BEER-LEAGUERS FAR FROM BEING STARS ON ICE
Olympians show they’re just a bunch of Average Joes in WinSport fourth division
The dressing room banter before the game and on the bench is no different than any other beerleague hockey team in Canada.
Everyone has a nickname, no one is safe from ridicule, there are more punch lines than forward lines and everyone wears a grin.
However, what sets the Press Box Kings apart from any other team in the land is its roster is made up almost entirely of Olympians.
Problem is, none competed in the IOC’s five-ring circus as hockey players.
“I got gear four years ago,” said Brady (Golden Boy) Leman, who was crowned Olympic ski-cross champ in Pyeongchang.
“I only played pond hockey before that.”
It was there on the outdoor rinks, joked three-time Olympic bobsledder Jesse (Lummer) Lumsden, that Leman was scouted.
“Some guys grew up playing hockey and have a foundation like ( bobsledder and former Saskatchewan Huskies running back) Ben Coakwell, who had tryouts in the WHL,” said Lumsden, who also starred as a CFL rusher.
“Others like (lugers) Jeff (Christie) and Sam (Edney) never played growing up, but started with this team.”
Added Christie, “I’ve come a long way — I know how to get dressed now.”
Despite their wide-ranging abilities, the hodge-podge of Olympic pals has sat nestled in the fourth division of WinSport’s Hockey Canada League for five summers, occasionally moving up a tier following successful stints.
“What always ends up happening is we have a great season and then we get moved up for the playoffs and everyone goes on vacation and we get slaughtered,” said Lumsden with a chuckle.
“Olympic years are hard — we can’t get everyone out,” added retired slalom skier Trevor White.
“We’ll show up with seven players some nights because guys will miss a game because they did 400 squats that day.”
Such is life for a team made up of some of the world’s finest athletes playing in an arena in which they’re unaccustomed.
Far from the bright lights of the world’s largest sporting spectacle, one of the PBK’s latest outings came well past 10 p.m. on a Tuesday. The only person watching the game was a curious scribe and a maintenance worker who occasionally peered over the railing as he drove a floor cleaner around WinSport’s main arena.
The empty seats underscored the popularity of the team’s twitter account (@pressboxkings), which has surged to 12 followers of late.
Leman led the way with two goals in a 6-2 win that featured snipes from former speedskater Phil Riopel, Ben Tschumi, Lumsden and freestyle skiing star Warren Shouldice, who played despite the birth of his second child 78 hours earlier.
“Now that’s dedication,” Edney, now a Victoria resident who was in Calgary for a conference and delayed a return flight home so he could play, said jokingly.
The game’s first star was speedskater Gilmore Junio, who rose to fame when he selflessly gave up his spot in the 1,000 metres to teammate Denny Morrison, opening the door for a silvermedal finish at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.
No one worked harder or had as much speed as Junio, who quit playing after bantam, perhaps because of his inability to convert breakaways.
“We were getting chirped last week for backchecking,” said a laughing Lumsden, pointing at the relentless Junio who finished two breakaways by hitting the crossbar.
“It helps when you have speedskaters,” said White.
“But they can only turn one way.”
The team has had cameos from several Olympians in the past, such as figure-skating icon Scott Moir. But on this night, the roster includes three Olympic medallists.
Retired luger Tyler Seitz captains and organizes the team, which was founded by Edney, a mixed luge team relay silver medallist in 2018 alongside hockey teammate Justin Snith.
It also includes popular Olympic curler Ben Hebert, who is said to be able to read the ice like nobody else and has perfect draw weight for empty-netters.
Former Nordic combined Olympian Jason Myslicki is on injured reserve due to broken ribs suffered in a teacher/student ultimate Frisbee game.
True story, unlike many of the other ones you hear in the room.
Hitting the ice with mismatched jerseys and duplicate numbers, the team punctuated warmup with a quick discussion on who would play where and with whom.
On one shift late in the game, the lads got in the way of two shots directed at their net.
“You can tell it’s not an Olympic year,” said one player with a laugh.
While winning the championship would be great, the chief goal of the squad this year is to land a deal to fund a third jersey featuring the L.A. Kings’ classic purple and gold.
“Hopefully the coverage will help us in our quest to get a third jersey sponsored,” Lumsden said jokingly.