The Hockey Show - Episode 546

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, returns tonight with a topic that requires a special guest to join our hosts! There are often things that happen in and around the city of Winnipeg that may not hit the radars of most citizens, and tonight's topic is one of those things. Thankfully, Teebz and Jason will welcome a guest who has all sorts of experience in an event happening in Winnipeg in May, and we'll get you out in front of the curve with our discussion tonight!

From May 7-13 this year, Winnipeg will be host to the 20th anniversary tournament of the National Aboriginal Hockey Championship as the best Indigenous hockey players from across Canada will meet at Seven Oaks Arena to determine who is the best in 2023! Teebz and Jason welcome Jeff Spencer, Aboriginal Sport Circle Hockey Committee Chair, to the program tonight as we get all the details on the tournament happening here, some of the history behind the tournament, some insight into past tournaments, and a pile of other information as we get set for one of Hockey Canada's least talked-about tournaments despite its significance! Jeff's been involved with the tournament for two decades himself, so he might be the best person to choose when it comes to getting as much info as possible about this great event! We've got lots to talk about tonight with Jeff Spencer, so join us 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 is pretty awesome if you want to listen online. If you're using an Apple device, the player doesn't seem to like Safari yet, so if you want to stream the show I'd recommend Radio Garden to do that as it works nicely with Safari. 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 do use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. 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 welcome Jeff Spencer, Aboriginal Sport Circle Hockey Committee Chair, to discuss the National Aboriginal Hockey Championship in past, present, and future tenses as we learn about cities who have hosted, players who have played, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: March 9, 2023: Episode 546

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 504

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back at UMFM tonight as Manitoba braces for more Vancouver-like rain today. It might be a good thing that we're getting subtropical rains being that Survivor: NHL Playoffs sees seven more entrants sent off the island tonight as we wrap up the first round of the contest. If you missed the updates, everything was recapped here on HBIC earlier this week so check that out if you like. Beyond that, our hosts will squeeze in a little hockey chatter around the exit interviews, so get ready for some laughs as we go to "Tribal Council" tonight!

Teebz and Jason will be joined by Mike G., Jared M. (by proxy), Rich G., Derek A., John M., Barry A., and Tyler D. tonight as each of these gentlemen will get an opportunity to air their grievances over their teams' early exits from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Normally, we find these exit interviews occupy a good chunk of the show's airtime, but we'll do our best to keep things moving so we can get to a few topics including ASU putting the Coyotes in their place, a new contest that starts next week (that I forgot to announce last week), Manitoba earning a gold medal at the NAHC in Nova Scotia, another highly-skilled player joining the coaching ranks, and more! It's a show that will surely make you smile as we hear seven exit interviews in the Survivor: NHL Playoffs contest, so make sure you're listening at 5:30pm CT so you can hear The Hockey Show on 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 is pretty awesome if you want to listen online so you cnn call in for the contest as well. If you're using an Apple device, the player doesn't seem to like Safari yet, so if you want to stream the show I'd recommend Radio Garden to do that as it works nicely with Safari. 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 do use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. 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 with the seven entrants exiled off Survivor: NHL Playoffs island as we end their runs in the contest with some fun exit interviews and more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: May 19, 2022: Episode 504

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 347

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back tonight with four more exit interviews to conduct after the second round of the NHL's Stanley Cup Playoffs ended and four more teams were cast off Survivor: NHL Playoffs island! There was also a "Hand of God" moment in the NHL that needs to be discussed because everyone seems to have an opinion on how the NHL gets everything wrong, so Beans and I will break down this moment in the only way we can: BAN EVERYTHING! Ok, maybe not that extreme, but we'll discuss it!

Tonight, Beans and I will get the boats to the mainland ready for Teri (NYI), Derek (CBJ), Travis (DAL), and Jared (COL) as these four entrants will be cast off Survivor: NHL Playoffs island. Once we get through those four exit interviews, we'll discuss Timo Meier's hand pass, the NHL video review process, and how each of us would fix it. We'll look at Germany and Switzerland equaling Russia's efforts at the IIHF World Championship with these three teams remaining perfect through the opening four games. We offer our thoughts on Ralph Krueger returning to the NHL. We'll talk about the announcements from the Hockey Helps The Homeless press conference on Tuesday, and we'll wrap it up by discussing the results of the National Aboriginal Hockey Championship! It should be another entertaining show, so we hope you can join us at 5:30pm CT!

Speaking of joining us, the new UMFM website's online streaming player is pretty awesome if you want to listen online. If you're using an Apple device, the player doesn't seem to like Safari yet, but we highly recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or perhaps another browser. If you do use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. It's a solid app.

Having lost faith in Facebook, I spend far less time on that site for good reasons. In saying that, you can still email all show questions and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! We're here to listen to you, so make your voice heard!

Tonight, Teebz and Beans run through four exit interviews with Teri, Derek, Travis, and Jared before chatting video review and how to make it better, the World Championship, a new coach in Buffalo (again), the Hockey Helps The Homeless press conference, the National Aboriginal Hockey Championship, and much more only on The Hockey Show found exclusively on 101.5 UMFM, on the UMFM app, on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: May 16, 2019: Episode 347

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Three Medals?

It's rare that one team can medal twice in the same event. I've seen two teams from the same club or country win medals in the same event, but never the same team winning two medals. If you take a glance at the lede image, you'll see that Manitoba won a bronze medal, a silver medal, and a gold medal despite entering just one men's team and one women's team at the 2019 National Aboriginal Hockey Championship taking place in Whitehorse, Yukon. How is this possible, you ask? Read on for the surprising answer on how this was accomplished!

First, I had mentioned on Saturday on this very blog that Manitoba was one of three provinces with a chance to bring home two medals. As shown, the original schedule looked something as follows:

Everything seemed to be going as planned as the morning games were played. The Ontario women downed British Columbia to earn the bronze medal, and the Manitoba men's team followed up that effort by beating the British Columbia men's team to capture their own bronze medal. The gold-medal women's game saw Saskatchewan play extremely well in defeating Manitoba, and it seemed we were all set for an Alberta-Saskatchewan showdown.

Except the schedule changed.

Wait, a second. The Manitoba men who won bronze earlier in the day were now going to play Saskatchewan for the gold medal? How did this come about? What happened to Alberta, a team that had beaten Manitoba twice on two previous days?

The live stream of the final offered no answers as the broadcasters didn't even mention it from my skimming through the game quickly. It seems that Alberta just fell off the map and Manitoba was granted the chance to play for their second medal of the day. I posed the question today on Twitter in an effort to find answers, and Josh Schroeder (@jdschroeder) provided me the answer following his search of the NAHC Facebook page! His find was the following message posted to the social media platform (click it to read it).

According to the letter, Team Alberta's plan to leave on Sunday afternoon prior to the gold medal game at the 2019 NAHC was their own decision, and they made no attempt to resolve the problem after qualifying for the gold-medal game. In fact, from what the letter says, it sounds as though Team Alberta lobbied to have the gold-medal game time changed as opposed to them making alternate travel plans. The NAHC Working Group and the Provincial Territorial Aboriginal Sport Bodies (PTASB) decided that the tournament games would remain as they were, and Alberta was removed for the tournament.

First off, major kudos to the NAHC Working Group and the PTASB for sticking to their guns. As they stated, the tournament schedule was posted in November 2018, giving Team Alberta more than enough time to secure proper travel arrangements. The two groups also worked with tournament partners to try to help Alberta remain in Whitehorse for the gold-medal game, but it seems that Team Alberta wanted no part of that solution. Again, I want to commend the NAHC Working Group and PTASB for not giving in to Alberta's demands because, quite frankly, they caused this problem and did little to resolve it.

Second, who does Alberta think they are? They're no more important than any other team, and it's not like they were coming in as a powerhouse or defending champion. In fact, they played and lost in the relegation round at last year's tournament, so they have no more right to ask for a change than any other team. Just because you're inconvenienced due to your own travel plans and ignorance, Alberta, doesn't mean you can force the rest of the tournament to change its entire medal-round schedule. Even if you were the defending champion, that demand still wouldn't be considered. You're not that important.

Third, well done, Manitoba, for stepping up and seizing the opportunity. Having already won bronze, the Manitoba men decided to abandon that medal and play for the gold medal against Saskatchewan, hammering their neighbours to the west by a 6-1 score to claim the gold medal. I don't know how long the Manitoba men had to prepare, but they came out guns a-blazing in posting a 3-0 lead in the opening frame to carry them to the 6-1 win.

As a result, the final standings at the 2019 National Aboriginal Hockey Championship were:

WOMEN: Ontario
MEN: British Columbia

WOMEN: Manitoba
MEN: Saskatchewan

WOMEN: Saskatchewan
MEN: Manitoba

It's rare that a one team can medal twice in the same event, but Manitoba did just that yesterday. While they abandoned the bronze medals to play for the gold medal, the fact that they even got a shot at winning the gold medal is rather astounding considering what Alberta did. When opportunity knocked, though, Manitoba seized it. Because of Alberta's poor planning and lack of any reasonable thought, Saskatchewan and Manitoba now will return home with one gold medal-winning team and one silver medal-winning team when it appeared only one province has that opportunity on Saturday and into Sunday morning.

Congratulations to all the teams, except the Alberta men, who participated at the 2019 National Aboriginal Hockey Championship with special mentions going to Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba for winning medals! You did your provinces proud, and you should take an immense amount of pride in what you accomplished!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Chance For Two Medals

The final games of the 2019 National Aboriginal Hockey Championships take place tomorrow in Whitehorse after the field had been narrowed down to the final four teams on both the men's and women's sides of the event. Manitoba, the two-time defending champions in the women's event, will return to the final for the third-straight year as they look to three-peat against Saskatchewan while the Manitoba men will compete for bronze after falling to Alberta in the semi-final. Regardless of the outcome, three provinces have a chance at two medals on the final day of the 2019 NAHC.

It's pretty remarkable to have both teams from a single province play for a gold medal, but Saskatchewan will have that opportunity tomorrow as both their men's and women's teams play in the final. The Saskatchewan women went 2-0 in the round-robin, scoring 11 goals and surrendering just one goal in downing Team North 7-0 and Team BC 4-1. Saskatchewan moved to the qualifying round where they dominated with a 2-0 win over Team BC, leading to a semi-final berth tonight where they defeated Team BC 3-0 in a rematch to advance to the gold medal final.

The Saskatchewan men went 1-1 in round-robin play, losing 6-3 to Alberta and winning 7-1 over Eastern Door & North. In the qualifying round, Saskatchewan downed Eastern Door & North by a 9-0 score to advance to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal saw Saskatchewan defeat Team Atlantic 9-2 and then rally to defeat top-seeded Team BC in the semifinal tonight by a 3-1 score to secure a berth in the gold medal game as the only province to have both teams play for gold.

The Saskatchewan women will face the Manitoba women who, as stated above, are looking for the three-peat. Manitoba went 2-0 in the round-robin, scoring 14 goals and surrendering just two goals in a 7-0 win over Alberta and a 7-2 win over New Brunswick. They beat second-seeded Ontario 6-2 to advance to the semi-final where they would face Ontario again, and they only made the score worse as they beat Ontario for a second time by a 7-0 score to advance to the gold medal final.

The Saskatchewan men will battle the Alberta men who went 2-0 in the round-robin with that aforementioned 6-3 win over Saskatchewan and a 5-3 win over Eastern Door & North. In the qualifying round, Alberta hammered third-seeded Manitoba 7-0 to advance to the semi-final where they'd meet the Manitobans again, and Alberta qualified for the gold medal final with a 6-4 over Manitoba in the rematch.

As it stands, the four games that will happen in Whitehorse on Sunday are as follows:

Women - Ontario vs British Columbia (8:30am)
Men - Manitoba vs British Columbia (11:30am)

Women - Manitoba vs Saskatchewan (2:30pm)
Men - Alberta vs Saskatchewan (5:30pm)

Depending on which teams are successful, Manitoba could return to their province with two medals, British Columbia could return to their province with two medals, but Saskatchewan is guaranteed to return to their province with two medals. All three provinces should be proud of the men and women who are representing them this week in Whitehorse, and I know I'll be watching these teams compete on Sunday.

Good luck to the remaining teams, and here's hoping Manitoba brings home two medals!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!