The Hockey Show - Episode 597

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is going to get you set and ready for the two big tournaments heading to Toronto and Saskatoon, respectively, as U SPORTS looks to crown its men's and women's hockey champions for the 2023-24 season. While not every conference has decided who will be representing them at these two events, our hosts will discuss the likelihood of who you'll see competing. Both men's and women's hockey have had an outstanding run this year at the U SPORTS level, so make sure you tune into The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT tonight to get all the details on who may be travelling in March for hockey!

Being that it's a Leap Day, Teebz and Jason are going to leap into the U SPORTS men's and women's hockey playoff picture to get you up to speed on who's in, who's out, who's still figuring their next few weeks out, and what to expect when the eight teams finally arrive in either Saskatoon or Toronto. The Canada West Awards were also handed out to a number of outstanding players, and our hosts will look at those winners' seasons as well. If you've been needing an update on everything U SPORTS National Hockey Championships, the two hosts will likely talk about it tonight! Expect predictions, prognostications, discussions and more about the two biggest university hockey championships in Canada tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com as Teebz and Jason get you the info you need!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The new UMFM website's online streaming player is pretty awesome if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. If you use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason discuss the teams who have qualified, teams who are still in the hunt, the surprise upsets, the award winners, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: February 29, 2024: Episode 597
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 583

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back on a night where there is no hockey being played! With American Thanksgiving occurring today, the NHL decided to give all 32 teams the night off for some turkey, some fixings, and some dessert before getting back at it tomorrow. There are some stories that we're following to get you set for the weekend and beyond, so kick back, grab a plate of food if you're listening south of the border, and make you're tuned into The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

With no NHL or AHL hockey tonight, the only professional game in one of the three-highest leagues you can watch tonight is the ECHL's matchup of the Iowa Heartlanders against the Fort Wayne Komets. We recommend you tune into The Hockey Show before that where Teebz and Jason will be discussing Milan Lucic's legal woes, the reveal of the 2024 Winter Classic jerseys for both Seattle and Vegas, the Oilers find another way to lose, Jim Montgomery deserving more respect than he has received, a fun Melbourne Moment where we meet some of the players, Bisons men's hockey are in a world of hurt, we go over a couple of emails received, and there are announcements to be made! In short, it's another busy show with all sorts of information, so gather round the radio for some hockey chatter on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The new UMFM website's online streaming player is pretty awesome if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. If you use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat bad behaviour, new jerseys, bad hockey, great coaching, new friends, more bad hockey, hockey ideas, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: November 23, 2023: Episode 583

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 575

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back with one of our annual shows as we get set for another Canada West hockey season that kicks off tonight in Winnipeg with the Saskatchewan Huskies visiting the Manitoba Bisons in men's hockey action. Obviously, our hosts love a good Canada West hockey battle in both the men's and women's games, so it's time to preview all the teams and figure who finishes where based on what we know at this point in the season. Both Teebz and Jason have their thoughts on the men's and women's teams that make up Canada West, so we'll see how right they are when compared to the coaches' polls!

Teebz and Jason will look at all the factors that may go into where each of the teams end up in their respective standings this season when the dust settles on the 2023-24 Canada West men's and women's hockey seasons. They'll go over returning players who will make each team successful, players who left that may contribute to some setbacks, look at goalies and who the potential starters are for each team, talk special teams, and factor in last year's performances when it comes to predicting this year's standings. They put their thinking caps on, examined rosters, looked at coaching staffs, and have come up with their thoughts on who will win Canada West for the 2023-24 season! Of course, all predictions our hosts give on this show come with a money-back guarantee, so buyer beware! Jokes aside, it's a night of predictions and prognostications tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The new UMFM website's online streaming player is pretty awesome if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. If you use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason break down men's and women's hockey in Canada West as they make predictions on which teams finish where, who may emerge as scoring leaders, if certain teams can defend their banners, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: September 28, 2023: Episode 575

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Annual Read

Just like the sun rising in the east and snow blanketing Canada in the winter, there's a tradition that I keep every year here on HBIC. Just before the start of a new season of hockey, the annual publication known as The Hockey News Yearbook is released with new stories, reviews of every team, and predictions for the upcoming NHL season. Like a vast number of you, I read this Yearbook to gain knowledge about the NHL season, but I also read it to see what the predictions and prognostications are from the men who are paid to be the smartest in room. I'll admit that I want them to be wrong when it comes to what they write, but they often are correct with their projections. In knowing that, they almost always make a Stanley Cup prediction that's wrong when it comes to the team that wins and the two teams that participate in the Stanley Cup Final. Is this the year they finally get it right?

The annual look at the top-ten rookies along with their top-fifty players is here once again, and it's not hard to imagine that Connor Bedard and Connor McDavid are the top players on both lists. Among the rookies, Adam Fantilli, Jiri Kulich, Luke Hughes, Matthew Knies, and Logan Cooley get some love from Ryan Kennedy. The "Top 50 players" in the NHL are also handled by Ryan Kennedy, and this list will certainly get fans talking as it features the likes of Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, Sidney Crosby, and Andrei Vasilevskiy, but new names in new ranking spots include the likes of Jack Hughes, Cale Makar, Tage Thompson, and Jaccob Slavin. Have a read through both of these lists and see if you agree where players land based on Kennedy's judgments, and who should be higher or lower on his lists!

Jared Clinton files a solid read about Dallas Stars' star Jason Robertson, Ryan Kennedy has a fantastic piece of Matthew Tkachuk, Michael Traikos has a great article on Jack Hughes, and Carol Schram writes a intriguing piece on Jakob Markstrom. Those are the four main pieces filed for this edition of the Yearbook, and I sort of miss the smaller pieces that used to run in the Yearbook. Yes, it's nice to have four main pieces by four different writers, but I miss the secondary pieces that each writer used to file that were about a page long on a specific player. Perhaps they'll return in future Yearbooks, but they're absent in this year's version of the Yearbook.

The NHL Team Reports are presented midway through the Yearbook, but there are some predictions that are made prior to the Team Reports. Because The Hockey News is trying to sell magazines, I won't list off what is predicted, but the writers do project the final standings in each of the divisions along with making a Stanley Cup Final prediction including which team should win the Stanley Cup. I will say that the writers have the Seattle Kraken back in the playoffs, though, and that one division of the four will only have three teams in the playoffs. In short, there are some bold predictions made!

Among the different criteria used for the Team Reports, two of the criteria include "Intangibles" and an "X-Factor" for each team. It's always interesting to see how these two criteria are filled out for each squad. Also noted in each report is a "Cup Odds" given by The Hockey News, and there are some unique statistical leaders shown under the 2022-23 numbers as Corsi For/60 and Corsi Against/60 are listed among the numbers.

It's interesting to note that there are zero minor-league statistics nor are there any junior or European statistics listed in the Yearbook. If one likes to track the development of players in leagues not named "NHL", the ability to do so doesn't exist with this year's edition of the Yearbook. I used to enjoy checking some of the statistical lists from other leagues to see who was playing where, but I can't do that this year. Maybe that will return in a future Yearbook?

Overall, The Hockey News Yearbook for 2022-23 is another solid entry in the Yearbook series that The Hockey News produces, but it's missing things from years past that made it a can't-miss read. While I still would pick this year's Yearbook up for the team reports, I'm starting to believe that The Hockey News is doing the bare minimum in publishing this annual report. That's fairly disappointing considering the cost of the magazine, but, like everything else on the planet, one seems to get less for one's dollar nowadays.

In any case, the team reports and the predictions should keep one occupied for a while, and those four main pieces on Robertson, Tkachuk, Hughes, and Markstrom are well-written. I'm sure you'll find enough to keep reading through any and all of these pieces, so make sure you pick up a copy of The Hockey News Yearbook where ever you can!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Annual Magazine

If there's one magazine that I pick up every year, it's The Hockey News Yearbook. You may recall that I went back and reviewed all of the annual publications of The Hockey News Yearbook during October 2020 to see how close their predictions were to what actually happened that year in the NHL. I won't do that quite yet as I do respect the fact that The Hockey News has a business to run and needs to sell magazines to do so, but I do want to review the annual magazine purchase because there is some good stuff within the covers! Whether it be the articles, the full team reviews, the predictions, or anything else that The Hockey News puts in this magazine, I do enjoy reading the work they've done because it's always informative.

Ryan Kennedy runs down the rookies in the NHL, and I can't disagree with him that it seems pretty certain that a former Michigan Wolverines player could end up as the circuit's best newcomer. There are other non-Michigan players that are identified as well, but one of the players I really believe people should keep an eye on is Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson who, for part of the preseason, was playing between Patrik Laine and Johnny Gaudeau. If that line stays together, we know Johnson can play from him time wearing Canadian colours at both the World Junior tournaments and the Olympics. Might that turn into a Calder Trophy at the end of the 2022-23 season?

The Top-50 players in the NHL identified by The Hockey News has one McName on top with whom no one will McArgue. Beyond him, though, who would you rank as the top-five players in the NHL? Where do players like Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Igor Shesterkin, Victor Hedman, and Alex Ovechkin rank? Are there surprises? What names may shock you? I can tell you that this top-50 list has all sorts of room for discussion.

Kennedy checks in with a feature on the Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos looking for another Stanley Cup run in '22-23. Ken Campbell has a feature on Jack Eichel looking to revive his career in Vegas. Ian Kennedy has a piece on Toronto's Mitch Marner. Campbell checks in with a solid article all about Nashville Predators goalie Juuse Saros and taking over from Pekka Rinne as the Nashville starter. Jared Clinton checks in with a piece on Winnipeg's Kyle Connor looking for more goals and more success. Overall, there's some good writing in these articles.

The team reports follow the articles, and I have to say there are some bold predictions in how the standings will look once the regular season winds down. The Stanley Cup Final prediction that The Hockey News makes seems like it could happen, but the teams they picked have always seemed to fall short of expectations in recent years. Might this be the year these two teams put it together before meeting for the Silver Chalice in June?

I always like when The Hockey News includes some weird stuff in their team reviews. They do it again this year in their two sections entitled "Intangibles" and "X-Factor", and there are some great additions to the team reviews in these two small sections. For example, Rob Tychowski wrote the Edmonton Oilers' season preview and his "X-Factor" was Jack Campbell as he wrote, "At his best, Campbell can get them where they need to be. But if he isn't who they think he is, the organization will be thrust into scramble mode." That could apply to the Oilers for the past decade!

I do miss The Hockey News covering some stuff from the minor leagues as they used to include stats from virtually all other leagues in their yearbook, but it seems that's no longer being included. I'd actually appreciate some additional looks at some of the AHL veterans who are likely going to get shots in replacing guys on NHL rosters, but that seems to have been avoided in this publication as well. Step it up, THN, because The Hockey News is more than just "The NHL News".

Overall, another solid entry in The Hockey News' tradition of producing the annual Yearbook. The team reports are why I grab this publication as I always enjoy getting deeper into some of the news about teams I rarely see, and I love seeing the predictions from The Hockey News when it comes to who finishes where. I did enjoy the articles as noted above, but we'll keep an eye on those prognostications as this season rolls on.

Get down to where they sell magazines and pick up your copy of The Hockey News' 2022-23 Yearbook! You'll be ready for the season with the information contained within its covers, and you'll be up to speed with The Hockey News' insights and thoughts on your favorite teams and players!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 523

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, returns tonight with an annual tradition that often proves that anything can happen as the Canada West Hockey Preview Show is upon us! For one night, we'll spare you of Hockey Canada's madness and other goofy NHL preseason chatter in order to focus on the western conference of U SPORTS hockey. With UBC raising a banner for women's hockey and Alberta raising yet another banner for men's hockey, can they replicate the success they had one season ago? We shall discuss!

With the Canada West Coach's Poll results revealed on Wednesday, Teebz and Jason will compare their own notes in determining placements to that of the coach's poll as the two hosts try to figure out who finishes where. The hosts will talk about who is playing where this season as recruiting classes were large for some programs, they examine preseason results to validate their beliefs, and they'll come up with placements for all nine teams in both men's and women's hockey as the nine Canada West schools look to add a National Championship banner to the rafters of their respective arenas. And just because we like to drop teasers, there will be a major announcement at some point during the show that may be of interest. It may not affect everyone, but it needs to be brought to everyone's attention. All of that will happen tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT so we hope you join us on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The new UMFM website's online streaming player is pretty awesome if you want to listen online. If you're using an Apple device, the player doesn't seem to like Safari yet, so if you want to stream the show I'd recommend Radio Garden to do that as it works nicely with Safari. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. If you do use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason have a major announcement as well as breaking down the Canada West Conference for both men's and women's hockey as we try to figure out who will finish where based on recruiting classes, results seen this season, and departures from the programs on the annual Canada West Hockey Preview Show heard exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: September 29, 2022: Episode 523

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Named As One Of The Best

If there was one goalie who always seemed to thwart the opposition in key moments while playing in Canada West, Alberta's Lindsey Post might be that netminder. One can't argue with her stats or track record of success while defending the Pandas' nets over her university career, and that led her to finding work as a professional hockey player in Sweden with SDE HF in the SDHL. Since arriving in Stockholm, Post has put up incredible numbers during the regular season despite SDE failing to reach championship heights in the playoffs where the wheels seem to come off for the team. Not counting those playoff losses, it's pretty clear that Post has been a key member of the SDE club as she gets set for her fourth season in Sweden where she'll stop pucks for SDE again.

If you've been following Canada West hockey for a while, none of this should be a surprise. We saw Lindsey lead the Pandas to a National Championship in 2017 where she recorded a 2-1 victory in overtime over the Melodie Daoust-led McGill Martlets. She was outstanding in that run to the Golden Path Trophy, and was the winner against Saint Mary's and Concordia by 2-1 scores as well. Named to the All-Tournament Team, I cannot state enough how Post was a "big game" goalie for the Pandas during her entire career.

It isn't often you hear legends of the game talk about Canada West hockey stars too often, but Swedish hockey legend Pernilla Winberg, who does commentary work for C More in Sweden, spoke about Post in glowing terms this week in previewing SDE's chances of winning the SDHL championship this season. Winberg, whose successes include an Olympic silver medal and two SDHL championships, is one of the best to have ever laced up the skates for Sweden, so her opinion carries a lot of weight in this writer's view.

SDE signed former MoDo goaltender Viktorie Svejdova to partner with Post in defending the SDE net, and Winberg noted the importance of having Svejdova alongside Post in making Post better.

"Post may have had a slightly worse season last year, but she is still a top goalkeeper in the league," Winberg said in her assessment. "She provides security back there to SDE. If she has stable backup, they can lift each other up."

When asked where Winberg would rate the goaltending of SDE, she showed her belief in Post and Svejdova as a tandem by stating, "I would still say top three."

There are a couple of things to take from this assessment, and it shouldn't be lost on anyone that Winberg thinks highly of Post's abilities. I don't disagree with her that Post may need to be pushed from time to time, and Svejdova can certainly do that after partnering with Czech goaltending standout Klara Peslarova in MoDo last season. Take nothing away from Peslarova's own work that she's put in to be considered one of the world's best stoppers, but having a motivated goaltending partner in Svejdova can help push Post back to her 2019-20 numbers where she recorded a 2.01 GAA and a .942 save percentage despite being 10-9-0 on the season.

The other thing that should be noted is that Winberg views SDE as having top-three goaltending in the SDHL despite expecting them to finish in eighth-place this season. You don't usually see teams that barely avoid the relegation playoff having top-three netminding in hockey, but Winberg clearly sees goaltending that carries SDE more often than it lets them down. To me, that is a huge compliment towards Post as it shows just how important she is to the SDE club in Winberg's opinion, so we'll see if Post can continue her stellar netminding in Sweden.

Not lost on me, though, is the final feather in Post's cap compliments of Winberg. When asked who SDE's most valuable player is, Winberg named someone familiar which should surprise no one.

There are some very good teams in the SDHL that can pick apart defences quickly. Having a world-class goaltender to bail out the defence if they get beat should be a priority for every team, and SDE certainly has one in Lindsey Post. I've known this since watching her as part of the Alberta Pandas, but it seems that Pernilla Winberg is of the same opinion as I am when it comes to Post's skills between the pipes.

The season starts for Post and SDE on Friday as they'll visit Linkoping at Saab Arena. If she continues her strong play as she's done in recent seasons, expect SDE to steal a few games they may seem overmatched in while leaning on Post to help them win their fair share of contests down the stretch. It will be up to Post to make the saves, but I have a feeling she'll prove both myself and Pernilla Winberg correct in being a top netminder in th SDHL once more this season!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 496

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, sits on the precipice of the U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship as eight teams prepare to battle for the opportunity to call themselves the best team in the nation! If you're looking to tune into the games, all of the games will be streamed on CBC's website so make sure you're bookmarking that site for this weekend at the very least, and perhaps for all of the different U SPORTS National Championship tournaments happening across the country! As I'm sure you're aware, we'll devote some time to discussing the women's hockey tournament so let's get into it!

There are no rooms for losses as Teebz and Jenna break down all four quarterfinal games that will be played in Charlottetown. It should be noted that UNB and McGill will have already completed their game by the time we go to air thanks to us having to record the show remotely, so don't hold it against us if you already know that result. What should be noted is that Teebz and Jenna will pick their winners for this weekend as the two hosts prognoticate on who will win the Golden Path Trophy! They also discuss the IIHF U18 Women's World Championship, a Manitoba connection to the NCAA Women's Hockey Championship, Ève Gascon's appearance in the QMJHL and possibly another woman making a push for a goaltending roster spot in that league, the SDHL playoffs with respect to former Canada West players competing in that league, U SPORTS Award Winners, Canada West officials working in PEI, the IIHF Men's World Hockey Championship, U SPORTS men's hockey as the field heading to Halifax is starting to take form, a new Leafs jersey, and much more! It's a busy show happening tonight at 5:30pm CT on 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

Where's the best place can you hear tonight's show if you're outside Winnipeg or not near a radio, you ask? The new UMFM website's online streaming player is pretty awesome if you want to listen online. If you're using an Apple device, the player doesn't seem to like Safari yet, so if you want to stream the show I'd recommend Radio Garden to do that as it works nicely with Safari. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. If you do use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard!

Tonight, Teebz and Jenna chat who wins, who doesn't, who will bring home hardware, who has new hardware, accolades, achievements, heartbreak, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: March 24, 2022: Episode 496

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 494

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, hits the ground running tonight as we move one step closer to seeing the invitations to PEI finalized for the U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship! The men's field, unfortunately, is a little less set thanks to the AUS and OUA needing some time to work through all its teams and where they'll finish, but the women's tournament is starting to come into focus as five of the eight spots have been filled. There will be playoff hockey action at universities across Canada this weekend, so we're going to spend some time examining that!

Teebz and Jenna settles in with all sorts of news and information from across the U SPORTS women's hockey landscape at Canada West and the RSEQ look to crown champions while the OUA and AUS are into semifinal action as Jenna's technical issues keep her off the grid for now. Teebz mentions some award winners out in Atlantic Canada, and there's a quick update on the men's side of things as well as we know who the two Canada West representatives will be. From there, he talks about a former Saskatchewan Huskies men's player who is doing big things in Poland, more KHL departures and the effects those are having on those playoffs, Phil Kessel's ironman streak, whether the NHL's Heritage Classic even matters anymore, Mike Babcock's future based on an interview he gave, he guesses at the hardest predictions yet, and more! It's a busy show covering a ton of ground, so settle in for some hockey fun at 5:30pm CT on 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

Where's the best place can you hear tonight's show if you're outside Winnipeg or not near a radio, you ask? The new UMFM website's online streaming player is pretty awesome if you want to listen online. If you're using an Apple device, the player doesn't seem to like Safari yet, so if you want to stream the show I'd recommend Radio Garden to do that as it works nicely with Safari. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. If you do use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard!

Tonight, Teebz talks who's in, who's out, who's going to PEI and Halifax, who may be going elsewhere, winning awards, winning in Poland, more changes in Russia, keeping a streak alive, shutting down a tired spectacle, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: March 10, 2022: Episode 494

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Rundown - What If...?

If you're a regular reader of The Rundown, you know that I haven't forgotten about the Lethbridge Pronghorns. I still have strong feelings about how that program was ended by the people who claim to care about students, but I'm not here to re-open those wounds. What is apparent is that Lethbridge had a pile of talent on their roster and coming into the program based on how former players have played this season, so one has to wonder how Canada West would have looked if the Pronghorns had been part of the conference this season. That's exactly the purpose of this article as The Rundown asks "What if... the Pronghorns still existed?"

Before we get into this scenario, the entire premise of this idea is based on Marvel Studios' What If...? television series where they propose alternate realities in the Marvel Universe. It's a bit of a fun and weird adventure in the episodes, but they asked the questions. Just as they did, I will as well except that I'm asking it about the Pronghorns in the Canada West universe. In order to make this work, I'm going to assume that any team on a bye week was eligible to play Lethbridge so that the schedule remains the same for all teams. That's the easy part of this academic exercise.

With that knowledge in place, let's have some fun and solve the riddle of "What if... the Pronghorns still existed in 2021-22?"

Perhaps the biggest shake-up in the U SPORTS world would be the players who transferred to other schools needing to find themselves back in Lethbridge colours. There are a number of women who stuck around Lethbridge and are playing with the AJFHL, but here's the list of players who ventured elsewhere to continue their hockey careers.

• Alli Borrow - Calgary Dinos
• Meg Dyer - Saskatchewan Huskies
• Mallory Dyer - Saskatchewan Huskies
• Kenzie Lausberg - Saskatchewan Huskies
• Mila Verbicky - MacEwan Griffins
• Sage Sansregret - MacEwan Griffins
• Abby Soyko - Alberta Pandas
• Alli Soyko - Red Deer Queens (ACHA)
• Chloe Marshall - Nipissing Lakers (OUA)
• Emma Neff - Nipissing Lakers (OUA)
• Maddy McCleary - Saint Mary's Huskies (AUS)
• Ashlee Hodge-Hirschfield - Mount Allison Mounties (AUS)
• Tallon Stephenson - Mount Allison Mounties (AUS)
• Madeleine Noonan - Sodertalje SK (Sweden's DamEttan)
• Stephanie Gross - Lethbridge Pronghorns swim team

With Calgary losing one of their top scorers in Alli Borrow, the Dinos are going to get worse. The Huskies see two players who are playing regular minutes for them exit the program, and the MacEwan Griffins are in the same boat. Nipissing loses a very good defender and their starting netminder. Alli Soyko is rounding into form with Red Deer in her rookie season while Maddy Noonan is having another amazing season in Sweden. Maddy McCleary leads Saint Mary's in plus/minus so they'll take a hit while Mount Allison has struggled, but both Stephenson and Hodge-Hirschfield have logged significant minutes. Stephanie Gross will rejoin the squad rather than swim for Lethbridge, Abby Soyko will see ice time with the Pronghorns as opposed to not playing for the Pandas, and Kenzie Lausberg would have a regular shift as opposed to just practicing with the Huskies.

Of course, there were some players whose eligibility was up, so Lethbridge would enter the season without the likes of Alicia Anderson, Katelyn Breitkreuz, Kirana Stocker, Mattie Apperson, Tricia Van Vaerenbergh, and Denzelle Hettle. All of those players had fulfilled their five years of eligibility, so there were open roster spots that would have been filled by the recruits Doug Paisley had signed.

The team is back and ready to roll based mostly on this roster, but we need to include a handful of other players that had signed with the team as well. We can't forget goaltender Molly Mitchell, forward Jade Sandberg, and defender Teah Workman who had reportedly agreed to join the Pronghorns. Adding them to the roster makes Lethbridge better, so their inclusion needed to be mentioned.

With the Pronghorns ready to ice a team, let's run through the first half of the schedule!

With Saskatchewan having the bye in the opening week of the season, Lethbridge would have started the season on the road in Saskatoon. As we know, the Huskies struggled to score in the first half of the season, so running into a very capable goalie like Chloe Marshall early in the season wouldn't help the Huskies.

Lethbridge, meanwhile, always seems to open the season like they're on fire, so I would expect them to do the same in this campaign. They have veteran scoring and leadership in Alli Borrow, Kyra Greig, and Mikaela Reay while their blue line is anchored by Eryn Johansen and Meg Dyer, so it's not unreasonable to suggest that the Pronghorns may have split the opening weekend with the Huskies. I'm following that idea as the Pronghorns leave Saskatoon with a 1-1-0 record.

With teams looking to travel less in Canada West, Lethbridge unfortunately has to make the trip to Edmonton rather than playing the home-and-home that they'd plan with the Pandas annually. Going to Clare Drake Arena is never fun for opposing teams, and Lethbridge's record at the Pandas' rink was never good. I'd love to say that the Pronghorns shocked Canada West, but I can't.

Alberta does earn the four points on this weekend, but the Pronghorns lose one of the games in overtime. That point helps them in the standings as they fall to 1-2-1 on the season, but it keeps them moving in the right direction in terms of finding points.

The "road warriors" finish their six-game road trip to open the season in Langley, BC where they meet the Trinity Western Spartans for the first time. Trinity Western's 0-4-0 start to the season doesn't get any easier as the Pronghorns play sound hockey in limiting chances against while capitalizing on a few opportunities of their own.

I'll add some fun to this one by saying that Stephanie Gross earns her first Canada West win on this weekend as well as she starts one of the two games for the Pronghorns. The two wins come at an important time as the Pronghorns return home starting next week for seven of the next eight games with a 3-2-1 record on the season!

The home-opening weekend for the Pronghorns as the UBC Thunderbirds roll into town for the two-game set. UBC has been thundering over anyone who gives them an inch, and Lethbridge simply isn't built to play that physical brand of hockey that UBC likes to play. The first game is closer than the second game, but the Thunderbirds leave the southern Alberta city with all four points in their pockets.

For a younger team like the Pronghorns, this setback shouldn't deflate them. They have a great shot at adding some points with next week's games at Nicholas Sheran Arena, but leave Week Four with a 3-4-1 record as they find themselves behind several teams.

Just as Lethbridge made the trip to Edmonton, the other Edmonton-based team heads south as the MacEwan Griffins visit Lethbridge for their first regular season games against the Pronghorns. The Griffins are an interesting case for the Pronghorns as the teams have similar roster makeups, but the difference is the experience the Lethbridge possesses in playing in Canada West. Both of these games will be close in score, but I suspect the Pronghorns will send the Griffins home with, at maximum, one point.

The two wins benefit the Pronghorns greatly as they're looking to remain ahead of MacEwan with respect to earning a playoff berth, so let's call this a weekend sweep for Lethbridge thanks to some timely goal-scoring and solid netminding to push them to 5-4-1 on the season with four games remaining in the first half of the season.

Like most teams who have visited the Cougars' den this season, they came out worse for wear. The Mount Royal Cougars are a good team and they would have shown it against Lethbridge in this series. Lethbridge likely wouldn't have been blown out, but the Cougars would have methodically picked them apart. As much as we can hope for an upset here, the Cougars have too much talent to lose to the Pronghorns this season.

The losses are a bit of a setback with one week to play in the opening half of the season, but the 5-6-1 record amassed by the Pronghorns isn't terrible when you consider that they've played Mount Royal, UBC, and Alberta in their first half. There's still work to do, though, so let's see how the last week of 2021 plays out for Lethbridge.

The last games in the first half for Lethbridge are played at home against the Calgary Dinos, and both teams come in looking for wins to help them climb the standings. Calgary always has a knack for pulling off a big win when they need it most, and they get one in Lethbridge after dropping the Friday night game against the Pronghorns. While the Pronghorns looked solid all weekend against a team they had to beat, they simply couldn't score enough on Calgary on Saturday.

The split pushes Lethbridge's first-half record to 6-7-1 as they enter the December break which is close to where they stood in 2019-20 as they went into December with a 6-7-1-2 record on the three-point system. The good news is that they've positioned themselves well for the second half and a playoff push, but there may be a little disappointment in dropping a few games they feel they could have won. For a young team that's growing together, I'd say Lethbridge is doing well in this "What If..." scenario.

"WHAT IF" CANADA WEST SCENARIO

School	Record	Points	Next	vs LET in 2nd Half?
Mount Royal	10-1-1-2	24	JANUARY	2 games
UBC	11-3-0-0	22	JANUARY	no
Manitoba	8-4-2-0	20	JANUARY	2 games
Alberta	5-4-4-1	19	JANUARY	no
Saskatchewan	7-5-0-2	16	JANUARY	no
Lethbridge	6-7-0-1	13	JANUARY	n/a
Regina	5-7-0-2	12	JANUARY	2 games
MacEwan	5-9-0-0	10	JANUARY	no
Calgary	5-9-0-0	10	JANUARY	2 games
Trinity Western	1-12-1-0	4	JANUARY	no

Disclaimer

Let me be very clear in stating that the above results and standings are nothing more than pure speculation based on historical stats, knowledge of current teams, and some crystal-ball gazing. There is no truth to any of the results or the standings, so don't get bent out of shape over the speculation. This was for fun in terms of projecting a ten-team Canada West conference this season, but I truly think that Lethbridge would have been close to, if not holding, the final playoff spot once the first half of the season wrapped up. I may be way off on this, but it seems to follow the trends we've seen from Lethbridge over the last few years of play.

Just rememeber that there's a money-back guarantee if you're unhappy with the "What If...?" scenario above. Otherwise, leave your predictions in the comments below and we'll have some chatter about how wrong I am!

Some Sad News

It broke my heart today in reading that former UBC Thunderbirds forward Amanda Asay had passed away at the age of 33 from a skiing accident in Nelson, British Columbia. Asay spent the first three years of her university hockey career at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island where she obtained her Bachelor's Degree in Science before transferring home to UBC where she played her final two seasons of eligibility with the Thunderbirds as she earned her Master's Degree in Science and her PhD in Forestry. Not only was she good on the ice and in the classroom, but she also caught the eye of Baseball Canada as Women's National Team evaluators awarded her a spot on Team Canada when she was just 17 years-old, leading to a long career competing internationally.

Asay was the longest serving member of the Women's National Team program afetr getting her opportunity in 2005, and she was a teammate of current Alberta Panda Madison Willan and current Mount Royal Cougar Kaitlyn Ross on Team Canada. She was a two-time Women's National Team Most Valuable Player, a five-time five WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup medallist, and a 2015 Pan Am Games silver medallist. Her loss will be felt by the baseball and hockey communities, and my heart goes out to her friends, family, and teammates with this devastating news.

Rest in peace, Amanda. You made everyone around you better like true teammates do, and you will be missed by all who were touched by your life.

The Last Word

Ending on a sad note is always hard, but things get back to normal next week as the second half of the season resumes. If you're an administrator or a sports information person at one of the Canada West universities, get your highlight-reel creation skills ready because you've had half a season where you did nothing to help the game. This is your moment to shine in bringing back the highlights, so let's get rolling.

Eight games remain on the schedule for nine teams with six playoff spots up for grabs. Mathematics will come into play for a few teams when it comes magic numbers and locking up playoff spots, but this should be an exciting end to the 2021-22 Canada West women's hcokey season! See you at the rink!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 457

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, returns tonight to the airwaves of 101.5 UMFM with a big show! As you may know, Jenna's connection to the MacEwan Griffins has allowed to speak with some of the players already, and my desire to know as much about the team before seeing them in action next season has fueled that drive to feature more Griffins on the show. Tonight, we add another name to that list as we speak to a former Griffin who grew up in Winnipeg!

Tonight, Teebz and Jenna chat with former MacEwan Griffins defender Carley Jewell about her five years of university hockey! Before we get into the hockey, we explore Carley's immense talents in track-and-field and on the basketball court where she likely could have pursued university opportunities had she wanted, but we get into the hockey chatter shortly after. We talk to her about playing with the boys, playing with the Winnipeg Avros, being recruited by Lindsay McAlpine, winning an ACAC bronze medal in her rookie season, winning a gold medal in her second year, winning virtually everything possible in her third year, winning another gold medal in her fourth year, and coming as close to a gold medal as humanly possible in her fifth and final year all while discussing her career highlights and some of the memorable moments of her career! Carley also gives us a prediction on how MacEwan will fare in Canada West this year and what her future holds after graduating, so it's another fun and interesting show! Tune in to meet Carley Jewell and get all the details on her career at 5:30pm CT on 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

Where's the best place can you hear tonight's show if you're outside Winnipeg or not near a radio, you ask? The new UMFM website's online streaming player is pretty awesome if you want to listen online. If you're using an Apple device, the player doesn't seem to like Safari yet, so if you want to stream the show I'd recommend Radio Garden to do that as it works nicely with Safari. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. If you do use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard!

Tonight, Teebz and Jenna break down Carley Jewell's career as we learn about track-and-field, basketball, talking to her mom, helping MacEwan become one of the best ACAC teams of all-time, playing outdoors, winning medals every year, sports psychology, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: June 24, 2021: Episode 457

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Bring On Les Canadiens!

I'm not here to gloat or dance on the graves of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Montreal Canadiens completed the series comeback tonight with a 3-1 victory in Game Seven to eliminate the Leafs in seven games. The Montreal Canadiens will advance to the second round to play the Winnipeg Jets, and that series begins on Wednesday in the Manitoba capital. To say this second-round matchup is unexpected would be accurate if not underselling just how unexpected, but the North Division will be won by either the bleu-blanc-et-rouge or by the double-blue-and-white.

While social media is running rampant with statistics about the Maple Leafs and their lack of playoff success, it should be noted that Carey Price was simply as good as he's ever been over the last three games of this series. When one thinks of clutch Carey Price moments, this series should be lumped into that category based on some of the big saves he made to help the Canadiens advance. One has to think that had it been Jake Allen and not Carey Price in goal for the Canadiens, we likely wouldn't be talking about them advancing.

With the victory over the Maple Leafs tonight, Montreal and Winnipeg will grapple to see who gets the privilege of facing the winner of the Colorado-Vegas series that sees the Avalanche lead 1-0. Because Winnipeg finished 14th-overall and Montreal finished 18th-overall, they're the lowest-ranked teams by regular season records, so they'll play the top team remaining out of the final four teams, and Colorado won the President's Trophy with 82 points and by winning the season series over the Vegas Golden Knights who finished with 82 points.

Depending on which team advances from the Colorado-Vegas series and assuming cross-border travel is still prohibited, either the Jets or Canadiens would likely move into the arena of the team that lost the Colorado-Vegas series. However, that's putting the cart way ahead of the horse, so let's look at what to expect from Winnipeg and Montreal in this series to determine the North Division champions!

As mentioned above, this series features two former Vezina Trophy winners going save-for-save as Carey Price and Connor Hellebuyck look to back their teams to victory. I'm not going to fall into any sort of recency bias here because Carey Price just won three-straight games to eliminate the 2021 Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy winner while Connor Hellebuyck dismissed the 2021 Art Ross Trophy winner in four-straight games. Without a shadow of a doubt, goaltending will play a massive factor in this series, and I have to say this is a WASH based on the play of both netminders.

Team defence is a big focal point for both squads, and there's no denying that Winnipeg's defence was up to the task against McDavid, Draisaitl, and the Oilers. We shouldn't discount, however, the Montreal Canadiens who, admittedly, took some time in figuring out how to play against the Leafs, but eventually got it down to a science when it came to defending the slot and front of the net. Both teams showed real commitment to defence, but I like the how the Jets shut down both McDavid and Draisaitl. Yes, Montreal did slow down Matthews and Marner, but the slightest of edges in defensive play has to go to the JETS in this series.

Team offence seems like it would be pretty heavily biased towards the Jets, but I think there's a fallacy if we let it sink in. Tyler Toffoli and Nick Suzuki are the usual suspects at the top of the points leaderboard for the Canadiens, but Montreal has 14 players with a point in these playoffs to date, and they have five players with two-or-more goals. The Jets, meanwhile, have 16 players with a point and they four players with two goals, so both squads have shown scoring depth needed to win playoff series. I hate to say this, but team defence and goaltending likely will determine the winner in this series, so I'm giving the offences a WASH based solely on what we've seen so far.

The special teams units for both teams have had their ups and downs in the opening series, but Winnipeg made good on 30.0% of their power-play opportunities (3/10) against Edmonton to put them squarely ahead of the efficiency shown by Montreal's 15.8% efficiency (3/19) against Toronto. Montreal did start to show some life on the power-play in the final few games, though, so they'll need to carry that into Winnipeg if they hope to beat the Jets. On the other side of the coin, Montreal was marginally better with an 87.0% penalty kill efficiency compared to Winnipeg's 81.8% efficiency, but it should be noted that Montreal did scored a shorthanded goal and led the league over the season. That counts for something here, so I'm giving the CANADIENS a slight edge in the special teams based on recent play.

If you're adding everything up, this seems like a pretty even series by my count, but here's the "x-factor" for me: rest or rust. The Canadiens will come into Winnipeg on one day's rest before playing four games in six nights again. Assuming that Carey Price starts all four of those games, Price's save pecentages in the playoffs on back-to-back nights is .889 while getting one day's rest sees his percentage jump to .930. That's not bad at all when one considers he just went through seven games of gruelling hockey.

Hellebuyck, who comes in with more than four days rest to start this series, posts a save percentage of .970 after that period of time while his one-day rest percentage is .953 and his back-to-back percentage is .925. If we're mapping this out based on save percentages, Game One sees Hellebuyck at .970 to Price's .930, Games Two and Three see Hellebuyck with a .953 save percentage to Price's .930, and Game Four is the second half of the back-to-back which has Hellebuyck sporting a .925 save percentage to Price's .889.

Unless Connor Hellebuyck is extremely rusty, the x-factor favours his performance for the JETS over a possibly tiring performance from Price. That doesn't mean the Jets will sweep based on those numbers, but you have to think that Connor Hellebuyck will be at his best when his body has had time to recover while Price played longer.

Will I be right? No one is certain until they play the games. What I am going to do, though, is predict that the Jets will prevail in six games over the Montreal Canadiens as the fatigue factor catches up with the Canadiens, especially in Games Four and Five in that back half of the back to back and then travelling back to Winnipeg for the fifth game.

This series starts on Wednesday with the North Division title on the line!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Blues Need Him Badly

Pictured to the left is not my garden despite my best efforts outside all day today. What you see are The Butchart Gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, and the 55-acre parcel of land that was once a limestone quarry today blooms with amazing colours and fragrances that has taken over a century to cultivate. My garden, on the other hand, has some nice colours, but it's nowhere close to what you see above. This comparison relates to hockey when one realizes that the St. Louis Blues could be in big trouble when they start their series against the juggernaut Colorado Avalanche.

It was announced today that the Blues potentially could be without Nathan Walker, Jake Walman, and David Perron as all three players have landed on the NHL COVID Protocol list, putting their participation in the series with Colorado in serious jeopardy if they have tested positive for the virus.

While Walker and Walman aren't huge pieces of the Blues' offence, David Perron certainly is, and his play in the absence of Vladimir Tarasenko has kept the Blues rolling without their star winger. Perron's 19 goals and 39 assists were just two points back of his total last year and eight points off his best total ever of 66 points in 2017-18 with the Vegas Golden Knights, so it's pretty clear that Perron was having a career season after scoring 58 points in 56 games this season.

That's all in limbo at this point as Perron now has to test negative twice within a 24-hour period in order to escape the COVID Protocol list and be eligible for Monday's opening game in Denver. With Tarasenko's participation still in question following a lower-body injury that limited him to just 24 games this season, having the Blues go in to Denver to play the President's Trophy winners without their top-two wingers seems like a recipe for disaster.

If you're keeping track of the stats above, Perron played in every game for the Blues this season, meaning he helped the Blues go 3-5-0 against the Avalanche. There's some hope there if you're a Blues fan because Perron's inclusion gives the Blues some key firepower in getting to Avalanche netminder Philipp Grubauer. Perron helped the Blues' power-play to being sixth-best in the league at 23.2%, and we know that playoff series can be won or lost on special teams if defence wins championships.

What makes Perron's addition to the NHL's COVID list more concerning is that injury reports at this time of year are virtually classified by teams, and the Blues have already travelled to Denver as per their social media feeds. Not one person from the St. Louis Blues confirmed Perron's attendance on the plane, and it would seem that Perron would likely still be in St. Louis awaiting his test results to be returned with a chartered plane on standy-by if his tests return negative.

The other concern is that the NHL has been quietly pointing to the number of teams and players that have been vaccinated so that the Stanley Cup Playoffs can get underway, yet Jake Walman, mentioned above, tested positive for COVID-19 despite having been vaccinated. Again, with all information surrounding vaccinations virtually classified, no one will say when Walman received a vaccination or whether he's fully vaccinated, but it's clear that the vaccine hadn't fully protected him from the strain of COVID-19 he now has.
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With Perron being identified a day later as being on the NHL's COVID list, one might assume there could be spread within the locker room. The hope is that Perron's name was added to the list for contact tracing purposes only, but one can't be too careful when it comes to taking this virus lightly, especially when travelling by airplane and being in close quarters with others.

Perron had two goals and seven points in those eight games against the Avalanche this season, and his work on the top line beside Ryan O'Reilly involved matching up against Nathan MacKinnon's line on most nights. Perron seems to have thrived in his top-line role with Tarasenko being out, and Perron brings a little bit of everything to the game when he's on the ice: scoring, good work along the boards, reliable defensive awareness, and a touch of physical play. The Blues need all of that to keep the Avalanche at bay, so there's hope Perron will be in the lineup come Monday night.

If this series is as lopsided as Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic has predicted, Perron's absense would be a huge blow to St. Louis' chances at any sort of upset. The Denver Post's four writers have predicted this series being over in five games.

"We're going to beat them," Blues captain, Ryan O'Reilly, told reporters on a Zoom conference last week. It's nice to see that confidence that O'Reilly has in himself and his team, I'd say the reality of starting the playoffs without David Perron makes that proclamation a lot harder considering all that Perron has done for the Blues this season.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 431

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back on Christmas Eve as Teebz and Jenna settle into the holidays with a show that's more fun than it has been in recent weeks with all the pandemic talk and the business-over-humanity talk. Being that it's the holiday season, Teebz does his annual portion of the show where he gives thanks to all the people who appeared on the show this year as we're always grateful for the time people do give us. We wouldn't have as much fun on this show as we do without some of the great people we speak with, so thank you to everyone who appeared on The Hockey Show this calendar year!

Tonight on the show, Teebz and Jenna break down what appears to be a fairly competitive World Junior Championship while making a few predictions, they discuss the NHL's proposed 56-game schedule and advertisements on helmets, they chat about an interesting offer made to Gritty, and Teebz thanks everyone who has appeared on the show in the last year! To round out the Christmas Eve show, Teebz and Jenna choose their five favorite Christmas songs in what will surely stir some debate! Who makes the cut? You'll have to listen tonight at 5:30pm CT tonight to hear which songs made the Top-Five on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or on UMFM.com! Happy holidays, everyone!

Where's the best place can you hear tonight's show if you're outside Winnipeg or not near a radio, you ask? The new UMFM website's online streaming player is pretty awesome if you want to listen online. If you're using an Apple device, the player doesn't seem to like Safari yet, so if you want to stream the show I'd recommend Radio Garden to do that as it works nicely with Safari. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store. If you do use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard!

Tonight, Teebz and Jenna go over the final preparations for the World Junior Championship, the ongoing preparations for the NHL season, the five songs that will aid us in our holiday prepartions, Teebz thanks all of our guests and friends who made the show so much fun this year, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

Lastly but certainly not least, from both Jenna and myself, we wish you and yours a very happy holiday season with the best of health, and a Merry Christmas in what has to one of the weirdest holiday seasons ever. From us to you, be safe, be merry, and enjoy this festive time as best you can with your loved ones either in attendance or online!

PODCAST: December 24, 2020: Episode 431

Until next time, Merry Christmas, folks!

The 2019-20 Predictions

The 2019-20 NHL season was one that likely no one could have predicted with respect to the ongoing pandemic in whose clutches we still find ourselves after 11 months. While the NHL stopped play for a few months to help curb the spread of the virus, who would have thought we'd be seeing the NHL crown a Stanley Cup champion on September 28 when training camps are usually starting? To their credit, the bubble that the NHL set up to finish the season worked as advertised as no player recorded a case of COVID-19 while in the bubble, but there were definitely some complaints about the comforts promised to the players. In other news, Seattle was made official as the Kraken will join the Pacific Division in 2021-22 and Arizona will shift to the Central Division, but we'll have to see if the pandemic bubble had any effect on The Hockey News and their predictions!

Ok, someone at THN might have been listening to my repeated complaints over the years about the cover athletes because they're back with more Winnipeg and Vancouver! Elias Petterson and Mark Scheifele get the bump this year for the Canucks and Jets, respectively, and it's good to see that there's more blanket western Canada coverage for these covers now. Granted, there could be complaints from Edmonton that Leon Draisaitl or from Calgary that Matthew Tkachuk isn't get their push, but Calgary and Edmonton ruled these covers for a long, long time. Well done on spreading the wealth, The Hockey News.

With the divisional formats scrapped for a 24-team playoff with an added qualifying round, the scoring will change for this year's predictions. We know the top two teams from each division were placed in a group on their own to determine seeds 1-4, so we'll take the top-two teams from each divisional prediction as being those representatives for a total score of 8 points in the all-or-nothing scoring here. That leaves four seeds in each conference to be determined as playoff teams, so if a team made the qualifying round THN picks up 0.5 points. If they advanced to the Round of 16, they get another 0.5 points. That's another possible 8 points for playoff squads. Playoff wins then come into play, and that scoring will remain the same with 1 point per correct playoff win prediction for 14 points. And the Stanley Cup Final prediction scoring won't change either. When all is said and done, there's 32 possible points up for grabs.

Here are the predictions made by The Hockey News.

Click to make it larger.

QUALIFYING TEAMS

The final Eastern Conference playoff teams in 2019 in the NHL are listed. The Hockey News' predicted playoff teams are listed below the NHL teams that qualified. Teams that advanced from the qualifying stage are in capital letters in the "Remaining Team" section.

• NHL Top Four: Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Washington, and Boston.
• THN Top Four: Tampa Bay, Toronto, Washington, and Carolina.

THN had two of four teams right for 2/4 points.

NHL Remaining Teams: Pittsburgh, CAROLINA, NEW YORK ISLANDERS, Toronto, COLUMBUS, Florida, New York Rangers, and MONTREAL.

THN Playoff Teams: Philadelphia, Boston, Florida, and the New York Islanders.

Because we can't score Philadelphia or Boston in this section, THN scores 0.5 points for Florida, and 1 full point for the New York Islanders in the remaining playoff teams for a total of 1.5/4 points.

The Western Conference follows the same scoring.

• NHL Top Four: Vegas, Colorado, Dallas, and St. Louis.
• THN Top Four: Nashville, Colorado, Calgary, and Vegas.

THN had two of four teams right for 2/4 points.

NHL Remaining Teams: Edmonton, Nashville, VANCOUVER, CALGARY, Winnipeg, Minnesota, ARIZONA, and CHICAGO.

THN Playoff Teams: St. Louis, San Jose, Winnipeg, and Dallas.

Because we can't score St. Louis or Dallas in this section, THN scores 0.5 points for Winnipeg as their only playoff-bound team for a total of 0.5/4 points.

PLAYOFF WINS

Teams that advanced to the second round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference included Philadelphia, the New York Islanders, Tampa Bay, and Boston, meaning that THN had one correct prediction there in Tampa Bay. From those four teams, it was a Tampa Bay-New York Islanders Eastern Conference Final, and THN had Tampa right as they advanced to the Stanley Cup Final. Thanks to the Lightning, they record 3/7 points in the Eastern Conference.

In the Western Conference, Dallas, Vegas, Colorado, and Vancouver all advanced to the second round, and THN had both Vegas and Colorado reaching that stage for 2 points. Of those four teams, Vegas and Dallas advanced to the Western Conference Final, and THN had Vegas making that stage for another point. They incorrected named Vegas as a finalist, though, so they'll finsh the Western Conference playoff picture at 3/7 points.

STANLEY CUP WINNER

Ryan Kennedy is back for another swing at the champion and finalist in the Stanley Cup Final, so let's see who he picked, based on the playoff results above, for The Hockey News in this year.

• TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING WILL DEFEAT THE VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS TO WIN THE STANLEY CUP. The hockey gods are smiling on Ryan Kennedy as he correctly predicts his second Stanley Cup champion as the lead writer in this section as the Tampa Bay Lightning did win the 2020 Stanley Cup! The only problem? They needed six games to defeat the Dallas Stars - a team THN predicted would lose in the first round - to win the Stanley Cup. Ryan's choice of Tampa Bay is a good one, though, so not all is lost in this section!

The Hockey News goes 1/2 in having the correct team win the Stanley Cup!

The Hockey News actually might have benefitted from the playoff bubble helping their choices in a couple instances as they scored 13 out of 32 possible points for a 40.6% accuracy. While I wouldn't necessarily annoint The Hockey News as an NHL crystal ball with their predictions this season, they did score over 40% for the first time in these examinations. Finish strong, I was always told, and The Hockey News did that with their predictions in 2019-20.

That will do it for the examinations of The Hockey News Yearbook predictions since 1995-96. While I still await the mailing of the two missing Yearbooks from my collection, it's pretty clear that THN's average of the course of 25 years seems to be around 30%. While not entirely awful, they're also not very good in picking Stanley Cup champions as that only happened three times.

On the flip side, it's also ridiculously hard to predict the final standings before teams have played a game, assembled a final roster, gone through the rigors of an 82-game season, and dealt with injuries and trades all season long. While 30% seems pretty bad, it's actually not a bad average to have when one considers all the variables that go into a season of play for all the NHL teams.

This was a fun look at The Hockey News and their annual predictions. I may dive into some analysis of these annual predictions at some point, but it's Halloween tomorrow so I'll have something more fun to go over in tomorrow's article. For now, feel free to check back to any of the seasons that were reviewed and see how THN did in their annual predictions!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!