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!

Shudder Island

Let's be honest right off the bat here in HBIC and say that this is the day that all of us have been waiting for since the New York Islanders announced their contest where anyone - fans, fashion designers, blind people, or players themselves - could design the Islanders' third jersey that they'll wear during the 2027-28 season. Today marked the day that the Islanders unveiled their eight finalists in their jersey design contest, and there was high hope that the new jerseys would be the best Islanders jersey in history. Of course, I may have set the bar a little high, so let's see what the Islanders gave us.

I'm going to look at each of these jerseys through an objective lens being that I own both a home and road Islanders jersey, a home Fisherman jersey, and a Stockton Thunder "Heritage Hockey" jersey from 2014 when the Thunder were an Islanders' affiliate. I'll also be conjuring the ghosts of the Bridgeport Islanders and that Islanders' Reverse Retro jersey when looking at the candidates, so let me be clear that I want to see original designs for this third jersey!

Without further adieu, let's check out these potential third jerseys!

NAVY LIGHTHOUSE: For as much of a fan as I am of the lighthouse logo, this jersey feels woefully incomplete. The lack of a shoulder yoke seems like an easy fix, but the teal colour isn't needed as a stripe. These are decent, but they could have been more.

JERSEY SCORE: ★★★☆☆

ORANGE LIGHTHOUSE: When did the Islanders become the Edmonton Oilers? Sure, there are minor differences, but this one is automatically disqualified for being an Oilers knockoff and for the awful 2014 Stadium Series shoulder logos. No orange jerseys.

JERSEY SCORE: ☆☆☆☆☆☆ (extra empty stars for awfulness)

NAVY FISHERMAN: This is the 2022-23 Reverse Retro, but the hemstripe is now a modified wave stripe. I do like the lighthouse shoulder patches, but the name and number fonts leaves a lot to be desired. These jerseys need more colour and contrast to have that Fisherman logo pop off the chest. On this jersey, it does not.

JERSEY SCORE: ★★☆☆☆

ORANGE FISHERMAN: We finally got some contrast, but there's just way too much orange here. I wanted a Fisherman jersey, not a beacon on the ice. Is that hemstripe supposed to be a wave? I'm getting Edmonton Oilers vibes off this jersey as well. Not good.

JERSEY SCORE: ★☆☆☆☆

NAVY NY LOGO: This jersey is all sorts of awful and it starts with that garbage logo. The contrast on the stripes is good, but no shoulder yokes nor shoulder patches make this jersey feel incomplete. As such, this jersey can show itself out of the contest. Hard "no" from me.

JERSEY SCORE: ☆☆☆☆☆

ORANGE NY LOGO: I should have said off the top that all Stadium Series jerseys in NHL history have been total garbage, and this proposed jersey follows those ill-conceived jerseys with only two colours, the awful NY logo, and a terrible orange base colour. Let me correct myself: this is the worst jersey of the bunch by far.

JERSEY SCORE: ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (lots of extra empty stars)

NAVY WORDMARK: Where the heck is the logo? It's a stupid nickname jersey, not a New York Islanders jersey. Was the designer making knockoff jerseys for Wal-Mart and Target? The stripe contrasts are nice, but this is not an NHL-calibre jersey by any measure.

JERSEY SCORE: ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (plenty of extra empty stars)

NAVY RUGBY: What the hell is this? Does this designer have a vested interest in rugby? The design is identical! This jersey commits the faux pas of having a chest stripe only on one side the jersey and the NY shoulder patches need to be outlawed. If the Islanders were a rugby team, they'd be ready for the pitch! Except they're not.

JERSEY SCORE: 🏉🏉🏉 (3/5 rugby balls)

Assuming that the Islanders received more than 80,000 submissions for their new third jerseys, these eight jerseys are some of THE WORST designs I have seen. And if you were paying attention while reading my scores, how is it that every front-facing jersey is wearing #62? Go back and look because it's not #26 based on the numbers that are visible. How did no one from the Islanders notice that detail?

Based on the jerseys chosen, it's clear that these alternate jerseys will only be worn at home since none of them have a white base colour. Frankly, the Islanders' white jerseys have, in my view, always looked better than the dark jerseys because the Islanders logo pops off the chest and has excellent contrast with the stripes. That was also true of the Fisherman jersey with its mix of colours and stripes, but I don't work for the Islanders when it comes to jersey design.

What I can tell you is that the eight designs above leave a lot to be desired. I get that the colour schemes and logos of the Islanders don't allow for a lot of variation when one is trying to come up with a snazzy third jersey, but there should have been an option for something other than navy and orange base colours. I took the liberty of desiging my own jersey which I kept upder wraps until now, so here's my design that the Islanders excluded from the final.

You might be thinking, "Teebz, those are just as bad as the jerseys above them," and you're entitled to your opinion. My thought process, however, was to recreate the arm and wave stripes in the same pattern as the background of the lighthouse logo, thereby tying the entire jersey together with the lighthouse logo being "on an island" in the middle of the jersey. I tried not to overthink this one.

I just don't see how any of the eight finalists they picked are remotely close to representing Long Island, the New York Islanders' history, nor the future of the franchise. I'd imagine these jerseys aren't one-and-done jerseys, but it sure feels like the Islanders are trying to make that happen with the eight finalists they chose. In any case, feel free to leave your takes in the comments below. I'm curious to see what people think of the finalists, but feel free to add your critique my jersey design if you like. I can handle it.

Based on my love for the Fisherman jersey, my design might be the ninth-best design shown here! Either way, Long Island is becoming Shudder Island with these frighteningly bad third jersey options.

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!

What's All the Buzz?

I rarely get to enjoy a good baseball game from the perspective of a fan because I'm usually working in the pressbox for the local professional team. Last night, however, I broke free from the pressbox and sat in the patio area with a pile of my colleagues from my day job where we got to watch the Winnipeg Goldeyes baseball team don a new identity as they searched for their sixth win in a row! If you came here for hockey chatter, there will be some at the end as I relate this fun night of baseball back to hockey, but this article is all about having a good time as a fan, enjoying a beautiful night on a patio, and watching the home team as a fan rather than a stats guy for the first time in a long time! And if the Goldeyes could beat Lincoln, that's even better!

If you have a larger group who wants to attend a baseball game, the patio at Blue Cross Park is a great way to get that group to the ballgame. The Malibu Patio, where we sat, holds 65 people and located right in the left field corner above the Goldeyes' bullpen. The sightlines are incredible from this location as you can see virtually everything happening in the park, and it didn't hurt that this was prime seating for the fireworks display scheduled after the game!

The patio has serving staff assigned to it and a private bar so that the group never would never need to venture far if it needed food or beverages. We declined the serving staff as there were many different requests for food, but the private bar was used all night and was a solid added benefit. Combined with the patio tables, umbrellas, and bar-like seating around the railing, the Malibu Patio as perfect for a group of our size to enjoy a night at the ballpark!

The Goldeyes debuted their one-time-only alternate identities last night as they took the field as the Manitoba Mosquitoes to welcome the Lincoln Saltdogs to town, and the Mosquitoes were buzzing early in this game. Five runs in the first inning followed by two more in the second and four more in the third inning put the Mosquitoes up 11-0 early on the Saltdogs, and it seemed like all Manitoba had to do was nurse that lead. Adding to the fun was pitcher Ryo Kohigashi as the league's third-best pitcher for strikeouts was dealing again on Friday night, striking out nine Saltdogs to push his total to 79 this season. That leaves him ten punchouts back of the league lead, so the Fish have a hurler who could win one of the key stats races before the season is over! But the bigger question was if the Mosquitoes could keep the win streak going.

Despite surrendering four runs in the top of the fifth inning, the Saltdogs would get no more as the Goldeyes used that early run support to cruise to the 11-4 win on a gorgeous night at the ballpark. No homeruns were hit on night, but centerfielder Noah Marcelo led the way with three RBIs to pace the Goldeyes. On the fun side, Lincoln's Cary Arbolida struck out to send the fans home with free pancakes, and Lincoln's Nick Schumpert went home with a platinum sombrero after striking out swinging five times in the game! Ouch!

After the game wrapped up with high-fives and handshakes on the Goldeyes/Mosquitoes side of the field, the fireworks display literally happened right in front of us, giving us the best view of the night sky. A handful of brightly-coloured explosions brought oohs and aahs from the crowd that stayed behind for the display, and the kids who were part of our group were absolutely thrilled with the spectacle!

Some people ask me why I love minor-league professional sports, and it's stuff like this where the local team dons a new identity for a fun night at the ballpark or rink. We've seen lots of teams rebrand to represent their communities, and I honestly love that minor-pro teams do this as often as they do. I get that the professional teams are tied to their communities as well, but minor-pro baseball and hockey teams always seem to have fun rebrands and jerseys they roll out every season. Seeing these ideas come to life is so much fun!

If you want to know why I support leagues like the AHL and ECHL more than I support the NHL, it's for this very reason. Sports are supposed to be fun and every time a minor-pro team rebrands or has a crazy bobblehead night or some other zany promotion, the end result is a fun night at a stadium or arena. Our group had a blast last night, there was a buzz about the Mosquitoes jerseys and how good they looked, and the Mosquitoes showed up in a big way to send the crowd home happy. Add in good food, good baseball, an awesome fireworks display, and ticket prices that didn't put anyone into financial distress, and the end result was an incredible night at Blue Cross Park in Winnipeg.

I'm not telling you not to cheer for your favorite NHL teams and players, but I am saying you should go support the minor-pro teams whenever you can. Having fun nights as the Manitoba Mosquitoes, in my view, should be encouraged as often as possible so we see more fun jerseys like the Manitoba Polar Bears and the Winnipeg SeaBears' Space Jam jerseys. And if minor-pro teams can attract more fans with these fun rebrandings and a winning attitude, that helps the minor-pro franchise and the community it serves in a big way!

I'm off to the ballpark again tonight, only I'll be doing stats in the pressbox. There's serious buzz coming from downtown Winnipeg, though, as the Goldeyes search for their seventh win in a row and their third series win in a row. Maybe the bigger question is who could have thought that Manitobans would love Mosquitoes?

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!

TBC: Cutting Edge

I'll be the first to admit that I've likely forgotten more about hockey than what I know. That's not to say that I should stop learning, but it does reinforce the importance to keep learning and reading about the game. I enjoy the history of the game when presented in a fun way, player biographies often bring insight, and I'm always looking for something that will give me better understanding of how the game is presented. Thanks to Arsenal Pulp Press, I was given an opportunity to read a book that has yet to hit bookstore shelves about a topic I admittedly have very little knowledge. Teebz's Book Club is proud to review Cutting Edge: Hockey as Queer Culture, written by Daniel Gawthrop and published by Arsenal Pulp Press. Gawthrop examines the game from every angle when it comes to LGBTQ+ culture in hockey, and I feel that this book could help the hockey world understand its own shortcomings with respect to the LGBTQ+ community that Gawthrop puts under the microscope with this book.

From the Arsenal Pulp Press website, "Daniel Gawthrop (he/him) is the author of six non-fiction books, including The Trial of Pope Benedict and The Rice Queen Diaries (both Arsenal Pulp Press), and one novel, Double Karma (Cormorant Books). A co-founder of the Cutting Edges, Vancouver's LGBTQ+ hockey association, he has written extensively about hockey for numerous publications. He lives in New Westminster, BC." Gawthrop also plays hockey with the Cutting Edges hockey team, worked as a reporter for the Hope Standard and Vancouver Sun, freelanced as a journalist, and served as a communications representative for the Canadian Union of Public Employees in his storied and illustrious career. He continues to advocate for LGBTQ+ causes and events.

Before I get into discussing Cutting Edge, I want to make it clear that I, as a cisgender, white, straight male, wasn't sure what I was going to read when I started flipping pages. My anger towards the NHL and their defence of players who spoke out about Pride Night festivities still burns when the NHL pumps its own tired about inclusivity while my exposure to women's hockey where same-sex relationships are often seen has allowed me to gain better understanding of some of the challenges that gay and lesbian hockey players face, but my depth of that understanding is barely surface deep as I haven't faced the same discrimination or had the same experiences as the LGBTQ+ community in hockey. My hope was that Cutting Edge would build on the admittedly little knowledge I had. That's where we'll begin.

Gawthrop doesn't waste any time in Cutting Edge by looking at one of the most well-known hockey figures in history in Hobey Baker by turning his story on its side by connecting the dots that could lead one to seeing Baker in a different light. While the evidence is there to possibly have one of hockey's best players as a gay man, no one has ever said that about Baker. Could Baker have been the first homosexual man in the sport's history? There's enough evidence to make one wonder based upon what's presented in Chapter One!

Gawthrop takes us through the history of hockey's whiter-than-white past, introducing the reader to where Gawthrop began to take an interest in the game. I won't give way which team's grace and beauty dazzled the young writer, but it would be two players who captured Gawthrop's attention for very different reasons, giving him enough thought-provoking material to fill early chapters in Cutting Edge!

Gawthrop does an excellent job in introducing readers to the Cutting Edges hockey team, exposing why many gay men move away from hockey while growing up, displaying the often-toxic hypermasculinity found in the game, examining the constant brutal ways masculinity is portrayed in the game, and providing enough evidence of each of these issues through the first hundred pages that you may question where else Gawthrop can go in his writing. From there, Gawthrop showed how he found his niche in the hockey world, how others navigated the hockey world despite numerous negative stereotypes shown towards the LGBTQ+ community, and how the NHL world struggled to accept the LGBTQ+ community when facing it.

I was often left amazed and, quite frankly, proud of how the LGBTQ+ community handled the gatekeeping and toxic masuclinity it faced throughout hockey's existence, particularly at the NHL level. Gawthrop himself faced a number of realizations as he also grew as a person and writer to have a better understanding of the game's nuances during this time, and his reflection upon himself is walked in-step with the reader as issues like sexual abuse, hazing, and mental health situations are better examined and understood.

Reading the chapters about women's hockey growing and having more BIPOC players in both men's and women's hockey, Gawthrop faded into the background, allowing others to have a more prominent voice. This was evident in Chapter 16: Breaking the Hockey Binary where Gawthrop shared the experiences and stories told by Harrison Browne and Jessica Platt, two transgender players, including what they had to overcome to be professional hockey players. It was here that Gawthrop realized the Cutting Edges had been describing itself as a "gay men's hockey team" despite being welcome to all, and trans player Sam Punzo didn't know if he'd be welcome, stating,

"'I think when you don't institutionalize [who the orgnaization is for] and you don't have language in it, it's left to interpretation, and it kind of creates a bit of ambiguity,' he explained. ''Gay men's hockey,' even though the intention behind it was to be inclusive, does send a message that it's not inclusive. In order to clarify, someone sould have to reach out or know somebody to be like, 'Oh, no, everyone's welcome.' Well, you'd have to know that. So, yeah, I think the [wording] change was huge, and times change. The description now, thirty years from now might not work too, right? But that's why we evolve and contonue to grow.'"

That comment from Punzo stuck with me as I finished reading Cutting Edge because Punzo is correct in that our language will change over the next thirty years as we become more knoweldgeable and have a better understanding of how to describe people who don't fit into a preconceived category. We should want to evolve, to change, and to be better so that everyone has a chance to be their best selves.

After all, aren't we told that hockey is supposed to be for everyone?

Overall, Cutting Edge: Hockey as Queer Culture is a book that doesn't shy away from the hard questions needed to be asked about sexuality, gender, and how they fit into the game of hockey. Daniel Gawthrop doesn't demand the reader abandon one's beliefs as much as he simply asks the reader to have an open mind about the discussions he generates. It took me about a week to get through Cutting Edge simply because I had to put the book down at points to process what I had read, but these moments allowed me reflect on the topics that Gawthrop framed. Because this book is another important step in understanding what hockey can do and where hockey can be better for everyone, Cutting Edge: Hockey as Queer Culture absolutely deserves the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval!

Cutting Edge: Hockey as Queer Culture will be released on September 8, 2026, and you can order a copy of the book from the linked Arsenal Pulp Press site above. It took me picking this book a few times to get through all the chapters that Daniel Gawthrop wrote, and the topics in those chapters are intended for a mature audience with the occasional unsavoury word used. In saying that, Cutting Edge should be read by everyone in the game of hockey in order gain a better understanding of how to be inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community!

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 New Franchises

This shouldn't come as a profound statement by any means, but I am in no position to be telling people how to spend their money. Even when I was in banking as a career, I tended to explain the advantages and disadvantages of how people spent their money, but the decision always rested with those people when it came to where their money went. The Federal Prospects Hockey League, howver, seems to have a different view on money because their recent expansion announcement calls into question any sort of sound judgment and financial responsibility with the new burden they're going to place on FPHL franchise owners.

In much the same way that UHSL expanded west into California with no teams between them and Nebraska, the FPHL is following that path by announcing three new franchises in Oceanside, Fresno, and Stockton who will all begin play next season. If you're doing the math at home, that's seven new teams in California by the time the 2027-28 season starts. Feel free to choose who you'd like to support.

The difference in this expansion effort is that the USHL announced ownership groups with deep pockets and strong ties to established hockey teams and communities already. The FPHL, in their rush to put teams into California, have less well-known owners, but the three groups who stepped up to grab a piece of the FPHL action do have roots in their communities. How deep might be the only question. Let's take a look at each of the new expansion locations separately.

Oceanside, California

Oceanside will be owned and operated by Major Arena Soccer League's San Diego Sockers owner Phil Salvaggio. Salvaggio also owns and operates Frontwave Arena in Oceanside that seats 5500 for hockey and was built in 2024. Frontwave Arena is working on having the arena outfitted for proper ice-making and seating for hockey games as this will be the arena's first venture in hosting hockey.

Oceanside has an immediate population of approximately 150,000 and sits north of San Diego, but forms a tri-city setup with Carlsbad and Vista, California. Median household income shows as $93,724 as per the 2023 census with 56.5% of its residents are between 18 and 64, but the Oceanside area is seen as more of a "vacation home" setting for people. There are no major corporate headquarters in the city, and the city's main employers are schools and the hospital. They do have a solid rail system that can bring people from Los Angeles and San Diego into town for the game, but that assumes there will be people who want to do that for Federal Prospects League games.

Oceanside has to find a team name under which they'll operate, but there is a website where one can vote on the names proposed. Currently, it seems like they're operating under the Frontwave Arena website which is slightly concerning, and I can't find any indication of what's going on behind the scenes with staffing and player signings. They did indicate that Craig Carlyle has been named the team's first head coach, but this team seems like it's operating behind schedule.

From everything I see here, Oceanside is going to rely heavily on ticket sales and an owner who wants another tenant in his building. While the market may have the disposable income to support a team, the question is "will they?" because FPHL teams that underperform usually don't last long in their markets. I certainly am not hoping for that, but that could be the future of hockey in Oceanside.

Fresno, California

The Fresno franchise group will be fronted by Don Kirnan, better known as the Commissioner of the FPHL. If you're thinking "conflict of interest", I can't say you're wrong, but at least the commissioner is putting his money where his mouth and expansion franchise are. There is an unnamed partner that is listed on the Fresno website that describes this person as "a former professional athlete and California native, whose athletic experience and entrepreneurial background add a modern, competitive vision to the organization," so we'll have to see if the spotlight lands on this mysterious owner. Until then, I'm not certain about the financial footing this Fresno team has.

As you can see from the link above, the team has already committed to being the Fresno Falcons in the same vein as the old ECHL team that played in Fresno from 2003-08. That Falcons team folded on December 22, 2008, "citing operating cost due to dwindling attendance, lack of corporate sponsorships and the faltering economy" as reasons for their dissolution. Clearly, the new owners have their work cut out for them in restoring the Falcons.

The Fresno market is home to just under a million people with 2025's estimated population being close to 556,000 citizens in the metro Fresno area. 59.8% of the market is in the 18-to-64 age range with a median salary of $66,804, but Fresno hardly has the disposable income other California markets do as 16.3% of families and 20.9% of the population sit below the poverty line. While Amazon is the one major corporation in the area, there isn't a lot of major head offices as Fresno also sees a lot of the major employers as schools and government. The Falcons' website lists no major partners yet.

I'll give the Falcons credit in that they appear to be extremely organized. They have multiple key staff members in place including head coach Iain Duncan and have signed multiple players already, and they evem posted their logos and jerseys for their inaugural season!

For those wondering, the Falcons will play at Selland Arena in Fresno which seats 7600 for hockey, but it is a dated building in that it opened its doors in 1966. There have been multiple renovations over the years including a 2006 project that saw a new video replay scoreboard, message boards and a new ice-cooling system for hockey games installed, but the Falcons are undoubtedly playing in one of the oldest facilities in the FPHL. Will that work for the long-haul?

I guess when you're partnered with the league commissioner, one has to get one's ducks in a row in a hurry. The Falcons, as stated, appear to be close to taking the ice already which should help them with ticket sales and corporate support. The big question will be long-term support if this team stumbles as the lack of corporate options and an apathetic market won't help the Falcons, but the immediate future of this new Falcons team seems strong. However, all that glitters may not be gold. Keep reading because things are gonna take a turn.

Stockton, California

This might sound like a case of "déjà vu", but Stockton will be fronted by Don Kirnan, better known as the Commissioner of the FPHL. Again, if you're thinking "conflict of interest", this is starting to feel very "Zawyer Group" in the ECHL. The exact same website template and staff profile structure are used on Stockton's page as Fresno's page right down to the mysterious, unnamed professional athlete who is a silent partner to this point. I don't know who is backing Fresno and Stockton, but the pockets he or she has better be twice as deep now.

The Stockton Thunder existed as an ECHL franchise before, and the FPHL is going back to those roots as the new team will also be called the Thunder. Stockton saw the ECHL franchise play there from 2005-15 before the Calgary Flames bought the franchise and moved it to Glen Falls, New York as the Adirondack Thunder. They did move the Adirondack ECHL team to Stockton as the Heat, but they'd become the AHL's Calgary Wranglers after a 2022 relocation. It should be noted that the Thunder led the ECHL in attendance for four straight years from 2005–09 and never dropped below 4600 fans per game in any season. Clearly, Stockton appears to be a hockey market!

The Stockton market is home to 320,804 residents at the 2023 census with a median household income of $76,851, but, like Fresno, it is disproportionate across its residents as 15.4% of the city's population live at or below the poverty line. 49.5% of the population is in the 18-64 age demographic with a significant BIPOC population that the Thunder will need to attract. Amazon and Kaiser Permanente are the two major employers in the area with schools and government making up the vast majority of jobs. The Thunder show two partners in the University Plaza Waterfront Hotel and the J. Milano Company.

Like the Falcons, the Thunder are further ahead of Oceanside, but not quite at the level that Fresno seems to be. There is no head coach nor any player signings yet, but are building connections as shown above. They also have their inaugural set of jerseys posted!

The team has announced it will play in Adventist Health Arena that was built in 2005. It can seat up to 9737 fans for hockey, but the ECHL Stockton Thunder have played games where the number climbed above 10,000. It has all the modern amenties - 24 luxury suites, a 360-degree HD LED videoboard, an updated ice plant - so this might be the best arena that the FPHL will call home. Filling it will be a challenge, but the Thunder will welcome that challenge.

While the team isn't ready for action on the ice by any means, things seem to be moving in the right direction behind the scenes. The Thunder will have hurdles to clear when it comes to attracting fans in a consistent manner, but the ECHL Thunder proved there is a market there if the new FPHL Thunder can capture it. If the Thunder can find success on the ice, this might be the one market that the ECHL will regret leaving as it seems like the potential for big things is there.

There's the state of affairs within the Federal Prospects Hockey League's California expansion to date. Compared to the USHL's push to expand, the FPHL is expecting these three franchises to be ready to hit the ice in October this fall. I'm not saying that won't happen based on what we know above, but it looks like some are far more ready than others as we near the midway point of July. That being said, plans have not changed for the FPHL schedule at this time.

Tomorrow will be Part Two of this look at the FPHL's expansion because there are still larger questions to be asked and potentially answered when it comes to operating costs, the overall health of the rest of the league, and how those two fit together. While a handful of FPHL teams seem rock-solid in their markets, the rest are one unneeded cost away from collapse. A trip to California was reportedly the catalyst for Pee Dee to abandon the FPHL, so might we see more?

We'll put all of the numbers to the test tomorrow here on HBIC!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Welcome To Tor-Rogers

I've been avoiding phone calls from Rogers Communications for more than a week now simply due to the call being a sales pitch for some new mobile plan they've schemed. In the slight chance that it's something else, I'm sure they would have emailed me, but I have precisely less-than-zero desire to listen to someone pitch me on a phone plan that doesn't come close to the one I have. Despite me continuing to let them know that they should not be contacting me with sales pitches, we're going to go around this carousel once again because I, as a customer, clearly don't know what's best for me. What I dislike about these cales calls the most, however, is that Rogers will use any new-found money to help finance their sports and entertainment empire that solely focuses on the Toronto market after today's major announcement.

If you thought that Rogers Sportsnet already did the country a disservice by being very Toronto-centric in its broadcasting, be prepared for more because Rogers Communications agreed to buy out Kilmer Sports Incorporated today from its 25% ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment for $4.35 billion, making Rogers the sole owner of the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs, the AHL's Toronto Marlies, the MLB's Toronto Blue Jays, the NBA's Toronto Raptors, and the CFL's Toronto Argonauts. Outside of the soccer, the Sceptres and the Tempo, Rogers owns every professional sports team in Toronto.

Beginning in September, Rogers will have spent nearly $23 billion on sports properties in just over one calendar year if one takes into account the new 12-year, $11-billion agreement for the national NHL rights, and you have to think that most of, if not all of, the Toronto Maple Leafs' schedule will be airing exclusively on Rogers Sportsnet where they can make all the ad revenue they can to help pay off this latest investment. Apparently, money is no object on Bloor Street.

At some point, the CRTC has to step in and start breaking up this telecommunications monopoly that Rogers is creating around their sports franchises. We already know that they forced CBC out of professional hockey with the costs to sublicense games. Rogers doesn't provide a French option for the Quebec region despite the fact that the Canadiens likely won't have French regional broadcasts next season. The costs of its subscription-only, premium service which gets viewers access to every NHL game next season sits at $325 annually while the basic package - four regional channels with blackouts outside your region - is $250 annually. Adding Sportsnet to a cable package starts at $15 per month. Is that even worth it?

I should asterisk the above worries by saying that Rogers Sportsnet hasn't announced any sort of schedule yet, so there's no guarantee that Sportsnet will have 84 Maple Leafs games on this season despite how real that seems. What should worry everyone, though, is that the costs of watching Sportsnet are real no matter what sport you want to watch, and that's where the CRTC needs to find some courage and tell Rogers that their telecommunications oligarchy that their prices are insanely too high and that Toronto professional sports cannot be monopolized on Rogers' television networks.

They already lost me as a viewer when the CBC announcement was made as I stand firmly by the public broadcaster's 74-year effort in turning hockey into Canada's sport. I still have ways of watching without paying, but the cost alone is a major barrier. What would be incredible is if Canadians simply stopped subscribing altogether, forcing Rogers in major losses where they have to take drastic measures. Of course, that would like mean Rogers shuttering radio and television stations to cut costs, but maybe that's the route we, as Canadians, have to take to make hockey affordable again.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are not just for the richest of the rich. Last season, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment raised ticket prices "by more than 20 percent in some sections". The purple section at the very top of Scotiabank where the "nosebleed" tickets are situated went from "went from $8,522... to $10,396" in 2025=26 for two season ticket packages. Season tickets in some of the gold sections in the lower bowl were raised "more than $2,000 to $28,240 for a pair of tickets, or $344 per ticket per game," while "[p]layoff tickets in those seats are priced at $36,152, with Rounds 1 through 4 going from $5,184 for four games to $6,224, $9,886, and $14,848".

I get that Toronto is the largest Canadian market and that, by population alone, they have more affluent fans who can afford these prices. Everyone will tell you that ticket prices are based on a supply-and-demand market, but there's a strong correlation between Rogers paying $23 billion to own most of Toronto's professional sports teams and the NHL rights in Canada to their ticket pricing being higher than everywhere else in Canada and still rising. Yes, there's a waiting list for season tickets in Toronto so demand is high, but how many people have $28,000 of disposable income for hockey tickets right now?

"It is sad that the game has become so corporate and no longer can real fans afford to go every game," Danny Russell, a a retired teacher and longtime season ticket holder in Scotiabank Arena's golds section, told James Mirtle of The Athletic. "No longer do you just 'give' your tickets to someone and say, 'Take your kid to a game.' Doubly sad."

That's the reality in today's NHL: it's no longer a night out for a family nor a bonding event between parents and kids. The NHL and its teams have made fan engagement into an investment that shuts out a lot of fans from which they can take part. The burden of this investment is that it always requires more and more money whether watching from a seat in the arena, watching at home on the television, or simply buying a piece of merchandise like a jersey to support the team.

With so few television options in Canada, Rogers has essentially cornered the market for hockey broadcasts. They have sublicensed Monday night games to Amazon for the Prime streaming service, and there are a handful of regional broadcasts for some teams on TSN networks. None of these are free, though, so one needs to subscribe to three different broadcasters in order to watch all 84 games.

If Rogers was to do the greediest thing and put all 84 games on Sportsnet Ontario with a handful of them being shown nationally, Maple Leafs fans from other regions would need to subscribe to Sportsnet's full package where all five Sportsnet stations are available. That doesn't mean there won't be blackouts, so it's back to the Sportsnet+ streaming service for fans outside the Toronto region.

Imagine paying $325 in Saskatchewan to watch the Leafs on TV! How many kids can plop themselves down on Saturday night and watch their favorite team if they can't find them on TV?

What Danny Russell said to James Mirtle about hockey being "so corporate" has never been truer today with Rogers' takeover of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. Expect prices to continue to rise, expect the average middle-class fan to stop attending games, and expect the NHL to start asking more questions and sounding the alarms about attendances in smaller markets. The economics of the league no longer make sound financial sense to most middle-class fans, but even moreso in Toronto where season ticket prices could easily eclipse $700 per ticket per game in the lower bowl.

No one told me that I had to make an NHL salary to be a fan, but that's what it's going to take if one wants to cheer on one's favorite team from inside an NHL arena while wearing that team's jersey while eating a hot dog with a beverage after parking outside. They can deny it all they want, but Rogers Communications is a major part of why hockey is failing in this country: it's too damned expensive.

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!