The Hockey News
Champions Issue 2021The Hockey News is an iconic, authoritative and trusted voice of hockey. It was founded in 1947 and grew to become known as The Bible of Hockey. Once a tabloid newspaper, it has evolved into a multi-platform brand that goes deeper and broader than anyone in the industry. The Hockey News publishes regular editions plus its special editions that include the Yearbook, Ultimate Pool Guide and Money and Power.
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key word for 2021: sacrifice
WINNING A championship is never easy. It takes skill, teamwork and in most cases some pretty good luck. But for every hockey team that won the ultimate prize this season, it also took more sacrifice than usual. Sure, every year features champions who pulled themselves together despite bruised and near-broken bodies, and every player has gone through long road trips, years away from home and countless hours practising at the rink just to get a shot at glory, but we all know this campaign has been different. Heck, some leagues didn’t even have a championship or a post-season – some didn’t even have a season at all. For those who did get the chance to compete, however, the season was a grind on top of a grind, forced into demanding boxes by…
blood, sweat and tears…and masks
CHAMPIONS BECOME champions after going through a great deal of adversity that typically is referred to as blood, sweat and tears. In this issue, we celebrate the champions of hockey leagues around the world after playing a game for the 2020-21 season. Congratulations to all of the players, coaches and their entire support staff who helped make them all champions. This hockey season is now behind us, its champions are all crowned and trophies have been handed out. Much of this issue is dedicated to celebrating the on-ice players who delivered the well-needed distraction of hockey games while the more serious game of life and death was unfolding right in front of us all on a daily basis. During this season, we celebrated the frontline workers like Hayley Wickenheiser and hundreds of…
the clock is ticking
THE BEST PLAYER IN the world was a fresh-faced, 21-year-old 100-point scorer when the NHL passed on the opportunity to showcase its players in the Olympics in 2018. Now that Connor McDavid is 24, he’s still scoring 100 points, even if it’s only in 56 games. And whether the league once again declines the opportunity to display his talents on the biggest stage in the world was very much still up in the air seven months before the 2022 Winter Olympics were set to begin. If the league and the NHL Players’ Association can’t come to terms with the International Olympic Committee on a deal that works for all three, NHL players will be out of their second straight Olympics, and everyone will be lesser for it. The IOC has come…
jersey hound
EL PASO RHINOS >2021-22 HOCKEY IS PACKED WITH bears, tigers and hawks, but the animal kingdom offers so much more when it comes to fierce mascots. That is why it’s satisfying to see a franchise go off the board and really nail it, like the El Paso Rhinos. The team will join the NAHL next season after playing at a lower junior level this year, and the jersey looks fantastic. El Paso’s rhino crest is top-notch, and the details surrounding it are just as impressive. The horned “EP” shoulder logo brings to mind the Anaheim Ducks, while the collar detail cribs from the Los Angeles Kings. Now they just need a rival team with a hippo mascot.…
in the cards
DURING THE 1990s, CARD companies included practically any prospect they could, from recent draft picks to undrafted junior players, to beef up the number of “rookie cards” in their sets. By the early 2000s, though, the NHL Players’ Association had had enough with non-NHL players appearing in the card sets it licensed and put rules in place on who could be included. Only skaters who played – or goalies who played or backed up – in at least one NHL game were eligible to get a card. Under the new rules, Upper Deck mistakenly issued a Young Guns rookie card of Kings prospect Jared Aulin in its 2001-02 Upper Deck Series One set. But Aulin, a Colorado second-rounder in 2000 traded to Los Angeles, did not crack the Kings lineup that…
the countdown
THE ENGLISH WORD “office” has Latin roots that long predate the glorious history of hockey. But it’s delicious irony that when you break it into two words you get “office.” So we’re at liberty to take that literally in this ranking of off-ice NHL front offices. The category for this Countdown is front-office stability – but we use that term loosely. Stability is a precarious notion when you’re an NHL GM or coach. One good season and you’re a savior. Follow that up with a not-so-good season and they’re asking what you’ve done for them lately. Being an NHL coach is a full-time job, of course. But it’s not a permanent position. At least in that city. In fact, we have to chuckle a little bit when we point out Montreal bench…
