I will fully admit that I have not been watching a lot of hockey thanks to life being one event after another right now. For as much as I need and want some time to relax, it seems I'm just as busy as I was through the summer. Of course, my drive to watch NHL hockey has been low as I already admitted that I was already disappointed in the NHL in many ways which doesn't help, but being busy virtually every night hasn't allowed me to settle down in front of a broadcast and watch. Last night, though, the NHL delivered one of the things I absolutely enjoy seeing in any season, and all it took was three days into the 2026-27 season for someone to add his name to the NHL history books last night.
The Tampa Bay Lightning were in Manhattan to play the New York Rangers last night, and things weren't going well as they trailed 4-1 late in the game. Lightning head coach Jon Cooper rolled the dice and pulled his goalie for an extra attacker to close the gap, and that gave Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin the opportunity he wanted.
Igor Shesterkin becomes the 18th NHL goaltender to be credited with a goal as he netted the fifth Rangers goal in a 5-1 victory over Tampa Bay! He also becomes the first New York Rangers goaltender to accomplish the feat while making 24 saves to help New York pick up its first win of the season! That's a solid night by any measure!
What's even crazier is that Shesterkin didn't see the puck slide into the yawning Lightning cage, telling reporters, "I didn't see the puck land so I didn't know can I celebrate or not." Celebrate he did, though, as he was mobbed by his teammates after scoring the 21st goalie goal in NHL history. Officially, Shesterkin's first NHL goal came at 17:26 of the third period to put the Rangers up 5-1. With a goal and a win under his belt tonight, he joins a long list of NHL goalies who have celebrated scoring a goal in a game. They include:
Billy Smith, NY Islanders – Nov. 28, 1979 at Colorado
Ron Hextall, Philadelphia – Dec. 8, 1987 vs. Boston
Ron Hextall, Philadelphia – Apr. 11, 1989 at Washington*
Chris Osgood, Detroit – Mar. 6, 1996 at Hartford
Martin Brodeur, New Jersey – Apr. 17, 1997 vs. Montreal
Damian Rhodes, Ottawa – Jan 2, 1999 vs. New Jersey
Martin Brodeur, New Jersey – Feb. 15, 2000 vs. Philadelphia**
Jose Theodore, Montreal – Jan. 2, 2001 at NY Islanders
Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose – Mar. 10, 2002 at Vancouver***
Mika Noronen, Buffalo – Feb. 14, 2004 at Toronto
Chris Mason, Nashville – Apr. 15, 2006 vs Phoenix
Cam Ward, Carolina – Dec. 26, 2011 vs. New Jersey
Martin Brodeur, New Jersey – Mar. 21, 2013 at Carolina***
Mike Smith, Phoenix – Oct. 19, 2013 vs. Detroit
Pekka Rinne, Nashville - Jan. 9, 2020 at Chicago
Linus Ullmark, Boston - Feb. 25, 2023 at Vancouver
Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh - Nov. 30, 2023 at Tampa Bay
Filip Gustavsson, Minnesota - Oct. 15, 2024 at St. Louis***
Alex Nedeljkovic, Pittsburgh - January 17, 2025 at Buffalo
Ilya Sorokin, NY Islanders - March 1, 2025 vs Nashville
Igor Shesterkin, NY Rangers - October 1, 2026 vs Tampa Bay
Some quick notes: the italicized goals above were scored in the playoffs. The single asterisk denotes a shorthanded goal, the double-asterisk goal denotes a game-winning goal, and the triple-asterisk goals were scored on the power-play. The Islanders, Pittsburgh, and Nashville have had two different goalies score for them in NHL history. Brodeur and Hextall have scored more than once.
If you're scanning that list, Shesterkin's goal last night was also the earliest goalie goal scored in any season, beating Minnesota's Filip Gustavsson by two weeks! It should also be noted that Shesterkin reportedly scored while playing for Spartak Moscow in the MHL in Russia when he was 17 way back on October 31, 2013. It marked the first time that any goalie had scored in the MHL, and it helped Spartak Moscow down Red Bull Salzburg by a 4-1 score that night.
Now at age 30, the netminder can officially add a second puck to his trophy case to commemorate his first professional hockey goal!
Congratulations to Igor Shesterkin for his historic goal last night, and let me just reiterate that goalie goals at any level are awesome. That's one in the books for the 2026-27 season; how many more will be scored by goalies this year? I'm hoping we get a pile more!
There wasn't be a lot of hockey on my television tonight because I headed out for the evening to get more smarter about the game from someone who has done more in hockey than I ever will. Jennifer Botterill kicked off her book tour at McNally Robinson's Grant Park location this evening where she spoke to the gathered croud about her new book, Why Not You, and her life in what was a jam-packed atrium! Honestly, it was awesome to see so many people out to support Jennifer in her return to her hometown to kick off this book launch, and I was one of them!
Full marks to McNally Robinson - Grant Park for another incredible event where an author comes to Winnipeg and is immediately embraced by this community. I have been to a number of these events where authors have sat down and chatted about their books, and they always seem appreciative that McNally Robinson attracts a passionate crowd about their books. Honestly, I wish more bookstores would do these kinds of events for authors and readers alike!
What's awesome is that McNally Robison also livestreams these chats and posts the video. That's what happened tonight as Jennifer sat down with former Canadian national volleyball team member and radio host Michelle Sawatzky-Koop to chat about Why Not You!
Jennifer passed on some great messages in this chat for players, parents, and coaches, and I hope these are adopted by everyone. Why Not You is full of these life lessons shared by Jennifer as she takes you through her hockey journey, and hearing her expand on these important lessons as she spoke with Michelle was an inspiring and entertaining evening spent with a Canadian hockey legend!
Again, I cannot stress this enough, but it would be worth your while to pick up Why Not You for yourself or as a gift for someone else. The book is easy to read with no crass language nor outrageous stories so it's perfect for readers of all ages, and the short chapters make it easy to put the book down if a break is needed. As I stated in the HBIC Book Club review, I read Why Not You very quickly because of its easy-to-read nature and amazing author so do yourself a favour and add Jennifer's book, Why Not You, to your bookshelf at home!
There will be more book reviews coming on HBIC even if I stop posting daily, and I'll definitely be back at McNally Robinson for more of these great events in the future! Here's hoping Jennifer's book tour goes incredibly well, and I'll tease that she's very interested in chatting to us on The Hockey Show once her life settles down a little!
As we know, the NHL has mandated that every team has to have an Emergency Back-Up Goaltender, EBUG, available this season. We've already seen fun stories about Peter Thome getting his shot and the return of the first NHL EBUG to win a game, but there was an EBUG sighting on another team long before David Ayles stepped onto the ice for the Hurricanes. Pictured to the left is that EBUG, and his name is Joe Franke who was pressed into action on December 14, 2002 as the Fort Wayne Komets and Elmira Jackals battled in the ECHL! How did this happen? Who is Joe Franke? Is he officially the first EBUG in modern hockey? Let's find out as we look at this awesome hockey history!
Franke wasn't on the Fort Wayne roster that night or any other night as an everyday goaltender. Instead, Franke was hired in 1978 by the team as their full-time equipment manager, but that didn't stop him from getting his name on the line-up sheet as a netminder more than 30 times in his illustrious career before he stepped away from the organization in 2020! And that leads us to December of 2002.
Again, the Komets put out an incredible video about this significant moment in their history and in hockey history, so I'd be remiss if I didn't post it here. Here is the video about Joe Franke's big night!
Pretty incredible video, right? Franke went in with eleven minutes remaining in the third period with Fort Wayne and Elmira tied 1-1. But how did Franke even get the chance to head out onto the ice?
As mentioned in the video, Komets starting goaltender Tom Lawson was called up to Milwaukee by the AHL's Admirals as they were battling a rough stretch with injuries and recalls by the Predators. As such, that left Pokey Reddick as the lone netminder for Fort Wayne despite him struggling with a virus. Cory Campbell, Scott Rideout, and Parris Duffus were the only other goalies used by the Komets that season, and none were available for their game against Elmira, forcing Franke into stand-by mode in case anything happened.
With Reddick cramping up in the third period and unable to play, Franke was sent to the dressing room to get ready as he would be needed to stop pucks. Minutes later, Franke would emerge down the tunnel wearing #35 in full gear as he stepped onto the ice. Shortly after he took his spot in the crease, Colin Chaulk scored for the Komets and Franke, unbelievably, earned an assist on his goal!
With Fort Wayne leading 3-1 after scoring a second time in the final frame, all the Komets had to do was shut down the Jackals for the win. However, the Jackals would rally for two goals late to tie the game at 3-3, and this UHL contest needed a shootout to determine the winner. Could Franke shut the door in the skills competition?
After both shooters failed to score in the first round of the shootout, Fort Wayne scored three times - Dustin Virag, Colin Chaulk, and Kelly Perrault - while Franke stopped Aaron Phillips in Round Five to give Fort Wayne the 3-1 shootout win for the 4-3 victory in the game! As such, Franke earned the win, picked up an assist, and stopped four of six shots plus four more in the shootout! How awesome is that debut?
While he's not the first EBUG in hockey history, Joe Franke might be the first EBUG to win a game at any professional level in modern hockey. Picking up an assist is also pretty cool for any goalie, but imagine getting an assist in your only game as a professional goalie! Well done, Joe, in crossing off two major stats in one fell swoop!
Just for fun, the Komets, as mentioned in the video, won the UHL championship that season, and that would add a second championship ring to Franke's jewelry box as he had also won a Stanley Cup with the 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins! He'd also add three Turner Cup rings from the IHL and a Central Hocley Lague championship ring during his time with the Komets, but his eleven minutes in net will never be forgotten in Fort Wayne, Indiana!
I know it won't happen, but maybe the Komets should retire #35 in honour of Joe Franke's tenure and his one big win in a Komets net!
With the regular season coming to a close in the "land down under", six teams would know who was playing whom next week in the AIHL Playoffs. They're competing for the trophy to the left - the Goodall Cup - which was most recently won in 2025 by the Melbourne Ice. There were interesting games played this weekend with playoff spots on the line, and the defending champions were one of those teams. With every team approaching its 30th game of the season, let's take a look at who qualified to play next week, which teams earned byes to the semifinal, and which teams are the likely favorite to play in the one-game, winner-takes-all final on August 30 at O'Brien Icehouse!
Newcastle Northstars
We'll start with the Northstars who have seemingly been at the top of the AIHL standings all season long. The Northstars needed a win to guarantee themselves a top-two finish, and two wins would lock up the top spot in the AIHL. They were facing the eight-place Central Coast Rhinos and the seventh-place Sydney Bears who were fighting for their playoff lives. Would they earn the top seeding?
The Rhinos weren't about to roll over and allow Newcastle to have three points for free as the teams were tied at 0-0 through 20 minutes of play. Two quick goals by the Rhinos before the second period was five minutes old put the Northstars back on their heels a bit, but they'd get one of those back 56 seconds after the Rhinos' second goal. The second period would end in that 2-1 score with Central Coast needing just 20 more minutes for a big win.
Good teams find a way to win, though, and the Northstars would draw even when Evgenii Skachkov scored his 40th goal of the season midway through the third period, and Aziz Baazzi pushed Newcastle ahead by a 3-2 score with his goal with just over five minutes remaining. The Rhinos simply couldn't find an answer to that goal as Newcastle took the 3-2 game and moved closer to securing first-overall in the standings. Big shout-out to Rhinos goaltender Anand Oberoi who made 55 stops in the loss and deserved better.
Sunday's game against the Bears was made a little easier based on other scores on Saturday, and the Northstars needed just a win in regulation or in extra time to secure top spot. Despite the Bears jumping out to a 3-0 lead through 20 minutes, the Northstars found the back of the net in the second period, but still trailed 5-3 when the horn sounded. Just as they did one before, though, they crushed dreams with a five-goal third period to capture the AIHL's top spot with an 8-5 win over the Sydney Bears for their 21st win.
Canberra Brave
The Brave had a shot at wrapping up first-place with wins and a little help, but we know the Northstars already had secured a share of first-place by Saturday evening. The Brave also needed to win to hold off the Melbourne Mustangs who had one remaining game, and that was against this Brave team. Canberra controlled their own destiny in this weekend's games, so could they capture a bye to the semifinal?
Canberra had the pleasure of dealing with the sixth-place Melbourne Ice on Saturday, and the Ice were battling for their own playoff lives as they held the final playoff spot. After a first period that saw Melbourne take a 2-1 lead followed by a scoreless second period, the Brave fell behind 3-1 before scoring twice in the final 35 seconds of the game to push this game to overtime at a 3-3 score! Dominic Canic and Justin Maylan were the heroes there, but this game wasn't done.
Overtime solved nothing, so a shootout was needed to find a winner. Ice netminder Tatsunoshin Ishida stopped both of the Brave's first two shooters while David Booth scored for the Ice. Melbourne's Kolton Shindle would end this game as the third Ice shooter when he beat
Joel Hasselman, giving the Ice a 4-3 shootout win over the Brave! The shootout loss pushed the Brave ahead of the Melbourne Mustangs by one point, but Sunday's game now loomed large when it came to determining second-place in the AIHL! See below for Sunday's game!
Melbourne Mustangs
Melbourne already knew that they could not catch the Northstars following Newcastle's win on Saturday, so second-place was the goal for the Mustangs. With the Brave ahead by one point, the Mustangs were in must-win mode as a regulation or extra-time win would push them past the Brave and into second-place. The Brave, for their part, also had to win as a loss would allow Melbourne to leap past them, but an extra-time loss would see Melbourne move into second-place by virtue of total wins. There was high-stakes hockey drama on Sunday afternoon at the O'Brien Icehouse in Victoria, Australia!
The Brave found themselves reeling after another slow start as they trailed by a 3-0 score at the end of 20 minutes, but they'd score three goals of their own to put the Mustangs on their heels at the end of the second period. After Spencer Cox put the Brave up 4-3 just 53 seconds into the final frame, the two teams would battle for the next 18 minutes until Cox was sent to the sin bin for holding. On the power-play, Mustangs defender Brody Crane fired a wrist shot that got past Joel Hasselman and dented twine with 30.6 seconds remaining, and this game was tied at 4-4 and heading to extra time!
In overtime, the Brave were cursed by another penalty as Casey Kubara was sent off for tripping with 92 seconds remaining in the game. Knowing they had to win to secure second-place, the Mustangs threw caution to the wind and brought goaltender Noah Giesbrecht for a fifth attacker. Would this gamble pay off for the Mustangs?
Defender Philippe Caron send the Melbourne crowd home happy as he tees up his twelfth goal of the season to give the Mustangs the 5-4 victory over the Brave and, more importantly, moves the Mustangs into second-place in the AIHL standings! What a comeback!
Perth Thunder
The Thunder knew they would either be in fourth-, fifth-, or sixth-place as the season wound down thanks to the gap that opened up in the standings between the top-three teams and themselves. Thanks to a few key wins down the stretch, Perth only needed one win this weekend to lock up fourth-place. With a pair of games against the last-place Adelaide Adrenaline, Perth knew what it had to do.
Perth grabbed a 1-0 lead through the first period on Saturday before the teams traded goals in the second period. The Thunder would score two shorthanded goals and a power-play goal in the third period, however, to salt this game away as the 5-1 victory moved them to 48 points where none of the Sydney Ice Dogs, the Sydney Bears, nor the Melbourne Ice could catch them in the standings.
That made Sunday's game against the Adrenaline all for naught, but the youngsters who make up Adelaide's roster showed up to close out their season with a win! The Adrenaline built a 2-0 lead through 20 minutes and a 5-0 lead through 40 minutes en route to a 5-1 victory for their third win of the season and something to build on for the 2027 season! Perth, however, will be the fourth-seeded team.
Sydney Ice Dogs
The Sydney Ice Dogs controlled their own destiny going into the final weekend of play. They wanted to win both, of course, to give them the best chance of making the playoffs, but they could also use help when it came to the Sydney Bears and the Melbourne Ice. The Ice and Bears, thanks to scheduling, had just one game remaining on their calendar, so the Ice Dogs had the advantage here. All they had to do was get ahead of Melbourne, and they'd bump the defending champions out of the playoff picture! Could they actually do that? Two games against the ninth-place Brisbane Lightning certainly helps!
Rarely do I get to say that these two teams combined for 36 goals this weekend, but things went a little crazy in Brisbane between the Ice Dogs and Lightning. Saturday night saw Sydney establish a 5-2 lead in the first period, and it's a lead they would not relinquish despite Brisbane;'s best efforts in a 13-10 victory! That win put them a point back of the Ice after Melbourne's shootout win, so there was more work to do on Sunday if the Ice Dogs wanted in on the playoffs.
If you thought that the coaches may have had a chat with their players about playing defence, think again. The Lightning built a 4-1 lead through 23 minutes of play, but the Ice Dogs knew the stakes of this game. They rattled off seven goals in just over 27 minutes of play while only surrendering one more, and the Ice Dogs defeated the Brisbane Lightning by an 8-5 score to leapfrog the idle Melbourne Ice into a playoff spot! Other games still needed to be completed to know where the Ice Dogs would ultimately finish, but Sydney punched their ticket to the playoffs with this win over Brisbane!
Sydney Bears
The Sydney Bears were scoreboard watching when it came to the Ice and Ice Dogs. Their last game was on Sunday against the Northstars, so they were hoping that Brisbane could do them a favour and keep the Ice Dogs from climbing the standings. What made Sunday's game weird is that the Bears knew what their status would be after Melbourne's game on Saturday, and because they actually had a 0.5-point lead over the Ice in the standings thanks to a weird decision made by the AIHL. In short, the Bears were already in the playoffs thanks to that half-point regardless of what the Ice did on Saturday.
As we saw above, the Northstars ended the Bears' season on a losing note by an 8-5 setback, but that loss was also more costly than just a loss in the standings. The loss allowed the Ice Dogs to jump the Bears in the standings as well, leaving the Ice Dogs in fifth-place and the Bears in sixth-place. The defending champions in the Melbourne Ice were officially eliminated by the Ice Dogs' win on Sunday.
The Playoff Picture
With the six teams officially known for the playoffs, the AIHL released the following graphic for fans to follow over the next two weekends.
The Perth Thunder and the Sydney Ice Dogs will meet next Friday with the winner moving on to play the Newcastle Northstars on Saturday while the Canberra Brave and Sydney Bears will meet on Friday with the winner of that game earning the right to play the Melbourne Mustangs on Saturday. Obviously, the winners of the semifinal games will meet in the final on Sunday, August 30 at 2pm Australian time, and that game will be broadcast on ESPN!
There's no doubt that playoff hockey is the best hockey, but, when playoff lives are on the line, heroes emerge and bold teams prevail. We saw the Mustangs and the Ice Dogs win their way into better playoff seedings, and now we'll see which of the six remaining AIHL teams can win their way to championship glory on August 30! Three-straight wins is all that stands between one team and a celebration!
I have spent more than enough time at a ballpark this season to know that baseball can be a funny game. Whether it be hot streaks, cold streaks, wild pitches, or diving catches, baseball, like hockey, is a game of momentum. If one has it, usually good things happen while those that don't are often looking for a momentum change. Lots of hockey players play baseball in the summer as there are several skills that cross-over between the two sports, and we've seen good hockey players like Tom Glavine, Justin Morneau, and Larry Walker opt for the summer sport over the winter one. We can add another name to the former-hockey-player-turned-pro-baseball-player list as former Alberta Pandas forward Madison Willan is a full-time infielder for the New York Heights of the brand-new Women's Pro Baseball League!
Make no mistake that it was a treat to watch Madison torch defenders and victimize goalies on a regualr basis for the Pandas, but her first sports love was clearly baseball. I first caught wind of Madison's talents on the diamond back in 2019 when she helped Team Canada earn a spot at the COPABE Women's Baseball World Cup Qualifier in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Canada earned a bronze medal there, but Madison made a name for herself with her excellent defensive play with the glove while being lethal at the plate for Team Canada!
Of course, hearing about how good she is second-hand doesn't mean anything unless there's some sort of evidence to prove that hearsay, but I got to witness how good Madison is in-person when she made her way to the 2022 Women's Invitational Baseball Tournament in Stonewall, Manitoba with Team Alberta. Unexpectedly, Madison pitched in the game I saw between Alberta and Nova Scotia, and she tossed a two-hit, complete-game 5-0 shutout where she hit a ground rule double for an RBI. It's pretty clear that Willan has the tools.
With Madison being part of Team Canada every year since 2017, it was almost certain that she'd get some looks from the upstart WPBL during their draft that happened on November 20, 2025. New York would make her pro baseball dreams come true when she was selected with the 15th selection of the second round as the 35th-overall selection! Officially, Madison was now a professional baseball player, and she'd be moving to New York to play for the Heights!
The WPBL kicked off its season on August 1, 2026 with a game between the visiting Los Angeles Queens and the host New York Heights. It didn't take long for the scoring to get started as the Queens put up two runs in the top of the first inning. New York would answer in the bottom half of the inning with Willan playing a role!
Willan would hit the 0-2 offering to left field for the sacrifice fly, allowing Kylee Lahners to tag up from third base for Madison Willan's first professional RBI! That run would push New York ahead by a 3-2 score, but they would eventually fall to Los Angeles by a 10-8 score in the first-evr game for the WPBL, but Willan 0-for-1 on the day with a walk and that RBI shown above as she played third base in the game!
We\ll jump ahead to August 8, 2026 when the Boston Hunters were visitng New York. New York came in at 1-1 while Boston was 0-2 early in the season. With fellow Canadian Raine Padgham on the mound for Boston, Willan stepped into the batter's box in the second inning with New York leading 1-0 with baserunners on first and second base.
Willan goes up the middle with a parachute single for her first professional hit in the WPBL! Unfortunately, Boston would rally for a 9-6 win over New York after being down six runs on the day, but Willan went 1-for-4 with one strikeout on the day for the Heights!
Madison would be a pinch-runner on Sunday's game against the Hunters, helping the Heights defeat the Hunters by a 7-6 score. Boston would exact some revenge on Thursday, August 13 with a 6-1 win over New York where Willan went 0-for-3 with a walk while playing second base. They'd drop a second-straight game to San Francisco by an 11-6 score on August 15 that saw Willan go 0-for-0 with a walk after taking over at shortstop when Keira Izumi went into pitch. Boston would record another win over New York on today, but Willan wasn't in the lineup. As it stands, Willan is 1-for-9 on the season with a .111 average, but she has recorded three walks compared to one strikeout to push her on-base percentage to .308!
It's actually pretty awesome to see Willan doing her thing on the diamond, and you can watch her and her teammates over on YouTube as the New York Heights battle the Boston Hunters, the San Francisco Fireballs, and the Los Angeles Queens. It's honstly pretty good ball with lots of balls in play, so it makes for entertaining baseball! I'm hoping Willan catches fire, goes on a tear, and helps the New York Heights reach chanpionship heights in this inaugural season!
I have no idea what she plans to do this winter, but maybe she could be the first two-sport professional woman in the modern era if she tries out for the New York Sirens! Ok, that probably won't happen, but it's super cool to see Madison Willan playing professional baseball after her university hockey career. Keep up the great work, Madison!
With apologies to author Michael Lewis and publisher WW Norton for using this lede photo, I think both Jason and I have been very clear that the NHL is one massive bubble in terms of its economic forecast. I'm not saying they're close to financial disaster, but everything they're doing seems to have them on that track. Of course, there are thousands of people whose lives will be affected if and when that bubble bursts, but that matters not to anyone associated with the NHL because that organization will live to play another day. Here's the next chapter of the NHL's certain doom.
There are all sorts of financial instruments one can use to make money. Whether it be the age-old guaranteed investment certificate (GIC) or something with more risk associated such as the stock market, the financial world seemingly works to dream up new ways to find money-making ideas. Banks, though, have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that they inform you of these risks associated with some of the investment products they offer, and this needs to be remembered as you read through the rest of this article.
All of those terms used by CME Group are meant to be somewhat confusing to non-finance people. A "derivative" is a financial product whose value is based on the price of another product. It's basically a bet that one makes on something else with the hopes that the initial product's value goes up. What sets that value can differentiate between products, but the understanding is that the derivative is a bet that the value of something else will improve over time. However, derivatives that bet against the success of an outcome is called "a short", and this where The Big Short joins the story.
If you watched The Big Short with Steve Carell, Christian Bale, and Ryan Gosling, you know that the main characters were shorting financial products called CDOs or collateralized debt obligations which are made up of a diverse set of assets - everything from corporate bonds to mortgage bonds to bank loans to car loans to credit card loans can be in a CDO. The banks in the movie were packaging up subprime and risky mortgages into CDOs and selling them off with false ratings as to their financial risks, and our main characters figured that out and were betting AGAINST the success of these products improving in value. That's how we got "the big short".
What CME Group is creating with these index-based hockey futures is a market where people can invest large sums of money into the a team's index of statistics and overall performance in the hopes that the value of the team will increase based on some combination of values. Rather than betting on single games where winning can net a bettor money, the CME Group is offering a product that will allow one to bet on longer-term successes for each NHL team. If the team is succcessful and its index value goes up, you make money.
This is sports gambling on a whole new level. Creating a derivative based on a professional sports team's performance is not how these financial tools were supposed to be used. Not knowing what criteria is being used to determine the value of the index, and that's a major problem for anyone who believes that this derivative market could be used for positive monetary growth. As the SEC filing states,
"The Bruins Index moves up or down based on officially reported statistics from every game, match, or event throughout the regular season and postseason. Positive statistical actions (e.g., goals scored, points earned) add value to the index, while negative actions (e.g., opponent scoring, penalties or setbacks) subtract value. Poor statistical performance by the Boston Bruins could have a significant negative impact on the level of the Bruins Index and therefore the value of the Fund. In addition, unlike instruments that are based on tradable reference assets, the Bruins Index Futures Contracts and Bruins Index-Linked Instruments are tied to an index that is not directly investable and, thus, have settlement prices based on the calculation of that index, not the price of a tradable asset."
How does one invest in something where there is seemingly no set criteria for how the index value fluctuates? Some would call this investment "gambling", and I'm definitely one of those people.
That catch here is that investment firms won't have to call this new financial option "gambling" in any sense of the word because it's just like any other derivatives market and comes with its own set of risks. As long as they advise John Q. Public sitting across from them in their offices that these risks are possible, they have done their fiduciary duty while you, as a supporter of your favorite team, now have a vested interest in how they perform this season. You're not gambling; you're investing in the team's potential performance this season!
If this initial round of "index-based hockey futures" pays off for CME Group, there will be additional derivatives added that will consider the outcome of the initial derivatives. We'll go back to The Big Short film where Behavioral Economics Pioneer Dr. Richard H. Thaler and Selena Gomez explain how these synthetic derivatives work.
In this reference, Selena Gomez's $10 million bet is the investment into the Bruins Index-Linked Futures makret, and every bet after that is a bet on how well Gomez's investment performs. As Dr. Thaler illustrates, that initial investment is now worth billions of dollars.
Remember my comment about fiduciary responsibility above? Because investment firms only have to warn you of the risks associated with an investment like this, they've fulfilled their required fiduciary responsibility with respect to their client. If you go ahead, you assume the risk. The catch here is that you're basically investing in the outcome of sports games - goals scored and points earned vs. opponent scoring and penalties or setbacks - which is what everyone recognizes as gambling. It's just being called something else.
Let me be clear that the derivative market, when properly managed and scrutinized, can be an effective way to invest. It's certainly not for everyone when it comes to the markets on which these derivatives are based, but, for those who can afford risk in their portfolios, it can work to make one money. As with any investment, there are no guarantees for a return on the initial investment, but one can explore these options with a certified financial planner.
After spending two decades in finance, I would not be recommending this "index-based hockey futures" option to any client because it's simply sports gambling masquerading as an investment option. I see why some sports fans might prefer this option, but, as we all know, only "the house" gets rich when it comes to people gambling.
I usually don't spend a lot of time talking about mascots on HBIC simply because they don't generate many stories. I did spend a little time on July 24 talking about the mascot to the left in Icy D. Eagle after Friend of the Blog Fiona Quinn asked about Icy's appearance as the Winnipeg Jets' mascot back in 1995. In that article, I had mentioned that Icy was " a regular in the nominations for the annual ECHL Mascot of the Year award", and that voting happened this week for the 2026 award. Of course, you shouldn't be surprised that Icy D. Eagle won his third ECHL Mascot of the Year award as Komets fans put Icy on the map again, but you should be impressed with what else they did to celebrate Icy's third crown as the ECHL's best mascot!
You may have heard that the Fort Wayne Komets are celebrating their 75th anniversary this season, so they're really digging into their history. They'll wear three jerseys representing the championship teams from each of the eras in which they won the Turner Cup. Frankly, those jerseys look incredible, and I'm seriously giving those 1991-92 jerseys some thought about joining my collection.
Personal closets aside, the Komets also produced a video celebrating their long-time mascot's history of how Icy joined the Komets! Check out this great video of Icy, and note the Winnipeg clip in the footage!
How amazing is that? Full marks to the Fort Wayne Komets for creating this video! How many other teams have videos of their mascots from all different eras with an audio recap of the mascot's history? Hint: not many, if any, at all. This video is more evidence as to why the Komets are one of the classiest minor-pro teams, though!
I feel pretty proud that I contributed two seconds of footage to the video above thanks to finding that YouTube video of the Jets and Stars in 1995. Fiona gave me a shout-out on Twitter after the Komets posted the video, but I will gladly downplay my "work" because the other 80 seconds that the Komets provided is so darned good!
I clearly have no effect on how the Komets play or how they'll finish the 2026-27 season, but they are starting this season off by doing everything right. The three historical jerseys are replicas of the ones worn in each of the three championship seasons, they're honouring their past with reverence and resepct, and they're signing good players to make a run when the action on the ice starts. If the hockey gods are watching, everything they're doing since kicking into 75th anniversary mode should win the graces of said hockey gods!
Congratulations to Icy on being voted as the ECHL's best mascot for the third time, and keep up the great anniversary work, Komets!
Virtually every team on the planet has a mascot. They usually have the role of being an ambassador for the team while entertaining fans, but mascots are usually in a one-to-one relationship with a team. Rarely do we see mascots moving between teams, but there have been a handful who have made the transition from one team to another like Youppi! in Montreal and Sparky the Dragon on Long Island. There is one mascot in hockey, however, who has worked for a number of teams in his career, and one of those teams was the Winnipeg Jets despite him not being listed as an official mascot in the team's history nor being credited for his work!
The mascot pictured above is Icy D. Eagle who appears at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum for every Fort Wayne Komets game. What's cool about Icy is that he didn't start out as the Komets' mascot, but moved to join the Komets after the Salt Lake Golden Eagles moved following the 1993-94 season to become the Detroit Vipers. It's reported that Icy made the trip to Fort Wayne for the 1994 IHL All-Star Game and fell in love with the Komets and the fans, but he officially became the Komets' mascot in the 1994-95 season!
I'll tip my cap to Friend of the Blog Fiona Quinn who is doing exemplary work in compiling the full history of the Fort Wayne Komets. Fiona's been working at this project for a few years now, and she reached out to me with an interesting question. It reads,
"Hi Teebz!!! I have a question. In 1994-95, Icy was in Winnipeg for a game and we were wondering if there was any way you could find a picture of him up in Winnipeg?"
At first, this question had me confused because the 1994-95 season would still be when the Winnipeg Jets were playing here before their move to Arizona. As we know, the Jets had a mascot in Benny, so having a second mascot in the arena who wasn't affiliated with the team didn't make much sense. However, I trust Fiona's research skills, so this sounded like something that needed a little investigating.
According to what she could find, she believed the games where Icy appeared in Winnipeg happened on March 10 and 11, 1995. After a quick check online, the Jets did indeed have back-to-back games that weekend against the Dallas Stars and the Los Angeles Kings, so the possibility of Icy being in Winnipeg became a little more real.
The next place I went to check for evidence of Icy's visit and appearance in Winnipeg was the newspaper archive. 1995 was long before the internet became what it is today, so the newspaper archive likely held the answer. As you can see to the right, Tim Campbell had documented Icy's visit to Winnipeg at the two games on Thursday, March 9, 1995, so we got one step closer to seeing some sort of visual evidence that Icy was at the Winnipeg Arena. 1995 was a tough era for images being online, so this is where I hit a wall.
Despite me looking for any and all newspapers who would have covered the Jets, Stars, and Kings, none of them seemingly had photographers who captured the work done by Icy in Winnipeg. I get that an opposing team's mascot wouldn't likely appeal to Stars fans or Kings fans, so I can understand why they wouldn't have made a big deal out of Icy being in Winnipeg. However, you'd think the Winnipeg newspapers would make some mention or grab a pciture of Icy being there outside of the small blurb above, right? Apparently not.
Not all hope was lost of finding an image of Icy, though, as I hit YouTube to see if the full games were posted to their site. The March 11 game against Los Angeles came up first, and it was produced by Prime Sports which covered the Los Angeles Kings. I had my doubts that a Kings-backed broadcast would show anything other than Kings content, and those doubts were confirmed as there was no mention nor video evidence of Icy on the Kings' broadcast that day.
My last hope was the January 10 game against the Dallas Stars, and this one gave me more hope as Winnipeg-based CKND produced this broadcast! I scrolled through the action as I watched for any sort of crowd shot that may include Icy, and my faith in local broadcasting was restored at the 19:06 mark as John Garrett was speaking!
We now have visual evidence that Icy D. Eagle was in Winnipeg for the Jets-Stars game on March 10, 1995 while wearing a Winnipeg Jets jersey with #0 on it and working as a Jets mascot! Fiona is correct!
Honestly, I didn't even know this happened. Benny was the only mascot I ever associated with the Jets, and Mick E. Moose only came about thanks to the Manitoba Moose who played in the IHL and AHL. At no point was I aware that Icy D. Eagle had a two-game stint as a Winnipeg Jets mascot if it wasn't for Fiona's dedication to the Fort Wayne Komets' history. I'm not sure if the Jets are even aware about Icy's appearance as I can't find any information that links Icy and Winnipeg outside of that Winnipeg Free Press blurb posted above.
Major stick-tap to Fiona Quinn and her outstanding work as the Fort Wayne Komets' team historian for sending me down this path. Not only would I have not looked for this piece of hockey history had it not been for Fiona's prompt, but I wouldn't even have associated Icy with the Winnipeg Jets. Her effort in researching this led me to Icy being a Winnipeg Jets mascot which has blown my mind because I had no idea this even happened! Was Icy the only mascot who got this opportunity? Where was Benny in all of this? How many other mascots got this kind of opportunity with the Jets? These questions may go unanswered thanks to time, but we can officially say, thanks to Fiona's relentless research on all things Komets, that Icy D. Eagle was a Jets mascot for at least one game!
Don't be fooled by other ornithological mascots like Gulliver in San Diego or Swoop in Philadelphia when it comes to which bird mascot is the best. Icy D. Eagle holds that title, and is a regular in the nominations for the annual ECHL Mascot of the Year award. He's beloved for his antics at Komets games, he's an outstanding ambassador for the Komets' brand, and he's clearly good enough for an NHL team as the Winnipeg Jets wanted him for two games in 1995!
Because she is entirely responsible for me doing a deep dive into Icy's time in Winnipeg, please check out the Komets all-time record book edited by Fiona and Komets' radio play-by-play broadcaster Shane Albahrani. And when I say edited, I really mean "did all the research and compiled all the information". These two are vitally important cogs in the Komets organization considering all they do for the team and Komets fans, and I'm forever grateful to call Fiona a friend!
If there's one thing I know about the work that goes into getting arena ice ready for a season of hockey, it's that it takes a lot of time and planning. Arena staff have to properly measure, align, and paint lines by hand for the various lines needed in hockey, and the bigger teams may include logos or elaborate designs in their lines. The logos seen in faceoff circles are usually large, printed logos that are installed below the ice surface and they're usually a static design for the entire season. But what if they didn't have to be?
The OHL's Guelph Storm announced today that they're upgrading the Sleeman Centre, and one of the new things that fans will see at the rink this year and beyond is an ice surface that changes its logos and advertising as the Storm see fit. Thanks to a Finnish company named LedFoil! With a number of European clubs using their technology, LedFoil is looking to break into the North American market with their in-ice LED technology where they likely will make a fortune!
Guelph will see it used at centre ice in place of their traditional, faceoff-circle team logo, and Storm vice-president of business Matt Newby told Mark Pare of GuelphToday.com, “Depending on what jersey we're wearing on a given game, or if we're doing a special event – which we're going to do with the Platers – it allows us to put that logo at centre ice instead of the Storm logo," adding, "It's an LED scoreboard in the ice, the entire centre ice circle."
This sounds interesting, right? The options for teams could be limitless depending on how creative they get, but I'm a definite "try it before you buy it" guy. What does this in-ice LED display look like when being used during a game? Is it as good as Newby suggests?
Waterloo, Ontario-based Athletica Sport Systems, who owns the North American distribution and selling rights, has a video up on YouTube, and I have to say that seeing what this technology can do might change how hockey looks in North America. Check it out below!
Before we go any further, that video is also two years-old, and the company has yet to post anything newer. I'd love to see some of the ways this technology is being used by hockey teams, but Athletica Sport Systems doesn't have those details available anywhere.
That's not a setback, though, because both Athletica Sport Systems and the LedFoil companies have images on their website where they talk about the cool science that goes into the LedFoil system.
"Smart LED-unit is installed inside the ice and is supported by a cloud-based content management software. It enables live interaction with fans and changes the event experience. First and foremost the digital in-ice display enables scalability which adds the number of sponsors and gives your club more time to seek advertising partners. Ultimately LEDFOIL ICE multiplies club's commercial income so that the core business, sport, would do better."
I'm not particularly excited about adding advertising to the ice, but I get how hockey in today's age works. Money matters when it comes to running a franchise and an arena, so finding extra revneue-generating spaces in an arena matters to owners. That's obvious.
Depending how deep an owner's pockets may be, LedFoil can be added to the ice from the "centre circle to the entire ice as well as to the boards". The LedFoil installation can show things like logos, videos, and animations, so you're likely going to see this in NHL arenas sooner rather than later when it comes to owners maximizing revenue dollars. For teams like Vegas, it could upgrade their pre-game productions further, so this technology could significantly change how hockey looks from an entertainment standpoint!
If you're wondering about the costs, there is nothing posted on either website and Guelph Storm's Newby "was hesitant to say what the cost would be, as he isn’t sure what the company is charging other teams". Being that scoreboards with video screens are usually hundreds of thousands of dollars, I would expect those kinds of numbers to be on an invoice for any arena that wants to install LedFoil. It certainly isn't a necessity for hockey at this point, but LedFoil's technology may eventually be part of the standard arena equipment one day if teams begin to see and realize benefits.
We'll have to keep an eye on Guelph's ice this season to see if this investment is worth it, but this technology is already being used in Europe by Czech club HC Dukla Jihlava and Finnish club Oulun Kärpät. If Guelph's financial statements at the end of the year show a big jump in advertising revenue, expect other teams to follow suit.
For as much as I dislike seeing ads plastered everywhere in rinks, on boards, on jerseys and helmets, and on the ice, it seems we're not far from having dynamic sets of ads appear inside the ice as well. Maybe hockey is actually the distraction from two hours of advertising?
While I legitimately had no team in the Stenley Cup Final I wanted to see win, there was a team that I definintely didn't want to see win. That made me a Carolina Hurricanes fan by proxy, and the Hurricanes showed everyone that they were for real this year with a convincing 3-0 win tonight to capture the Stanley Cup in six games over the Vegas Golden Knights. After running into and being bullied by the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final the last few years, the Hurricanes showed that they learned from those series by bringing their version of grit and sandpaper into Vegas tonight where they grinded out a solid 3-0 shutout of the Western Conference champions to earn the right to be called "2026 NHL Stanley Cup Champions"!
Whether it was Jordan Staal's record-tying effort of scoring five goals in five consecutive games in the final, Brandon Bussi jumping right in where he left off with outstanding goaltending after relieving Freddie Andersen, the Hall-Blake-Stankoven line bring all sorts of chaos, the likes of Jarvis, Ehlers, Aho, and Svechnikov flying up and down the ice, the defensive prowess of Jacob Slavin, Sean Walker, and K'Andre Miller, or the coaching of Rod Brind'Amour and his staff, everyone on this 2026 version of the Carolina Hurricanes seemed to contribute.
I'm not making light of the fact that Vegas pushed Carolina in this series. Vegas took Game One by a goal, and Carolina responded with an overtime win in Game Two. Vegas won Game Three in double-overtime, and Carolina responded with a two-goal victory in Game Four. Vegas flipped the script in the best-of-three series that was remaining by winning Game Five, and they had their best showing in the final in Game Six with the three goals and the shutout tonight.
Much chatter was given to the "dark days" of the Hurricanes' rebuild when they missed the playoffs for nine-straight years and what it took to get back to winning their second Stanley Cup. They went through Kirk Muller and Bill Peters as head coaches before giving Rod Brind'Amour his shot behind the bench, elevating him from assistant coach to head coach in 2018. Staal, Slavin, Aho, Svechnikov, and Jordan Martinook are the players who have been in Raleigh the longest, so getting to this point as champions by adding and retaining the necessary players and staff to win has been a long process.
Every player tonight said that the long process was entirely worth it.
For me, it was awesome to see Nikolaj Ehlers win the Stanley Cup tonight after all he's been through. Like Paul Maurice did after his time in Winnipeg, "Fly" had fond memories of his time in Winnipeg that led him to the promised land elsewhere. Sportsnet's David Amber and Elliotte Friedman spoke to Ehlers after winning the Stanley Cup.
How is it that we've seen two recent Stanley Cup champions speak fondly about Winnipeg yet neither champion is a member of the Winnipeg Jets? I'm not going to turn this article into dissection of the Jets, but it seems clear that Nikolaj Ehlers wanted to hoist the Stanley Cup in the Manitoba capital. Good on him for finding a place where he could! He'll always be one of my favorite 2.0 Jets!
They swept Ottawa. They swept Philadelphia. They lost Game One of the Eastern Conference Final to Montreal after an eleven-day layoff before roaring back to life and winning four-straight games. They lost Games One and Three in trying to figure out the Vegas Golden Knights before winning three-straight games to eliminate the Western Conference champion. They went 16-3 in the playoffs, outscored their opponents 66-39 in those 19 games, and were 5-1 in overtime games. Tonight, they are the NHL's best team with the honour of raising the Stanley Cup for the second time in franchise history.
The spoils always go to the victors, so a deserving congratulations go to Carolina Hurricanes, the 2026 NHL Stanley Cup champions!
I had a number of errands I needed to get done tonight, so my ability to watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs was interrupted by life. As much as I try to prevent this from happening, life occasionally gets in the way and needs to be dealt with accordingly. Being that I was running around tonight, I put the car stereo to good use by tuning into Game Two of the AHL Calder Cup series between the Milwaukee Admirals and the Manitoba Moose, but I also used Bluetooth to listen to Game One of the ECHL Kelly Cup series between the Indy Fuel and the Fort Wayne Komets! Manitoba was in must-win terrotory after dropping Game One by a 4-1 score in their best-of-three matchup while Fort Wayne and Indy opened their series in Fort Wayne, Indiana this evening. It almost felt like I was back in my university days, listening to the Moose on the radio with frequent visits from their IHL counterparts in Fort Wayne and Milwaukee! So how did these three former IHL teams do tonight?
We'll start in Winnipeg where the Admirals and Moose met. A win by Milwaukee would see them advance to play Grand Rapids while a Manitoba win would push this series to a third and deciding game on Sunday. Ryna Ufko beat Dominic DiVincentiis while shorthanded early in the second period to put Milwaukee ahead, but Parker Ford erased that lead 2:11 later when he beat Matthew Murray to make it 1-1.
A tight-checking game meant things didn't open up in the third period, and it seemed like we were heading for overtime. Oasiz Wiesblatt would be whistled for an elbowing penalty with 1:52 left in the frame, and I'll let Moose broadcaster Daniel Fink handle the rest.
With 43 seconds reamining in regulation time, Moose forward David Gustafsson tipped Brendan Yager's shot past Murray, pushing the Moose to the 2-1 win in Game Two. There was all sorts of rough stuff at the end of this game between the two former IHL foes, but they'll play one more time this season when they meet in Game Three on Sunday afternoon at Canada Life Centre with another former IHL foe in the Grand Rapid Griffins waiting for the winner of this series.
If that wasn't enough IHL references for one article, we'll keep going because the ECHL's Kelly Cup Playoffs began tonight, and the Central Division-winning Fort Wayne Komets, formerly of the IHL, were in action as they hosted the Indy Fuel in Game One of their series. Fort Wyane was playing in their 606th playoff game this evening over their 74-year history, hunting for their 319th win. Indy, meanwhile, wasn't an IHL team and had only two playoff wins in their entire history. Both sides would add another chapter to their histories tonight!
Komets forward Brady Stonehouse would get things started late in the first period when he beat Indy netminder Mitchell Weeks while shorthanded to put the Komets up 1-0. There were handful of chances by both sides as the game moved through the middle frame, but both Weeks and Komets goaltender Nathan Day were putting up walls at both ends of the ice. We wouldn't see the score change until early in the third period off a turnover at center ice, and I'll let legendary Komets announcer Shane Albahrani handle this one.
Matthew Brown would finish off the passing play after the turnover at center ice, and the Komets would take a 2-0 lead on his goal. Austin Magera would add a power-play goal with just over five minutes to play, and Nathan Day stopped 30 Indy shots as the Komets took Game One by a 3-0 score to go up 1-0 in the best-of-seven series!
With their 319th playoff win in the books, the Komets will look to go up 2-0 over Indy tomorrow night before the series shifts to Fishers, Indiana for three games. The ECHL plays all their series as 2-3-2 series to reduce the travel costs for teams, so the Komets will want to sweep their home games in order to go into enemy territory in good standing. The winner of this series will play the winner of the Bloomington Bison-Toledo Walleye series in the next round.
Clearly, it was a good night for two former IHL teams in Manitoba and Fort Wayne as they picked up big wins in their quests for trophies. Milwaukee is still in the hunt despite the loss tonight, and with the Grand Rapids Griffins waiting for the winner and the Chicago Wolves in the other Central Division series there are IHL fingerprints all over the Calder Cup Playoffs. Fort Wayne is the lone former IHL team in the Kelly Cup Playoffs, but they look like a contender there as well.
Listening to these two games on the radio as I drove around the city completing tasks made it feel like 1997 all over again when Manitoba, Milwaukee, and Fort Wayne were juggernauts in the IHL. Some would say those were the "good ol' days" of minor professional hockey!
As a person who follows Canada West women's hockey very closely, it's always great to see a player get rewarded for the hard work she puts in playing the game. Earning a professional contract somewhere across the planet is a big accomplishment for any player, but keeping a roster spot year after year takes dedication and hard work to continue to be an asset to a team. The player pictured with the Montreal Victoire has done that since she decided to make the jump into the professional ranks, and Friday night may saw the culmination of a lot of hard work finally pay off for her. Having watched forward Kailtin Willoughby score a pile of goals for the Saskatchewan Huskies, she finally got one with the Victoire after years of hard work!
I really wanted to see Kaitlin score during the Victoire's stop in Winnipeg after all the big goals she scored in Winnipeg while playing against the Manitoba Bisons, but the Victoire could only light the lamp once last weekend. On Friday night, though, Willoughby broke out of her goal drought with two goals against the Ottawa Charge at Canadian Tire Centre, removing any doubt as to whether she belongs among the world's best. However, it's all the hard work that you don't know about that made this moment even better for what it means.
Before we go any further, let's get Willoughby's goal posted from TSN.
What you didn't see when Willoughby scored for the first time in 75 PWHL games were all the overnight shifts at hospitals and early morning training sessions after a long night of work as a nurse. In her final year at the University of Saskatchewan where she was earning her degree, Willoughby shuttled between Calgary and Saskatoon often as she was playing for the CWHL's Calgary Inferno, working at Calgary Foothills hospital, and attending classes in Saskatchewan!
"I was living in Saskatchewan, living in Calgary, finishing my nursing degree and flying back and forth," she told Kerry Gillespie of the Toronto Star in 2024. That was the reality for players in the CWHL.
She'd continue to work as a nurse as the CWHL folded into history while training alongside the players from the Inferno. That would turn into an opportunity to play in the PWHPA where she couldn't play every weekend, but she squeezed in as many games as she could to keep her professional hockey dreams alive. After all, paying the bills that come with life and hockey means she had to keep working.
"Life is definitely expensive... so just trying to be financially in a good spot once hockey's done," she told Gillespie.
A new path opened up for women's hockey, though, and it has changed how Willoughby has approached the game. No longer does she need to work to play, but she can now focus on working on her play as her full-time career. Finding a roster spot with the Toronto Sceptres in 2023 allowed her to move into a more casual nursing role in the offseason while she continues to chase a Walter Cup.
"Looking back, it was some crazy long days and hard work and sacrifice, but I wouldn't have it any other way to get to where I am right now," she said to Gillespie about playing with the Sceptres in 2024. "Living this dream life, like, it's still a job, but it doesn’t feel like it because it's the best job in the world."
Being a professional hockey player doesn't come without some hardships, though, as Willoughby would need to pack up her life and head east on March 13, 2025 when the Sceptres traded her to the Montreal Victoire at the PWHL trade deadline for defender Anna Kjellbin. After 43 games in Toronto with one assist to her name, she was on the move as Montreal added her as forward depth.
In seven games with the Victoire, she doubled her assist and point total with another assist, and she was an addition that Victoire general manager Danièle Sauvageau was happy to have made as the Victoire re-signed Willoughby in the offseason to a new deal.
"Upon her arrival last season, Kaitlin quickly developed chemistry with our existing players, both on and off the ice. She played valuable minutes with us at the end of the season and during the playoffs," Sauvageau told The Canadian Press.
Without having to work overnights at the hospital or squeeze in shifts between games thanks to her PWHL contract, Willoughby circled back and began to put the work in to focus on improving her game.
"You're now pouring all of your energy into the sport and the training, so you can give 100 per cent every day," she told Gillespie in 2024. "I'm turning 30 next year and I still feel like I haven't reached a plateau. I'm still seeing myself get better."
Clearly, she knows what she's talking about as Willoughby had three assists this season before Friday night to eclipse her career total in one season. Her play alongside Catherine Dubois and Alexandra Labelle on Montreal's "U SPORTS line" has been excellent as a checking unit, but these three women have been showing some jump in recent weeks as they push the offensive side of their talents.
Of course, Friday night saw Willoughby toss the 800-pound gorilla off her back as she scored her first PWHL goal against Ottawa before doubling her output with an empty-netter late in the game! That night saw Ottawa play in front of its largest crowd at 17,114 fans while the win marked Montreal's 50th PWHL win in franchise history and the 39-save shutout for Sandra Abstreiter was also the first of her career on what was a big night for the Victoire in Ottawa!
Upon returning to the bench, Willoughby got hugs from both head coach Kori Cheverie and assistant coach Caroline Ouellette as they've been witness to just how hard Willoughby works everyday at practice.
"It's not for lack of chances I've had throughout the years; but my teammates, my coaching staff, everyone has just continued to believe in me and keep my confidence up," Willoughby said to habseyesontheprize.com's Jared Book about her big night after the game. "The support I've had from my teammates just keeps me going. They're like – 'it's going to come Willow'. And eventually it did, and now the floodgates might be open for me."
My hope is that it does exactly that - open the floodgates for a woman whose U SPORTS career saw her dent twine 50 times in 132 games. She's an incredible player to watch, and seeing that smile after she scored her first PWHL goal felt like the old Kaitlin Willoughby that terrorized Canada West goalies was back again.
I've heard from several professional hockey players that making the roster isn't where the hard work ends, but that the hardest work comes in keeping that roster spot. Kaitlin Willoughby has travelled between cities to practice and play hockey, work as a nurse, and take classes, so it was clear that she knew how to work hard before ever being signed by the Sceptres and re-signed by the Victoire.
It may have taken 75 PWHL games, but the hours put into reaching that pinnacle for Kailtin Willoughby are countless. Her ear-to-ear smile during the celebration says that all of the hard work, hours away from family, and sacrifices that she made were worth it. It may have been the hardest goal she's ever had to work for, but that's the effort that Kaitlin Willloughby brings to the rink everyday.
Congratulations, Kaitlin, on your first and second PWHL goals!
There isn't much to say today other than "good luck" to the six teams who will close out the 2025-26 U SPORTS women's hockey season. One team from Quebec will celebrate loudly into the evening after capturing gold while an OUA team and an AUS team will duke it out for the bronze medal. A Canada West team and an OUA team have the chance to close out their seasons with a win in the consolation final, so let's not waste anymore time as we look at this last day of championship games from Elmira, Ontario here on The Rundown!
Consolation Final
The UBC Thunderbirds may have dropped their opening game against Montreal, but they bounced back with a win over Ottawa to earn a spot in the Consolation Final. On the other side, the Waterloo Warriors lost to the Guelph Gryphons before handing the Manitoba Bisons a loss to land in the Consolation Final. This was the first meeting between these two teams at a National Championship despite both being at the last three tournaments - who would prevail?
Warriors goals: Nikki McDonald (3), Keiara Raitt (1)
Warriors assists: Carly Orth (1)
Warriors netminder: Kara Mark (33/40)
The Guelph Gryphons found themselves in the bronze medal game after defeating Waterloo and falling to Concordia. The UNB Reds got by Ottawa in a shootout before Montreal scored more than they did. These two teams were meeting for the first time in a National Championship as Guelph attempted to win its second medal ever while UNB looked to capture its first medal in program history!
The Concordia Stingers advanced to the gold medal game by defeating the Manitoba Bisons and the Guelph Gryphons. The Montreal Carabins found themselves in the gold medal final after upsetting the UBC Thunderbirds and the UNB Reds. Montreal was trying to become the second eighth-seeded team to capture gold after the 2023 Mount Royal Cougars while Concordia was hunting for its fifth gold medal and third in five years. The first all-Quebec final since 2014 looked like it would be entertaining, so which Montreal-based team would be crowned as the 2026 U SPORTS champions?
There are no standings to worry about, but the there is one team who stood taller than the rest this weekend as U SPORTS champions!
Les Carabins de Montreal are your 2026 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Champions after defeating the Concordia Stingers for the first time in eleven tries this season, and they become the second eighth-ranked team to capture the gold medal after starting the tournament as the lowest-seeded team. This is Montreal's third gold medal in program history, and its first gold medal since 2016. Netminder Maude Desroches was named the tournament MVP after the game!
There's nothing to analyze here as the season is over, but I do want to show some gratitude to a handful of people and organizations. You may disagree with me on some of these, but that's your ball to kick. I'll be over here thanking these people for making the season fun and informative. They deserve some thanks for their efforts as well.
I want to thank CBC for their continued efforts in bringing amateur sports to Canadians via their online streams and network channels. I don't know if there will be regular airing of U SPORTS hockey anytime soon, but having all the games and features from both U SPORTS hockey championships available via their streaming options is simply awesome. CBC also had a number of Canada West games on their streams this past winter as well, so CBC gets a big "thank you"! Perhaps this could be the new "Hockey Night In Canada" on CBC?
The Waterloo Warriors and the Woolwich Memorial Centre in Elmira, Ontario deserve some thanks for putting on a second-straight U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship that seemingly went off without any issues. I'm sure there were some bumps along the road, but the games looked good and sounded good at every point. Hosting this event is a massive undertaking, and you've set the bar high for the UNB Reds and the city of Fredericton next year!
The parents, families, friends, and fans of U SPORTS players and teams are deserving of some gratitude as well. These are the people that sacrificed time, spent oodles of money, booked time off work, and were there to cheer on their daughters, sisters, granddaughters, nieces, best friends, former teammates, and the amazing women that make up the teams in U SPORTS women's hockey. They may not get enough thanks, but these people are there during the times of sadness, the times of frustration, and, ultimately, the time of joy in these women's lives. Thank you for helping these women achieve their dreams of getting a high-level education while playing hockey!
A big thank-you goes out to the coaches, athletic therapists, nutritionists, equipment people, and everyone behind the scenes that keep these women healthy, happy, and on the ice. All of these people invest their time and energy into their programs with the hope that it will pay off with a celebration at the end of games and seasons, and they put in countless hours preparing and making sure their teams are ready to go wherever a game is being played. Thank you for your dedication to women's hockey, to keeping players healthy in both mind and body, and for preparing them for any challenge they may face, both on and off the ice. The game is better because of you.
You can't play a game without officials, and, despite complaining or disagreeing with calls made, the effort these men and women put in to keep order in the game can't go unmentioned. Officiating means someone will always be unhappy with you, and these people have shown that they're willing to take a little heat to ensure the games remain safe for all to play. Thanks to the stripes on the ice and off-ice officials who do a great job in making sure the women's game remains awesome, and sports in general remain friendly competition.
A big shoutout goes to all the broadcasters who put in countless hours reading and memorizing facts and stats about players and teams to bring you the best broadcasts they can. Most of these broadcasts don't have a Sportsnet truck outside the arena and a dozen cameras inside, but the people who call the games make it sound just as good with their passion for and knowledge of the game. Thanks to everyone across the four conferences who picked up a microphone this year to add some chatter and insight to the games!
Finally, to the players, another season has come and gone and I know a lot of you will say that the time passed by too quickly. That's a truth about life: time is one of the most valuable commodities you'll have that will always seem like it's being spent too quickly, so I hope you used it wisely. I'm not talking about scoring goals or making saves, but about making life-long friendships and lasting memories. Every moment you spent in the community meant something to someone you met. Every second you spent on the bus rides complaining about school work was something over which you bonded with someone else. You made an impact on lives, especially with all the high-fives given to youth hockey players at your games. Those matter to them.
Thank you, players, for entertaining us every weekend. For always being good role models. For being brilliant students and better people. For your charitable work. For the time you spent making lives better. For being incredible teammates, cherished friends, and unforgettable icons. For being coachable and pushing your athletic limits. For sacrificing social opportunities to do homework. For welcoming challenges and embracing opportunities. For simply being awesome people that touched the lives of many. Thank you so much.
This game will push forward without reflection just as time does, but your impact on the game will be felt for years. History was made, victories were earned, friendships were forged, and smiles were seen. Yes, big goals and big saves will get remembered, but your legacy at your school and in the university game will be marked by the relationships and friendships formed over the time you played.
Thank you to everyone listed above who made the 2025-26 U SPORTS hockey season fun, and here's hoping next season is just as good!
The Last Word
That will close this chapter of The Rundown, and I don't know if it will return next season. I know I said that last year and I ultimately went ahead and did another season, but I can't be the only person talking about Canada West and U SPORTS women's hockey all the time. Making matters worse is that fact that no one who has the power to do so wants to see it get better. It's honestly frustrating.
There will be two new schools added in Quebec next season, so the number of women playing university hockey will grow. You would think that having options like CBC internet streams would be something that U SPORTS would want to capitalize on with the explosion of growth in women's hockey thanks to the Olympics this year, but I guess my lack of marketing and business degrees say that following an easily-sourced statistical trend is a bad idea.
I have been dedicated to this game, specifically in western Canada, for a long time. I have meticulous records for U SPORTS National Championships because that information isn't readily or easily found online anywhere. I have reached out to leaders in the university women's hockey game, and I haven't received a single response to my questions. I know I'm not the only person who cares, but I also feel like I can't keep doing this alone. I'm honestly frustrated.
What I do know is that a new wave of incoming students will join teams where renewed hope for immediate and long-term successes will be fostered. Teams will play, players will score, goalies will stop, and coaches will strategize as everyone aims to follow in Montreal's footsteps this season with a massive celebration in March. Just remember that time will fly by, so use your time as best as one can to build those friendships, foster those relationships, and create those life-long memories. And for heaven's sake, have some fun too!
Enjoy your summers, hockey fans. October is closer than you think!
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