Search for your favorite player or team
© The Hockey News. All rights reserved. Any and all material on this website cannot be used, reproduced, or distributed without prior written permission from Roustan Media Ltd. For more information, please see our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
World Juniors 2020
The Hockey News’ XL-sized 100-page World Junior Championship Preview tees up the annual holiday classic with in-depth breakdowns of Team Canada and the United States, plus features on Joe Veleno and Cole Caufield. We also key on one prospect to watch for the Swedes, Finns, Russians and Czechs and provide scouting reports on all the squads. On top of our WJC coverage, we have features on the dynamic between Buffalo's new coach and Jack Eichel; Dougie Hamilton; a history of hockey video games; why hitting is disappearing from the NHL; and much more.
The weird, wild and wacky world of unicycle hockey
IT WAS A WARM summer day when I arrived at an elementary school in northern Toronto, unsure of what I was getting myself into. I walked through various empty parking lots looking for someone I had never met before. I had seen plenty of obscure hockey games in my life, but this was going to be something totally unique. Eventually, I found what I was looking for: two small nets the size of shoeboxes. A bundle of street-hockey sticks were wrapped up in the middle. A smiling man was unpacking his gear from the back of a hearse that was adorned with a license plate reading “UNICYCLE.” Finally, I was about to achieve a goal that I had pursued for many years: I was going to witness a game of unicycle…
HIT THE BOOKS, THEN THE ICE
IT USED TO BE that Geraldine Arpin only found herself working with the Prince Albert Raiders’ high-school contingent once a week. On Monday nights, generally an off-day in the major junior circuit, Arpin, like her fellow education advisors throughout the WHL, would hold study hall with the young big-league hopefuls who remained students by day. But that was before Josh Morrissey came along, before he approached Arpin asking why it was the retired teacher only came around once each week, why she and the team couldn’t meet more often, why there weren’t more study-hall sessions for Morrissey and his fellow teammates. “So that’s where it started where I increased the number,” Arpin said. “It was always because Josh showed that leadership.” Looking back, Arpin explained, it was Morrissey’s request that sparked what…
GOALS AND ASPIRATIONS
UNITED STATES: ONE TO WATCH YEAH, SO IT TURNS out the Movember initiative for men’s health was not required to commission a Brink’s truck to pick up all the money Cole Caufield raised, after all. But it’s not as though he didn’t try. Caufield actually started growing the thing in October, but November produced nothing more than a pathetic little duster on his upper lip and a stretch where he scored only one goal in seven games, so he shaved it off. People apparently noticed. Wisconsin coach Tony Granato noted that if you combined the facial hair Caufield and the four other Badger freshmen grew in November, you wouldn’t have enough for one fully formed ’stache. “Obviously, it wasn’t doing the job,” Caufield said, “so it had to go. I’ve got a lot…
NEW COACH, NEW HOPE
DO THE TORONTO MAPLE Leafs believe in omens? It was probably just a coincidence to see Mike Babcock fired on Nov. 20, 2019, one year and one day after the St. Louis Blues axed Mike Yeo. But maybe Leafs GM Kyle Dubas hoped he was placing his team on a parallel path with a drastic mid-season move, pink-slipping his $6.25-million coach after four-plus seasons, which included a playoff miss during a tank year and then three first-round exits. We all remember what happened with the Blues last season. Sure, goalie Jordan Binnington played a significant role in carrying the team from last place in early January to a Stanley Cup, but we can’t forget that Binnington faced one of the league’s easiest workloads according to shots against and expected goals against.…