A Statistical Freak

There are hockey players whose seasons and careers leap of the page statistically when compared to the rest of their peers, and it often brings up a question of "Was Player X that much better than everyone else" or some variation of it. Sometimes, it's just a player finding himself in the right circumstances where he plays mainly injury-free and is able to capitalize on a lot of opportunities. Far more rarely, though, does a player's career simply blow everyone else's career numbers away. Today, we'll take a quick look at why Wayne Gretzky's records may be challenged, but it's very doubtful anyone will ever take a run at Gretzky's point toal when he finally hung up the skates.

I'm pretty certain everyone knows that even if one took away all of Gretzky's goals, he'd still hold a 42-point lead over Jaromir Jagr for the most points all-time, but a Redditor with the handle "r/dataisbeautiful" took the data comparison to the next level by graphing all players who have scored 1000 NHL regular season points AND 100 NHL playoff points to see just how good the best of the best NHL players are. Feast your eyes upon these statistical plot points.

That's pretty insane, right? One person did note that there aren't many red dots on the map, and that's likely going to change in the coming years with Stamkos, McDavid, and Draisaitl sitting just outside the 1000-100 point cutoffs, but just look at the top-right corner and tell me that's not impressive. Yes, Messier, Jagr, Howe, and Francis were good in the regular season while players like Kurri and Glenn Anderson stepped up their games in the playoffs, but no one is anywhere close to what Gretzky did in both seasons. Only Crosby appears to be on the right trajectory, but he's light years behind Gretzky's production based on current stats.

That little guy in the top-right corner? I wouldn't worry about that little guy. He never seemed to have a problem in the offensive zone.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

A Hockey Eclipse History

Back in the day, long before the internet and cell phones, there was a total solar eclipse that happened across North America in 1979. Like the one that happened today, a number of cities and people got to experience the total blackout of the solar eclipse that happened, and it got me thinking about what hockey happened that day when one considers there were NHL games and the IIHF Women's World Championship being played today. A number of the women playing in Utica were out with their eclipse glasses to see the moment the moon crossed in front of the sun, so one has to wonder if the 1979 solar eclipse had any effect on the teams playing that day.

Let me be clear in saying that there is zero causation or correlation between the celestial event and how any team fared following the eclipse today or back on February 26, 1979. Anyone who wants to use the eclipse as a factor in any score or any result is welcome to do so, but I'll dismiss those associations immediately. It's an eclipse and they happen often, but it just so happens that these two dates - today and February 26, 1979 - feature total solar eclipses that are visible in North America. In short, eclipses did not lead to wins or losses.

Back on February 26, 1979, though, there were two NHL games that day after North America was wowed by the eclipse. Coincidentally, the WHA had no games scheduled for that day as three games were played on February 25 and two more were played on February 27, but the day in between had zero WHA players on the ice for games. That's just a crazy coincidence considering Winnipeg saw the full eclipse and the Jets were not playing that day.

The early game on February 26, 1979 saw the Toronto Maple Leafs visiting the Buffalo Sabres in a game where fisticuffs started the game, but goals seemed to settle things down. After Buffalo's Dave Schultz and Toronto's Joel Quenneville got familiar with one another, Lanny McDonald scored his 27th goal at 8:16 of the first period as the Leafs took the lead. Toronto's Dave Hutchison and Buffalo's Larry Playfair dropped the gloves three minutes later as both took a five-minute break after their skirmish, but Toronto held the one-goal lead through 20 minutes of play.

Don Luce would bring Buffalo even with his 19th goal at 4:59 of the second period, and he'd make it a 2-1 lead at 12:12 of the third period when he notched a 20th goal. Ric Seiling's 16th goal at 18:37 would be more than enough for the Sabres on this night as Don Edwards stopped 25 shots to secure the 3-1 win for the Sabres over the Maple Leafs. Paul Harrison took the loss for the Leafs as he stopped 27 shots in this game.

The late game saw another Canadian team hit the road as the Vancouver Canucks headed south to Los Angeles for a game against the Kings. This game had no displays of pugilism, but there was a star who lit the lamp early as Marcel Dionne scored his 43rd goal of the season at the 7:31 mark to put the Kings up 1-0. Charlie Simmer would add his seventh goal at 18:06 as Dionne and Dave Taylor both recorded two points in the opening frame, and the Kings went into the break with the 2-0 lead.

From Simmer's goal onward, it was a goalie show as Vancouver's Gary Bromley and Los Angeles' Mario Lessard stopped everything sent their ways, and that meant that the final horn saw the Kings emerge victorious with a 2-0 win. Lessard stopped all 24 shots he faced for his third shutout of the season while Gary Bromley stopped 37 of 39 shots he faced.

If you're wondering what happened after the "eclipse day" games, all four teams would make the playoffs that season as part of the preliminary best-of-three round, but none of these four teams faced one another. Philadelphia beat Vancouver 2-1 in their series, the Rangers swept the Kings 2-0 in their series, Toronto upset Atlanta with a 2-0 series win, and Pittsburgh upset Buffalo in their series by a 2-1 count. Toronto would be swept out of the playoffs by the Montreal Canadiens in the following round.

What's cool is that the Maple Leafs and Canucks were also playing games tonight as they seem to be the NHL's "total eclipse teams". The Maple Leafs hosted the Penguins in a game where they won 3-2 in overtime as Austin Matthews scored his 65th goal of the season while the Canucks were playing host to the Golden Knights in a game where they won 4-3 where Conor Garland scored a hat trick and Brock Boeser scored his 40th goal of the season.

The NHL should put a note on their 2044 schedule to have the Leafs and Canucks play against one another in some sort of special game because the next total solar eclipse will happen on August 22 or 23, 2044. That seems like it would be way too early for NHL games, though, so maybe the Leafs and Canucks will get a break that day. Of course, there could be some international tournament like the World Cup of Hockey being played, so who knows how the game will change over the next twenty years?

I hope you were able to see the eclipse today if you were in an area where it was visible. I was not in one of those areas, so my eclipse experience was minimal. I guess I'll just have to wait until 2044 for the next blackout, and it's almost assured there won't be any hockey being played that day by Canadian NHL teams.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

For Humboldt

In honour of Logan Boulet and the tragedy that happened to the Humboldt Broncos six years ago, this is the only thing being posted today. If you want to make a difference in someone's life, think about organ donation like Logan Boulet did. Organ donation can save lives, and six of Logan Boulet's organs have done that after he passed away on April 7, 2018. People don't talk much about assists that change the world, but organ donation can be that assist for someone needing an organ to survive. Take some time to consider this option.

In memory of Logan Boulet on Green Shirt Day, HBIC will step aside. He may be gone, but he changed lives with his decision to donate his organs. That's why today is special.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

A Name You Should Know

There's a woman defending nets in the OUA who will likely be suiting up at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy that you may not know very well. Unless you were following the OUA's progress this season, you probably didn't know that she finished the season with a 15-4 record on the strength of a 1.03 GAA and a .951 save percentage that saw her pitch five shutouts. She won't be skating for Canada or the US or any of the other bigger countries when teams take the ice in Milan, but we're seeing teams build outward from their goaltending and this women give her country of origin a strong foundation on which they can build. Who is this masked woman? Let's find out!

Guelph Gryphons goaltender Martina Fedel was born in Trento, Italy, but her hockey career has taken her all over the map. She has played in Slovenia, Sweden, and Canada mostly, but she's been on Italy's national hockey roster since 2018 when she was playing for SDE's Division-2 U16 team. Her representation of her home nation continued this week when she played for Italy at the 2024 IIHF Women's World Championship Division-1B tournament!

You may be wondering how a girl from Italy found her way into hockey when Italians live and die through their soccer teams, but Fedel grew up in grew up in Baselga di Pinè, about 20 kilometres from Trento proper, where hockey is far more popular in the mountainous region. She picked up the game in Fondo - about an hour away - but she wouldn't remain in Italy.

After her dad was transferred to Slovenia for work through a Swedish truck and bus manufacturer, Fedel joined Olimpija Ljubljana in the Slovenian women's league. She didn't play much - just five games - but the youngster was just 13 when she got her first action, so she still had some room to grow as player and a person! Dad's work in Slovenia didn't last long, and the Fedels were on their way to Sweden in 2016 as they landed in Stockholm. It was here where her hockey career took off thanks to joining the SDE organization.

"It's a very different level, both for boys and girls," she explained about the hockey in Sweden to Martin Merk of the IIHF. "It's faster in Sweden, they play more competitive. Everyone in Sweden who plays hockey at our age wants to get somewhere in hockey and that's what I would like to do, go to college, play in a high league. I'm happy that I moved there and play in Sweden."

Fedel's work in Sweden and on the international stage was enough for head coach Rachel Flanagan to be convinced that Fedel would be a good addition in Guelph, and she recruited the netminder to join the Gryphons as Fedel looked to continue to improve her game with an eye on 2026. Since joining Guelph in 2021, Fedel has gone on a tear through the OUA, compiling a 43-18 record on the strength of a 1.21 GAA and a .944 save percentage. Perhaps even more unbelievable is that Fedel currently has more OUA shutouts with 19 than she does losses in her U SPORTS career!

So why am I chatting about Fedel today? Well, Fedel was in Latvia this week helping Italy try to attain a promotion to the IIHF Women's World Championship Division-1A tournament - aka the main tournament featuring all the big teams like Canada and the US - and she was showing the world that the Italians may not be an easy out in Milan despite Italy's lack of success on the international stage!

The Italians started the tournament with a 1-0 loss to Great Britain in game where they threw everything at the net, but Britain's Nicole Jackson was stallar in helping her team win despite Fedel stopping 29 of 30 shots she faced. The Italians would fall 3-2 on April 1 in a game where Fedel served as the backup, but an 0-2 start didn't put the Italians in a good spot in this tournament, especially with teams they needed to beat behind them and more difficult foes awaiting.

April saw the Italians bounce back with a 2-1 win over Poland in what amounted to a must-win game if they wanted any shot at medalling. Fedel was solid again, turning in another 29-of-30 save performance to help the Italians find victory. That led to Friday's game against the powerful Slovaks who had had any trouble in the tournament in posting a 3-0 record, and it was here that Fedel showed why she's likely a lock on the Italian Olympic roster for 2026 in Milan.

Fedel stopped 40 of 42 shots sent her way in helping Italy defeat Slovakia to pull their record even at 2-2. Having been outshot 42-16 by the Slovaks, it seemed clear that this game was played mostly in one end of the ice, but two goals in the final 5:02 of play, including the game-winner with 30 seconds on the clock, pushed Italy past Slovakia. Depending on the results of the final game, there was a chance that Italy could still medal despite those two early losses!

The final contest went early this morning as Italy met Slovenia, and the Italians would need to take care of their own business before worrying about anyone else in the pool. A win would move them into bronze-medal positioning while a loss would mean they'd miss the podium. Aside from an Arwen Nylaander shot that eluded her, Fedel backstopped the Italians to a 6-1 win as she stopped 14 of the 15 shots she faced in this game. The win moved Italy into third-place with nine points, but they'd have to wait and see what happened between Great Britain and Latvia to know what medal they earned.

Latvia's Linda Rulle played the heroine for the host squad as Latvia defeated Great Britain 3-2 in their game, vaulting the Latvians into second-place while the Italians finished in third-place! Statistically, Fedel finished the tournament as the top goalie, surrendering just five goals in four games of work while stopping 112 of 117 shots she faced. In short, she was 3-1 with a 1.26 GAA and a .957 save percentage in this tournament! What's weird about her statistical dominance is that she wasn't named as her team's Player of the Game in any game, and Slovenian goaltender Pia Dukaric was named as the tournament's Top Goalkeeper. Bit of a head-scratcher there, IIHF?

Anyway, it would seem Martina Fedel will lead Italy into the 2026 Winter Olympics as their netminder when that tournament gets underway. Italy isn't going to be one of the favorites, but they have shown they have enough talent to compete with the likes of Slovakia, Latvia, and Great Britain, so it wouldn't be a stretch to see them skating with the likes of Japan, China, or Denmark. Beating any of the teams ahead of them in the rankings would be a huge boost for the sport in Italy where growth on the women's side could propel Italy into the top championship annually.

Women's hockey could take another big step forward with a solid showing by Italy in the 2026 Winter Olympics Games that they're hosting, and that effort will likely feature a woman we've had the pleasure of watching every weekend over the last three winters in Martina Fedel. If you're looking to watch a future Olympian in action, check out the Guelph Gryphons next season because Fedel has established herself as one of the best netminders in the OUA and across Canada.

I don't think it's a stretch to say that she'll be recognized for the same greatness across the world once the rest of the world witnesses Martina Fedel's game. If Italy needs a player for marketing hockey, specifically on the women's side, Martina Fedel's skills and abilities should be on full display when it comes to selling the game. Congratulazioni all'Italia per il suo solido torneo!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Movie Review: Snack Shack

If there's one type of movie that seems to resonate in pop culture for a while, it's the throwback comedy to the coming-of-age time in our lives. The last really good film in this genre was Superbad, released in 2007, as it combined the humour and crudeness of being a teenager with days before cell phones, iPods, and other current "necessities". In saying that, I had the chance to watch Snack Shack tonight, and the Paramount-produced comedy is a pretty fun tale of laughs, summer romances, and learning responsibility.

No hockey chatter here on the blog tonight as I'm opting to embrace summer more, so I'm sorry to disappoint if you came for that. There will be more of it tomorrow, but a good story combined with a few moments of insanity keeps my brain engaged. Besides, I have stuff I need to be up early for on Saturday, so it was a quiet night at HBIC Headquarters with some popcorn and a good film.

Like the review I provided for Road House a couple of weeks ago, don't expect to see the writers, producers, or actors in Snack Shack working on Oscar speeches. It's pretty well-known that goofy teenage movies like Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Fast Times at Ridgemont High don't win major industry awards, but Snack Shack is a solid, fun movie with a good story and good performances by the main stars. Conor Sherry and Gabriel LaBelle play AJ and Moose, respectively, as the stars of the film while Mika Abdalla's Brooke is the center of their romantic interests while being a foil for AJ's insecurities. Nick Robinson, David Costabile, and the always-excellent Gillian Vigman provide solid supporting roles as well.

Snack Shack takes place in the Nebraska City, Nebraska in 1991 based off where director Adam Carter Rehmeier grew up. The movie was filmed on location in Nebraska City on a budget of just $4.5 million with secondary filming sites including Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Statesman's Park. Despite the film's modest budget, the work that went into recreating a 1991 feel in each scene can't be overlooked, and some major kudos need to be given to Production Designer Francesca Palombo, Art Director Chioma Thompson, Set Director Bezhan Nazari, and Costumers Anaïs Castaldi and Hannah Greenblatt.

Snack Shack is where we meet 14 year-olds AJ and Moose who are better known for their money-making schemes before setting their sights on buying the operating rights to the local swimming pool's snack shack. At a city council auction, they overspend by a considerable amount to win the auction, and AJ's parents are none too pleased with the "investment" made using AJ's savings that were supposed to be for college or buying a car.

As you can imagine, the two boys begin making handfuls of money at the snack shack, but their attentions are divided as Brooke, the new lifeguard, enters the picture. AJ finds out she's staying next door to him, but his complete lack of self-confidence around Brooke allows Moose an opoortunity to ask Brooke out. This, of course, throws AJ and Moose into conflict, but Brooke finally confides in AJ that Moose really isn't her type. As such, the romantic interest is rekindled, but how will the two boys handle this problem while trying to co-manage their business? Can the snack shack survive the summer?

The movie is R-rated for good reason as there are multiple scenes where language, alcohol and drug use, some sexual material, and smoking are all scene or referenced, so this isn't a movie made for younger viewers by any means. If you can handle those situations, though, there are some very good scenes in the film where AJ is forced to mature quickly based on the moment. The film isn't preachy in its messaging, however, and it tells an authentic, albeit fictional, story of one summer in Nebraska City in 1991. Overall, Adam Carter Rehmeier put together a very good film.

While Conor Sherry gives an outstanding performance as AJ and the cocky-yet-unsure Moose is well-represented by Gabriel LaBelle, it was Mika Abdalla's performance as Brooke that stole the show for me. She's the calm in AJ's twisting world, and her ability to have a leading presence while playing almost a supporting role in this film has me wondering which blockbuster she's going to land in next. She's a phenomenal actress whose natural beauty makes it hard to ignore her on the screen, and I hope Hollywood finds more roles for her.

As I mentioned, Snack Shack won't be setting records for Oscar nominations by any means, but it's a fun summer movie that should take you back to simpler days where making money and trying to find freedom from curfews were the norm. There aren't many laugh-out-loud moments in the film, but the comedy is smart as a smile will creep across your face as the story is told. It's just funny enough not to feel dramatic, but the story is well-told, Rehmeier gets incredible performances from his actors, and the nostalgia of the 1990s is felt throughout the film. In short, Snack Shack is one of those films you'll enjoy and wonder why more film-makers aren't telling these kinds of stories.

Teebz's Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 stars)

Snack Shack is streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and the Cineplex Store. The movie was produced by MRC, Paperclip Limited, and T-Street, and was released on March 15, 2024 in select theatres only by Republic Pictures, a division of Paramount Global.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!