadrunners as an assistant coach in 2022. This will be his first head coaching gig in professional hockey, so we'll see how the 40 year-old handles the pressures of managing and deploying his ECHL roster!

Before I wrap this up, I do want to bring attention to one thing that I noticed in the Twitter photos posted by the New Mexico Goatheads. I'm not here to question anyone's jersey choices, but there was a fan at the event today that was wearing a jersey that caught my attention. As you can see to the right, there was a gentleman at this event wearing what looks like a Paul Shmyr California Golden Seals jersey with #22 on the back. Except Shmyr didn't wear #22 and it's not a California jersey because someone needs to appoint this guy as New Mexico's greatest hockey fan. That jersey he's wearing is a Dean Shmyr jersey from the Albuquerque Chaparrals from either 1996-97 or 1998-99 when the CHL's New Mexico Scorpions wore those throwback jerseys! That is some awesome jersey history! Good on that dude!

Amazing historical jerseys aside, the Goatheads should look pretty solid next season. The jerseys are simple, they don't get crazy with colours or added features, and the double logo on the front above the main Goatheads logo is my only major quibble. Yes, there was no font shown for names and numbers, but we'll get there. Of course, these may look different once the Goatheads take the ice, but the initial jersey unveiling looks pretty good. It's certainly not the greatest of all-time, but the Goatheads are ready for business!

And yes, I despise the GOAT acronym. People need to stop using it.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

TBC: Tales From The Bus Leagues

If you've ever had a chance to sit and chat with a professional hockey player in a less-formal setting, you know that all players have about a million stories from their careers they enjoy telling. Minor-league hockey players always seem to have more of the crazier stories thanks to there being less cameras and eyeballs on them, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to add another great read to the library that is all about one man's hockey experiences. Teebz's Book Club is proud to review Tales from the Bus Leagues, written and published by Jamie McKinven. This book is one hundred stories from Jamie's life where hockey was his only concern as he played in the NCAA, the ECHL, the CHL, and in Europe over the course of his career, and the end result is a book where I couldn't turn pages fast enough when it came to reading about these stops in his career!

Jamie McKinven's biography comes from his Queen's University page where he serves as the women's hockey assistant coach! That biography reads, "Jamie is in his 9th season as an Assistant Coach with the team where he specializes in working primarily with the defense and on defensive systems and tactics on top of individual skill development & data/analytics. A Kingston, Ontario native, McKinven played NCAA Division I hockey at Clarkson University, earning the Fran Narigan Award for excellence in academics, athletics, and humanitarianism in his senior year. Following his collegiate career, he played professionally in the ECHL, Central Hockey League, and Europe. After his playing career, McKinven served as Assistant Coach and Director of Player Development for the Kingston Voyageurs Jr. A Hockey Club and as a skill development specialist with FL Sports Inc. and McKinven Hockey Development & Consulting." It should also be noted that he's written three books about hockey including Tales from the Bus Leagues!

Tales from the Bus Leagues takes you through Jamie McKinven's career, starting in junior hockey in Ottawa to his university days in Potsdam, New York to playing in hockey hotbeds such as Shreveport, Amarillo, Augusta, and more! McKinven's experiences are documented along the way as he includes lessons learned in and around the game, pranks pulled and experienced, teammates that made his career memorable, and some of the more memorable events and people that make Tales from the Bus Leagues a funny and enjoyable read!

You might be asking who McKinven played with or against that you know, and there were some notable names who skated in the leagues he did. Former NHL defender Grant Clitsome is the victim of a McKinven prank in one story, former NHL centerman Craig Conroy rewards McKinven and his teammates for their hockey skills, and former NHL forward David Desharnais was an opponent at one point. McKinven tells the story of Mike Sgroi who might be the scariest man on skates, and he talks about fighting the much larger Joel Irving, a Montreal Canadiens prospect. Through it all, McKinven ensures the humourous look at his career continues in Tales from the Bus Leagues.

What kept me hooked into Tales from the Bus Leagues early on was McKinven's experience in Serbia. During his time over there, the former Yugoslavia had broken up and there were still remnants of the war that went on all around Belgrade where he was playing. Rather than focusing on the conditions in and around Belgrade, McKinven spoke of the culture and people with very high regard. He writes,

"Considering that Serbians have been living with the constant presence of war and conflict for centuries, it makes complete sense that they would be extremely proud people. Family, religion and deep-rooted cultural values are what have guided the Serbians through their darkest days. It's the foundation of their perserverance, something we, as Canadians, were lax and somewhat absentminded about. It wasn't that we didn't appreciate the importance of these values. It was more that we never had to rely on them for survival."

That's a profound statement from a guy who was there to play hockey, but his experiences there and the teammates he befriended in Belgrade were reminders that he was stranger in a foreign land. I appreciate his cultural perspective on his time in Serbia, and I'm glad he wrote about it with such clarity, honesty, and transparency.

There are a range of hilarious and entertaining stories in Tales from the Bus Leagues that include McKinven's experiences as a hockey player at The Masters, life as a university student-athlete, bus trips on two different continents, run-ins with coaches, and a pile of other stories that came from his career in the minor leagues. Some are admittedly childish in nature, but they're all part of Jamie McKinven's experience in being a minor-league professional hockey player!

Overall, Tales from the Bus Leagues is a fun read that should generate a smile during some of the stories thanks to the craziness in which McKinven and his teammates indulge. McKinven makes it clear that anyone who is a minor-league hockey player isn't playing for the money, and this is a lesson repeated in a number of the stories. What should be remembered, though, is that McKinven has had himself a lifetime of experiences doing what he loved, and it's easy to award Tales from the Bus Leagues the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval!

Tales from the Bus Leagues was released back in 2015, so you can likely find it on library shelves right now. I read the eBook version that is linked above, and it was easy to get into the book as it's funny, has short stories that last only a few pages at most, and is all about hockey. McKinven's stories occasionally contain some strong language, so it'd be recommended for older teens and adult hockey fans. However, Tales from the Bus Leagues is an excellent, fun read with great hockey stories, and it comes highly recommended!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

TBC: We Breed Lions

In the last few weeks, I have found myself reading more books about hockey. Part of that reason is due to the guests we're featuring on The Hockey Show, but I've been rediscovering my love of reading as I learn about different topics within the stories about hockey. I've been lucky enough, since starting Teebz's Book Club, to find books that are impossible to put down due to the writing and the topics contained within the covers. Our book today is one of those books as Teebz's Book Club is proud to review We Breed Lions written by Rick Westhead and published by Random House Canada. Westhead pulls no punches as he analyzes Canada's hockey culture and how we, as a country, act shocked when crimes happen within hockey like the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial when the warning signs have always been there. If one wants a sobering view of the game we hold so dear, Rick Westhead's newest book will deliver that in spades.

From his Penguin Random House biography, "Rick Westhead is TSN's Senior Correspondent and a two-time winner of Canadian sports writer of the year, presented by Sport Media Canada. Canadian Journalists for Freedom of Expression recognized him in 2023 with the Arnold Amber Award for Investigative Journalism. Westhead breaks news of consequence and has won six Canadian Screen Awards for his original features for various TSN properties. In 2025, he was recognized for his 'fearless reporting' by The Hockey News in its list of 100 People of Power and Influence in hockey. Prior to joining TSN, Westhead served as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star, where he reported on the ground in countries including Afghanistan, China, and Saudi Arabia." Rick and his family live in the GTA with his family, and plays pick-up hockey when he's not investigating a new story for TSN.

It shouldn't be surprising that We Breed Lions begins by talking about the 2018 Hockey Canada sexual assault case as Rick Westhead put in long hours uncovering and investigating claims made by both the plaintiff and the defendants. In doing so, Westhead uses the opportunity to pull back the curtain on the hockey system in Canada in the chapters following as he examines and exposes criminal behaviours and abhorrent activity at every level throughout Canada.

The staggering amount of questionable behaviour that is revealed in We Breed Lions should have every hockey parent, every league convener, every coach, every general manager, and every player asking how the game has failed so badly. The number of people in the game of hockey that Westhead interviews in the book who corroborate the allegations made should have everyone worried about the state of the game. We Breed Lions will be a "must-read" book for years to come if one hopes to see any change in the game.

The topics covered by Westhead in We Breed Lions are all problems known to hockey fans, but ones that no one brings up. He covers sexual assault, rape, hazing, bullying, the "what happens in the room stays in the room" secrecy among teams, alcohol and drug abuse, exploitation of power and intimidation, how people turn a blind eye to the listed crimes, and how teams cover up any illicit activity committed by anyone associated with the team. Westhead makes it clear this happens from the NHL level right down to minor hockey, and he speaks to many former players, coaches, and executives who make it clear that all of this is happening in hockey today.

It's not all doom and gloom in We Breed Lions, though, as Westhead brings forth examples of hockey where people are doing good. There's an excellent story about Sweden and how their hockey culture is tied closely to family. It's a chapter that gives one hope that hockey can still be good, and it's reinforced by the Alliston Hornets and their head coach Travis Chapman who are trying to teach young hockey players about overcoming weaknesses, respect, camraderie, and being a good teammate without using fear, intimindation, and shame.

Frankly, it was hard to read some passages that Westhead included in We Breed Lions, but these passages are the catalyst to changing the culture. Murray Walter, a lawyer in Swift Current, spoke to Westhead of the 1989 sexual assault allegations against Broncos' players Brian Sakic and Wade Smith. Walter told Westhead,

"Athletes were protected by community leaders because they were good hockey players, because people thought they were special. This case was amiscarriage of justice, and even today, no one has really had to stand up and be held accountable. As soon as [those] players were charged, people in our community who had influence started pulling the strings to help the players. At one point, a guidance counsellor at high school whose husband was on the board of the Broncos called this young girl into her office and tried to convince her that these [players] were nice boys who wouldn't have committed sexual assault. Imagine."

How sickening is it that a female guidance counsellor is downplaying the idea that these two players couldn't have committed sexual assault because they "were nice boys" to the victim of that sexual assault? Yet stories like this are told throughout We Breed Lions with only names and locations being changed. The protection and secrecy afforded to hockey players because they play hockey would have most FBI and CIA agents envious. And yet it happens every day.

Honestly, there are many words that I could use to describe We Breed Lions - compelling, powerful, sobering, explosive - but the one word that keeps coming to mind is "necessary". Westhead has made it clear that the crimes and repugnant behaviour in and around the game of hockey have gone on for far too long, and it's time for a major change. I suspect many still in the game will deny the reporting done by Westhead, but he brings all the receipts in his conversations with those people he interviewed, and they often reveal more than just what was asked of their observances and experiences.

I cannot say enough good things about We Breed Lions, and it really should be on everyone's bookshelf across the planet if one has any vested interest in the game of hockey. The topics that Westhead brings to light are difficult to talk about in any circumstance, but his willingness not to turn away from difficult discussions and to keep these topics in the public's eye is why he is Canada's premiere investigative journalist when it comes to hockey. I don't have enough space here to go over each and every chapter of the book and sing Westhead's praises, but because he has tackled these subjects with honesty and integrity while writing about them exceptionally well, it should come as no surprise that We Breed Lions is absolutely and entirely deserving of the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval!

We Breed Lions was released on November 4, 2025, so you can find it on bookstore shelves and library shelves right now, assuming that there are copies remaining. This book would be a perfect Christmas gift for your older hockey fan and is absolutely must-read material for all hockey fans! As a warning, the material contained within the covers is of an adult nature and there are some expletives used at times, so this book is strongly recommended for older teens and adult hockey fans. However, the book is a phenomenal read, and We Breed Lions by Rick Westhead is highly recommended for your bookshelf!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Delivery Date: Unknown

With the three arms of the Canadian Hockey League kicking off their seasons tonight, there are a lot of teams with new or slightly altered looks thanks to the CHL's deal struck with Under Armour who will now outfit all 61 teams across the three CHL leagues. Getting 61 teams ready fpr a season is a Herculean task for any manufacturer to undertake, but Under Armour knew the deadline when they agreed to the deal. However, one team made their debut tonight without new uniforms.

I'm not saying that dressing 60 teams is some easy-to-accomplish feat, but having one team open their season after they specifically redesigned their logo and uniforms feels like a failure on the manufacturer's part. Under Armour seemingly was ready to get 61 teams ready for the 2025-26 CHL season, but it turns out they were not as the Saint John Sea Dogs were forced to wear their old uniforms as they hosted the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles this weekend.

The Sea Dogs published a statement on Facebook yesterday with the information that the new uniforms had yet to arrive, and that they were expecting the uniforms to arrive in New Brunswick "later in the season". Thankfully, they still had enough of their old CCM jeseys kicking around that they could dress in those, but one has to wonder response the CHL will have after signing a five-year deal with Under Armour at the end of May. Clearly, this isn't an ideal start.

There were repots that the OHL's Kingston Frontenacs were also facing this same problem, but it seems they received their jerseys sometime over the last week as I watched some of their game tonight. They were wearing the Under Armour jerseys against Ottawa, but apparently Under Armour has some sort of "quality control with the unique, metallic fabric" used in their jersey design.

As Gare Joyce of The Kingston Whig-Standard wrote in his article above, "the sweaters were supposed to arrive at latest in mid-August, because they’re not game-ready, but rather require involved preparation. At this late date, it would be a mighty challenge to assemble the sweaters in time for the season opener, the stitching of numbers and name plates in addition to the sponsors patches."

He added that the Frontenacs couldn't wear last season's jerseys as "the team no longer possesses them — they were auctioned off at the end of the season". During the preseason, the Frontenacs wore practice jerseys in games to make up for the absent jerseys, but that's not the look that the Frontenacs wanted to have starting this season. They weren't the only team irritated with Under Armour as Oshawa Generals media spokesman Carter Smith, speaking about about a late delivery of jerseys, told Joyce, "It's not ideal."

The Brantford Bulldogs, also referenced in Joyce's article as potentially starting the season without their jerseys, had their Under Armour gear ready to go for their game tonight against the Kitchener Rangers. With these three OHL teams confirmed as having their jerseys in time for their opening games, that leaves Saint John as the lone CHL team without their jerseys. Going 60-for-61 in the jersey manufacturing game would be considered a failure when Under Armour had three months to have the jerseys ready and delivered.

I'm sure that the CHL is having quiet discussions with Under Armour about the Sea Dogs' situation, but one has to wonder if the complaints from other teams are hitting home at the CHL head office. Obviously, neither side is going to claim any sort of breach of contract, but there should be some pressure from the CHL on Under Armour to meet deadlines moving forward. While you can move around "Pink in the Rink" or "Hockey Night in Saint John", you can't really have a St. Patrick's Day game in April for obvious reasons.

It goes without saying that this isn't the way you want to start a five-year partnership, so Under Armour's got some serious work to do.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 677

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, somehow begins its fourteenth season tonight! It's hard to believe that the show has been through thirteen seasons, but the math says we completed the 13th season last week. Tonight, we embark on a new season of hockey chatter that, honestly, will sound like last season where our hosts break down news stories, conduct fun interviews, and dig into hockey! Let's get it going as Season 14 starts tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight on the program, Teebz and Jason will avoid any glitches when celebrating the start of the 14th season. After patting themselves on the back for not being cancelled yet, they'll chat about Ken Dryden's impact on hockey, the Utah Grizzlies moving to Trenton next season, Brady Keeper retiring and unretiring in one summer, the KHL explaining how broadcast and betting monies are distributed to teams, the new Oilers alternate jersey glimpses, the KHL's Shanghai Dragons' jerseys, and anything else with which we can kick off Season 14! It's another big show with lots of chatter and opinions 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 UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. 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! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat about a hockey legacy, leaving town, player indecision, Russian money, bad jerseys, surprise teams, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: September 11, 2025: Episode 677

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 672

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, will take you on a bit of a summer vacation today as our hosts will talk about stories that only have minor Canadian ties to them. With summer on the down slope of its seasonal high, the ice will be going back in rinks around the northern hemisphere soon if it hasn't already been installed. Because of this annual occurrence, the show will look at stories emerging from places where hockey is being played or close to starting. This should be a fun show as we jump around the globe tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

One place that will be mentioned tonight is Russia as Teebz and Jason dive into stories concerning the KHL and some of the craziness happening in and around that league, the Champions League will test a new rule, a Canadian goalie takes on an Italian hockey club, some old guy doing what he does best, and a story that broke over the weekend that really shows how greedy and corrupt people can be. If the KHL is involved, you know the greed and corruption story arcs will certainly be present, but the show is all about stories from outside the borders of Canada 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 UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. 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! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat about KHL greed, KHL failures, renaming teams, introducing rules, fighting a team, scoring points, NHL greed, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: August 7, 2025: Episode 672

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

When The Kraken Were Just Fry

When the Seattle Kraken were awarded their franchise memorandum of understanding in 2019, it felt like the NHL finally reached a city that had a long history of hockey without the NHL's involvement. Of course, the Seattle Metropolitans did win the Stanley Cup in 1917, but that was still a time where any team could challenge the holder of a trophy to a contest. Instead, the city had long been a junior and minor hockey outpost until the Kraken were made official in 2020, but that may not have been the case had Vincent Abbey, president of the CHL's Seattle Totems, had his affairs in order back in 1975.

According to a report in the Winnipeg Free Press on Thursday, February 27, 1975, the Seattle hockey group led by Abbey officially bowed out of the running for an NHL expansion team in the city that was expected to play in the 1975-76 NHL season. Here's that report.

It seems like Seattle came oh-so-close to getting a team as the NHL's chairman of the expansion committee, William Jennings, sounded like he had given the green light to Seattle as long as the ownership group could meet the required criteria for expansion. They had been granted a conditional franchise in 1974 whereby they would be require to meet the criteria set out by the NHL. All these prospective owners of a Seattle NHL franchise had to do was meet those terms.

As per Jennings, the Totems group "would not be prepared in the near future to implement its previous offer to acquire an NHL team for the 1975-76 season." Unable to come up with the $1 million needed for the franchise, the Seattle NHL dream officially died in the NHL boardroom at the end of February in 1975, and we'd wait nearly fifty years before the NHL landed in Seattle as the Kraken officially.

Where this story takes a turn, however, is that Victoria's Daily Colonist offered a completely conflicting report one day later.

If you're keeping track of the score, the NHL said the Seattle offer was dead on Thursday, but Friday saw the Seattle ownership group preparing to "make a definite commitment" within a few weeks. Both accounts can't be true based on the statements given, so was Seattle's bid for a 1975 team on or off? And who should we believe?

Eleven days later, the waters got even muddier as NHL President Clarence Campbell made mention that the then-bankrupt Pittsburgh Penguins may move to Seattle for the 1975-76 season after addressing the financial situations of both the Penguins and the Golden Seals on March 11, 1975. The report in the Medicine Hat News is below.

If you skim by all the chatter about the Penguins and Seals, the Canadian Press noted that the NHL's expansion committee had been weighing options for the struggling franchises that were already part of the NHL. As we know from the February 27 article in the Winnipeg Free Press, the Denver group was already pushing for the Seals to relocate there, and that left Seattle, who had been awarded a conditional franchise, as an option if the Penguins were to relocate.

That still doesn't answer the question about Vincent Abbey or his ownership group that had been awarded a conditional franchise, though. Clearly, the NHL needed to provide some sort of answer as to what was happening with the Seattle expansion bid before it could move the Penguins if that was the solution to Pittsburgh's insolvency.

We'd finally get that answer from the NHL on March 12, 1975.

As per Al Colletti's report in the Winnipeg Free Press that day, Denver won the right to start an expansion franchise for the 1975-76 season with them being placed in the Adams Division alongside Boston, Toronto, Buffalo, and California. They were denied the option to purchase the Golden Seals, however, and were instead given an expansion franchise option for the sum of $6 million.

Unfortunately for Seattle, expansion would not happen with Campbell making it clear that the expansion franchise offer for 1975-76 was dead, but the conditional franchise offer for 1976-77 was still in play. However, NHL Vice-President Don Ruck told reporters that the Seattle 1975 option was dead as of ten days earlier with Campbell confirming that Abbey had never posted the required letter of credit. When asked if Abbey would assume the debt of the Pittsburgh Penguins in a relocation, Campbell said, "That's dead, absolutely dead. Unless Seattle comes up with a brand-new offer acceptable to the Pittsburgh parties, that so-called 'put' agreement is dead."

It was also revealed that the Pittsburgh Penguins had applied for a loan through the NHL and its governors, and that allowed them to remain in Pittsburgh at that time. With relocating the team to Seattle being off the table, the Penguins remained in Pittsburgh while the NHL decided what to do with their financial mess.

The Seals, facing their own financial chaos, were given a May 1, 1975 deadline by Campbell when it came to the future of the team in Oakland as he made it clear that the league will not run the franchise for another year and lose millions of dollars. If you're thinking that they could just move north up the coast to Seattle, the NHL made it clear there was no ownership group there as Abbey failed to produce the letter of credit and no other groups had materialized.

If you thought this story ends in 1975, we're not quite done.

Abbey sued the NHL in 1983 in a $9.8 million antitrust lawsuit that alleged the NHL caused the demise of the Seattle Totems franchise due to an inability to attract top talent with the WHA and NHL monopolizing that talent. He also alleged that the NHL never granted the Seattle NHL franchise through "a complex series of deceptions or inaction by the NHL". Being that I'm not a lawyer nor play one on TV, some of the allegations seem very unprovable by Abbey, but the US District Court in Seattle was in session on November 9.

24 days later, US District Court Judge Donald Vorhees dismissed the case after the conclusion of the plaintiffs' case, ruling the plaintiffs had failed to prove their case. This would be one of a number of lawsuits that Abbey had filed against the NHL since his failed expansion bid, and it would appear that the legal battles over Seattle would come to a conclusion sometime near the start of 1986.

What shouldn't be lost in all this legal maneuvering from 1981 onward is that for two weeks in 1975, the city of Seattle, Washington was one million dollars away from being an NHL city which may have prevented the Kraken from ever existing. Make all the jokes you want about rising from the deep, but the Kraken likely would have remained as mythical creatures in sailors' stories had a lawyer named Vince Abbey produced that letter of credit in February of 1975.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Summer Concert Nights - Part One

With the warmer weather upon most of us in the Great White North, there will be a rise in the number of concerts that happen outdoors at various venues across Canada. I suspect that a number of you who stop by this blog will take in a performance or two when it comes to those summer concerts, so HBIC decided to save all its best performers in hockey jerseys for this occasion! Being that I'm not a concert promoter in any way, I do appreciate those artists who celebrate hockey, and you can see the full list here of artists who have been found or submitted to me. Let's check out which artists are being added this time!

We'll start with a Canadian band who has appeared before, but lead singer Max Kerman of the Arkells went all out on Tiktok when he announced the stops for the 2024 Big Feelings Tour across Canada. Because YouTube sucks, I had to kill the song on that video, but Kerman went all out in announcing stops with hockey jerseys! In his video, he appeared in a Calgary Flames jersey, an Edmonton Oilers jersey, a Halifax Mooseheads jersey, a Kelowna Rockets jersey, a Kitchener Rangers jersey, a London Knights jersey, an Ottawa Senators jersey, a Saskatoon Blades jersey, a Vancouver Canucks jersey, and a Victoria Royals jersey! I'm sure he could have worn more, but that's a pretty good haul for the Arkells' lead singer!

Speaking of Canada, let's stick with Canadian artists as Tate McRae likely has a closet full of jerseys as well. I'm not even going to ask how she has this many, but let's run through these: a Boston Bruins jersey, both an older red Calgary Flames jersey and a black Calgary Flames jersey, a Seth Jarvis Carolina Hurricanes jersey, a Chicago Blackhawks jersey, a personalized Colorado Avalanche jersey, a Dallas Stars jersey, a Jaroslav Slafkovsky Montreal Canadiens jersey, a 2024 NHL All-Star Game jersey, a New Jersey Devils jersey, a personalized New York Islanders jersey, a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey, a Seattle Kraken jersey, a personalized Tampa Bay Lightning jersey, a Vegas Golden Knights jersey, and a Washington Capitals reverse retro jersey! You wonder if she has a closet exclusively for jerseys.

We'll shift to an American singer-songwriter as Noah Kahan has shown he has a deep appreciation for hockey. He picked up a pile of jerseys on his recent tour, so let's go through his collection as we see him in a personalized Dallas Stars jersey, a Minnesota Wild jersey, a personalized Montreal Canadiens jersey, a personalized Nashville Predators jersey, a New York Rangers jersey, a Brady Tkachuk Ottawa Senators jersey, and a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. Kahan is an admitted hockey fan, so it's not surprising that he's picking up jerseys for his collection at virtually every concert tour stop.

We'll dive into the one-off jerseys now as we start with the late Aaron Carter who seemed to gravitate towards wearing jerseys as he got older. Here he is wearing a USHL Omaha Lancers jersey! I would assume he wore this in Omaha, but I couldn't find any information on when he wore it. In any case, he wore it at least once.

Jess Meuse has a black SPHL Birmingham Bulls jersey, but she also has another red Bulls jersey! The Texas native seems to be a fan of the SPHL franchise! No word on whether she owns a stake in the team.

We had a couple of Chicago Blackhawks fans add some threads to their closets. Chance the Rapper has a Blackhawks jersey, but he added a 2025 Winter Classic jersey to his collection. Some will say that Dan Aykroyd is an actor, but his musical talents allowed him and John Belushi to release a handful of albums as the Blues Brothers. That's how Dan Aykroyd gets his name on the Chicago Blackhawks' list! Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine is one of the Blackhawks' faithful as he is often seen at the United Center for games!

I'll fully admit that I've never heard Yo Yo Honey Singh's music, but it appears he's a Los Angeles Kings fan. He mostly works in the hip-hop, pop, and bhangra genres of music. His big hit was "Glassy". Joining him as a Kings fan is Suro Khetchian who the Kings invited to the Staples Center as part of their Armenian Heritage Night on February 22! Again, I am not familiar with his music, but he accepted the Kings' offer to perform that night! That's pretty cool!

Jelly Roll seems like a fun guy, and the rap star was on tour last year. On that tour, he stopped in San Jose where the Sharks gifted him a jersey. He also stopped in North Charleston, South Carolina where the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays ensured he got a jersey there! This is not a slight to Jelly Roll, but what sizes are those jerseys?

Speaking of the Stingrays, they gave out another jersey to Kelsea Ballerini when she stopped in North Charleston on her tour! Ballerini also headed north up the east coast, and she landed in Buffalo where the Sabres gave her the most bedazzled Sabres jersey I've ever seen! I'm not a fan of these bedazzled jerseys. They look sequined, and there are no sequined hockey jerseys. That's just silly.

Speaking of the Sabres, Buffalo gave a 50th anniversary jersey to Theresa Phondo. I had never heard of her, but she's a multi award-winning Afro R&B Gospel Artist from Malawi. And now she's a Buffalo Sabres fan as well! Joining her on the Sabres' list is American rapper West Side Gunn who wore the blue Sabres jersey. Beauty jersey!

Canadian singer Roberta Battaglia was a "golden buzzer" contestant on America's Got Talent, but she's been performing for a while. One of the places she showed off her vocal talents? She sang the anthems at an AHL Toronto Marlies game where she donned the Marlies' colours! The young lady is from Toronto, but is also fluent in Italian!

We'll end this first entry of the summer concerts with a look at Pearl Jam's performance in Philadephia. They dedicated their song "Given to Fly" to Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau that night, and they displayed Johnny's Gloucester Catholic High School jersey and Matthew's ECHL Reading Royals jersey during the performance. That's a pretty awesome thing for Pearl Jam to do, so I wanted to be sure to include it on this article. Well done, Pearl Jam. That's classy.

That will bring the first day of musicians in hockey jerseys to a close as there were a pile of images there. Yes, it centered mostly on two people as Max Kerman and Tate McRae boasted their incredible collections of jerseys, but we'll see more artists tomorrow when Part Two of this article is published. Again, if you want to see the full list of musicians wearing or holding jerseys, you can see the full list here!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

More Southern Expansion

The ECHL announced today that they have reached an agreement for their 31st franchise that will begin play in 2026-27. We've seen the ECHL expand rapidly in recent years with franchises in Iowa, Trois-Rivières, Savannah, Bloomington, Tahoe, and Greensboro all being added since 2021. It seems like there's at least one announcement about expansion annually with the ECHL, and today was that day as they'll establish a franchise in Rio Rancho, New Mexico for the '26-27 season!

Before we start downplaying this announcement, one should know that Rio Rancho is a smaller city that sits just north of Albuquerque and about an hour south of Santa Fe on Highway 25. It has a relatively new arena in the Rio Rancho Events Center that was opened in 2006, and it seats 6000 fans for hockey as it once housed all of the NAHL's New Mexico Mustangs and the Central Hockey Leagues' New Mexico Scorpions. According to 2020 census numbers, Rio Rancho had a rapidly-growing population of 104,046 with forecasts aiming for 143,000 residents by 2040.

A growing city with an arena waiting for a tenant? That sounds like the right ingredients to make the ECHL listen to offers.

Rio Rancho has industries which will lead to a fanbase as Intel has a test facility there and Hewlett-Packard has a large office there while Bank of America has a significant presence with both branches and a call centre in the city. Just over 40% of the households in Rio Rancho have children with just under 60% of households being in that key demographic of 18-65 years of age. The median income for families is $52,233, so the ECHL will need to keep an eye on ticket and merchandise prices if they hope see this franchise flourish.

The CHL's New Mexico Scorpions started off strong in Albuquerque as they averaged more than 4000 people per game from 2001-05 despite missing the playoffs in three of four seasons. After pausing operations for the 2005-06 season, the '06-07 campaign after moving to Rio Rancho was the most successful for the Scorpions as they advanced to the Southern Conference Final against the Laredo Bucks, but they'd lose that series in five games. The move to Rio Rancho saw average attendance dip below 4000 fans per game, and the Scorpions never recovered as attendance continued to drop in the next two seasons before the CHL folded in 2009.

In terms of history, the Scorpions never boasted a lot of big-name talent during their days, but a few NHLers wrapped up their careers in New Mexico. Alek Stojanov played two seasons there at the end of his career from 1999-2001, Ryan VandenBussche spent nine games there in 2006-07, and goaltender Mike Minard - he of one game with the Edmonton Oilers - played 33 games in New Mexico in 2007-08. Former Sudbury Wolves forward Chris Robertson held the team's scoring record with 88 goals and 218 points in 186 games while another Ontario-born player in Chris MacDonald shares the all-time goal-scoring lead with Robertson at 88 goals in 181 games. Czech-born defender Vladimir Hartinger has the all-time penalty minute total at 389 minutes in the sin bin.

According to the announcement today, REV Entertainment's Sports Management division will oversee all team operations. This won't be REV Entertainment's first venture into professional sports as they are the official event partners of the Texas Rangers while operating the Cleburne Railroaders and Kane County Cougars of the American Association of Professional Baseball. They also were a managing partner for the ECHL's Allen Americans, and have worked with a number of leagues, venues, and organizations across the globe including the Dallas Stars who will serve as hockey operations consultants for REV Entertainment to get this team off the ground.

"REV has a proven track record of managing professional sports teams at the highest level, and we are thrilled with their commitment to bring professional hockey back to the state of New Mexico," ECHL Commissioner Ryan Crelin said in the announcement today. "This expansion speaks to the growth of our game throughout the continent, and will be an exciting addition to our rivalries in the Mountain Division, and a geographic fit for Affiliation development."

With the Dallas Stars being involved in this venture, I would expect them to likely move their affiliation from the Idaho Steelheads to this new New Mexico team once it begins play in 2026-27. It's a bit of a hike at 10.5 hours from Rio Rancho to Cedar Park, Texas where the AHL Texas Stars play, but it's a far shorter trip than the one players are required to make from Boise, Idaho. This could allow for Boise to affiliate themselves with a closer NHL partner rather than one that's 25 hours away - a full flight via a commercial airline away.

"We are incredibly excited to bring professional hockey back to New Mexico and to expand the ECHL's footprint with the league's 31st Member," REV Entertainment President Sean Decker said today. "The Rio Rancho community has a rich history with the sport, and we look forward to building a team that will be a source of pride for fans across the region. We can't wait to drop the puck in 2026!"

It appears that this New Mexico team is already moving quickly as well. The franchise has launched a "Name the Team" contest on their NMProHockey.com site, and the logo being used as a placeholder for now feels awfully Utah Hockey Club-like on the page. They will have a name, it seems, when the 2026-27 season starts unlike the Utah team, but a little conspiracy never hurt anyone when the Utah Hockey Club has their affiliation with the Allen Americans who, if you're drawing lines, was once operated by REV Entertainment.

As it stands, the only three NHL clubs without official NHL affiliates right now are the Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Ottawa Senators, so I'm sure we're going to see a carousel of affiliation changes over the next few seasons as teams streamline and re-align their affiliates to have players closer to one another in case of call-ups. With Rio Rancho joining the fray in 2026-27, the ECHL will be one team away from their goal of having one ECHL affiliate for each NHL franchise. And I'm sure we're not far from Team #32.

¡Bienvenido de nuevo al mundo del hockey, Nuevo México!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 636

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, returns tonight with our hosts still not in the studio as Teebz is still criss-crossing the continent. That being said, the show tonight is happening on American Thanksgiving so there may be less US-based listeners than we normally get, but we do want to say Happy Thanksgiving! Of course, that means tomorrow is Black Friday which means the Christmas holiday season unofficially gets underway! We'll start with a new Christmas tune before getting into all the hockey news tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Perhaps there will be some in the United States who put The Hockey Show on while enjoying some turkey this evening, but Teebz and Jason tackle why U SPORTS can't do what junior hockey does for game experience, what Teebz has been up to on his travels, Paul Bissonnette's night out in Phoenix, Jim Montgomery winning and the Bruins still floundering, the New York Rangers making their roster available for the right price, Brandon gets some bad news, Hockey Canada prepares for the Spengler Cup, Gabriel Gagne's legal problems, and Hockey Canada letting U SPORTS down once again. It's a busy show with a number of topics covered, so make sure you're ready to go tonight for 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 hockey experiences, scraps in parking lots, Boston's missteps, Rangers being available, the Wheat Kings refocusing, Hockey Canada news, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: November 28, 2024: Episode 636

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 635

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, returns tonight with our hosts outside of the studio. With Teebz on a cross-Canada work tour, the boys settled into a recording on Wednesday night to get the hockey chatter going. Everything is relevant from the last week of hockey news and action, but anything that happens on Thursday may be included next week. Last week's news will get the full hour of attention from our hosts, and that all goes down tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight on the program, Teebz and Jason will discuss why the firing of Jim Montgomery was the wrong move to make for the Bruins, some new broadcast partners and rules in the PWHL, the Champions Hockey League having their quarterfinalists, Utah being the best-selling team for merchandise ever, and we touch on the 16-3 Winnipeg Jets who will finish the month on the road. As always, our hosts will do their best at breaking down these stories and whatever else comes up tonight so you have the latest on what's happening in hockey! Get your audio device set up tonight for 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 talk the mess the Bruins are in, the offence the PWHL is creating, the elite eight in Europe, the dollar signs in Salt Lake City, the Jets flying high, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: November 21, 2024: Episode 635

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 634

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back tonight with some of the stories about which no one is talking despite the impact they could, should, and will have on hockey. These are stories that have had a few people write stories that have slid down the webpages of the big networks because no one really wants to hear about them, but The Hockey Show is here to chat about them, discuss them, dissect them, and figure out how they'll impact the game. There should be some lively discussion on the show as we dig into these stories tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason put aside the friendly chatter to dig into a CHL executive calling out U SPORTS in the wake of the CHL-NCAA agreement. They also look at the Hockey Hall of Fame inductions and changes, the Hockey Canada trial finally getting a court date, Kenzie Lalonde's path and why more girls should follow it, a CHL update on the Sheffield Steelers, and the PWHL making a couple of announcements where one is certainly concerning. The discussion will be frank tonight as no punches will be pulled when it comes to some of these stories, so you'll want to settle in for the chatter 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 talk CHL executives saying the quiet part out loud, the Hockey Hall of Fame needing a wake-up call, Hockey Canada facing the music, Kenzie being an inspiration, the Steelers' battle, the PWHL making more questionable decisions, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: November 14, 2024: Episode 634

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 631

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, hits the ground running tonight with a pile of stories from last week in and around the hockey world. There are some business stories, some records, some craziness, and some new ideas that will be discussed tonight as the news from a number of corners on the planet reach the UMFM airwaves. Our hosts will have to move quickly if they're going to squeeze all the discussions and stories into the hour, so get ready for a pile of news in a short time tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Being that I left this preview as a draft on HBIC, here's what the show preview would have looked like had I actually published it. Just roll with it, alright? I'm human and I was busy today.

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will kick off the show with a message backed by a statement from Minnesota Wild defender Jon Merrill that all teams and players need to hear. From there, they'll discuss the sale of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Sarah Fillier's contract dispute with PWHL New York, a peculiar NHL record that one of the hosts hates, another ECHL expansion team, an underdog in the CHL that has a U SPORTS twist, cleaning house in the KHL, and the IIHF looking to expand hockey options at the Olympics. The stories probably didn't hit the front page of the sports section, so we'll give you the 411 on all these stories and more 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 important messages, ownership changes, getting paid, made-up records, expansion teams, upsets and goalies, hockey chaos, more Olympic hockey, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: October 24, 2024: Episode 631

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Steelers Ride Hot Goalie

I don't follow the Champions Hockey League standings very often, but Jason, co-host of The Hockey Show, certainly does and he alerted me of a team that might be playing above its head right now. Make no mistake that the Champions League (CHL) is the best-of-the-best in European hockey as teams like ZSC Lions Zurich, Red Bull Salzburg, Eisbären Berlin, Dynamo Pardubice, and Skellefteå AIK all are competing in the fall's tournament. Normally, the Swedish and German teams ascend past some of the countries whose leagues may not be as good as the SHL or DEL at this point, but it looks like one EIHL team is trying to make a statement in the competition after four games!

The EIHL's Sheffield Steelers won last season's EIHL championship, so they were invited to play in the Champions League this season. Sheffield was a beast last season as they finished atop the EIHL standings with a 39-8-6-1 record before crushing Fife, Guildford, and Belfast by a combined score of 22-9 in the four games that were needed to win the championship. Needless to say, the Steelers were a handful for whoever lined up against them last season.

Part of the reason they were so good was due to a Floridian kid who honed his skills at the University of Calgary as a member of the Dinos men's hockey team. That player is goaltender Matthew Greenfield who played with the Dinos from 2016-20 where he helped to elevate that program with his solid play. In 53 games with the Dinos, Greenfield went 32-16-2 while sporting a 2.38 GAA and a .908 save percentage in those games. Greenfield was a solid netminder at the Canada West level, and it seems he's taken that skill to Great Britain and put it on display as a member of the Steelers.

After a short stint with the ECHL's Kansas City Mavericks, Greenfield landed in Sheffield in 2022 where he's gone on a tear through British hockey. Over his two seasons with the Steelers, he's played 100 games where he posted a record of 74-26-0 in that time. Toss in a 2.09 GAA and a .930 save percentage, and you're looking at one of the best goaltenders in the EIHL. Last season, he had the most wins, the lowest GAA for goalies who played more than 20 games, and the top save percentage en route to an EIHL championship, so it seems Sheffield has their guy when it comes to goalies.

The play shown by Greenfield which carried Sheffield to the EIHL championship has returned this season as he's now backstopping the Steelers in CHL action, and he has them sitting in eighth-place out of 24 teams in the CHL after four games with a 2-1-1-0 record! He backstopped the Steelers to another big win yesterday, defeating SHL champions Skellefteå AIK on Sunday afternoon to push them to their third-straight win. With the win, a number of other teams are sitting at 2-1-1-0 as well such as Red Bull Salzburg and Oceláři Třinec, but the goal differential between the teams at that record sees Sheffield ahead of Eisbären Berlin, Fribourg-Gottéron, and Tappara Tampere.

Sheffield will play Swiss powerhouse ZSC Lions Zurich on October 8 with these two teams sitting one point apart in the CHL standings, and a win over the Lions would go a long way in helping the Steelers qualify for the CHL medal round. To date, no EIHL team has finished in the top-four teams in CHL play, but the Steelers appear that they're gonna make a run for it. It would be another exciting moment for the Steelers in their history, but it may cement their legacy as one of the best teams to have ever been assembled in the EIHL.

It's pretty cool to see a U SPORTS-trained goalie having a major impact on the success of the Steelers, but he's not the only one who has U SPORTS roots. Forward Mitchell Balmas spent a couple of seasons with St. Mary's University in the AUS where he scored at a better than a point-per-game pace, forward Patrick Watling had a two-year stint with the UNB Reds where he put up solid numbers, and defender Dominic Cormier spent a season at the University of Ottawa in the OUA. The Steelers have built a lot of their success on the strength of some good U SPORTS players, and Greenfield is part of that equation as he does his part in helping the Steelers win!

Congratulations to the Steelers on their successful entry into the CHL this fall, and here's hoping that Matthew Greenfield can continue his hot play as Sheffield finds ways to score goals. For anyone who thinks that U SPORTS hockey won't lead to bigger things, I suggest looking at the career of Matthew Greenfield as hockey has taken him all over the US, Canada, and Europe!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!