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!

Lions, Lobsters, and Dragons? Oh My!

The SPHL has been around since 2004, and they've done a fairly good job at making hockey in non-traditional southern US markets affordable while giving players a springboard into professional hockey. I don't know how long they'll last based on how hockey is going, but the league has announced that its team membership will grow from ten to thirteen teams by 2027 thanks to teams switching leagues and an expansion franchise. As we know, the profit margins on minor-professional hockey tams are small - and negative when if a team loses - so seeing the SPHL growing in their corner of the North American map is encouraging for those thirteen communities.

Before we get into who is joining, the SPHL is currently made up of nine teams in Alabama, Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois, Florida, and Virginia, so bus rides can be long for some road trips. The three new franchises will add teams in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, so the map gets a little bigger, but it also makes the map a little easier to naviagte for road trips as these three teams give better options for playing two teams in a weekend instead of just playing a baseball-like three-game series against one team.

Announced back on May 13, the SPHL welcomed the Athens Rock Lobsters into the fold as the former Federal Prospects Hockey League team will make the jump to the SPHL starting next season. The Rock Lobsters joined the FPHL in 2024 where, in two seasons, they compiled a record of 87-21-4 as one of the top teams in the FPHL in both seasons. They averaged 4486 fans per game last season, making them one of the more profitable FPHL teams, so it was clear their owners were looking for a greater challenge. Making the jump from the FPHL to the SPHL seemed like the logical choice, and the nearby Macon Mayhem will finally have a natural, in-state rival with the Rock Lobsters.

"This move simply makes sense from both a competitive and operational standpoint," Todd Mackin, President of Spire Holdings who owns the Rock Lobsters, said back on May 13. “Athens has proven in just two seasons that it is a tremendous hockey market. The fan support, the energy inside Akins Ford Arena, and the organization's commitment to innovation in game presentation have helped create one of the best experiences in minor professional hockey. We're excited to continue building on that momentum and delivering an incredible atmosphere for fans throughout Northeast Georgia."

Honestly, I have no qualms about the Rock Lobsters seeking out better competition as long they don't one-and-done this. I have full confidence they won't, so as long as the Spire Holdings group is willing to pay a little more for the SPHL's increased costs, I'm all for giving the Athens Rock Lobsters a shot at the SPHL level.

Joining the Rock Lobsters from the FPHL in the SPHL will be the Pee Dee IceCats, based in Florence, South Carolina. Announced on June 24, the IceCats had been conditionally accepted into the SPHL fold on May 30 before it was made official at the end of June. This won't be Florence's first time in the SPHL as the Pee Dee Cyclones played in the SPHL from 2005-07. Florence has hockey fans as 4763 fans came out to support the IceCats on average, and they're located just south of Fayetteville in North Carolina, giving the Marksman a natural rivalry between the two Carolina states. The reason for them leaving the FPHL for the SPHL seems a little more tenuous than Athens' reason for their jump.

While no one is saying anything out loud, it seems the owners of the Pee Dee IceCats were unhappy with the FPHL's expansion into the California cities of Fresno and Stockton (which will be covered on HBIC shortly). There are rumours of unprofessional behaviours between team and league executives at league meetings, accusations about improper ownership paperwork, and more, but it sounds like the owners of the IceCats looked at everything and decided to make their exit from the FPHL at this time, following Athens to the SPHL.

I'm not picking sides here, but Pee Dee's inclusion into the SPHL adds another strong minor-pro hockey maket. The IceCats set the FPHL single-game record for the 2025-26 season with 7837 fans showing up to see them beat the Athens Rock Lobsters 5-1 in January, they clearly have a solid rivalry with the Rock Lobsters after sweeping them out of the playoffs last season, and it appears their owners are committed to putting a winning product on the ice. That's the kind of commitment the SPHL needs from its franchises to remain strong.

While the league will push ahead with twelve teams next season, a thirteenth team is set to arrive in 2027 and it's a team that already had stakes in its community. The city of Mobile, Alabama will play home to the Mobile Mysticks hockey team as the expansion frachise gets itself setup for business over the next year. Owned by the Zawyer Group who has been moving minor-pro hockey teams into all sorts of communities in the southeast corner of the United States, the Mysticks will wear the logo seen to the left while sporting green, purple, and yellow in their colour scheme. Unveiled on June 16, the new SPHL franchise stated that the name was chosen with extensive community input including "a public naming process that generated more than 2,000 entries."

"I could not be more excited that Mobile's newest professional sports franchise will go by a familiar name - the Mysticks!" Mobile mayor Spiro Cheriogotis told Erica Thomas of 1819news.com, referencing the ECHL franchise that called the Alabama city home from 1995–2002. "This is incredible for our city, for the new Regions Arena and for local sports fans. I can't wait for the puck to drop. Go Mysticks!"

I've written about the Zawyer Group's growing hockey empire before, and it seems like their group of investors have no issues with dropping teams into cities if offered. The tough part about the ECHL Mysticks is that each year saw their attendance drop, a unpleasant trend for franchise owners. I suspect that if the SPHL Mysticks can find fun promotions and build a winning hockey team, the new Mysticks will likely be a part of Mobile's sports scene for a long time.

For a league that doesn't generate a ton of revenue, having three teams join in two seasons means that costs will go up for the other ten teams as there will be more bus trips to new destinations, more hotel stays, and more gameday meals on the road. It shouldb't be lost on anyone, though, that these teams have good arena sizes, their owners are motivated to succeed, and they have fanbases who are looking for better hockey. With tickets being less than $35 in all thirteen SPHL cities, it's fun, affordable hockey for everyone!

Five teams have won the SPHL championship since 2018, so increasing the number of teams will give more players a chance to play and, potentially, more teams a chance to win. I'm not saying that any of Athens, Pee Dee, or Mobile will win in their first seasons, but, assuming the Rock Lobsters and IceCats continue their efforts to put the best teams they can on the ice, the level of competition should rise in the SPHL. That's good for everyone in the SPHL, and that's how the SPHL can remain viable and profitable for years to come.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 719

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, returns tonight with a studio full of guests! It's not a CBS soundstage with a live studio audience or anything, but tonight will see Survivor: NHL Playoffs wrapped up as Michaela, along with two guests, join us at the UMFM offices to collect prizes, talk hockey, and have a few laughs! It should be a good chat with 2026 Survivor champ Michaela and her guests as they'll spend the full hour with us talking hockey on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason welcome Michaela and her guests to the show where we'll award her the jersey of her choice and all the other associated prizes worthy of a Survivor: NHL Playoffs champion. We'll talk to her about cheering for the Hurricanes, who she may have been cheering for other than her chosen team, and whether or not beating her dad, Colin, has caused problems at home. Beyond that chat and laughter, the group will look at how the Winnipeg Jets did when it comes to free agency and the draft, whether or not Connor Hellebuyck starts the season in Winnipeg, the Vancouver Giants being on the move, European hockey news, and some rule changes in the WHL and SPHL that should be adopted by other leagues. It's going to be a fun show with Survivor champion Michaela and her guests, so make sure your listening to 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 meet Michaela, shower her with prizes, talk hockey, have some laughs, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: July 2, 2026: Episode 719

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 712

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, returns tonight with a lot of hockey chatter from the last couple of weeks as exit interviews took up a chunk of time last week. We're going to push the exit interviews to next week so we can get everyone caught up on the big news stories from the hockey world, so Derek (Philadelphia) and Dave (Minnesota) can have a week to prepare their statements on their teams. Out hosts have all sorts of information to cover so this show will move quickly. Be ready to roll tonight for The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason look at the PWHL Final series that will be played by the Ottawa Charge and the Montreal Victoire as there are several U SPORTS, Canada West, and Manitoba tie-ins regarding who will win the first Walter Cup in Canada. Beyond that, there will be a serious discussion about the four new expansion locations that the PWHL chose, we have some Team Manitoba parahockey updates from Nationals to go over, Edmonton and Toronto are making changes, the USHL and SPHL are expanding, we'll finally get to a Spengler Cup discussion, and we'll tackle anything else that may come up. It's a big day of expansion and results 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.

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 the Walter Cup, expansion, medals, coaches, management, bad decisions, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: May 14, 2026: Episode 712

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Other Side Of The World

The goaltender to the left likely isn't going to be recognizable unless you're following the ECHL and SPHL closely. That goalie is Surrey, BC's Noah Giesbrecht, and he was trying to crack lineups in the professional leagues here in North America after finishing a solid university career that saw him play at three different schools including a U SPORTS school! One of the toughest things for any undrafted goalie to do is break into the ECHL with so few roster spots available, but Giesbrecht looked like he may get his shot with the Savannah Ghost Pirates after playing with the SPHL's Knoxville Ice Bears! That run with the Ghost Pirates ended early as he was released yesterday, but he found a new home very quickly for this summer!

Giesbrecht's hockey career saw him play in both the MJHL for two teams and the SJHL for Melfort Mustangs along with a cup of coffee in the USHL with the Muskegon Lumberjacks. He put up very good numbers in 2019-20 with the MJHL's Portage Terriers, compiling a 12-4-0 record with a 1.86 GAA and a .925 save percentage. Those numbers attracted the attention of the OUA's University of Windsor Lancers, and Giesbrecht was off to play in southern Ontario!

After the COVID year in 2020-21, Giesbrecht was excellent with the Lancers as he went 7-1-0 with a 2.13 GAA and a .941 save percentage in the first half of the season before jumping south of the border as he enrolled at Ferris State where he joined the men's hockey team! In his time with the Bulldogs, Giesbrecht went 19-29-3 with a 3.35 GAA and an .898 save percentage. He'd play his final NCAA season with RPI where he was 11-19-0 with a 3.54 GAA and an .896 save percentage. Being undrafted, Giesbrecht looked to the ECHL as an option.

He spent more time on the bench than in a crease as two games with Tulsa and nine games with Savannah were the only opportunities he received this season. Combined with seven more games in Knoxville, Giesbrecht likely had his agent looking for other options as his 18 games of professional action didn't give him a lot to build on for next season. That's when another opportunity presented itself, and Giesbrecht took it as he'll pack his bags and head south!

Giesbrecht will suit up this summer - or, more accurately, this winter in Australia - for the AIHL's Melbourne Mustangs! The AIHL's opening games happen this weekend, and the Mustangs will be in action on Saturday as they host the Central Coast Rhinos. Giesbrecht gives them another solid goaltender along with Seb Woodlands and Tom Papas, and they may need the added experience as their opening night lineup apparently will not feature longtime star Ty Wishart! That could possibly change as there was no announcement of him retiring, so he could be back at some point. For whatever reason, though, the Mustangs will be without one of their best players to begin the 2026 AIHL season.

The AIHL will continue with their ten-team setup as the action last season proved exciting down the stretch with teams pushing for playoff spots. The Melbourne Ice enter the season as the defending champions after defeating the Canberra Brave for the Goodall Cup last season, so those teams will come into this season with targets on their backs. The Mustangs finished in sixth-place which pitted them against the Perth Thunder in a play-in game for the playoffs, but Perth took care of business by a 5-2 score. Clearly, the Mustangs want to return to glory, so improved goaltending will help that cause!

Noah Giesbrecht has played in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Michigan, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Georgia in his hockey journey thus far, and he'll add the city of Melbourne, Australia on this leg of his hockey career! Where it goes from here is anyone's guess, but the summer of 2026 will see him in Mustangs' black and orange!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Top Dawg In The SPHL

It's been said many times that goaltenders are a different bunch of people from the rest of the players that make up hockey teams. Usually, this is in reference to goalies being a little superstitious when to comes to their routines on gameday, but you have to have an appreciation for guys who are willing to stand in front of a piece of rubber moving at three-digit speeds. The man to the left isn't Bruce Wayne nor is he Batman, but he could be considered a superhero in some circles for the number of times he's helped his teams win. That man's name is Austyn Roudebush, and the 32 year-old netminder from Toledo, Ohio went ahead and set a new record in the SPHL that will certainly take another player a long time to break.

Roudebush wasn't drafted by an NHL team nor did he play high level junior hockey. His college experience was playing with Adrian College's club team in the ACHA where he went an unfathomable 57-3-4 in four years where he never had a GAA over 2.00 in any year. Roudebush dominated throughout his college career that included a 22-0-0 final year in 2017-18 where he posted a 0.91 GAA, eight shutouts, and a .955 save percentage. How Roudebush flew under everyone's radar with those kinds of numbers is still a mystery to me.

Despite the NHL not calling, Roudebush pushed forward with his career, signing with the Mentor Ice Breakers in the Federal Prospect Hockey League in 2019-20 where he went 11-11-2 in 27 games in his first professional season. The asterisk on those numbers is that Mentor went 15-30-3 that season, meaning that the other four goaltenders used by Mentor that season went a combined 4-19-1. It seem not so far-fetched to suggest that Roudebush might be some sort of superhero based on those numbers.

The catch is that Roudebush also played his first games in the SPHL that season with the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs where he went 5-2-2 with a 2.50 GAA and a .927 save percentage. It was clear that Roudebush could play at the SPHL level as he was solid in his first 13 games, but he bounced around 2020-21 with stops in Knoxville and Birmingham in the SPHL and Tusla in the ECHL. He went 13-4-0 with Knoxville with a 1.62 GAA and .943 save percentage which was a stark contrast from his 0-2-0 record in the Tulsa where he had an 8.12 GAA and a .690 save percentage. Tulsa wasn't a good fit for Roudebush.

2021-22 saw Roudebush return to Roanoke where he has spent the last five seasons. In that time, he's amassed an impressive record of 95-46-19, helped Roanoke win the SPHL championship in 2022-23 where he was named as the 2023 President's Cup Most Valuable Player, and posted three-straight seasons of 24 wins or more. Clearly, he found his groove in Roanoake where he has 100 career wins, but it was his 99th win in Roanoke that put him on a new level in the SPHL.

On Friday night, Roudebush stopped all 37 shots in Roanoke's 5-0 shutout win over Macon to earn his 112th career win in the SPHL, moving him past former SPHL netminder Peter Di Salvo who totaled his 111 wins with seven SPHL teams from 2013-22. That 112th win put Roudebush at the top of the list for wins by a goaltender in the SPHL, and he went ahead and added his 113th win on Sunday in a 3-2 win over Macon once more! How cool is that for Austyn Roudebush?

What's even more impressive is that Roudebush is also second in games played with 200 SPHL contests under his belt, and he ranks second in career shutouts with 15 including the one he recorded over Macon in his record-breaking game. Austyn Roudebush is making a name for himself in a league to which a lot of people never pay attention, and I'm happy to see him get his name in the record book because Austyn Roudebush has had an outstanding hockey career!

He's still adding accolades and achievements, but consider this résumé: three ACHA All-Conference selections, three All-American nominations, ACHA National Player of the Year in 2018, 2018 ACHA National Champion, 2023 President's Cup champion, 2023 President's Cup Most Valuable Player, and now he added winngest goaltender in SPHL history with many years of hockey still to play in his career.

If you don't know his name by name, Austyn Roudebush's name should now be more familiar to you after he broke the SPHL record for careers win by a goaltender. Before he's done, I would expect more records to be beside his name in the SPHL record book, and he might even earn himself a statue one day outside of the Berglund Center in Roanoke, Virginia when his career finally comes to an end.

Before that retiremnet talk happens, though, Austyn Roudebush still has lots of pucks to stop for the Rail Yard Dawgs in Roanoke!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Is This A Birthday Suit?

When the SPHL's Huntsville Havoc announced that they were changing their logos for this season, I wasn't sure what to expect. After all, how does one design "Havoc" as a logo? While they had a somewhat tame logo for the last few seasons, I never expected them to go back to a cartoonish logo like the one to the left, but that's what they unveiled before the start of this season. Maybe it's more appealing to kids and families, but we're not here to talk about this logo because the Huntsville Havoc may have just set a new standard in jersey design with their birthday jersey for their mascot, Chaos. It's a beauty!

As you know, I'm all for minor-league hockey teams having some fun with their jerseys when appropriate. I was a big fan of the effort given by the Hershey Bears when they came up with the "Screaming Bear" jerseys that they wore on Sunday for the first time, winning in overtime by a 2-1 score over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. I didn't think any jerseys would come close to the wink-and-nod that the Bears were giving to their NHL affiliate in the Washington Capitals, but the Huntsville Havoc may have done them one better.

Ladies and gentlemen, here is Chaos' birthday jersey for his birthday party, taking place on January 30, 2026 against the Peoria Rivermen.

Holy moly, is that an awesome take on the Wild Wing jerseys worn by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks! The Ducks brought the Wild Wing back for their Reverse Retro jersey in 2021, but it never quite felt like it had the same punch as the original Wild Wing jerseys that were worn in 1995-96. However, seeing the cartoonish face of Chaos and the alterations for his wolf features on this Havoc recreation of the Wild Wing jersey might just be the best jersey seen across all leagues!

"But Teebz," I hear you saying, "these are still awful jerseys," and you'd be right, but they're awful for an NHL team because of how cartoonish they are. For a minor-league hockey team, these are fantastic beause they look so minor-league in their design. Having the Havoc adopt this jersey design is an awesome idea, and whoever came up with this idea deserves some sort of bonus or promotion!

Perhaps the best part of this jersey is that you can get one of your own! The Havoc are taking pre-sale purchases for Chaos birthday jerseys through November 24, so you can't wait long if you want one of these for your closet. I'd be all over this if they were selling on-ice jerseys, but I dislike replica jerseys of any kind, even if they are awesome like these ones. I guess I'll miss out on this one.

There is a game-style jersey available on the Dash auctions site, but I'm not in a financial position to spend more than $800 USD on a jersey of any kind. Heck, I wouldn't spend $800 on a trip to the state of New Jersey, let alone spending it on a a polyester sweater. As stated, I'm missing out on what could be the best jersey this year.

Feel free to leave your comments about this jersey below because I'm interested in your view on this iteration of the Wild Wing jersey. I've seen teams celebrate their mascots' birthdays before, but I don't think I've ever seen a team come up with an idea like the Havoc did for Chaos' birthday. It makes me wonder what they may have in store for their other mascot, Ruckus, when his birthday hits the calendar!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 679

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, returns tonight with only some slight fashion chatter as the hockey storis begin to ramp up with training camps and preseason games entirely in session. Not to be a "Debbie Downer", but I find the preseason to be the most meaningless time of the sea tharson for fans because, aside from a few surprises, the vast majority of teams have what seems like their opening night rosters already set. Our hosts will talk about none of that tonight, though, because there are other, more intriguing stories that will occupy the hour. What stories, you ask? Read on as the puck chatter will start tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight on the program, Teebz and Jason will discuss the growing interest in the five players who were acquitted in the Hockey Canada trial. There's a crazy spin-off to this story, so you'll want to hear this discussion. Beyond that, the hosts will also look at the SPHL expansion into Mobile, Alabama and the challenges there, Jaromir Jagr's season so far, Anze Kopitar's retirement tour, the Minnesota Wild are going back to the future, and they'll tease an upcoming guest for October. It should be a somewhat-contentious discussion this evening, so get settled in 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. 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 discuss bad decisions, questionable signings, new franchises, absent players, retirement tours, old threads, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: September 25, 2025: Episode 679

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Empire Grows... Again

If I asked you what the common thread among Charlotte, Savannah, Atlanta, Greensboro, Jacksonville, Allen, Stateline, and Mobile are, you might respond that they're all names of US cities. While that's true, there are things that bring these cities together, and two of those things are professional hockey and the Zawyer Sports and Entertainment Group. You may recognize that the majority of the cities listed above have ECHL teams that the Zawyer Group either owns or operates, but the one city that sticks out is Mobile, Alabama as there hasn't been an ECHL team there since 2002. That fact will continue as there are no ECHL teams moving into Mobile, but the Zawyer Group will be running professional hockey in the southern Alabama city starting in 2027-28 as their empire expands again!

I missed the original announcement back on September 17, but the SPHL and the Zawyer Sports & Entertainment announced that an expansion team will begin play in Mobile, Alabama in 2027-28! The SPHL approved the expansion bid with a unanimous vote of approval by the league's Board of Governors, allowing the 11th SPHL franchise to begin play in two seasons' time in the state of Alabama!

There has never been an SPHL team in Mobile, but there was an ECHL team there at one time. The Mobile Mysticks called the Mobile Civic Center home from 1995-2002 before moving to Duluth, Georgia to become the Gwinnett Gladiators who, in 2015, became the Atlanta Gladiators. The Mysticks never advanced past the second round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs in any of their campaigns, but they did make the playoffs in five of their seven seasons while playing in Alabama.

You may be wondering how Mobile suddenly appeared on the hockey map in 2025, and that's due to the new arena project that Mobile is currently running. Demolition of the Mobile Civic Center began in September 2024 as the city of Mobile invested $300 million into a new arena. Ground broke on the new arena in the spring of 2025, and it's expected that the 10,000-seat arena will be ready for use by autumn of 2027 for concerts, family shows, and sporting events.

Obviously, Mobile would be seeking a tenant for the new facility, and that means they'd need some sort of sports team in the building. With the Birmingham Bulls at the north end of the state and the Pensacola Ice Pilots directly to the east, there would be immediate rivals for an SPHL team. An ECHL team wouldn't have immediate rivals, and the league already had announced its 32nd team earlier this year, so it makes even more sense for the SPHL to move into Mobile.

The metropolitan Mobile area is home to an estimated 412,000 people, so there's a good population to support minor-league hockey. Mobile is seen as a large cultural center thanks to its history as Alabama's only saltwater port, and that has led to Mobile celebrating Mardi Gras each and every year since the early 1800s. Today, the event is still celebrated, and the city is home to all sorts of museums, restaurants, and music that reflect the area's cultural origins.

Among the many industries, the aerospace, ship building, and steelmaking and finishing industries play large parts in the city. The largest employer is in education with the University of South Alabama and the Mobile County Public School System making up 10% of the jobs available. According to 2025 census numbers, "[t]he median household income in Mobile was $50,156, while the median income for a family was $73,717," but nearly 16% of residents live below the poverty line. Might there be economic challenges for this new team?

As long as ticket prices are kept affordable and marketing is done well, an SPHL team shouldn't have any problem attracting fans. They'll have to do better than the ECHL's Mysticks who, in 1995, went from 5310 fans per game to, in 2002, 2618 fans per game. That kind of drop-off will result in a lot of red ink, so this team needs a solid season ticket base to remain profitable. A few winning seasons right out of the gate would certainly help that season ticket sales effort.

Another major factor in keeping fan interest in this team will be creating a solid brand for this new franchise. While the ECHL's Mysticks got their name thanks to Atrisha Looney sending in a survey response, this new SPHL team is getting ahead of the game already by taking team name submissions over at mobileprohockey.com. While I believe the team should be named as the Mobile "Team Names", I do like the idea of a Port City alternate jersey one day.

Of course, I'm a Canadian hockey fan, so my opinion matters little. The people of Mobile are the ones who should be asked, and WKRG in Mobile did just that as they found out what the people think.


Enthusiasm aside, Mobile could be a challenging market when it comes to selling hockey. There are no official minor hockey programs that I could find for Mobile, Alabama, and there hasn't been a hockey presence of any kind in the city for 22 years and counting. For this generation of Mobilians, hockey could be as strange and foreign as Canadian bacon, so the Zawyer Group may have its hands full in selling both the game and tickets to the game at the same time.

My hope is that the Zawyer Group can make this work. This Mobile franchise will mark the eighth team they own and/or operate, so they have the experience of selling hockey in the southern US. This will be the first time, however, that they've gone into community where hockey isn't even on the radar aside from people catching glimpses of it on ESPN's SportCenter. The Zawyer Group will have to be proactive in selling the game for its hockey empire to thrive.

Hockey seems like it can work in Mobile just as it does in other non-traditional sunbelt markets. It will take a big effort from the Zawyer Group and some buy-in from fans in Alabama, but this new SPHL franchise has potential to be a southern jewel for the league. Pro hockey's coming to Mobile in 2027 - will Alabama be ready?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

HBIC Music Festival: Day Three

With it being Labour Day today in Canada, I plan on taking it easy and doing very little. There is definitely some stuff I want to get done, but I don't want to spend all day in front of a computer screen. That being said, I will also have the latest episode of The Hockey Show posted after I took this weekend for mostly myself, so check that page from last Thursday out as Jason and I had some good discussions once again. On this day, though, we take a peek at the non-NHL jerseys worn by musicians that I found over the last few months as the make-believe HBIC Music Festival wraps up for another season!

Once more, the full list of musicians holding or wearing a hockey jersey can be found here, and the list just keeps getting more and more impressive with the additions being made. If you have photos of a musician wearing or holding a jersey, send them through to me and I'll get them posted with you getting credit! I'm always open to more submissions than less, so let's make this "Musicians in Jerseys" list as comprehensive as we can!

We'll go international first as I discovered this photo recently thanks to a user named Knipil. Gil Moore from Triumph is pictured wearing a Team Sweden jersey as Triumph played in Sweden in 2008, and Knipil used it for Gil Moore's Wikipedia page! Speaking of Canadian rock bands, I had mentioned Monster Truck in this series, and they make a return with their visit to the United Kingdom as they were given jerseys from the EIHL's Glasgow Clan and the Nottingham Panthers! Those are pretty sweet jerseys!

We move to the AHL where we get some old, some news, and four new musicians who have AHL devotion now! We'll start with Season 22's winner of American Idol in Abi Carter who was honoured at a Coachella Valley Firebirds game where she got her own jersey! Chris Stapleton toured through Winnipeg, and he got to meet Manitoba Moose defenceman Jimmy Oligny and family who presented him with his own Moose jersey! Morgan Wallen's latest tour took him to many places, and one of those places was Abbotsford, BC where the AHL Canucks gave him a jersey! Monster Truck has been touring for a while, and one of their stops took them to Hamilton, Ontario where the AHL Bulldogs outfitted them AND they met Don Cherry! Finally, we'll go back a few years for this one, but Nickelback must have played Houston, Texas at some point when the Aeros were still in town because they all got jerseys!

Canadian major junior hockey picked up some new musical fans as well. Nickelback was back on the scene in Quebec City where the QMJHL's Remparts set them up with jerseys. Heather Rankin, who is part of The Rankin Family musical group, is well-known on the east coast for her work as a musician and actress, but she donned her QMJHL Cape Breton Screaming Eagles jersey as she calls Cape Breton home!

A couple of universities had their jerseys on musicians as well. Jessica Meuse, who came in fourth-place on the 13th season of American Idol, is originally from Alabama, and she has an Alabama Crimson Tide hockey jersey! The late Toby Keith was a huge Oklahoma Sooners football fan, but he also came out to support the hockey team when he could! How cool is that?

Finally, there are a few jerseys that don't fit into the categories above, so let's take a look at who wore what team. I just mentioned that Jessica Meuse was from Alabama and likes hockey, so of course she owns an SPHL Birmingham Bulls jersey with them calling Pelham, Alabama home! We'll stay in the SPHL as country music artist Hardy toured through Huntsville, and he got himself a Havoc jersey! Joey Braxton is a country music artist who is from Florida, and he showed his devotion to the three-time ECHL champion Florida Everblades by donning their colours and writing them a hype song! Finally, you know Drake has a closet full of jerseys, but I wasn't expecting to see him in a John Purves' IHL San Francisco Spiders jersey! If I'm not mistaken, that might be a game-worn jersey too!

With the end of this weekend series of posts, that's every photo I've found, been sent, and stumbled across in the last few months where a musician is wearing or holding a hockey jersey. I'll do another one of these when I have a collection that needs to be cleared out like the one this weekend, but hoopefully that's a fun crossover of hockey and music for you to peruse.

Now, I'm taking the rest of the day off. Enjoy your Labour Day, folks!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 623

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back on the air tonight with a pile of stories to discuss after we spoke to the incredible Logan Angers on last week's show! The hockey news never seems to stop, though, as there were player moves, potential contract problems, and some smaller stories that will find their way into the show. Our hosts will have some fun pulling apart deals, figuring out if teams got better, and more as we jump into The Hockey Show tonight at 5:30pm CT!

Teebz and Jason put the thinking caps on tonight as they look at the Patrik Laine deal that sent the Finnish sniper to Montreal, the trades made by the Oilers in order to fill holes caused by their decision not to match the offer sheets to Broberg and Holloway, and the Yaroslav Askarov deal that sent the netminder to San Jose. They chat about Ryan Johansen's drama with the Flyers, U SPORTS players signing in the ECHL and SPHL, there may be some uniform chatter, and we'll see what else comes up 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 about a Montreal sniper, offer sheet madness, a San Jose stopper, the Philly flu, player signings, NHL threads, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: August 29, 2024: Episode 623

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Ready And Abel

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know I like to celebrate when U SPORTS players find homes at one of the many professional levels of hockey. Whether playing overseas, in the ECHL, in the AHL, or in the SPHL, there are opportunities out there for players who have worked hard and shown a commitment to excellence in Canadian university hockey. There are no guarantees of fame or fortunes, as you know, but these men are chasing their dreams and waiting for that one break they need to take the next step. One goalie will do that by joining a championship team after helping his Canada West team that make its first playoff appearance in school history!

Ashton Abel, pictured above, came to Grant MacEwan University after playing two seasons and eleven games with the NCAA's Boston University Terriers from 2019-2022. For a goalie who likes a heavy workload, playing very little after nine games in 2019-20 where he was 3-3-2 with a 35-save, double-overtime win over Boston College in Beanpot semifinals, Abel simply watched as Drew Commesso and Vincent Duplessis got the majority of starts.

"I went in halfway through the year in my first year and I played quite a bit," he told MacEwan's Jefferson Hagen. "I had a decent year and then my second and third year I didn't get a chance to get in the net at all. I only played one regular season game. Coming back home, I was trying to find somewhere I could get back playing and starting to enjoy coming to the rink a little more."

The Fort McMurray native found his spot with the MacEwan Griffins who needed a "big game" goalie to compete in Canada West, and he'd show his stuff regularly as he appeared in 40 games over the next two seasons. There will be many who look at his 16-22-1 record, 3.87 GAA, and his .895 save percentage and shrug as those numbers seem unimpressive, but Abel's play in the MacEwan net often was remarkable considering the number of shots the Griffins surrendered.

Because of his work at both Boston University and at MacEwan University, the defending SPHL champions in the Peoria Rivermen announced that they had signed Abel to a contract back on August 15! Both he and goaltending partner Troy Kobryn were signed the same day, and it seems Peoria ia very excited about their netminding duo heading into the title-defence season.

"Ashton Abel is a young netminder that we are excited to have. He shows a lot of potential to succeed at the SPHL level and we cannot wait to have him working with coach Eric Levine to take that next step in his development," Rivermen head coach Jean-Guy Trudel said.

What Trudel didn't say in that statement is that Abel has every opportunity to be the starter for the Rivermen. Kobryn has nine games of SPHL experience where he was 2-2-2 with all of Fayetteville, Pensacola, and Knoxville last season. He's had six games of action in the ECHL as well, going 2-4-0 in those games with Norfolk and Tulsa, so it's not like Abel is competing with a grizzled veteran for playing time in the coming season. In fact, Kobryn hasn't played over 600 minutes - 10 games in total - in any season since 2019-20 when he was in his freshman season with Merrimack College in the NCAA.

In short, the door is wide open for Abel to grab the starter's role.

After being named as the first repeat winner of the Griffins' Male Athlete of the Year in nine years and helping the Griffins to their first-ever Canada West playoff berth, the Rivermen may have found a goaltending gem in Ashton Abel. Along the way, he set ten program single-season and career records in his final season with the Griffins, and now he has his sights set on helping the Rivermen win back-to-back championships as he embarks on his first professional season.

I have no doubt, after watching him play with the Griffins last season, that Ashton Abel is ready for this new challenge!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Cleaning Up The Mayhem

I don't fault anyone for not following the SPHL religiously unless, of course, your hometown team is an SPHL team. Macon, Georgia is one of the cities who has an SPHL team, and the Mayhem haven't had the best recent history as they've missed the playoffs over the last three seasons after losing in the SPHL final in 2020-21. What does the team have to do to get back to the heady days of 2016-17 when Macon had a championship parade? Well, there were some changes recently that could help them succeed on the ice as well as at the box office, and that's always an important factor in minor-professional hockey. Let's check out the changes.

Way back on March 22, 2024, the Mayhem released a statement where they announced they had new ownership. The Macon Pro Hockey Group, LLC took over the ownership and management of the team, and this group is led by Chuck and Lanai Norris who also own and operate the SPHL's Fayetteville Marksmen. While it seems odd to have multiple teams owned by the same people, let's not forget that it happens in the ECHL more often than not so there is a precedence.

"Fans can expect a lot from us moving forward – from new and improved theme nights, to giveaways, specialty jerseys, enhanced merchandise, and so much more," new Team President Alex Wall said. "Each home game will be its own experience – win or lose – and we're eager to welcome Macon back through the doors for the 2024-25 campaign."

That should help the league's lowest-attended franchise as the Mayhem averaged 2107 (32.2% capacity) fans at its home games last season. Ticket sales, concessions, and parking make up a significant portion of any minor-league hockey team's overall budget, so improving that number will help the Mayhem find their way back to respectability. The big claim in the statement that should gets fans excited was the one that read, "Since the Norris family's purchase of the Fayetteville franchise in 2017, attendance has increased by more than 100%." If they can do that in Macon, the team will be stronger.

Getting people through the turnstiles won't just be due to new ownership, though. Yes, the new theme nights and giveaways help, but people are ultimately there to see good hockey. On August 2, the team announced that they had re-signed forward Michael McChesney and defenseman Jarret Kup for the upcoming season, so they're identifying key players who will help them climb back up the standings.

McChesney comes back to Macon after posting 17 goals and 15 assists in 46 games last season. The 25 year-old finished third in team scoring with the second-most goals including the most power-play goals last year, so he looks to be a key piece if the Mayhem are going younger and more skilled. He skated in ten games with the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers last season as well, scoring three assists in those games, but it seems the Mayhem liked what they saw from McChesney after acquiring in a trade from Fayetteville last season.

Jarret Kup is a solid, two-way defender who finished the season with two goals and nine assists in 31 games last year. The 30 year-old defender has played six full seasons in the SPHL with Macon and Fayetteville, but he's a responsible defender who has never taken more than 12 penalty minutes in any of those six professional seasons. He won't wow anyone, but he's good defensively, stays out of the penalty box, and both of those will help the Mayhem this season.

You may be wondering why I'm mentioning these players? Well, they'll be two of the men wearing the new branding released by the Mayhem on August 1! The logo to the right is what the Mayhem will be wearing on their chests this season as they get a little less cartoonish, but Jason Villanti of Redpin Design in Boca Raton, Florida gave the viking a more menacing look. The viking moves the "M" seen on his helmet to his chin as his beard shows the "M", and the team has replaced the navy blue they wore with black while adding "ice blue" to their colour scheme. All of the old branding and logos were officially retired on August 1 with the introduction of this new logo, and merchandise for those who want to wear the latest Mayhem look is now available! A new era in Macon has begun!

I'll give credit to the Macon Pro Hockey Group and the Norris family for working to make hockey in Macon fun again. We'll see if their changes make a difference in attendance numbers and the team's overall success, but they've had success with the Fayetteville Marksman and there's hope for more of that success in Macon. The only change I'd wish they had introduced in their announcements? A throwback night where the Macon Whoopee could skate again!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Not A Fuzzy Green Jersey?

It's not often that I get to write about moldy fruit in this space, but I'm taking advantage of that opportunity today because it may be the only time I ever get to write about it. Normally, finding mold on fruit in a container or near other fruit would mean tossing out the mold-infected fruit, but one of medicine's greatest discoveries happened due to moldy cantaloupe. While the original discovery was made in London, England, one SPHL city played a major role in producing one of the planet's best antibacterial compounds ever! What was it? Let's find out!

In 1928, Scottish physician Alexander Fleming demonstrated the antibacterial properties of penicillin at St. Mary's Hospital in London. The experiment saw the penicillin mould spores kill off a bacterial culture containing Staphylococcus aureus. This was a rather big discovery in medicine as penicillin appeared to have all sorts of antiseptic properties, but isolating the specific molecular compound was incredibly difficult that not many in the medicine field considered it a historic discovery. Even Fleming had his doubts!

There were several successful treatments of various infections that saw penicillin kill off the bacterial infections in patients throughout the 1930s and early 1940s that gave the medical community some hope that penicillin could be produced in large enough and pure enough quantities to treat more people with smaller dosages. In one case, half the total supply produced was used on one patient, so it's clear that the medical community needed to find a way to mass-produce the medicine.

Australian scientist Howard Florey and researcher Norman Heatley could not persuade the British government to mass-produce the medicine, so they left for the US where they met with the the US government. They were directed to the USDA Northern Regional Research Laboratory in Peoria, Illinois where reesearch and large-scale could be done. As scientists worked to find a strain of penicillin that could be easily produced in mass quantities, the major breakthrough came when scientists discovered a strain of Penicillium fungi on a moldy cantaloupe that far more lethal to bacteria.

This newly-discovered strain had a stronger yield and could be rapidly cultured, and Peoria, Illinois officialy jumped into the business of mass-producing penicillin. Pfizer scientist Jasper H. Kane suggested using a deep-tank fermentation method for producing large quantities of pharmaceutical-grade penicillin, and the new procedure was put into place. By June 1945, over 646 billion units per year were being produced with Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey, and researcher Ernst Chain sharing the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery and development of penicillin.

So why is HBIC becoming Science Blog In Canada, you ask? Well, the SPHL's Peoria Rivermen are going to do a rebrand on March 9, and it has everything to do with Peoria's involvement in the penicillin story!

On that night, the Rivermen will be hosting the Pensacola Ice Flyers in the back-half of a two-game series, and they'll be wearing the jerseys you see to the right as they become the Peoria Penicillin! As per the release about the jersey, "[t]he main logo on the front is a penicillin bottle holding a hockey stick about to shoot a 'puck' that looks like a mold spore, in homage to Penicillin's crucial role in fighting bacterial infections worldwide," and the state outline of Illinois is in behind the anthropomorphic penicillin bottle. Frankly, that's a pretty solid cartoon rendering of penicillin for a logo.

Sticking with the details in the release, "[t]he right shoulder patch features the 'moldy cantaloupe' floating on the Illinois River with the Peoria skyline in the background. The words 'Peoria, Illinois 1st to mass produce Penicillin' is inscribed around the logo." This patch is very straightforward when it comes to Peoria's role in penicillin production, and I love the cantaloupe rendering. I'm not sure who is responsible for it, but that's just good artwork!

Still on the release, "[t]he left shoulder logo features a mortar and pestle, commonly used in pharmaceutical compounding, in the shape of the President's Cup" which is just an intelligent combination of two unrelated things. Well done on this shoulder patch, Rivermen!

Obviously, these jerseys may look different on the ice once we see them in action, but I honestly think these are pretty ingenious in the rebranding that the Rivermen will undertake on March 9. From the fun logos showing the history of Peoria's role in one of medicine's best discoveries to the actual history of the city's involvement and the team embracing it, this is one rebranding I can get behind. And the team will have merchandise closer to the game and will auction off the jerseys after the game!

The Peoria Penicillin will hit the ice on March 9 to see if they can kill off an infection of the Pensacola Ice Pilots. It should be a fun night in Peoria, and here's hoping there are side effects in this contest!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 567

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, hits the ground running tonight as there are stories from all over the map to be discussed. You'd think that it would be fairly quiet for hockey at the start of August, but people are making hockey news in places like Sweden, Kenya, Las Vegas, Winnipeg, and North Carolina. As a result, we've got a busy show to get thought tonight as our hosts bring you their takes on all the news and information coming out of the hockey world as the calendar flipped to August at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight on the program, Teebz and Jason look at the SPHL killing its own name for no real reason before discussing the Kenya Ice Lions making a big step. They'll discuss the Winnipeg Jets trying to find some way to more butts in seats, Sweden is getting a well-known player to play there, some news about the 2024 Winter Classic, a player deciding on whether he plays or retires and the circumstances around that, potentially six cities that may be homes to PWHL teams, and we have some exciting sledge hockey news happening here in Winnipeg! As stated, there are stories from around the globe that need examining, and that will happen 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 is pretty awesome 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 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 about dumb decisions, raising money, ticket options, a familiar face in a new place, new threads, old problems, new locations, some fun on sleds, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: August 3, 2023: Episode 567

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Letters Mean Nothing

The SPHL was making noise on Tuesday with a couple of major announcements. The one that was obvious is pictured to the left as the SPHL introduced their 20th anniversary logo as the league moves into its third decade of play. Considering where it started and where it's standing now, there have been significant changes over the years that have seen 26 franchises play at some point in the league. There are three franchises that have been there since the league was founded in 2004 - the Knoxville Ice Bears, the Huntsville Havoc, and the Fayetteville franchise which rebranded from FireAntz to Marksmen in 2017!

While we can celebrate the simple design of the anniversary logo submitted by former Fayetteville Marksmen broadcaster DrIew Blevins, perhaps the bigger news came out in release highlighting this logo. As per the release, "The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) announced Tuesday that effective immediately it will simply be known as the SPHL."

I'm not saying this is a bad move considering that it's hard to call it the Southern Professional Hockey League when there are teams in Moline, Illinois, Roanoke, Virginia, and Peoria, Illinois. What I don't like is that the letters being used for the name of the league now mean nothing when it comes to the acronym for the words they once represented. I know the ECHL did this - the SPHL's release even references that! - but this is not something that I'd encourage or want to see from any other league.

"Similar to what the ECHL did in changing from the East Coast Hockey League, our continued success and expansion outside of the original footprint of the league has allowed the hockey world to recognize us simply as 'the SPHL'," Commissioner Doug Price stated in the release.

With all due respect to Price, I get the idea that the footprint of the league changed, but the American Hockey League is still the American Hockey League despite having teams in Abbotsford, Calgary, Winnipeg, Belleville, Toronto, and Laval. Footprints can change, but well-established names shouldn't. I'm not a fan of the ECHL not having a real name, and now the SPHL is following that lunacy? Hard "no" from this writer.

There are specific acronyms that have no meaning in relation to the word or phrase it represents, but SPHL shouldn't be one of them. A pseudo-acronym like BBQ, standing for barbecue, doesn't have a true meaning, but everyone knows what it represents. IOU is another whose meaning is well-known, but the "I owe you" letters are slightly different. And since SPHL can't be pronounced as a word like "NASA" or "laser", it's not standing for low-level minor-professional hockey either. It is ESS-PEE-AYCH-ELL from today forward.

Being that my opinion holds as much weight as the air I'm breathing when it comes to the SPHL listening to my rant, I doubt that the powers who made the decision in the SPHL will make any changes. If they're happy with the letters for their league meaning nothing, I'm not one to stop them. After all, one could label it the "Sorta Professional Hockey League" or the "Still Playing Hockey League", and it wouldn't be far off from where some players are in their careers.

At the end of the day, maybe William Shakespeare was right when he penned the lines in Romeo & Juliet, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet". It seems that the SPHL is going to test that idea with their new official four-letter name.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Macon News In Georgia

If there's one thing I know about professional minor-league hockey, it's that ownership has to be involved in keeping things moving forward. Usually, that means deep pockets are needed for those who want to tackle that responsibility alone, and one can't be afraid of taking a loss or two when it comes to that ownership. The SPHL saw one franchise fold in recent years as the Vermilion County Bobcats simply appeared to run out of money, so ownership is vitally important to SPHL franchises. In knowing that, we'll see what the future holds for the Macon Mayhem after the man pictured above became the new majority owner of the franchise back on July 13 as the SPHL looks to remain as a viable entertainment option in the Georgia city.

The man above is Scott Gooch, and he will be the guy who is paying the majority of the bills moving forward. There were no financials given on the transaction that allowed Gooch to become the majority owner, but it appears he is primarily in the film location business in and around Georgia with his company, Film Locations LLC. The linked press release from the Mayhem above states that Gooch also has a background in international banking with his LinkedIn page showing a career at Wells Fargo, so it would seem that he has some experience in business. I'd consider that an asset for an owner.

His business seems sound as well. The Georgia film industry isn't getting smaller despite some concerns with the current SAG-AFTRA strike and the recent pandemic woes, but the company's Instagram page shows that it may be or was involved in a number of film and television projects currently filming. With some series on hold thanks to the strikes in Hollywood, production will have slowed, but there are still a large number of projects being filmed in Georgia at this time. And all of those films need locations for staff and crew to live and operate as well as places for filming scenes.

The other thing that needs to be considered is that "majority owner" title means he could own as little as 50.1% of the business. I doubt that's the case here, but it would seem that there are still other minority owners involved so Gooch isn't taking all the risk in owning the SPHL franchise. He'll be on the hook for funding most of the franchises decisions, but he'll also have a say on a lot of those decisions as well. There was no indication how hands-on Gooch will be when it comes to the day-to-day operations of the franchise, but he will need to be involved in setting a direction for the franchise. We'll have to wait to find out what Gooch's vision for the Mayhem is.

Here's what we do know: the Mayhem finished tenth out of eleven teams in the SPHL last season with only the abandoned Bobcats finishing lower. They had a 13-39-5 record, finishing 17 points back of ninth-place Quad City, and allowed a league-worst 257 goals - 58 more than the Knoxville Ice Bears who were second-worst. The Mayhem averaged 1607 fans per game - worst in the league - and often played at less than 20% capacity of their arena. In short, the Mayhem were a mess both on and off the ice in 2022-23, and they haven't seen the playoffs in a full season since the 2019-20 season.

It's very apparent that the Mayhem need new direction, and the hope is that Scott Gooch will provide as the new majority owner of the franchise. Statistically, finding good players to play in Macon will help, so Gooch will need to invest in his front office staff to find good players who want to come to Macon, and we'll see if Gooch has the financial depth to push the marketing department and ticketing department to new heights when it comes to selling tickets at the 7182-seat Macon Coliseum. With just 1600 people showing up last season, there's a lot of work to do.

New ownership doesn't mean immediate success, but there's room for hope in Macon as local ownership often knows the market. There will likely be a lot of long nights and countless meetings needed in order to turn this franchise around, but it will happen if Gooch is willing to invest the time, money, and resources needed to remove the mayhem in Macon to make the Macon Mayhem successful once again.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!