FULL DISCLOSURE – Sound of Hockey recorded this episode on Monday night, before the extra crazy and scary coronavirus news started hitting about leagues canceling, travel being banned, etc., so please take that into account when listening. That said, this is a good opportunity to mostly escape from the COVID19 talk, though it has to at least be briefly discussed.
On Episode 77, John, Andy, and Darren welcome Mike Snee, Executive Director of College Hockey Inc., to learn about his organization and talk all things college hockey. With Mike, the guys discuss such topics as what College Hockey Inc. does, the feasibility of adding additional Division I NCAA programs, and the famed Minnesota Moose SPAMboni.
Segments this week include (but are not limited to) Goalie Gear Corner, You Don’t See That Every Day, Let’s Get Quizzical, and Weekly One-Timers.
It’s been a weird week in Seattle, so the Sound of Hockey guys are here to hopefully brighten your day a bit with some mindless hockey talk (and yes, they do briefly discuss the coronavirus and the impact it’s having on the local area, as well as the hockey world).
In this episode, there’s a decent amount of NHL Seattle chatter, as ground has officially been broken on the practice facility, and a new partnership has been formed between Sound Transit and the team. There was also some news about there… not… being… news about ticket prices.
Aside from those things, John, Andy, and Darren take a look at some of the more impressive NHL performances from the month of February, give lots of shoutouts to loyal listeners, and re-think the re-thinking of the Weekly One-Timers sound effect.
Segments this week include You Don’t See That Every Day, Get Off My Lawn, and Let’s Get Quizzical.
SEATTLE – While there is already a hole in the ground and construction at Northgate Mall, NHL Seattle was on the scene Thursday to officially break ground on its new training facility.
It will feature three sheets of ice, state-of-the-art locker rooms, a community theater and conference rooms, a park on the south end connected to rest of the Northgate development, a Virginia Mason medical clinic, and a bar that looks over the ice.
It is slated to be finished and opened in the summer of 2021, in time for the first NHL Seattle practices to occur.
“I say welcome to our home,” NHL Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke said. “Its home for our team, it will be home to our staff, it will be home to Virginia Mason. We will welcome our players in about 18 months. We will grow the game, we will celebrate the game, all in a completely redeveloped and envisioned Northgate.”
NHL Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke spoke to the new Northgate practice facility serving the hockey community. (Brian Liesse)
The $70 million, privately funded, project will be the anchor tenant of Simon Property Group’s redevelopment efforts in a new mixed-used development complex at Northgate. The new development will include housing, retail, and a new light rail station.
Leiweke was joined at the podium Thursday by dignitaries from Simon and Virginia Mason along with elected officials such as Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Seattle City Councilwomen Debora Juarez.
While the facility will be a practice arena for NHL players, and fans will be able to watch workouts and scrimmages, the other two sheets will be available to the public in an effort to grow the sport.
“This whole project has really been developed to serve,” Leiweke said. “And we start on that by saying we want to serve our players. We want to inspire players we’re hoping to recruit. We want to retain players and we want word to get out around the NHL that this, Seattle, is the place to play.
“We want to serve the hockey community. We are deeply committed to growing the game here in Seattle. From beginners to elites to everyone in between. We want to serve the figure skating community and the curling community.”
It’s something that youth hockey organizations like Sno-King are already bracing for as ice time, or the lack of, has been a hindrance to larger numbers of kids playing hockey. With two-plus sheets of ice being added to the mix at Northgate, that should allow for more skaters to take part.
“We’re hoping for about 1,500 youth skaters in our first year and we hope for that to grow annually,” NHL Seattle’s Director of Youth and Community Development, Kyle Boyd said Thursday. “We’re hoping for about 500 a year after that. Having the two sheets is really going to help move people through.”
One of Northgate’s three sheets will have 1,000 seats for fans to view practices.
Northgate will be the only sheets of ice within the city limits of Seattle. There are public rinks on the Eastside as well as North and South of the city.
The hope is that having rinks within the city limits will make hockey, and skating, more accessible to a diverse group of kids.
“I think the distance is one of the barriers,” Boyd said. ‘I think there are many barriers to entry in the game. I think in terms of the number of kids playing in and around Seattle, we have the number at about 3000 in the greater Seattle area. But a lot of them do reside north of Seattle in the Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood area, Everett, the Eastside and south. We think that having rinks available will really make the game more accessible to kids living in Seattle.
The Northgate practice facility will be located on the east side of the mall. (Brian Liesse)
“Speaking to the hockey is for everyone motto of the NHL we want to make sure that our Seattle youth hockey population is diverse and representative of the city… So, that’s something that we’re working on and want to make happen and available to all kids of all backgrounds.”
After the remarks from the podium, pictures with shovels were taken, kids and NHL Seattle staff played street hockey, as one of NHL Seattle’s major developments was officially underway.
“When this thing is done, anyone who is here, the first round at the overlook bar is on me,” Mayor Durkan said to applause.
There exists a real-world scenario, and it’s not even all that farfetched, in which I could suit up and tend goal in an actual points-on-the-line game for your NHL Seattle franchise in 2021 and beyond.
Anyone who has seen me play goalie as an adult would likely agree that this not-so-farfetched notion is actually a huge problem.I’m a beer leaguer, and a mediocre one at that. With unimpressive Greater Seattle Hockey League stats, a bit of a belly (I’m working on it! Lay off me!), a ripped and unzippable Cooper hockey bag constructed circa 1994, and a mask that I had painted with my hometown’s colors when I was a peewee, I have no business ever being considered an option to suit up even to practice with an NHL team, let alone enter an actual game with playoff implications. Put another way, you do not want me playing for your soon-to-be-beloved Crapweasels (or whatever NHL Seattle names itself, though Crapweasels is the obvious choice).
And yet… it’s possible. That’s ridiculous.
What transpired in Saturday night’s game at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto between the Maple Leafs and the Carolina Hurricanes was one of the most shocking and awe-inspiring things I’ve ever witnessed in an NHL hockey game. James Reimer went down with a leg injury in the opening minutes of the game after Jaccob Slavin fell on him in the goal crease. It happens. It’s a contact sport, played at extremely high speeds, and guys get hurt sometimes. Reimer’s replacement, Petr Mrazek, came out to play a puck in the second period and got absolutely trucked by Jake Muzzin, sending Mrazek to the quiet room and removing him from the game. Again, it’s unfortunate, but it happens.
Chances of both goalies having to leave a game are slim, but… it’s hockey… it happens.
For these situations, every NHL team is required to have an EBUG (emergency back-up goalie) in attendance for each home game, and that EBUG serves the role for both teams playing on that given night. The people who perform this typically thankless task do not get paid for their services of showing up to a significant number of the home team’s games (there are normally two or three individuals who share the EBUG duties), but they do get to sit in the press box and attend NHL games for free, which I guess is kind of cool.
Maybe the NHL has it right by allowing teams to have a beer league goalie serve this position. After all, spending any amount of payroll on a player that will most likely never play is a little crazy, right?
But then a game transpires in the way that Saturday’s game did.
The EBUG that night was David Ayres, a 42-year-old ice arena maintenance man/Zamboni driver and kidney transplant survivor, who so happens to be a diehard Leafs fan. When Mrazek went down, Ayres got the unthinkable text to get in the game, so several minutes later, out he came onto the Scotiabank Arena ice, sporting a Toronto Marlies mask, coordinated blue and white gear, and… a white jersey that said “Canes” diagonally across the chest. It’s been widely reported that Ayres was even wearing a Leafs t-shirt under his equipment when he first entered the game, but was later implored by his temporary team to swap that out for a Hurricanes shirt.
Ayres ended up playing almost half the game against his favorite team, making eight of ten saves to become the first emergency goalie to officially get credited with a win, and was named the first star of the game. He also made history as the oldest goaltender to win his NHL debut. Now the Hurricanes are selling his shirsey, and he’s making royalties off of it and working with the team to donate proceeds to a kidney foundation.
“Ayres will receive royalties for the shirt and a portion of the proceeds will go to a kidney foundation.” https://t.co/wNmkWZGH9K
I mean, it’s all pretty incredible, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a better sports story in recent memory.
As I was watching it, though—and don’t get me wrong here, I loved every moment of it—I couldn’t help thinking, Isn’t there anybody more qualified that they can get for this? This is awesome and all, and I’m really happy for this guy, but Jesus, this is in Toronto! Wouldn’t quality emergency goalies grow on trees in Toronto?
Brian Burke brashly agreed with my sentiments on his Sportsnet “To The Point” segment, although his proposed solution of the NHL setting quality standards for EBUG’s, but not really changing the system, is a bit flawed.
— Right Wing, Shoots Left 🍷🐓🏒🥅🌈😷 (@HILITINGHOCKEY) February 23, 2020
The issue with Burke’s plan is that in markets where hockey still isn’t all that mainstream, how are they going to find high-level goalies that will just hang around all the time without getting even reasonably compensated? I also don’t think this event was “embarrassing” for the NHL, as Burke called it, but I do think it’s something that needs to be addressed. After all, this is the second time in three years that the emergency goalie has been thrust into NHL action, with then 36-year-old accountant, Scott Foster, the unexpected savior for the Blackhawks in 2018.
Both EBUG situations were great stories with great endings, but what the hell? This is the best hockey league in the world, and in any other major sports league that makes billions in revenue, when was the last time you heard of an accountant or maintenance worker subbing into an actual game?
My argument is a bit more aggressive than Burke’s, in that the emergency goalie should be more like a third-stringer that is paid by each individual team, travels with that team, and fills in in practices as needed. My vision for the EBUG is akin to the bullpen catcher in baseball, somebody who played at a high level, but realized at some point that he or she wasn’t going to make it and no longer has the drive to make it to the highest echelons of the sport. Give that netminder a $30K salary for the six-month regular season, and maybe a $5,000 bonus per month, should the team progress through postseason rounds. In exchange, get a full-season commitment from that goalie to do whatever the team needs.
This version of the EBUG would not require teams to use a roster spot for a third goalie or even count it as an NHL or AHL contract, yet each club would have a vested interest to find the right fit for the position. I believe quality goalies would flock to NHL cities for the opportunity to join a team in this capacity, even for that small of a salary. In turn, it would give each team a netminder who actually can play in a pinch and doesn’t completely shock the sports world by being called upon.
Or, we can just continue with this current setup, and perhaps you’ll see me in the goalcrease for the Crapweasels in a couple years.
The Western Hockey League’s first ever US Challenge Cup kicked off this weekend in Kent. This 12-team tournament brings to town some of the best bantam teams in the Western United States & Canada. The tournament showcases the elite bantam players to scouts of WHL Teams and also helps introduce the WHL to these elite US bantam players who might not be as familiar with the WHL as Canadian players are already. The hope for the WHL is that some of the US born players would then choose the WHL as they take the next step in their hockey careers.
Naturally, I looked at the data to see how the WHL has been doing at identifying and recruiting elite US hockey players.
2019-20 season has seen the highest percent of US hockey players in the WHL at 9%.
Interestingly, US hockey players are more likely to play for one of the 5 US WHL teams than for one of the Canadian teams.
The Seattle Thunderbirds, host of the US Challenge Cup, are the outlier relative to the other US teams with only 1 US player on their roster, but this should change in the coming years….
Bantam Draft
The WHL Bantam Draft is the main gateway to the WHL. Most of the WHL players are drafted in the Bantam Draft.
Over the last two years, the US WHL teams have drafted the most US players from the WHL Bantam Draft. As the WHL attempts to attract more US players, it will be interesting to see if any of these numbers change more dramatically than they are already trending.
Very fun episode this week, filled with top-notch Sound of Hockey banter.
Andy, celebrating his birthday and in the midst of a five-games-in-five-days “heater,” discusses his recent exhausting shift to life on the road, while John and Darren are chipper as can be.
Just lots of NHL news this week, from another coach firing, to suspensions and non-suspensions, injuries to big-time players, and significant trades. Ah, yes, it’s been quite the week in the hockey world, and the guys break all of it down.
Oh, and they discuss another NHL Seattle team name rumor.
Segments this week include Bad Boys, You Don’t See That Every Day, and Weekly One-Timers.
As the WHL attempts to attract more US players, it will be interesting to see if any of these numbers change more dramatically than they are already trending.
