New contract ends roommate culture on the road. Feschuk,
Roommate tradition coming to an end under new labour deal
When Maple Leafs defenceman John-Michael Liles was an NHL rookie, he had duties beyond the ice.
This was because Liles’ roommate on road trips was Joe Sakic, the revered forward whose seat near the top of hockey’s hierarchy accustomed him to deferential treatment.
Sakic’s younger bunkies on the Colorado Avalanche were required to hand over the TV remote on nights the team captain’s favourite show, American Idol, was airing.
They were also expected to close the curtains before bed, answer the door for room service, and carry the tray to Sakic’s lap so he could enjoy his breakfast in bed.
“Make ’em work,” Sakic used to say.
Beyond the free labour, Liles extracted value.
“It wasn’t so much me looking after him — he was looking after me,” Liles, now a nine-year veteran, was saying this week from Maple Leafs training camp. “As a young kid, learning from him and taking a lot of notes about how he took care of himself, it was impressive to watch. It definitely helped me learn how to be a pro.”
There is likely to be less such veteran-rookie bonding when the NHL’s truncated season begins Saturday. If the league’s new collective bargaining agreement made headlines for shrinking the players’ salaries, one of its lesser-explored provisions expanded their personal space. The pact ensures most NHLers will get their own room on trips.
Previously, the privilege of single occupancy was reserved for those who had played 600 games or logged 10 years of service. Now, only youngsters on their entrylevel contracts will be assigned a roomie. The rest of the squad will be free to luxuriate alone in fivestar sanctums.
“It’s going to be an adjustment for me. I’ve always had a roommate since college,” said Tyler Bozak, Toronto’s fourth-year centre.
“I can’t tell you if I like it or not. I think most guys enjoy being on their own. I think I’m going to like it more, but I actually never minded having a roommate.”
Hockey is among the last of the big-money pro sports to cling to the roommate culture. NBA players have been living solo at the Ritz for years now. Ditto Major League Baseball’s denizens. The NFL still pairs some players in rooms, but football’s eight-game regular-season road schedule is unique.
NHL players usually play 41 regular-season road games, although they will play just 24 in the impending lockout-shortened campaign.
A spokesman for the players’ association said the union pushed for more single rooms in the new CBA in part because singles are the standard for business travellers in most industries.
“And let’s face it, it’s quieter,” Rob Blake, the former NHLer, once said.
Hockey isn’t most industries, mind you. And there are those who will sentimentalize the near disappearance of a time-honoured part of the game’s road culture.
In the past, there’ve been Maple Leafs who’ve eschewed the singleroom option for closer quarters. Darcy Tucker and Bryan McCabe, the ex-Leafs, were best friends and continued to be roomies well after they’d earned the right to a room apiece. Eric Lindros continued to request roommates after he had passed the single-room threshold, and when he finally exercised his right to privacy, he said he lived to regret it. “I don’t know if it was the best move I made. It was kind of boring being alone,” Lindros said. “There’s a bond there. I had some great roommates, the cream of the crop. Dave Brown, Keith Acton, Craig MacTavish — you learn a lot just listening and following along.”
Still, for some, the listening is part of the problem. The game’s lore is littered with tales of insomniacs whose restlessness deprived roommates of untold shuteye. Ken Klee, the former Leaf, once complained that Gary Roberts snored “like a freight train.” Roberts’ renowned log-sawing was disturbing enough that even his lifelong friend, Joe Nieuwendyk, decided he couldn’t sleep in the same room. Scotty Bowman, who coached nine Stanley Cup teams, had a simple solution to drown out the noise. “We try to put the two guys who snore together,” Bowman has said. “Whoever gets to sleep first has the edge.” General managers, too, have strategized about roommate matchups. John Ferguson Jr., the former Leafs executive, once mandated that a young forward named Matt Stajan room with Nieuwendyk; he reasoned that the latter’s Hall of Fame-bound wisdom might rub off on a developing hockey mind. “There’s a great deal of mentorship available in a situation like that,” Ferguson said at the time. The Maple Leafs swooned under Ferguson, of course. So perhaps it will help the club to forgo some mentorship in return for fewer nights spent counting sheep. For Liles, the single-room life can’t come soon enough. “I’m a light sleeper. If I wake up in the middle of the night and the guy is snoring, I can’t get back to sleep,” Liles said. “Finally, I can relax.”