Blogs from the Broadcast Booth - Les Stoodley

There are times when life throws us a gut wrenching surprise. Such was the case when the Donnie Matheson died on December 17th.

I came to know Donnie through his work with the Wildcats. I was impressed with his willingness to help our broadcasts. He never refused to do an interview or share information that could be passed on to the fans.I was deeply honoured when General Manager Bill Schurman asked me to do a tribute before the Friday night game against Lewiston. Several people, who know me well, noticed that as I stood at centre ice, reading what I'd written earlier in the day, my hands shook. That was true because like many people associated with the Wildcats, I had lost a friend.

I felt his loss and like many other friends, will miss him.I thought it would be fitting to share the tribute with those of you who read my blog.

The outstanding contribution of some people can sometimes be lost in anonymity. Such was the case with the Wildcats Director of Recruiting, Donnie Matheson, who sadly left us suddenly in his sleep early yesterday morning at his Halifax home.

Born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Donnie moved to Dartmouth in 1974. His scouting began with the Sherbrooke Beavers in the QMJHL`. He moved on to the Ontario Hockey League where he worked with Belleville. His next team was the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds where he scouted for his good friends Danny Flynn and Ted Nolan building three Memorial Cup winning teams.

When the Halifax Mooseheads franchise was established in 1994, Donnie Matheson was named its chief scout.Donnie’s role with the Moncton Wildcats was identifying and recruiting young talented players who would help us build Memorial Cup championship teams.

With a strong sense of his Maritime roots, Donnie had a special place in his heart for local players. Donnie was the highly valued Maritime Provinces scout with the Bruins for 15 years and was instrumental in directing Wildcats and other QMJHL players to the Boston
organization.

Those who had the joy of knowing Donnie came to appreciate his intellect, his hockey knowledge, his ability to spot talent and his persuasiveness in promoting young and developing careers. We also came know his contagious sense of humor and willingness to help all of us make the Wildcats -champions.

On behalf of the Wildcats organization, we extend to his wife Jane, the members of his immediate family and his countless friends from in and out of the hockey world, our deepest condolences.

We ask you to observe a moment of silence to honor, Donnie Matheson, a man dedicated to hockey, the Wildcats and the joy of winning in our game.Donnie Matheson will always be a Wildcat!

Blogs from the Broadcast Booth - Les Stoodley

I'm gunning to be the Man of Movember - it's the Wildcats fundraiser in support of prostate cancer research. All the male members of the team, players, coaches, support staff, administration have been involved in growing a mustache this month. It's a great idea and one I totally support. Team Captain Matt Eagles brought the idea to the Wildcats, now Mr. Eagles thinks he's going to get the nod as the winner and earn the title of "Man of Movember. Matt's a great hockey player, he's leading the team in scoring, he shows great leadership skills, he's a very intelligent young man but he is not a mustache grower - I am. That's a bold statement but one that I can back up. Just check out my picture at the Coliseum, you'll see a first class piece of growth under my nose.

Matt went on his blog to ask for your support, $1.00 for every vote. Well if the Captain can do it, the senior member of the team can go one better. I want all of you to support me at Sunday's game, help me raise $200.00 and you can watch as I shave my mustache at the Post Game show.

This appeal is directed at all Wildcats fans over 50, let's show these young guns, support me and give me the title. You can be sure we'll never let the Captain forget it.

I'll look for your vote and your dollar. Catch my conversation with Matt during the second intermission of Sunday's game. The Wildcats can beat the Rocket and the "older" play-by-play guy can beat the Cats with the team's best mustache. Vote Les - he needs more of your support.

Blogs from the Broadcast Booth - Les Stoodley

There's much more to the Moncton Wildcats than bringing thrills to the fans with their exceptional hockey skills. The team's involvement in the community over its 13 year history has been the envy of many other sports organizations.

One of the events that has focused on charity support already this season was "Pink at the Rink" which raised over $5,200. 00 for Breast Cancer Research. Now the players and team officials are doing their part to help prostrate cancer research by growing mustaches during the month of November. This coming Friday night is the annual Medavie Blue Cross Charity Bear night. Fans have long supported the Wildcats in this venture by bringing stuffed animals to the game and littlering the ice when the 'Cats score their first goal. Disadvantaged children in our area will get one of the stuffed toys from the Wildcats players during specially arranged visits.

This week I'd like to focus on a Wildcats charity event that was conceived and developed by former Captain Chris Morehouse, was and is a terror on the ice but has a sense of community, that has brought joy to hundreds of kids.

Cats Corner, was started at the beginning of the 2007-2008 season by Morehouse with the support of the Greater Moncton Progress Club. The partnership between the Wildcats and the Progress Club was so successful in its first year; it has been extended to the 2008-2009 season.
The program allows for 20 members of not-for-profit organizations to attend a Wildcats game, receive a Cats Corner T-Shirt from Moncton Chrysler Jeep Dodge along with a food voucher for Cavendish fries, Coke and a Maple Leaf hot dog. The Progress Club provides the game tickets. Groups who have enjoyed Cats Corner include the Moncton Boys and Girls Club, St. Paul’s Church, Ecole Saint Henri and St-Anselm Sunday School class.

To participate in Cats Corner, any member of a not-for-profit, group or school can send an application e-mail to info@moncton-wildcats.com . There are still games available, so groups are encouraged to forward their application as soon as possible to reserve seats.
With their e-mail, groups are asked to tell why they should be part of Cats Corner and asked to leave their contact information. Due to the number of requests, the Wildcats are unable to guarantee seats.

Blogs from the Broadcast Booth - Les Stoodley

We've come to accept video webcasting as part of the media coverage now enjoyed by the Moncton Wildcats and their fans but that wasn't always the case.

When I started doing play-by-play with the Wildcats, we were using the Broadcast News channel on cable TV with audio only. Then we went to the Internet with "audio" and finally in 2005-2006, we provided both audio and video of the Cats home games but road games were still just voice description.

With the playoffs looming in 2006, fan excitement was at a fever pitch and the Wildcats were expected to make it to the finals, so management decided, with encouragement (we begged them) from Brian Fisher and yours truly to do a video webcast on the road. The first place Wildcats were to meet the Victoriaville Tigres in the first round. The opening series had to be played in Victo because of commitments at the Moncton Coliseum.

On March 23, 2006, with computer and camera in the truck with the team's hockey tear, Fish(as he's best known) and Lloyd Kay, our support staff, headed to Quebec to prepare for this new adventure in hockey broadcasting. I travelled with the team. Fish had contacted the local Aliant representative, then got in touch with the Bell people in Quebec to have the proper terminal installed in the arena. The PR director with the Tigres was our contact person but he wasn't quite sure what we really intended to do.


Fish and Lloyd took over part of the press box at the Colisee Desjardins, instructed the Bell tech where to put the connection while I tried to explain to the PR director what exactly we had in mind. Fish got his required IP number from Aliant and we were ready to run a test. We had the folks in the Tigres office log on to the Wildcats website, sure enough, there was the Wildcats logo that Fish had put up. We weren't convinced that was good enough, so we had the Aliant rep in Saint John and the office staff of the Wildcats in Moncton to double check the feed. Everyone gave us a positive response. We were go for launch at 6:45 local time with a pre-game show, then to the action. All afternoon we kept wondering will it work? Greg Turner was to join me to do color commentary and stats, so when we went to air, he called his wife, who was sitting in front of their computer in their home in Moncton to confirm we had pictures and sound and we did.

Some of the other journalists covering the series we upset we were taking so much room in the press box. In fact we were working in an area not more than four feet wide, with a computer under our feet, Fish and his camera just to our right and a pair of Cavendish Farm banners behind us for an intermission backdrop. Lloyd's job as to push a button on the computer when Brian Fisher said so, so a graphic would come up, he could turn the camera around while Greg and I set the game scene. Everything worked! We got through the first period, then Lloyd did his thing with the graphic again, I took off my headset, picked up a hand-held microphone and did an interview with the fathers of Jason Demers and Josh Tordjman, who had switched teams during the Christmas trade period. With two minutes left in the intermission, up went the graphic again and Greg Turner did the period summary while I got the headset back on for the second period. We had a member of the QMJHL staff join us as the second intermission guest.

In short our efforts were a total success, the only problem was the score of the game. The Tigres surprised the Wildcats winning 4-2. The players, the coaches, the owner, the fans and the broadcasters couldn't believe it - what a disappointing start to the playoffs. There was really no need for concern, Moncton took the second game 8-2 in Victoriaville, then came home to win 10-4; 9-4 and 7-2 and take the series 4 games to 1.

What we didn't realize was the interest we had created with webcasting. Fans of the Cats literally around the world were logging on to see and hear the games. You'll recall there were 21 playoff games before the Wildcats claimed the President's Cup for the first time on May 14, 2006 at the crowded Moncton Coliseum.

The numbers watching the games continued to build as the Wildcats continued their historic march to a first ever league championship. By the time the playoffs ended we recorded over 220,000 hits on the website. Aliant had to keep broadening the band in order to accommodate the viewers, from as far away as Japan, Russia, New Zealand, and Cuba just to mention a few.

The greatest disappointment came in game 5 of the final series against Quebec. We knew there would be lots of hits and planned the band to include 25,000 but the game went to overtime and just as we were ready to start the first overtime period, the entire system crashed from overload and no one saw Martins Karsums score the game winning goal 13 seconds into OT, so let me help you relive it. With the face off a centre ice, the puck went back in the Wildcats zone, just inside the blue line, Phil Dupuis picked it up and headed down the left wing, Karsums roared down the right side and just before he crossed the Quebec blueline, Dupuis faked the Rempart defenceman and fed Martins a tape to tape perfect pass. Karsums fired the shot and it rang off the left goal post but came right back to the middle of his blade. There was a split second hesitation as if Martins was saying to himself, "Guess I better put this one away." He fired a shot to the top left hand corner clearly beating Quebec goaltender Cedrick Desjardins. The Cats had gotten redemtion from the gut wrenching loss of the pervious evening and were set to come home with a 3-2 series lead and a home ice victory for the Q championship. Gotta love the memories.

Blogs from the Broadcast Booth - Les Stoodley

I nicknamed him Mr. Stingy and stingy he was. He wore number 29 during the four years he played goal for the Moncton Wildcats but my fondest recollection of Corey Crawford's time with the team, is being an outstanding, kind, considerate young man.

He was only 16 when he came to the Cats and for a couple of seasons, Corey and New Brunswick native Matt Davis shared the team's goaltending chores. Matt was later traded to Lewiston and Corey became the first string puck stopper.

Soft spoken, polite to a fault, seldom displaying any degree of anger but that's a great mask for the competitive spirit he has. I'm certain Crawford will make it to the NHL and be as outstanding there as he was in the Q.

We all remember the 2004 playoff run when the Cats demolished Baie-Comeau in four straight, then came the famous battle of the bridge with the PEI Rocket. It's fair to say Corey Crawford came of age in that series. He was by far the most dominate Moncton player in the six game matchup. Time after time at home but more importantly, on the road, he robbed the Rocket of sure goals, leaving players, fans and this play-by-play guy shaking their heads with his sensational play.

A couple of times we called it the Crawford Wall but that didn't come close to what was happening on the ice. It was out and out robbery and finally, out of nowhere it seemed, came the Mr. Stingy mantle.

Corey laughed his head off when I told him about his new nickname, then in his usual casual manner shrugged his shoulders and said, "Just got lucky, Les, just got lucky."

The Cats went to the President's Cup final in '04. After disposing of the Rocket in a tough 6 games series, they whipped Rimouski 4-1, that series is material for a later blog.

The Wildcats met the Gatineau Olympiques in the championship series. By the way, I was lucky enough to be part of what I believe is a QMJHL first. My son Kurt, a pretty good defenceman in his day, who helped win a provincial championship for Chebucto in the Nova Scotia Midget League, was working as a TV broadcaster with A-Channel in Ottawa. He joined me for the games at the famous "Bob" arena and did the color commentary the night Gatineau claimed the Presidents Cup. As far as we can determine, we were the only father/son team to broadcast a Cup winning game in the Q.

But back to Corey Crawford. Here's the reason I started today's story. We were in Sherbrooke, the last year the Castors played there before moving to Lewiston, Maine. It was in the middle of winter, lots of ice and snow and very cold. The team went out for the evening meal at a downtown restaurant. Bus driver Gilles Robichaud dropped us off in front of the eating establishment and then parked the bus on a side street. After dinner, we headed across a very icy open space to get back on the bus. I was having trouble on the slippery surface and was creeping along being careful not to fall and break my old brittle bones. As I moved along the ice I felt a big strong right arm reach under my left shoulder, "Having trouble with it, Les?" asked Corey Crawford. "Yes, I'm not as used to ice as you are," I replied, "I just need to get to the snow to get some footing." This teenager piloted me across the ice, to the safety of the sidewalk.
"Thanks so much for the help," I said as he released my arm. "No thanks needed," said this thoughtful goalie, "sometimes the younger members of the team need to help the older ones," he replied with a grin.
Mention Corey Crawford to me and instantly, with grateful heart, I go back to that evening in Sherbrooke when Mr. Stingy showed so much kindness to a much older, non-playing member of the Moncton Wildcats.

Wildcats break another record

The Moncton Wildcats broke a QMJHL Saturday night in Halifax. The Wildcats now hold the official record for consecutive games one at the start of the season on the road. The previous record was made by the Cornwall Royals in the 1976/77 season.

The first period belonged to the Wildcats, on the scoreboard and in the penalty box. Matt Eagles netted his first of the night on an assist from Cameron at 13:40. Sasha Famin followed at 16:50 assisted by Lahey and MacAusland.

In the second period Matt Brown scored his first of the night at 4:44. Sill and Brannon got the assit. Tomas Knotek put Halifax up on the board at 9:56. Eagles scored his second of the night at 17:10 from Cameron and Lessard. Nine seconds later Brown scored his second and game winning goal, assisted by Sill.

Yuri Cheremetiev made it 5-2 less than a minute into the third at 0:55. Mark Barberio scored Moncton's sixth goal of the night at 9:49 with Eagles and Gormley picking up the assists. Knotek scored his second of the night at 11:24. Cheremetiev scored his second to bring the game to within two goals at 19:05 on a power play. Scott Brannon ended the evening at 19:56 with an empty net goal, Sill with the assist.

The Wildcats outshot the Mooseheads 40-29 to gain their 7-4 win. The three stars were Matt Eagles as first, Matt Brown as second and Tomas Knotek as third.

Blogs from the broadcast booth - Les Stoodley

Over the time I've been associated with the Moncton Wildcats, I've come to respect and admire the strength of character the players. They have what I call, c.d.d. - Competitiveness, Desire and Dedication.

I've seen first hand the competitive personality possessed by these young men. They have an inner resource that drives them to personal levels of excellenance. Their desire to compete, sometimes against overwhelming odds, can be a lesson not only to their young fans but people much more mature in age. Their dedication to hockey and to building a full and meaningful life for themselves, is a lesson, assured to bring them success for the rest of their lives.

To illistrate my point, here's a real life situation taken from my scrapbook of Wildcat memories. The second year I was with the team as the play-by-play broadcaster, we were in Shawinigan, Quebec when the team was hit with a stomach flu virus. A couple of the players had to spend the night in the local hospital, while those who were sick were segregated from the team and those who were well were placed in another section of the Hotel, to try and avoid catching the bug. Graham Black, the team's Athletic Therapist worked non-stop with both groups.

Around noon of game day, it was determined the Wildcats were at least one player short of the required number needed to play the game. It was almost certain that two points would have to be forfeited to Shawinigan. Then out of the sick wing came Steve Bernier. He looked awful, he'd spent most of the night vomitting, got very little sleep and appeared in no condition to play hockey. What no one counted on was #96's competative spirit, his desire to help his team and his dedication to the game. Despite objections from Graham Black and the coaching staff, Steve was determined to play that game and play he did.

With many of his team too ill to play, Steve Bernier was double-shifted, played the power-play and the PK unit and turned in one of the most inspiring games of his time with the Wildcats. I ran out of adjectives, trying to describe what this young man had done and the character he showed under the most trying of conditions. He modestly accepted the thanks of his team mates and coaches following the game. He was proof positive that competitivness, desire and decication are gifts that bring greatness.

Bernier was just showing what those who have worn the Wildcats jersey have always know, the logo on the front, is far more important than the name on the back.