Every other Monday, Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas will give you a peek behind the curtain and share stories about what he sees and hears in his job as a rink side reporter.
Based in Ottawa, Kyle’s notes will sometimes be about the Senators, but he’ll also include content from wherever Hockey Night in Canada takes him.
Here’s this week’s collection:
1. It was hard not to feel bad for Kasimir Kaskisuo on Saturday night. His family made the trip down to Pittsburgh to watch his long-awaited NHL debut and then, well, you know the rest…
He spent two years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth from 2014-2016. During that time he worked with goaltending coach, Brant Nicklin. Nicklin described him then as a “focused, calm and measured goaltender who is meticulous in his preparation and did not get caught up in the hoopla of college life.” The staff even had to remind Kaskisuo to go out and enjoy himself every now and then.
The two keep in touch to this day. When Mike Babcock announced Kaskisuo as the starter after the game Friday, Kaskisuo texted Nicklin simply, “well, it’s official now.” Something tells me the 26-year-old will move on from his rough debut rather quickly.
According to our friends at Elite Prospects, there have been 18 Finnish-born goaltenders in history to play NCAA hockey. Kaskisuo is the first of that group to make a start in the NHL.
2. Over the past few years, Penguins goalie Matt Murray has developed a love for tattoos. One of his features the words “The Man in the Arena” displayed prominently on his left bicep. It’s in reference to a speech given by former US President, Theodore Roosevelt back in 1910.
Murray, a hoops fan, first saw LeBron James talking about it. LeBron would write those very same words on his shoe before each game. Murray looked up the full speech and the message resonated with him.
His favourite part of that speech? The words, “if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”
“If you’re determined to have success, there’s going to be failures along the way,” Murray said.
3. One last goalie story. Saturday morning at PPG Paints Arena Murray was putting in some work on the ice along with the injured Patric Hornqvist and a couple others. Hornqvist was doing a drill where he’d start at the blue line, stick handle around some obstacles and finish with a shot on goal.
Towards the end, Hornqvist moved in on Murray, deked one way to open up the five-hole and rifled a shot right in the…uhh…well…the Murrays…
“You knew it was bad because you didn’t hear the puck hit any padding,” Murray joked afterwards.
I wondered how many times that happens to him each season. “Probably two or three,” he said.
Goalies, man. I know equipment manufacturers have made great strides in better protecting them over the years, but I still think they’re nuts.
4. If you look closely, you’ll notice the Flyers’ Travis Konecny tapes the sleeves of his jersey to his elbow pads.
“Even with the smaller jerseys the sleeves are still too long for me,” he chuckled.
Konecny is all about feel, he doesn’t want his sleeves sliding down into his gloves while he’s playing. I have heard of guys cutting their sleeves before, but this is a new one.
5. There was something poetic a few weeks ago in the aftermath of Blackhawks rookie Adam Boqvist scoring his first NHL goal in Anaheim. Of all people, it was fellow teenager Kirby Dach who immediately grabbed the puck for his teammate.
The two youngest players on the roster looking out for one another.
“I didn’t know (Dach) at all until we met at development camp last summer,” Boqvist said. “We’ve become good friends ever since.”
Boqvist, Dach and 21-year-old Alexander Nylander typically spend a lot of downtime together on the road. Do Boqvist and Nylander get to talk any Swedish around Dach or is the dialogue always in English?
“Only when Kirby is looking at his phone,” Boqvist joked.
6. On Friday our Uber ride from the Pittsburgh airport got rather soulful in a hurry. Our driver, Fonda, had Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton and Kelly Price among others blaring through the speakers as we took the scenic route into downtown.
Then she changed it up with a little Pitbull, because, of course:
My favourite part was when Fonda asked us, “is this not the most fun you’ve had in an Uber?” And I mentioned the only one that comes close was a couple years ago when, in the same city, we got a ride in a minivan that the driver had turned into his own Batmobile. Complete with bat logos, memorabilia and the rest.
“Oh you mean Lance?!” she exclaimed. “That’s my boy!”
The Uber community is a tight one in Pittsburgh.
7. Hockey fans growing up on the west coast have been spoiled over the past 50 years listening to the quality play-by-play announcers who have called Canucks games. For the bulk of my childhood, that announcer was Jim Hughson.
With that in mind, it’s still surreal now that I get to call him a friend and colleague.
Congrats Jim on being this year’s recipient of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award. An incredibly well-deserved honour.
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