Hockey has a lot of problems. The EBUG is not one of them.
On Saturday night, 42-year-old Zamboni driver Dave Ayres stepped into the NHL spotlight in one of the most dramatic, uplifting ways imaginable. Serving as the emergency backup goalie for the Carolina Hurricanes, Ayres was called into service after starting goaltender James Reimer and backup Petr Mrazek were forced out due to injuries.
Ayers, who also serves as the practice goalie for the Toronto Marlies, stepped onto the ice in Toronto and made eight saves in the third period and earned the first win ever by an emergency backup goalie. It was an incredible evening and an uplifting story that transcended the NHL. Ayers not only made the NHL media rounds, but earned a spot on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert. He gave the NHL its first truly positive on-ice storyline in what feels like forever. It was basically Rudy, but on ice! Like The Rookie, but in Toronto! It was, pretty much, the dream come true for every athlete who’s ever taken the mound or hit the ice or stepped onto the court.
Despite the sheer fun and heartwarming-ness, there’s still established hockey media that think it “should never happen again.”
In a segment on Canada’s Sportsnet, former Chicago Blackhawk Kris Versteeg threw cold water on one of the few good things happening in the sport.
“This cannot happen. The NHL is a multi-billion dollar business. If the Dallas Cowboys had three QBs go down, they don’t go downtown Dallas and see if any accountants can throw a pigskin around,” he said.
First of all, if the Cowboys did need a QB and handed the ball off to an accountant it would be INCREDIBLE. Especially if that accountant had a few skills and the rest of the team rallied to help him out.
What’s utterly shocking and so annoying about Versteeg’s take isn’t that it’s so joyless, but that he seems far more concerned about preserving the integrity of the sport for such a ridiculous, superficial reason. Ayers recorded the first win ever by an EBUG. It’s not like this is a rampant problem in the league that the NHL needs to quickly clamp down. The EBUG system actually works and, as a bonus, provides magical moments for slightly better than average athletes.
Versteeg also seems to be forgetting that the NHL is in something of a crisis at the moment, as teams and players reckon internally with the sport’s culture of racism, sexism and abuse. If anyone cares about preserving the integrity of the game or the purity of the sport or some other such nonsense, they should probably start with cleaning house rather than focusing on a dream come true for a middle-aged practice goalie.
Hockey is withering across North America as financial constraints push the sport out of the reach of many, and instead of embracing the one storyline that everyone can root for, Versteeg and others on the Sportsnet panel decided to play gatekeeper about who or what is good for the game.
It’s also indicative of broader trends in the NHL that want to kill off any semblance of originality or individuality in the sport. Remember the hand wringing over the Hurricanes’ Storm Surge? Instead of welcoming the development of anything that could elevate the game past its own narrow sphere, hockey media, especially in Canada, continues to live in its own bubble.
Maybe the hockey establishment–that includes the league and media and former players–could start thinking about how to make the sport more welcoming to casual fans versus donning red hats and pushing an agenda of exclusion.
It’s not that Versteeg just has the worst sports take of the week or that he’s a kill joy, but that he wants to be a gatekeeper in a sport that already has so many barriers of entry. Let people enjoy what they enjoy and embrace the few, fleeting moments of uncomplicated joy this sport provides. Hockey has enough problems. The EBUG is not one of them.
