Preseason Goalie Goal

The logo to the left is that of the BCHL's Surrey Eagles. Normally, I don't write much about the BCHL for the simple reason of not having much access to it in terms of watching games. It's a strong league for producing NHL-calibre prospects, though, as we've seen NHL players such as Jamie Benn, Tyson Jost, Alex Newhook, Ryan Johansen, and Duncan Keith all come through that league en route to NHL careers. Carey Price might be the most famous goaltender to come out the BCHL after he played with the Quesnel Millionaires, but there could be a new famous goalie after what he did last night.

Michael Sochen, a 20 year-old goalie for the Surrey Eagles who celebrated his birthday on September 2, was in net last night for the preseason game against the visiting Langley Rivermen. Things were going well in the third period with Sochen and the Eagles holding a 3-2 lead over the Rivermen when Langley opted to pull their goalie for the extra attacker late in the game.

Based on the title of this article, you already know what's coming. Let's take a look at Michael Sochen's goal from last night!
Sochen's goal at 18:51 of the third period sealed the deal for Surrey as they won the game 4-2 to improve to 5-0-0 in the preseason. Sochen earned the win to go along with the goal as he stopped 27 of 29 shots he faced in the game.

Again, this blog will always post a goalie goal whenever they happen because they're one of the rarest feats in sports, but getting one in the preseason is something new for me. We've seen early regular-season goals from places like the KHL, but a preseason BCHL goal might be the earliest goalie goal to date with it happening on September 16!

I wish I could tell you more about Sochen's hockey journey in arriving in Surrey to play with the Eagles, but it seems his hockey history is one that hasn't been made public. I don't know where else he's played, and this appears to be his first season in the BCHL. Of note, it seems this was only his second game in the BCHL, so he's making a big splash scoring goals this early in his career!

What I do know, however, is that goalie goals are awesome, so congratulations to Michael Sochen who, I assume, scored his first BCHL goal in style last night. It won't count in the regular season statistics, but maybe he can do it again at some point this season. How cool would it be to become the first goalie to score in preseason action and regular season action? Here's hoping that happens!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

He's Worn A Different Letter Before

It seemed that Rick Bowness set the world on fire today with his announcement that the Jets will move forward this season without a captain. It may surprise people, but Blake Wheeler, as seen in the picture to the left, has worn a different letter on his jersey and played just fine while not wearing the captain's letter. As much as people want to make this into a controversy, there may be a simpler explanation to what Bowness did today in that he, as coach, is looking to find a leader among the men that GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has assembled. While Wheeler may be the obvious choice from previous experience, Bowness may be sending a message that whatever was constant last season won't be the same this season.

It has been some time since there was a captaincy change in Winnipeg as Blake Wheeler was named as the Jets' captain on August 31, 2016 following Andrew Ladd's trade out of Winnipeg at the trade deadline in the previous season. As we know, the Jets went on a fun run in the 2018 playoffs under the leadership of Wheeler and his alternate captains in Mark Scheifele and Dustin Byfuglien, but the wheels began to come off after their dismissal at the hands of the Golden Knights in that playoff campaign.

At the time of his being named captain, Wheeler seemed to be looking to build a strong leadership group within the Jets' locker room rather than just having those who wore letters do the leading.

"I really look forward to being the leader of this team," Wheeler said in 2016 after being named captain. "But it's not just going to be us three. We have a great group of men in our room, so this is going to be a joint obligation for everyone. Everyone is going to share in this responsibility."

After a stunning loss in the opening round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the first major crack emerged as Dustin Byfuglien told Cheveldayoff a night before training camp that he wasn't sure he had another season in him. While no one openly talked about the conversation between the two men, Byfuglien was suspended as the team allowed him to "think through some things and to see if there was any change of direction or change of mind."

Behind the scenes, there were rumours that Wheeler's no-nonsense approach after the stunning loss to St. Louis one season earlier clashed with Byfuglien's fun-loving, jokester approach to the game. While no one has publicly confirmed anything like this, the Jets and Byfuglien parted ways on April 17, 2020 after a number of squabbles between the player and team. If the above is true, the Jets only made a bad situation worse with a player that was universally loved for his demeanour both on and off the ice.

Where we may not need much speculation, though, is evaluating Wheeler's relationship with Patrik Laine who the Jets traded on January 23, 2021 to the Columbus Blue Jackets. To say the relationship was uncomfortable might be an understatement, but it was Wheeler himself who accepted blame for the broken bond between the two former teammates.

"If I have any regrets, my regrets would be some of the frustrations that took place over the years," Wheeler said to the Winnipeg Sun's Paul Friesen after the trade, quickly adding he and Laine never fought, never yelled at each other. When asked to elaborate, Wheeler replied, "Maybe I could have communicated a little better instead of just getting frustrated."

That's what a good leader does: communicates well. If Wheeler either wasn't willing to or didn't communicate with Laine very well, his leadership should be called into question. After all, getting a goal-scoring phenom on the same page as the rest of the team when it comes to the defensive side of the game should have been expressed to Laine, but it seems Wheeler simply couldn't find the words.

While this is casting a negative light on Wheeler in terms of his locker room interactions, let me be clear in that he was more than willing to face the music and meet with the media after a bad game or rough road trip. I respect Wheeler for taking his lumps as the captain when the team was performing poorly, and he deserves kudos for that. It takes a lot of gumption to stand before the media who are blaming everyone from the GM to the anthem singer for a team's poor performance and put the blame one one's shoulders. Wheeler always seemed to do that, and he always seemed to speak honestly.

"It's been my job to build the culture here and I've taken a lot of pride in that over the years," Wheeler told the media at the end of the 2021-22 season. "I certainly look in the mirror on that one, and where we've gotten to, the team that we were and the team that we are now – I don't hide from that at all. I certainly take the responsibility for where this team sits."

And that brings us to the decision today by Bowness to remove the captaincy from Wheeler. Bowness isn't blind to what has been happening in Winnipeg for some time, and it's likely that word spread quietly about the locker room issues in Winnipeg among the NHL brethren. Removing the captaincy might be an indictment of Wheeler's leadership, but it could be more about resetting the balance in the locker room. While Wheeler certainly had a clique of players who he was closer to, this move restores some balance where other players - Dubois, Ehlers, DeMelo, Perfetti, or Pionk - can have a bigger say in the direction of both the club on the ice and the culture in the organization.

Wheeler seemed to put on a brave face for reporters after the news rippled through the hockey world.

"I don't need a letter on my jersey. I think there was a time in my career where that validation was important to me. I don't need that anymore," he stated matter-of-factly. He did acknowledge, though, there was a point of pride in leading the team.

"There's nothing in my life I've taken more pride in than that, outside of being a husband and a father," he added. "Never in my wildest dreams as a young player growing up, I never thought I'd be in that fraternity of being a captain of an NHL team."

That's the part that we should probably focus on. Having the captaincy taken off his sweater doesn't mean that Wheeler's voice won't be heard nor will it mean he'll have less of a say in the room. It likely won't affect how he plays his game, and it may allow him to let go of some of the pressures that came with being the captain. Or, for the Jets' benefit, maybe his pride will fire him up to prove to Bowness that he's still got lots in the tank when it comes to leading the team. He even said as much today.

"If you think that because of this I'm just going to fade into the back and not be a leader on this team you're sorely mistaken," he clarified.

If this is the first step in the Jets' plan to move their former captain, it makes sense. If this is a move by the coach to motivate players to step up as leaders, it makes sense. If this is a tactic by Bowness to fire up Wheeler, there likely were other ways to do that, but this works as well based on Wheeler's comments above. If this is Bowness shuffling the deck just because he can, I'm not sure I approve of this tactic, but it may send a message that he's willing to change the culture at all costs.

What we'll see when this season opens is how this move has affected the team. On paper, the Jets don't look any better than last season, and may have actually taken a step backwards in their quest for a Stanley Cup. Having a rotating cast of characters serve as captain doesn't seem to add anything positive to that quest, and the vast number of question marks will remain until this team starts putting up meaningful results.

Captain or no captain, the Jets have had the most puzzling off-season of any team. Making this move only adds to the confusion, and I'm hoping we start seeing some clarity to the madness they've shown.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 521

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, kicks off Season 11 of the show the same way we started Season 10 - no guests, no visitors, no human contact within the studio. Nonetheless, Teebz and Jason will go through the major news stories from the hockey world once again tonight, offering our unique spin on the topics. It's hard to believe that we've done this dance 520 times on 520 Thursdays already, but here we are. Season 11 starts tonight, so let's take a look at what's on the agenda of chatter!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason are going to break down and discuss more Hockey Canada craziness that shows just how far back Hockey Canada's slush fund has been in use along with a player agent who spoke to TSN about his client's involvement in the 2018 alleged sexual assault. At this point, I'm not sure how anyone has faith in Hockey Canada, but we'll recap what's happened so far, what's happening now with respect to these new stories, and more. Beyond that, our hosts will talk about the problems with the Saddledome with a new development that's been kept hush-hush, a women's team opting for a less traditional hockey venue and the associated problems with this idea, some player signings, a jersey announcement, a new NHL coach, five exceptional Americans who are getting a special distinction, changes to university arenas, and the naming of a captain that saw a province move 40 years in the past. It'll be a busy show tonight to open Season 11 on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on 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 chat more disturbing news with a side dish of lies and corruption, arena repairs, arena changes, new places to play, new jerseys, old players in new places, new coaches, new captains, new inductees, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: September 15, 2022: Episode 521

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Where There's Smoke...

I spend a good chunk of my days reading news stories about hockey, and there was an excellent piece written today by the CBC's Scott Dippel about the Saddledome's crumbling concrete ring around the roof of the arena. The Saddledome is old, and it's a known fact that concrete doesn't last forever. The fact that the Saddledome has started to show its age by having pieces of it fall to the ground shouldn't surprise anyone. October 15, 2023 will mark the 40th anniversary of the Saddledome's opening, so it's likely seen better days and a replacement will be needed in the future. This is the part of the article I found fascinating.

There were two major pieces of news that had been kept as quiet as humanly possible, it seems, before Dippel reported on it today. The first piece of Dippel's reporting to stop me in my tracks reads,

"On Wednesday, the city said it's making progress in talks with the owners of the Calgary Flames on a deal."

Wait a second. After CSEC walked away from the arena deal in December 2021, the city is now "making progress" with the same group that balked at paying for the rising costs of building an arena? Has CSEC finally come to their senses to accept that they'll pay their fair share of the costs in building a new arena?

Dippel goes on to write,

"In May of this year, the city hired three officials from the commercial real estate sector to approach CSEC about the potential for restarting talks on a new arena."

Wait, what?!? The city of Calgary, who refused to pay more than their original figure on this arena deal, has now hired three private commercial realtors to negotiate on the city's behalf with CSEC? It seems pretty clear that the city is footing the bill for the hired help, but at what cost? Who authorized this?

That's likely a question to which I won't get an answer, but let's make one thing clear here: where there's smoke, there's fire. Or, in this case, the Flames. It seems the arena deal which died unceremoniously in December was sparked back to life in May when the city brought in its hired guns to sit down with the Flames' brass. If we're to believe Calgary City Councillor Sonya Sharp who chairs the city council's event centre committee, everything is progressing forward.

"The city, through the third party, is talking to CSEC, and we should all remain very optimistic that that's going to continue," she told Dippel. It seems cooler heads have prevailed on both sides since December as both sides seem, at the very least, to be talking to one another, so there may still be an arena deal in the future for Calgary to replace the aging Saddledome.

It should be noted that the Flames are locked into a lease with the city of Calgary to play at the Saddledome until 2033. If you're doing the math, that's a decade from ending so one would expect a deal, if one can be reached, to be announced in the next few years if they're timing this new arena to be done by the time the Flames' lease has expired. If talks are progressing, we might be closer than we thought we were in December when all talks ceased.

How close are we? That can't be answered until details are released, but having the two sides talk once again might lead to a resolution. I'll still bang the drum that I'm against public funds being spent on a hockey arena that a billionaire wants, and I truly hope that the city of Calgary sticks to the figure they laid out a few years ago of $275 million as their maximum spending. The city of Calgary has other needs that could use $275 million, but this is what the city agreed to pay originally so I would expect that figure to be in play if talks have resumed.

With three hockey teams and a lacrosse team playing out of the aging venue, the Saddledome may very well need to be replaced. As stated above, the costs for a new arena should not go up for the city of Calgary and its citizens, but making major repairs on the current arena is already adding up quickly on the city's ledgers. A new arena seems like the best solution, but cost certainty for a municipal government should never be ignored.

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!