That One Hurts

I'm not a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, but that one had to hurt. Despite carrying the momentum of a big Game Six road win home for a game where they had a full Scotiabank Arena crowd behind them, having the Florida Panthers lay a resounding beating on the Leafs to the tune of a 6-1 score will leave a lot of fans wanting to smash things like the gentleman above. Just like every summer since 1967, there will be no parades, no celebrations, and another year of what-ifs for Leafs fans.

One may point to the second period where this game got out of hand for the Maple Leafs. Florida outshot Toronto 18-5 in the frame, and the Panthers scored three times in the first ten minutes. The Maple Leafs saw Mitch Marner yelling at his teammates, and the Leafs seemed to respond as they upped their game. The only problem was they couldn't beat Bobrovsky in the period.

"We just didn’t handle the pressure tonight that they came with," Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said. "It obviously wasn’t good enough."

And so it goes as Toronto falls to 0-7 in its past seven Game Sevens. At what point does Leafs management consider more drastic changes than just tinkering with the fringes and looking for value in castoffs? Which of the key performers decides to either take less or move on from the team in order to change the path this team is following? How can this team push past the crushing history it keeps writing?

If I had those answers, I'd likely be on the Leafs' payroll as these are all questions that have been asked over and over before, and the Maple Leafs are no closer to an answer than they were five, ten, or even twenty years ago. Tomorrow, Brad Treliving and his management team will wake up, look in the mirror, and ask himself where things went wrong just as Kyle Dubas did, just as Lou Lamoriello did, just as Dave Nonis did, and just as Brian Burke did. Answers will be needed.

"I don't know how it really got away from us," Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews said. "I think just not on the same page in different areas of the game."

It's hard to imagine that anyone will be happy with the captain not giving a clear answer as to where he believed the game got away from the Maple Leafs, but I'll give him some benefit of the doubt as Matthews is still likely collecting his thoughts and sifting through the disappointment once more. However, that moment of reflection will need to be far more concise the next time he speaks with the press because this is now the second-straight year where Matthews' moment of reflection leaves one wanting some better insight.

"We were right there," Matthews said following the 2-1 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins in Game Seven last season. "It didn't go our way."

He may be the captain, but I wasn't aware that meant he was Captain Obvious. A 2-1 overtime loss would certainly indicate that "it didn't go our way" just as much as a 6-1 thrashing on home ice falls into the "I don't know how it really got away from us" category. I'm not expecting Matthews to wax poetic about the Panthers nor am I wanting him to throw teammates under the bus, but give us something that will ease the pain after another devastating loss.

As stated, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this in that he just suffered another loss in the biggest game of the Leafs' season, but I'm thinking it will be difficult to bring back both Mitch Marner and John Tavares if the Leafs are ever going to change their fortunes. That's not to say that both players aren't scoring or doing their parts, but the Leafs are the definition of insanity based on all the players they choose to keep while expecting the results to change.

Obviously, someone who gets paid a lot of money to work in an office at Scotiabank Arena will need to sift through the rubble of another defeat to see where the Leafs can rebuild. There are certainly pieces that they'll want to keep, but there are assets that could fetch some solid players if they were to listen to offers. It will all play out of the next few weeks and months as the Leafs look to figure out where things went wrong and regroup, but this loss will certainly lead to changes, possibly both on the roster and in the front office.

The belief in this franchise will return to the Toronto faithful, but it feels like those fans may want a little time to recover from this loss. As stated off the top, this one had to hurt after it seemed Toronto had all the momentum heading into Game Seven on home ice.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

A Tough Handshake Line To Watch

I'm not pointing fingers tonight. You can play the coulda-woulda-shoulda game with missed opportunities and the belief about players who needed to step up their games, but I'm here to say that Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele is an all-time gamer for his effort tonight. We can break down and analyze the game from tonight until the start of the next season, but the only thing that matters is how everyone on that ice in both jerseys came together for Mark Scheifele. This is why I continue to watch this game.

Here is the ESPN broadcast of the handshake line.


Here is the Rogers Sportsnet broadcast of the handshake line.


Again, I'm not going to analyze where the Jets went wrong in this game or series nor will I celebrate what Dallas did well. Tonight is for remembering that people still play this game, and Mark Scheifele's pain in losing his dad, Brad, and this game is all too real. For all the players on the ice, for all the Dallas fans who cheered for Mark Scheifele, and for all the Jets fans who are sharing in both his grief and the team's grief, it sometimes helps to know that these warriors in nearly-indestructible plastic armor are just like you and I.

Rest in peace, Brad Scheifele. Your impact on this world is felt by all those who were lucky enough to know you and cross paths with you, and your son embodies all the good that you taught him. My thoughts and condolences are with the Scheifele family and friends this evening. Writing about hockey just seems less important.

Until next time, raise your sticks for the Scheifeles!

Canadian Teams In All Three Leagues

With Victoria Day weekend upon us here in Canada, it's interesting to me that top-three professional hockey leagues in North America all have Canadian teams still playing. Obviously, there are two of those Canadian teams facing elimination in the NHL, but we do know that the Edmonton Oilers will play in the Western Conference Final to keep the hope that the Stanley Cup will live north of the border for at least one calendar year. However, both the AHL and ECHL have Canadian teams aiming to win the respective championship trophies in those leagues. Is there a chance this year to bring all three home?

Let me say upfront that this has never happened in the history of the three leagues. The ECHL has only been in its current form since 1988-89, so the history is much shorter than that of the NHL and AHL. Thanks to the league existing mostly in the eastern United States until very recently, the chances of a Canadian team winning the Kelly Cup was virtually zero. There has only been one Canadian team to capture the Kelly Cup, and we'll talk about them below.

The NHL's last Canadian winner of the Stanley Cup was, of course, the 1993 Montreal Canadiens. Prior to that, there were three Canadian teams who made runs through the 1980s in the Edmonton Oilers, the Calgary Flames, and the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal had six more in the 1970s, and Toronto and Montreal seemed to win all throughout the 1960s. In short, there are only four Canadian teams who can claim a Stanley Cup parade in their cities through to today.

The AHL gets a little more complicated because teams, at times, seem to pop up all over the place. The Toronto Marlies won in 2018, the Hamilton Bulldogs won in 2007, and the Saint John Flames in 2001 were the AHL clubs to win in the last 25 years. The Cape Breton Oilers won in 1993, marking the last time that Canada captured both the Stanley Cup and the Calder Cup in the same season. The Shebrooke Canadiens would win the Calder Cup in 1985 in the same year that the Oilers captured the Stanley Cup.

Canada did make some history as the Nova Scotia Voyageurs won back-to-back Calder Cups in 1976 and 1977 in the same years that the Montreal Canadiens won their first and second of four consecutive Stanley Cups. Those wins mark the only time in hockey history that NHL and AHL affiliates have won both championships in the same years. Obviously, it's the only time Canadian teams have done it.

The Voyageurs added another Calder Cup in 1972, but that's the earliest Canadian victory in the AHL as the American Hockey League was truly American prior to their victory. It should be noted that the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup in 1972, so the Stanley Cup and Calder Cup have only been held by Canadian teams at the same time on four occasions. It could happen again this year.

As stated above, there has been one lone ECHL championship for Canada, and that came in 2019 when the Newfoundland Growlers captured the Kelly Cup in six games over the Toledo Walleye. Neither an NHL or an AHL team won that season, so there weren't any other celebrations happening in Canada that year. As it stands, Canada has never held all three trophies in Canada in the same season.

So who is left in all three leagues?

The Edmonton Oilers are already through to the Western Conference Final, so Canada has at least a 25% chance of winning the Stanley Cup. Both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Winnipeg Jets are still alive despite being down in their series, so those odds could improve if either or both of those teams can advance. The good news is that at least one team has already qualified for the Conference Finals, and Canada could have two teams in the Conference Finals for the first time since 1994 if Toronto and/or Winnipeg can survive.

The AHL features two Canadian teams as the Laval Rocket and the Abbotsford Canucks are still playing in the Calder Cup Playoffs. The Rocket are playing the Rochester Americans in their North Division Final while the Canucks are facing the Colorado Eagles in the Pacific Division Final. Laval beat Rochester for a 1-0 lead in their series on Wednesday with Game Two scheduled for tonight. The Canucks, meanwhile, play their first game tonight in that series, so we'll keep an eye on these teams as the playoffs continue!

The ECHL is down to four teams in the Kelly Cup Playoffs, and the lone Canadian team in the league is still fighting for a berth in the Kelly Cup Final. The Trois-Rivières Lions are facing the three-time defending champions in the Florida Everblades, so nothing will be easy for the Lions as they look to qualify for the championship series. That series starts on Saturday night, so we'll see how the Lions fare against the juggernauts known as the Everblades.

One of the cooler things about this run by the Lions is that they and the Rocket could win their respective championships as affiliates as well. I have no idea if there have been AHL-ECHL affiliation co-championships in any year thanks to ECHL teams changing affiliations more often than most people change underwear, but that's a whole other conversation. What I do know is that Trois-Rivières is aiming to be the second Canadian ECHL franchise to win the Kelly Cup, and having them win the Kelly Cup while the Rocket won the Calder Cup would be pretty big for the Montreal Canadiens!

Either way, there are six Canadian teams today who have a shot at winning their respective championships that could be reduced to four with, potentially, two of them going home this weekend. I'd like to see all six continue to compete, but they have to win. The good news is that all three leagues will still have at least one Canadian team remaining, and that means Canada still has a shot at capturing all three professional hockey championships in the same season!

Go Canadian-based-pro-hockey-teams Go!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 660

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back tonight with all sorts of chatter and analysis from the last week in the hockey world. There are some new faces in new places as the teams who fell short look to find people who can push them higher, but one has to wonder if the people being hired are the right men for the jobs. Outside of that, one team is through to the NHL Conference Finals, three teams face elimination, the ECHL playoffs push on, there's a little tournament happening in Sweden and Denmark, and hockey news and stories are continuing to develop as we get set for some chatter tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight's chatter between Teebz and Jason will include Ken Holland being hired to replace Rob Blake in Los Angeles as the Kings' general manager, Rick Tocchet moving to Philadelphia as their new coach, Adam Foote getting the head coaching job in Vancouver, Mike Sullivan landing in Manhattan to coach the New York Rangers, and Joel Quenneville returning to the NHL in Anaheim while four teams continue their searches for new bench bosses. Beyond that, they'll look at Edmonton advancing to the Western Conference Final over Vegas, the possibility of three other teams joining the Oilers in what could be the same final-four teams in the conference finals from 2024, the end of the road for the Fort Wayne Komets this season, the IIHF World Championship, a potential international incident involving a Russian, the Melbourne Mustangs getting ready for more hockey, and anything else we come across before going to air! It's another busy show on the ol' flagship station as we cover as much as we can tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The new UMFM website's online streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat new faces in new places, the same four back to where they were, a season ending, a championship rolling, a return to action, an accident blowing up, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: May 15, 2025: Episode 660

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

US Survives Norwegian Scare

I normally have a hockey game on when I'm working from home, and today was no different as I tuned in to watch a few games for the IIHF Men's Ice Hockey World Championship today. Things were going well as far as scores were concerned until the US-Norway game happened where we were treated to goals, drama, intrigue, and more goals! You might think that, based on these two teams, one team did most of the scoring, and that's partly true. But that's where the drama and intrigue enter the equation as we saw an incredible comeback that could have shocked the world!

If you were guessing that the Americans were doing all the scoring, you weren't wrong in the early part of this game. Cutter Gauthier and Clayton Keller had Team USA up 2-0 before the game was eight minutes old, but Norway got one back when Stian Solberg scored on the power-play. However, goals by Tage Thompson and Michael McCarron has the Americans leading 4-1 by the time the first intermission was underway. With a significant edge on the scoreboard through twenty minutes, Team USA looked like they were in control.

Tage Thompson would add his second goal of the game early in the second period to make it a 5-1 game for the Americans, and it looked like they were shifting into cruise control over an outgunned opponent. Norway, though, came to play today as Solberg made it 5-2 with his second goal, and they'd cut the deficit to 5-3 when Martin Ronnild scored on a breakaway. Norway wasn't out of the woods by any means, but the 5-3 score is far more respectable if the game were to end there. But we had one period to go.

The Norwegians clearly believed that the Americans were faltering, and Noah Steen made it a one-goal game midway through the final frame. As time wound down, Norway called goaltender Tobias Normann to the bench for the extra attacker, and that move paid off as defenceman and Anaheim Ducks prospect Stian Solberg capped off his hat trick with the tying goal to make it a 5-5 game! Count me as one of the people who never thought we'd be talking about Team USA and Norway going to overtime, but it happened!

When it comes to a one-shot-to-win game, you can basically throw "favourites" out the window when it comes to who should win. Talent can push one team to a win, of course, but any bounce, any deflection, and any puck sent towards the net could be the game-winner. The only thing I didn't want to see was a shootout to determine the winner. Can we just retire them altogether?

We wouldn't need to worry about the skills competition. There was a goal scored, and here are the highlights from the overtime period.
As you saw on the highlight above, Tage Thompson capped off his own hat trick with the overtime game-winning goal 4:09 into the extra period, and Team USA claimed two of the three points in this game with the 6-5 overtime win. After a loss to the Swiss earlier this week, a loss to the Norwegians may have the Americans asking how things could unravel so quickly. Instead, they get back on the winning side of the ledger while Norway can build on their solid effort.

"There's no easy teams," Thompson said to Lukas Aykroyd of the IIHF after the game. "They're all very good. Obviously we played Germany in the exhibition there, and they work extremely hard. They're fast. They battle hard. They're very physical. With that, and then adding a few more guys with a lot of skill and finishing ability, it's going to be a tough one for us. So we've just got to mentally get prepared for it."

The Americans will face Germany on Saturday after a couple of days off while Norway will meet Switzerland on Friday. For Norway, they'll look to keep the momentum going against a very good defensive team in Switzerland.

"It was fun to play," Solberg said to Aykroyd. "We battled hard. We battled all the way. Never gave up. The U.S. is a great hockey team compared to Norway, but we just had to compete hard. We never gave up and we got lucky a little bit, and then it's a tight hockey game. Things can turn fast in hockey."

No one is celebrating in the streets in Oslo right now as Norway earned their first point at the tournament, but it keeps them within striking distance of both Hungary and Kazakhstan when it comes to avoiding relegation. With games against Switzerland and Denmark coming up next, Norway will need to battle for points. Otherwise, the May 19 game against Hungary will prove to be pivotal when it comes to which teams will be facing relegation.

I never expected the US-Norway game to be as entertaining as it was today, and here's hoping the Norwegian team can find a way to remain in the top division. They may not have the talent that Sweden, Canada, and the US boast, but they work hard and they play sixty minutes. They'll need some time to get better, but each and every game is an opportunity for Norway to do so.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!