Out of country, out of mind
Fans are having difficulty following local players on American teams
It’s been quite a week for guys from Hamilton and area playing in the National Hockey League.
A few days back, Ancaster’s Cam Talbot was highlighted on the league’s and other websites for a ridiculous glove save you had to see four or five times to believe. That same day, Waterdown’s Carter Verhaeghe got some highlight-reel love for scoring a winning goal. Which isn’t surprising since he’s been tearing it up this year.
And, as my colleague Steve Milton wrote, former Hamilton Bulldogs star Arthur Kaliyev scored his first NHL goal on his first NHL shot in his first NHL game Feb. 2.
It’s all wonderful, with one small caveat. Few people up here likely saw much of this.
The unique setup of the league this year to deal with COVID-19 has led to unprecedented levels of attention for players who wear the uniforms of teams in the North Division.
Media coverage north of the border has focused heavily on the seven Canadian squads. As a result, you’ve likely seen a ton of Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse and Montreal’s Josh Anderson and Ben Chiarot. Zac Rinaldo for the Calgary Flames, too.
But the guys playing in any of the three American divisions? Not so much.
There’s a pretty good chance you haven’t heard Ryan Ellis’s name much this season. No knock against him. He’s still one of the premier offensive defencemen in the league. But there isn’t a lot of coverage of the Nashville Predators here. So he’s been largely invisible.
Same with his teammate Ben Harpur. Same reason.
Pittsburgh’s Mark Jankowski scored the first goal of the season back on opening day. Not just for the Penguins, for the entire NHL.
You can catch some Pens games up here. But are you?
Dallas forward Nick Caamano? Maybe you saw a few seconds of Stars highlights the other night when they wore their garish new glow-in-the-dark uniforms.
But actual full games? You’d have better luck finding Danny Devito browsing in a big-andtall shop.
Verhaeghe? The one-time Niagara Icedogs captain plays for the Florida Panthers, which are seen in these parts as often as a Sasquatch. Talbot? Let’s just say his Minnesota Wild don’t get a glut of air time in this country.
Even if you want to expand the search to include former Bulldogs, such as Kaliyev, who aren’t from here but are honorary Hamiltonians, it’s not always easy. Finding a game featuring now injured St. Louis Blues forward Robert Thomas or Chicago forward Mackenzie Entwistle requires some effort, too.
It’s understandable. The North — Canadian — Division is a genuinely cool concept that has invigorated a lot of fans up here since every game now truly matters and every team but the Ottawa Senators is worth watching.
Quite honestly, if the league wanted to stick with this setup once the pandemic passes, you could likely find a fair chunk of the hockey watching public that would give its thumbs-up.
There are still non-canadian games being broadcast. But recognizing every North Division game is now servicing two of its markets at a time, highlight shows on TSN and Sportsnet are going super heavy on every one of them. Leaving far less time for the U.S. teams. And many fans seem to be almost exclusively invested in the allcanadian schedule.
In this mix, it’s suddenly easy to lose track of the local guys who were previously much more visible.
Sure, you could buy a package to get all the games but most of us don’t have enough time in our lives to watch more than we already are. Besides, a number of the locals have switched teams this season — Talbot, Jankowski, Harpur and Verhaeghe — making it even tougher to keep track of everyone.
That’s too bad. One of the joys of being a hockey fan is seeing kids who came up through the local system make good on the biggest stage. Particularly since there really haven’t been all that many of them.
For a long time, we were in a drought. Then a few years ago things sprung to life and at one point there were 13 players from Hamilton and area in the league, if only for a brief period in some cases.
Now you’ve got to work to find some of them.
So the local guys toil in obscurity for a year.
Not playing worse, just playing under the radar.