The Biggest Grift Yet

With apologies to author Michael Lewis and publisher WW Norton for using this lede photo, I think both Jason and I have been very clear that the NHL is one massive bubble in terms of its economic forecast. I'm not saying they're close to financial disaster, but everything they're doing seems to have them on that track. Of course, there are thousands of people whose lives will be affected if and when that bubble bursts, but that matters not to anyone associated with the NHL because that organization will live to play another day. Here's the next chapter of the NHL's certain doom.

There are all sorts of financial instruments one can use to make money. Whether it be the age-old guaranteed investment certificate (GIC) or something with more risk associated such as the stock market, the financial world seemingly works to dream up new ways to find money-making ideas. Banks, though, have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that they inform you of these risks associated with some of the investment products they offer, and this needs to be remembered as you read through the rest of this article.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 14, 2026, CME Group, "the world's leading derivatives marketplace", announced it will launch the world's first index-based hockey futures on September 28, pending regulatory review. If your head is spinning from that last sentence, you're likely not alone in that feeling.

All of those terms used by CME Group are meant to be somewhat confusing to non-finance people. A "derivative" is a financial product whose value is based on the price of another product. It's basically a bet that one makes on something else with the hopes that the initial product's value goes up. What sets that value can differentiate between products, but the understanding is that the derivative is a bet that the value of something else will improve over time. However, derivatives that bet against the success of an outcome is called "a short", and this where The Big Short joins the story.

If you watched The Big Short with Steve Carell, Christian Bale, and Ryan Gosling, you know that the main characters were shorting financial products called CDOs or collateralized debt obligations which are made up of a diverse set of assets - everything from corporate bonds to mortgage bonds to bank loans to car loans to credit card loans can be in a CDO. The banks in the movie were packaging up subprime and risky mortgages into CDOs and selling them off with false ratings as to their financial risks, and our main characters figured that out and were betting AGAINST the success of these products improving in value. That's how we got "the big short".

What CME Group is creating with these index-based hockey futures is a market where people can invest large sums of money into the a team's index of statistics and overall performance in the hopes that the value of the team will increase based on some combination of values. Rather than betting on single games where winning can net a bettor money, the CME Group is offering a product that will allow one to bet on longer-term successes for each NHL team. If the team is succcessful and its index value goes up, you make money.

This is sports gambling on a whole new level. Creating a derivative based on a professional sports team's performance is not how these financial tools were supposed to be used. Not knowing what criteria is being used to determine the value of the index, and that's a major problem for anyone who believes that this derivative market could be used for positive monetary growth. As the SEC filing states,

"The Bruins Index moves up or down based on officially reported statistics from every game, match, or event throughout the regular season and postseason. Positive statistical actions (e.g., goals scored, points earned) add value to the index, while negative actions (e.g., opponent scoring, penalties or setbacks) subtract value. Poor statistical performance by the Boston Bruins could have a significant negative impact on the level of the Bruins Index and therefore the value of the Fund. In addition, unlike instruments that are based on tradable reference assets, the Bruins Index Futures Contracts and Bruins Index-Linked Instruments are tied to an index that is not directly investable and, thus, have settlement prices based on the calculation of that index, not the price of a tradable asset."

How does one invest in something where there is seemingly no set criteria for how the index value fluctuates? Some would call this investment "gambling", and I'm definitely one of those people.

That catch here is that investment firms won't have to call this new financial option "gambling" in any sense of the word because it's just like any other derivatives market and comes with its own set of risks. As long as they advise John Q. Public sitting across from them in their offices that these risks are possible, they have done their fiduciary duty while you, as a supporter of your favorite team, now have a vested interest in how they perform this season. You're not gambling; you're investing in the team's potential performance this season!

If this initial round of "index-based hockey futures" pays off for CME Group, there will be additional derivatives added that will consider the outcome of the initial derivatives. We'll go back to The Big Short film where Behavioral Economics Pioneer Dr. Richard H. Thaler and Selena Gomez explain how these synthetic derivatives work.
In this reference, Selena Gomez's $10 million bet is the investment into the Bruins Index-Linked Futures makret, and every bet after that is a bet on how well Gomez's investment performs. As Dr. Thaler illustrates, that initial investment is now worth billions of dollars.

Remember my comment about fiduciary responsibility above? Because investment firms only have to warn you of the risks associated with an investment like this, they've fulfilled their required fiduciary responsibility with respect to their client. If you go ahead, you assume the risk. The catch here is that you're basically investing in the outcome of sports games - goals scored and points earned vs. opponent scoring and penalties or setbacks - which is what everyone recognizes as gambling. It's just being called something else.

Let me be clear that the derivative market, when properly managed and scrutinized, can be an effective way to invest. It's certainly not for everyone when it comes to the markets on which these derivatives are based, but, for those who can afford risk in their portfolios, it can work to make one money. As with any investment, there are no guarantees for a return on the initial investment, but one can explore these options with a certified financial planner.

After spending two decades in finance, I would not be recommending this "index-based hockey futures" option to any client because it's simply sports gambling masquerading as an investment option. I see why some sports fans might prefer this option, but, as we all know, only "the house" gets rich when it comes to people gambling.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

ਰੋਜਰਸ: ਕੈਨੇਡਾ ਵਿੱਚ ਹਾਕੀ ਦਾ ਖਾਤਮਾ

If you can read the title of today's article, you likely were a fan of Hockey Night In Canada's Punjabi broadcasts. The title is written in Punjabi, and it reads "Rogers: Killing Hockey In Canada" after they made the inexplicable decision to end the Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi Edition broadcasts this season. After not renewing Kelly Hrudey's contract, selling off Wednesday nights to Amazon Prime, killing Hockey Night In Canada on CBC, and killing sports radio stations in both Vancouver and Calgary among a pile of job cuts, it's pretty clear that Rogers is only concerned about maximizing profits.

For those unaware, Harnarayan Singh, Randip Janda, and Bhupinder Hundal began planting the seeds for Punjabi hockey broadcasts back in 2008. They worked on demos they pitched to network executives for their broadcasts, but none of it took until CBC's Joel Darling invited Singh to broadcast from Hockey Day in Canada as CBC looked to add multiple language broadcasts to its programming that day. That opportunity turned into a chance to call the 2008 Stanley Cup Final, and CBC expanded the Punjabi broadcast to Saturday night doubleheaders the following season that saw Singh pay for his flights to Toronto from Calgary every weekend just to call games.

That led Janda and Hundal to push for more exposure at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver after the Rogers-owned OMNI was named as part of the Olympic consortium. They were given the chance to call one preliminary-round game for the Canadian men's team. That stretched to two, and then three, then four before "we eventually got to the point where we did all the men’s games right through to the gold medal, and we did basically all the Team Canada women’s games all the way through to the gold medal," Hockey Night Punjabi producer Nathen Sekhon told Sportsnet's Sonny Sachdeva.

In 2012, Hundal and Sekhon recruited Singh to join the broadcast team on OMNI for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, and it appeared that things were on the rise when Rogers Sportsnet acquired the Canadian broadcast rights for NHL hockey. The group pushed for more with NHL hockey being a Rogers' property, adn the stars would align shortly after when Sportsnet Pacific moved east to Toronto, leaving their studio vacant. Hundal and Sekhon convinced then-Sportnet president Scott Moore to allow them to launch Hockey Night Punjabi in that studio space, immeidately raising their profile and giving them a polished look for their broadcasts. They had a future!

For the Canadian Punjabi population that numbers just short of a million people, they make up 2.6% of the total population. The market is already small, so it's not like Rogers was looking at generating truckloads of cash with OMNI's broadcasts. Adding to the problems with getting national attention was the fact that OMNI, as a station, wasn't carried outside of specialty cable packages.

On May 15, 2017, the CRTC granted OMNI access to Canadian homes via basic cable packages, making it far more accessible. However, Shaw Communications applied to be exempt from that decision on June 29, 2017 for all households it serviced in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia where nearly half the Punjabi population in Canada lives. With OMNI based out of Vancouver originally, this decision had a massive effect on the availability of OMNI's broadcasts in those regions, but Hockey Night Punjabi pushed forward with its unique hockey broadcasts as expected thanks to Rogers' NHL rights.

There wouldn't be a change in Shaw's TV offerings until 2023 when Rogers bought Shaw Communications. With Shaw customers now under Rogers' umbrella, OMNI was introduced back to the channel options that had been not be available for years, but the damage had been done when it came to Hockey Night Punjabi's following as many Punjabi residents in western Canada simply had no access for years. As such, viewership was always lower than what could have been.

That brings us to today where Rogers Sportsnet announced that Hockey Night Punjabi would not be back for the 2026-27 season, citing that "the show's overall audience average was just 1,500 viewers, with more than half of all games averaging fewer than 1,000 viewers" as the reason for this decision. This is the end of years of hard work, dedication, passion, and a dream to bring hockey to the Punjabi community in their language after 18 years, snuffed out because Rogers likely saw it as red ink on their balance statement.

Forget that this was a hockey broadcast for a second and realize that this was a Rogers-created entity that had existed for nearly two decades on channels hardly available to anyone, and it still had a loyal following. Forget that it helped to promote Harnarayan Singh as a legitimate play-by-play hockey broadcaster who now finds himself calling games in English for Rogers Sportsnet. Forget that they had their own segments such as Meri Gal Sun ("Listen to me") - "basically, what your parents would say to you before they lecture you," Hundal explains - based on Punjabi culture. None of that mattered to Rogers when they looked at the books and saw that Hockey Night Punjabi simply wasn't a money-making property. Share prices matter, right?

It's amazing how Rogers can continue to be seen as a positive partner for hockey when it is doing irreparable damage to the game in Canada. There are no more over-the-air options nor streaming options on CBC with that network being removed as a broadcaster. There are no more Punjabi broadcasts to try and attract fans from that community. The quality of on-air talent is being diluted by letting accomplished analysts walk away in favour for cheaper, less talented analysts with some radio broadcasts no longer even existing in markets. When do we see Rogers actually INVEST in hockey?

The answer is likely "never" thanks to an $11 billion bill that will be amortized over the next twelve years. We've already seen them raise prices on their streaming services and sell off a day's worth of games to a competitor while raising prices on Blue Jays, Maple Leafs, and Raptors tickets, so don't expect the cuts to "extraneous expenses" to stop as Rogers tries to gets its financial house in order. Until this twelve-year anchor around their neck is gone, Rogers will simply cut, get rid of, and eliminate any property it doesn't see as profitable.

Rogers has done incredible damage to hockey since 2013, so maybe it should officially change its mission statement to "Killing Hockey In Canada". After all, that seems to be its intended goal with these cuts.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 725

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back in the UMFM studios with all sorts of hockey stories that need discussing and examining. There are a handful of stories that once again cast shadows onto the sport, and we're not about to shy away from these stories because they have to be made part of the normal conversations if we're going to make a difference. There will be some tough stories to hear tonight along with our normal chatter about dumb stuff, so get yourself ready for The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will discuss a disturbing local hockey hazing story that saw a player lose his suspension appeal, an OHL team billet on trial for terrible crimes, Hockey Canada's acceptance of a decision made on five of its former players, the insanity surrounding the USHL franchise that is supposed to be expanding into Phoenix, an AHL team likely moving, an NHL getting radio back, the same team having its TV broadcast get worse, the horrible ending to a contest, and anything else we can squeeze into the hour! It should be a fast-paced show, so make sure you're set and ready 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 UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat about unremorseful players, criminal billets, codes of conduct, arena problems, relocation foreshadowing, radio noise, TV noise, bad jerseys, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Replaced By Whom?!?

I will fully admit that I am befuddled when it comes to what Rogers Communications is doing with its hockey broadcasts. Aside from raising prices to drive away subscribers and killing access to NHL hockey by eliminating CBC as a partner, their most recent decision to not renew Kelly Hrudey's contract seems to be another boneheaded decision from the TV network gatekeeping hockey in Canada.

Hrudey worked Calgary Flames broadcasts on Sportsnet during the week before travelling to Toronto to join the national broadcast on Saturday nights. He was an excellent analyst that brought a goaltender's perspective to the game, and he was excellent in his breakdowns and examinations of what was happening on the ice. His analyses often caught subtle things that others on the Sportsnet panel missed and I, for one, appreciated his insights on the game.

Hrudey reportedly received the news on June 19, ending a run that saw the former NHL netminder join CBC's Hockey Night in Canada in 1998 after completing a 677-game NHL career. The former Islanders, Kings, and Sharks goalie had been contributing to CBC's coverage for four seasons before he retired after his team had been eliminated, so a 32-year run for Hrudey came to an end because Rogers is cheap.

Is Rogers Communications purposely trying to kill hockey broadcasts?

That answer might be "yes" after news broke today that Kelly Hrudey's now-vacant seat will be filled by Winnipeg Jets analyst Kevin Sawyer. The Athletic's Sean Shapiro and Harman Dayal compiled the 2021 NHL broadcast rankings, and the reviews and ranking of Winnipeg's broadcast team of Dennis Beyak and Kevin Sawyer read,

"Outside of Winnipeg, the Jets broadcast scored as one of the best in the league. Locally, however, it ranked 21st with mixed reviews. That discrepancy in ranking — rated fourth nationally but 21st locally — is the largest around the NHL in our survey."

That 12th-overall ranking of NHL broadcasts was pulled down by negative comments about the color commentator that read,

"'Kevin Sawyer's unconditional praise of the team is a bit hard to take even for someone who loves the Jets like me,' said one of many local respondents who believe the broadcast isn't balanced enough."

I'll fully admit that I disliked almost everything about Sawyer's comments and delivery when he spoke on the broadcasts, so TSN letting him walk to Sportsnet is a huge bonus for the sixty Jets games I'll watch this season on TSN. His preference for talking into the next play while Beyak and Dan Robertson sit quietly as the play unfolds annoyed me to no end, and his refusal to criticize anyone for mistakes made his analyses sound phony. I don't need a homer.

If Sawyer is replacing Kelly Hrudey on Calgary Flames broadcasts, Flames fans will notice the drop-off in the quality of the analyses between Hrudey and Sawyer. I have no idea why Sportsnet would view this as a smart upgrade when there are a pile of people they could have tapped for Hrudey's spot like Meghan Mikkelson, Jason York, Cassie Campbell-Pascale, or recently-retired Tyson Barrie.

Sawyer has 110 games of NHL experience compared to years of working around the Flames franchise like the four people listed above. What would even suggest to Rogers that Kevin Sawyer would be an adequate replacement for an outgoing legend like Hrudey?

I'm bewildered by what Rogers is doing with their broadcasts after committing $11 billion to the NHL for the next twelve years of games. If they're just going to drive their broadcasts into the ground by cutting excellent broadcasters and replacing them with mediocre analysts, why did they spend the money at all?

As I wrote at the start of July, Sportsnet buying the rights to NHL hockey hasn't seen the game get better on TV. Arguably, it's gotten worse since they owned the rights, and it got much worse with the news this week of Hrudey leaving and Sawyer joining. But why should Rogers care if people keep throwing money at them to watch hockey?

This is the proverbial rock and hard place, Flames fans. You lose a competent, intelligent analyst for a guy who waxes poetic about players who should be in the pressbox. I'd suggest cancelling your Sportsnet subscription, but it's the only way you can watch the majority of Flames games this season. And this is the gamble that Rogers Sportsnet is making: you won't cancel your subscription to watch the Flames no matter what talking head is doing analysis.

Isn't it fun when corporations hold your hockey fandom hostage?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 724

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back tonight with a little fun, some hockey news, and some bizarre stories from the hockey world. There will be stories this week that appeared on week's prior, but new details have emerged. The business of hockey never seems to go quiet when so many people are making what appear to be bad decisions, but that's life in professional hockey. Of course, our hosts will try to work in some laughs as well tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will look at the alarming trend of hockey teams eliminating radio play-by-play from their offerings for fans, Rogers Communications making life difficult for fans once again, a hockey camp being held in a weird location, one of the ECHL's most storied franchises is celebrating an anniversary and another individual award, fans will have more jerseys to choose from for an NHL team, the Hurricanes are enjoying their Stanley Cup success, and there's a fun story about a long-time GM who was a head coach for one summer! It's a busy show with a ton of topics to go over tonight, so settle in for some fun on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat about creating experiences, financial loss, dumb camps, fun history, jersey madness, ticket sales, bad coaches, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 723

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is diving into the financial side of the game tonight with a significant look at what's been happening over the last week when it comes to hockey and media. You likely know about Amazon getting into Canadian hockey broadcasts, but there are a number of other money-related stories from the hockey world that need some discussion tonight. We'll dive into those stories because, as fans, our hosts see problems on the horizon in the game that need addressing tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will take a look at the deal between Rogers and Amazon and discuss why it happened, why Amazon's day moved, and what we might be seeing as a bigger problem in hockey. Beyond that discussion, they'll chat about Columbus cutting its radio play-by-play in favour of simulcasted TV play-by-play, Hamilton Hammers ticket prices, a new Hall-of-Famer, a contest coming to a close, and the insanity that will be travel for one league this season. There's a lot of topics tonight that will have a money theme to them, so you'll want to be ready for an hockey's untrained finanical audit by two radio hosts on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat about financial bubbles, bad deals, bad broadcasts, inflated prices, honoured players, elimination processes, unnecessary travel, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: July 30, 2026: Episode 723

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Another Dumb Idea

As a guy who watched a hockey team make the inexplicable decision to simply walk away from a radio contract that had brought the team some popularity in its market, it was hard to understand what the Columbus Blue Jackets were trying to achieve by not renewing the contract of radio play-by-play broadcaster Bob McElligott. McElligott had 17 years of experience calling games on the radio, and he was a trusted voice for Blue Jackets fans. Starting this season, that voice will be absent as the team looks to simulcast its TV broadcast on the radio which may lead to no radio in the future.

As per the announcement today, "all Blue Jackets game broadcasts will be simulcast across television and radio platforms, allowing fans to experience the same live game coverage whether watching on television or listening on the radio". Steve Mears and Jody Shelley will be calling the action on both mediums now, but this idea seems to forget that these two mediums are significantly different in how the actual broadcasts sound. TV is not radio, so this could go poorly.

As you likely know from watching hockey on TV, the action on the TV doesn't always have to be described because you, as the viewer, can see it. It's part of the reason why every ticket to a game doesn't come with a guy who sits besides you and describes the action. You're able to process what's happening on the ice because you can see it, and the TV broadcast will call the play and fill in the analysis gaps.

You don't get that same benefit with radio because there is no visual component. The audio hardly lends itself to knowing what's happening on the ice, so the radio play-by-play person does a lot more talking to describe what's happening on the ice at all times. There's a signficant difference in how the game sounds when there are big gaps between plays called on radio whereas TV can handle that with its visuals. That's why TV-to-radio simulcasts don't work.

If the Columbus Blue Jackets are letting Bob McElligott as a cost-cutting move, there are likely hundreds of other things they could have done to save a few bucks because there is no way their product will sound better on the radio by using the TV broadcast as its play-by-play. No longer will be there be different analysis done by different people because the single broadcast removes those other voices who bring a different perspective and different experiences to the game. Losing those voices doesn't make the game better.

My hope is that Bob McElligott gets picked up by another team because he was very good at his job. For the handful of games that I heard him call, he was always professional, sounded well-prepared, and called the game with passion. Wherever he lands, he'll bring those traits to his new job, but I really hope he finds his way back to a hockey broadcast booth. His talents make the game sound great!

Oscar Wilde wrote in The Picture of Dorian Gray, "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." It appears that the Columbus Blue Jackets are fully prepared to test that famous quotation this season.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Pennies On The Dollar

I'll always be the last guy to credit Rogers Communications with anything intelligent based on how they spend their money, but there are certain things that happen where one has to ask the obvious questions that go with what transpired. Rogers was busy today announcing that they had reached a deal with Amazon Prime Video to have Bezos' streaming service exclusively broadcast Wednesday night, regular-season, national NHL games and early-round Stanley Cup Playoff series in both English and French for the next twelve years. And for as greedy as Rogers is know to be, this deal seems like buyer's remorse.

Amazon Prime Video will now have the exclusive rights to Wednesday night where they'll compete with TNT Sports for hockey fans' eyes, but you can add another streaming service to your collection of bills after this announcement. For $99 annually, you can watch Amazon's collection of Wednesday games they choose to show on their national broadcast which will see "at least 26 national regular-season NHL games, beginning on Wednesday, September 30, available only on Prime Video in Canada at no additional cost to Prime members."

Add that onto your $350 annual fee for Sportsnet+ and any fees to watch games that the NHL might be producing for the four teams - Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues - who signed on with their centralized production group, and simply watching hockey on TV is becoming a thing of the past. With everything being streamed on multiple services, we're back to the cable model that everyone tried to abandon a few years ago.

The title of this article isn't about that, though. Instead, it's a question that goes to the very heart of Rogers' 12-year, $11-billion deal they signed with the NHL because you'd think a company with five network sports stations and a streaming service that recently raised its annual price would want more content that Canadians love.

If Rogers was looking to sell one night of their annual $917-million deal, it would clock in around $131 million. Of course, there were no details on the financial deal that Amazon made with Rogers to acquire the rights to Wednesday night games, but you know they aren't paying $131 million annually for those rights. If they are, they need their heads checked as much as those people making decisions for Rogers. With "at least 26 national regular-season NHL games", Amazon isn't spending $5 million per game for those rights.

Again, I have no proof that they aren't spending $5 million per game, but there's no way Amazon makes money if they are. And if they spent less than $5 million per game, that means that Rogers sold Wednesday night rights for pennies on the dollar. On the low chance that Amazon did spend more than $5 million per game, why wouldn't they just buy the regional rights to teams who need regional coverage for much less? I know at least one French-speaking province and team who doesn't have a regional broadcaster for next year.

Again, it begs the question as to why Rogers sold off Wednesday nights at all if Amazon thinks it can make money with those broadcasts. If Amazon could generate enough subscription and ad revenue from those broadcasts, Rogers wouldn't let someone else benefit from those rights when they owned them. That makes me think that they aren't seeing the returns they want, and they'll trying to recover some money by ridding themselves of one night of games per week where they generate the least revenue every week.

And let's not forget that Amazon had Monday night games last season they had bought from Rogers! Why switch nights for the next twelve years unless they discovered that Mondays can be profitable?

No one is going to come out and explain why Rogers and Amazon made this deal from each side's perspective, but if you think that Rogers is generating more than a billion dollars per year while broadcasting hockey, I have barrels of snake oil to sell you. This is the first sign that the financial bubble the hockey world lives in might be close to bursting based on how that financial model plays out.

Economist Hyman P. Minsky's research identifies five bubble phases: displacement, boom, euphoria, profit-taking, and panic, explaining the progression from excitement to market collapse. The NHL went through its displacement phase with the hirng of Gary Bettman in the 1990s as it changed rules, added new teams, and marketed everything it could. The boom phase saw more fans gain access to things to which they never had access before, pushing the NHL into its euphoria phase where everything could be monetized with the NHL forecasting that the revenue will not diminish. That leads us to the profit-taking phase where everyone is making as much money as they can as fast as they can, forgetting that money and revenue streams are finite. All that's left after this phase is panic.

Rogers owns something that should be an asset, but the value of that asset is less than what Rogers paid for it, making it a debt. The bubble formed when asset prices surged far above their intrinsic value thanks to speculative market prices that the NHL created thanks to its always-rising economic forecast. And now that the prices are far too high for most people's budgets, revenues will begin to dry up and the bubble will burst, causing significant financial losses and economic problems for years to come. Rogers should be worried.

Of course, Rogers could sell other days to networks and streaming services to cut their losses, but I get the sense that ego and pride will stand in the way of making deals with Bell Media or CraveTV. Rogers has deep enough pockets to weather the losses they may incur as long as their shareholders are ok with it, so I'd expect more price increases for Sportsnet cable channels and their streaming service before they sell off other days. After all, someone will pay their insane prices to watch hockey, right? Revenue is all that matters.

With the costs to watch hockey from the comfort of your own home skyrocketing, with ticket prices at an all-time high in all markets, with merchandise prices higher than ever before, and with equipment and ice-time pricing rising faster than the temperature in Death Valley, hockey is standing on a dangerous cliff where they are close to financially alienating the middle-class fan. The NHL isn't trying to grow the game as much as they're trying to grow their bottom line and hockey-related revenues, so don't be surprised if people start finding their entertainment elsewhere this winter.

It's hard to like the world's best hockey league when all it does is treat its fans like ATMs, so maybe it's time to move on. Like a good investor, it's better to cut your losses and get out before one falls into moral and financial ruin. Just don't say you weren't warned.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Now Boarding: A Hockey Team

I'm not sure what else can be said or done for the Pederal Prospects Hockey League to save the league and its member teams from itself. The schedule was released on Friday to little fanfare despite the interest the league believes it has, and I went looking to see if the league was going to take baby steps forward with their newly-expanded map to help the financial situations of a number of teams. As stated, there are some massive distances between franchises this season that a bus ride simply won't cover based on time.

I went digging through the schedule, and one series jumped out at me almost immediately. The Danbury Hat Tricks, located in Danbury, Connecticut, host the Stockton Thunder on March 26 and 27 in a weekend series. Nothing about that should be surprising as it makes sense financially to have teams located 2930 miles apart play multiple games against one another in one trip. Crossing four time zones isn't easy, so you'd expect Stockton to get some "adjustment" time when it comes to bodies adjusting for the time difference, right?

Except you already know that's not the case with the FPHL.

Stockton inexplicably hosts the as-yet-unnamed Oceanside franchise on Wednesday, March 24 in what will be an evening-scheduled game, meaning they will likely need to charter a plane for the trip to Connecticut for the Friday contest against Danbury. There are no commercial flights that fly directly into Danbury that leave from Stockton, and the closest solution would be to Hartford. There is no direct flight from Stockton to Hartford, so the team will need to fly from San Francisco if a direct commercial flight is wanted.

Of course, it's possible that Stockton flies out to the east coast and spends a couple of weeks there playing against teams, but that's also not the case in looking at the schedule. Stockton is due back for April 2 when they host the Indiana Sentinels, and I doubt they're going to be taking a 43-hour bus trip back home after playing the Hat Tricks. The FPHL just went from a bus league to a national league that requires plane travel in one summer due to inexplicable decisions.

If you're thinking, "This is a mess," you're not alone on that.

If you're the Minnesota Northern Lights franchise, you have to hope that every game sells out with the number of California trips that the team will make. According to the schedule, Minnesota visits Oceanside on October 23 and 25. They do not visit either of Stockton or Fresno on that trip. Minnesota returns to California to play Stockton on November 25 before playing Fresno on November 27 and 28, but they don't visit Oceanside on that trip. The Northern Lights then go home to play Stockton on December 4 and 5 before going back to Fresno for games on December 11 and 12, but they don't visit Stockton or Oceanside in that visit. Who is designing this schedule?

Unless this league has a pile of new investors with deep pockets, the scheduling for the FPHL is ludicrous. Seemingly intelligent road trips are ignored and additional unnecessary travel is scheduled all over the place despite the FPHL specifically saying they'd do what they could to reduce unnecessary travel in a previous press release.

Just ignore that part of the press release because they really didn't mean it. They only published it for optics. Unnecessary travel is, apparently, necessary, especially for the Frontier Division teams.

We saw two teams leave the FPHL after the proposal of this California experiment, and I suspect there may be more teams who question the necessity of including California if it blows up their travel budgets. Minnesota makes three trips to California in three months to play seven road games, and Stockton flies across the continental US for two road games before coming home. Make it make sense.

There may be far less "unnecessary travel" next season if FPHL teams fold or abandon the league this season due to rising costs. Is that worth the cost of an expansion experiment? I guess we'll find out!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Priced Out Of The Market

As you likely know, I'm not a hockey executive. Frankly, with the state of economics in hockey right now, I'm not sure I'd want to be working in a front office at the moment because it seems like everyone is either delusional or insane. Or maybe both. Being that I'm not qualified to diagnose anyone as senile, though, it became somewhat hard to ignore that the new AHL team in Hamilton might be on a fast track to another relocation thanks to their ticket prices. Welcome to professional hockey, Hamilton! Bring your wallets!

I want you to remember that we're talking about an AHL team that finished in fourth-place in its division and lost to the fifth-place team in the qualification round. The Bridgeport Islanders were a 34-30-8 team last season, and only made the playoffs twice in the last five seasons where they didn't win a round. This will be important.

First, here's the seating map at TD Coliseum for Hammers games.

Feel free to click on the image to see it larger, but the season-ticket costs for 36 home games in Hamilton range from $875 up to $2238 per seat. If you're doing the calculations for a per-game cost, the cheapest seats are $24.31 per game while the most expensive will seat cost you $62.17 to watch the Hammers. While these prices aren't financially crippling at a per-game rate, $62 to watch a middle-of-the-road AHL team seems like the supply-and-demand pricing atrributed to hockey tickets may not be entirely true. At all.

If you go down the road to Toronto where the Calder Cup champions play, the Toronto Marlies have their season ticket prices posted.

How is it that the Calder Cup champions have less expensive tickets than an AHL who has done nothing except change its name and logo six times in its existence? One can argue that Toronto's saturated professional sports market forces the Marlies to keep their prices lower, but that doesn't explain why Hamilton's tickets cost more.

If supply-and-demand is the factor for AHL tickets, the Belleville Senators are the only professional team in Belleville, Ontario which sits two hours east of Toronto. You'd expect them to follow Hamilton's idea of charging a little more to come and see them due to the demand for their tickets, yet, as you can see to the right, that's not the case. The cheapest ticket in Belleville is $4.31 less than Hamilton's cheapest ticket, yet the B-Sens have just as many Calder Cup playoff appearances and series wins as the Hammers. If you're scratching your head over these AHL ticket prices, you're not the only one.

I want to call your attention to the sections on Hamilton's seat map to emphasize just how insane this pricing model is that the Hammers conjured. Sections 105-107 are priced at $1808 for the season if you sit there ($50.22 per ticket). However, if you want to sit in an aisle seat, that's going to cost you more. In fact, $328 more ($9.11 per game more). An aisle seat in that section will set you back $2136 ($59.33/game) as opposed to the guy sitting next to you who paid $1808. Since when did sports teams adopt airline pricing for seats?

I like an aisle seat as much as the next person, but there is no way I'm paying more for an aisle seat when I'm already paying for the most expensive seats in the building. I get that's how the supply-and-demand model works, but this is taking it a step beyond acceptable. If I want to sit with my friends in seats 1-4 in row 12 in section 107, why am I paying more than my three friends? How is that fair?

NHL ticket prices are ridiculous to begin with, so I'm not making those comparisons. We have a total of one ECHL team in Canada, so comparing AHL and ECHL prices won't make much sense to Canadian hockey fans either. Comparing the AHL markets across this country to one another does make sense when it comes to supply-and-demand theories, and there are a total of zero AHL teams adjusting their pricing for tickets to see the Hamilton Hammers play. Belleville's home opener is against Hamilton, and they didn't raise their prices because tickets to see the Hammers simply aren't in demand.

Congratulations to the City of Hamilton on getting an AHL team whose ticket prices are higher than any other AHL team in the country including the defending Calder Cup champions. Enjoy your fourth-place team at premium prices while you can because I suspect there won't be many people in the stands at these prices. And I say that because the Hammers likely won't be in Hamilton long unless the team's profit-driven philosophy changes... which doesn't seem likely.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 722

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back in the confines of the UMFM studios tonight for some chatter about the state of hockey once more! Usually, you expect the summer to be a little slower when it comes to news stories, but there seems to be significant news happening each and every week this summer so we're going to keep talking about it! We'll get into more stories tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will attempt to make sense of a number of stories from the hockey world including the City of Ottawa potentially changing directions with respect to the Charge, the NHL taking over production of game broadcasts and why that's a terrible idea, the FPHL going completely insane, some new logos, the Aquilinis making more crazy demands, and anything else we can get into the hour. It's a busy show with lots to discuss, so make sure you're ready 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 UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason talk big mistakes, bad broadcasts, league madness, new looks, bad teams, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: July 23, 2026: Episode 722

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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!

The Middle Day

After a solid first day in the books headlined by 25 different images of bands and musicians wearing Edmonton Oilers jerseys, we're back for the second day of the HBIC Music Festival! We're not going to waste much time with the chatter here, so if you know of a band or artist I've missed, please send the image(s) through to me via email! We'll tackle the back half alphabetically of the NHL, so let's get rocking and rolling on Day Two of the HBIC Music Festival!

The Minnesota North Stars are back with an artist who made a previous appearance! Andy Gibb, brother of the Gibb brothers comprising the Bee Gees, makes his second appearance on the list in a variation of a North Stars sweater! There's nothing wrong with more North Stars at any event and that includes the HBIC Music Festival!

The other Minnesota team is also on the set list this year as country star Keith Urban makes an appearance in a white Wild jersey!

The festival's second day is headlined by the Montreal Canadiens as the bleu-blanc-et-rouge saw a number of artists wear those colours! Charlotte Cardin on the left and Patrick Watson on the right attended a Montreal Canadiens playoff game, Simple Plan's Chuck Comeau snapped a picture with Guy Lafleur and was on the ice in a practice jersey, Queensryche's Joe Elliott was rocking in a Habs jersey, Nelly went sleeveless in his Canadiens jersey, Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons wore a Canadiens jersey on stage, Canadian James LaBrie showed his support of Les Canadiens while touring with American band Dream Theater, Gail Greenwood of both L7 and Belly wore a Canadiens jersey on stage, and David Lee Roth was on stage in a Habs jersey! Hockey's oldest team has quite the musical following!

The Nashville Predators have three acts who hit the stage at the HBIC Music Festival! Maddox Batson was in the crowd wearing a Roman Josi jersey, Carrie Underwood is back on the list with a new Predators jersey, and Bailey Zimmerman wore a Predators jersey on stage!

The New Jersey Devils came to town with a solid roster of musicians who are sporting their colours. Cardi B got her own personalized, bedazzled Devils jersey, we can finally add Taylor Swift to the Devils' roster, Brandy got herself a personalized "Jersey" jersey, Burna Boy wore a white Devils jersey on stage, and rapper Lil Yachty also wore a white Devils jersey on stage! Are the Devils becoming popular?

The New York Islanders had one act for the festival this year as the Beach Boys' keyboardist Bruce Johnson wore his Islanders jersey on stage! There's zero wrong with a classic Islanders jersey!

The Philadelphia Flyers boasted four acts at the festival this year. Simple Plan's Chuck Comeau was on stage in his Flyers jersey, rapper Lil Peep got his own personalized jersey, Jon Bon Jovi got himself a Flyers jersey, and Canadian rock musician John Whitten, better known as Shockwire, was also rocking a Flyers jersey!

The Pittsburgh Penguins sent two very different acts to the HBIC Music Festival, but both have solid followings. Who else can boast Yanni as a fan as he wore a Penguins jersey? And who else can say that 5 Seconds of Summer are fans as they received Penguins jerseys?

The San Jose Sharks saw Chuck Comeau of Simple Plan play in a charity game wearing their jersey! How cool is that?

The Seattle Kraken are being booed off the stage for their disrespect towards a band. I don't know what they were thinking, but if Three Days Grace is in town to play a concert and all they get is t-shirts when they attend a game, something's not right there. Seattle won't have Three Days Grace on their list of musical acts who support them because they deserve better than generic t-shirts! C'mon, Kraken!

The Tampa Bay Lightning have one singer in their corner at the festival as K-Pop star Jin from BTS was on stage in a Lightning jersey!

The Toronto Maple Leafs always seem to have big names in their corner as Simple Plan's Chuck Comeau and David Desrosiers got themselves Maple Leafs jerseys, Triumph's Rik Emmett and Gil Moore got themselves Maple Leafs jerseys, David Lee Roth wore a Maple Leafs jersey, and Post Malone wore a Maple Leafs jersey on stage!

For the very first time, we have a Utah Mammoth musical act! NBA YoungBoy is the first musical act to wear a Utah Mammoth jersey that I could find, and he'll lead the way under their section in the HBIC Musicians in Jerseys database! Who will be the next Mammoth act?

The Vancouver Canucks come to town with a solid lineup of musical acts as Michael Buble donned a vintage Canucks jersey, Mike Reno of Loverboy also wore a vintage Canucks jersey on stage, and Shockwire returns again in a Canucks jersey! How about those vintage threads?

If one team sees a pile of musical acts come through town, it's the Vegas Golden Knights and they're well-represented at the HBIC Music Festival. Simple Plan's Chuck Comeau wore the 2022-23 Reverse Retro jersey and wore the gold Golden Knights jersey, three members - Nick Carter, AJ McLean, and Howie Dorough - of the Backstreet Boys received Golden Knights jerseys, Wayne Newton got his gold Golden Knights jersey, and Flavor Flav sat rinkside in his gold Golden Knights jersey while Jon Bon Jovi showed off his personalized gold jersey!

The Washington Capitals have one act to boast at the HBIC Music Festival, but he's a big star as Ozzy Osbourne wore a Capitals jersey!

The Winnipeg Jets are also represented by one artist at the festival, and it's Simple Plan's Chuck Comeau wearing the Jets' Heritage jersey! Clearly, Comeau has good taste in jerseys with that one!

That will wrap up all the NHL teams who had musicians in jerseys, but we're far from done as there are a pile of international, minor-professional, and junior hockey jerseys still be seen on musicians. We even have our first PWHL jerseys worn in concert to be seen, so I'll get all those posted as the HBIC Music Festival comes to a close tomorrow. And remember that you can always see all the musicians and teams over at the HBIC Musicians in Jerseys database!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Opening Day

Having been to a handful of music festivals in my time, I can honestly say that one stumbles across a great opening band only once in a while. It's not that these bands can't play or don't know how to write music, but it's just that they usually haven't found that sound that makes the crowd sit up and take notice of what they're doing. The first day of the HBIC Music Festival has none of that as there are well-known artists that will appear below for nearly every team. Again, not every team will be represented, but that's ok too. If you know of a band or artist I've missed, please send the image(s) through to me via email!

I'll step aside here, though, as we kick things off with our first teams!

The Anaheim Ducks have three new entries as their musically-talented guests include The Offspring in orange and in white, Thrice with their second appearance in white and orange, and Green Day's Tre Cool was able to score himself both an orange jersey and a white jersey as the Ducks brought an all-rock lineup this year!

The Boston Bruins always seem to have big artists pass through their arena, and this year was no different. Chuck Comeau of Simple Plan makes his first appearance, Eric Church got himself a jersey in Boston, and the Guess Who's Burton Cummings wore a Bobby Orr jersey in a March 2, 1973 concert! Jackie Miclau of rock band Mt. Joy got herself a personalized Bruins jersey, new lead singer Emily Armstrong of Linkin Park sported a Bruins jersey during their concert, and Lionel Richie got himself a personalized Bruins jersey as well!

The Buffalo Sabres brought a strong group of artists with them to the HBIC Music Festival as country crooner Cody Johnson got a personalized Sabres jersey, all of Disturbed got personalized jerseys, Eric Church got a personalized black Sabres jersey, bassist Robby Takac of the Goo Goo Dolls got a personalized black Sabres jerseys, and country singer MaRynn Taylor got herself a blue Sabres jersey and a black Sabres jersey too! Rascal Flatts' Gary LeVox wore a Sabres jersey on stage, and hip hop artist West Side Gunn wore a white 1999 Buffalo Sabres jersey with scorpions embroidered on it!

The Calgary Flames have music from a number of genres on their set list. The Arkells got to share one jersey, Bailey Zimmerman wore a Flames jersey on stage, the Beach Boys got Flames jerseys for each band member, Ja Rule took the stage in a Flames alternate jersey, Mt. Joy received Calgary Flames jerseys much to the delight of Jackie Miclau, Nelly made a statement with his sleeveless Flames jersey, Our Lady Peace received personalized jerseys, and former NHL goaltender Jamie McLennan posted this image of Ozzy Osbourne receiving a personalized Flames jersey! How awesome is that photo?

The defending Stanley Cup champions have five artists on their stage as the Carolina Hurricanes gave rapper Rod Wave his own personalized jersey, NBA YoungBoy modified his Hurricanes jersey into a short-sleeved version, Journey's Jonathan Cain wore a Hurricanes jersey on stage, Rascal Flatts' Gary LeVox wore his Hurricanes jersey on stage, and Darius Rucker, formerly of Hootie and the Blowfish, fired the crowd up in Raleigh by sounding the siren last year!

The Chicago Blackhawks showed up to the festival with a handful of artists representing them as Benson Boone met the Folignos and got a jersey, K-Pop boy band P1Harmony received Blackhawks jerseys when they attended a game, Simple Plan's Chuck Comeau wore a Connor Bedard jersey on stage, Carlos Santana appears to be a Blackhawks fan, and, in one of the coolest musical moments, Italian conductor Riccardo Muti conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a Blackhawks jersey! I believe he's the first conductor on the list!

The Colorado Avalanche only have one musical act to boast at the HBIC Music Festival, and that act is none other than Chuck Comeau of Simple Plan who is wearing the Avalanche alternate jersey!

The Dallas Stars took the same approach with just one act to boast at the HBIC Music Festival, but Post Malone seems pretty pumped about his personalized Stars jersey! For those wondering, Post Malone has ties to the #77 as his 2016 debut album, Stoney, spent 77 weeks in the Top 10 of the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart!

The Detroit Red Wings have two acts at the festival with Chuck Comeau of Simple Plan wearing a Red Wings jersey on stage, and long-time rocker Gail Greenwood of L7 and Belly wore a Red Wings jersey as well! We'll see both of these artists with another team too!

The Edmonton Oilers, by sheer volume, are your headliners at the HBIC Music Festival. Creed received personalized blue Oilers jerseys, Darius Rucker got himself a personalized blue Oilers jersey, Finger Eleven received personalized blue Oilers jerseys, the Headstones received personalized blue Oilers jerseys, Dylan Marlowe got himself a personalized blue Oilers jersey, Mother Mother received personalized blue Oilers jerseys, Warren Zeiders got himself a personalized blue Oilers jersey, Sarah McLachlan got herself a personalized blue Oilers jersey, half of Nate Ratlieff and the Night Sweats received personalized blue Oilers jerseys in one photo with the other half of the band getting them in a second photo, Papa Roach received personalized blue Oilers jerseys, Dasha got herself a personalized blue Oilers jersey, Hardy got himself a personalized blue Oilers jersey, Josh Ross got himself a personalized blue Oilers jersey, and Kane Brown got himself a personalized blue Oilers jersey! But we're not even close to being done with the Oilers just yet!

Alex Howard of Jelly Roll's band wore an Oilers jersey on stage, Chuck Comeau of Simple Plan wore an Oilers alternate jersey, Todd Kerns of Triumph wore an Oilers jersey, Sum 41 got jerseys with the band name on the back, Bailey Zimmerman wore a blue Oilers jersey on stage and a white Oilers jersey on stage, Chelsea "Peaches" West of Jelly Roll's band wore an Oilers jersey on stage, Meghan Patrick wore an Oilers jersey on stage, Scott McCreery received a personalized white Oilers jersey, and Nelly received a personalized white Oilers jersey. I'm pretty sure half the music world has an Oilers jersey now!

The Florida Panthers brought their musical influences to the festival as they gave Ariana Grande a new Panthers jersey, Frankie Grande wore a Panthers jersey, Anthony Criss - better known as Treach from Naughty by Nature - performed in a Panthers jersey, Joe Jonas received a personalized Panthers jersey, and Mexican singer-songwriter Carín León received a jersey with his album's name on it!

The Hartford Whalers were well-represented by Noah Kahan who appeared on stage wearing a Whalers jersey. You can't go wrong with that jersey! And no, the Hurricanes don't get credit for it either.

The last team on the opening day of the HBIC Music Festival are the Los Angeles Kings, and they're represented by Simple Plan's Chuck Comeau and son, London! Comeau's wife, Jacquelin Napal, gets a nod for the Team Canada jersey she's wearing, but she won't appear on her own on this blog as she's not a musician. It's still awesome to see the whole Comeau family dressed up in one theme for Halloween!

There are the first sixteen NHL teams covered in terms of which bands and musicians wore those teams' colours and logos. Honestly, I love seeing these images simply because it's cool knowing all of these people are fans in some way of the same teams we like. Tomorrow, we'll finish off the NHL teams before moving into Wednesday with all the non-NHL jerseys. It should be a fun couple of days, so make sure you come back tomorrow and Wednesday for musicians in jerseys!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 721

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back with some new introductions, some more hockey stories, and some opinions from our two hosts about everything happening in hockey. It's been a fairly quiet week for a lot of the hockey world as schedules were released for the NHL today which flooded social media, but there were still stories to hit the wires this week that need to be discussed. Our hosts will dive into those newsworthy pieces tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will criss-cross the globe as they look at stories from a number of places. They'll discuss failed executives becoming senior advisors, Winnipeg locking up Cole Perfetti, a pile of notable Canada West and U SPORTS men's hockey players landing in professional leagues, Victory+ losing a major client, a weird situation in Ukraine, a potential new destination in Australia, and anything else that may cross their paths. There's lots to discuss and about which our hosts will opine including a few non-hockey stories, so make sure you're ready to roll 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 UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat unearned jobs, good deals, good opportunities, bad economics, weird conscription, new venues, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: July 16, 2026: Episode 721

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 720

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, returns tonight to chat about some of the latest news coming from the hockey world. With summer officially upon us, the news from the ice is slowing down, but there still are things happening that need some discussion. Of course, with Survivor now officially over, we can also get some guests on for interviews, so expect a few chats with awesome people shortly! For tonight, though, we dive into the examinations of a few stories that have hit the news, so we'll get into all that tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will take a run at a few stories as their discussions will look at the IOC letting Russia back into Olympic competition, the Guelph Storm making changes to their arena, Rogers completing their takeover of MLSE and what that might mean, the newest Stanley Cup engravings, the Jets affiliating with a new ECHL franchise and why that's bad, and the New York Islanders holding a fun contest that has exploded in 24 hours. There should be some laughs, frustration, and opinions heard tonight as we break down these stories on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will discuss zero courage, team expenses, corporate sports, unneeded engravings, inexplicable affiliations, artistic fun, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: July 9, 2026: Episode 720

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!