Last night Brad Staubitz blocked a shot, and in the process it broke the blade of his skate.
The 67s’ trainer, Patafie, took his skate to the Knight’s training room because he had to rivet a new blade onto the skate boot, which required the use of a riveting machine.
Apparently there is a ‘code’ that traveling teams use the home teams’ equipment for these repairs when on the road, because they can’t travel with all the equipment that they might possibly need in the event of a repair.
Well, not last night!
Patafie was ordered out of the room by a team liaison – even though the equipment manager had let him in initially, and was helping him find the appropriate tools.
The team liaison radioed up to Mark Hunter when Patafie wouldn’t leave the room, and Mark Hunter said that Brad Staubitz is too valuable to them so get him out of there!
So they gave Brad a new pair of skates that didn’t fit, then he ended up with the one skate that wasn’t broken and another skate with different size of blade. That’s how he played the remainer of the game.
TEAM 1200 played an interview that Schreibs did with Patafie:
And here’s Staubitz’ take on it (interviewed by AJ and played on the TEAM 1200) (Added 5.27 1645h by Sid):[paraphrasing]
First of all the protocol in the OHL minor league is that if you have a problem like that and you need to use the riveter they let you in to use the tools. With the weight and bulk, you can’t carry it.
So I went to their room.
A directive came down from upstairs that said I had to leave the room.
A little argument ensued because I had to fix the skate. I was trying to fix the skate while all this was going on, but it was hard because I didn’t know where things were.
The team [London] liaison got involved.
I couldn’t get the skate fixed, so I handed the skate to their equipment manager to finish the job.
We had to get the other one changed at a local sports shop this morning.
[Schreibs asked him what the team was saying this morning]
I’m getting a different story every time.
The London trainer [Brankley] said Mark Hunter gave the order to kick me out.
The equipment manager said he was sorry.
The liaison told me that Mark Hunter said that Brad Staubitz is too important to our [67s] team and it’s a life or death situation and he’s [Patafie’s] not fixing it in our room.
So I asked him that if I gave him a roster of our team to give to Mark Hunter, would he please highlight the players that I will be allowed to fix in their rooms. The rest I’ll take to a local sports shop.
If you go to 3 or 4 writers throughout the league and ask who the trainer is for Ottawa, Windsor etc. they won’t know. I’m not part of the equation. I’m a roadie, part of the support crew. I want to win and my goodness I’m 50 years old and I’m not sure I have many more in me. But win like that, I’m not interested.
It would normally take me less than 5 minutes in my own room, with my equipment.
[Schreibs said Patafie should have been back long before the first period was over if you hadn’t encountered any problems.]
I pride myself on that. I’m organized.
And then there’s the other issue – I’m responsible for them if someone gets hurt.
And when I come off the ice to fix a piece of equipment and I’m not available to treat them it’s in the back of my mind.
I think, would the London trainer rush out to treat them if one of my guys went down? I’m not sure.
[/paraphrasing]
Schreibs on with TEAM 1200/Dean Brown and Bruce Garrioch:[paraphrasing]
Just the steel broke on my skate and we couldn’t get in the training room.
Patafie went in the Knights’ dressing room to use the riveter.
He was kicked out by security and I ended up missing a period of the game.
Kind of disbelief that that would happen especially in a tournament like this.
Not much you can do, just look past it.
[/paraphrasing]
Schreibs said he has tried to get a hold of Jim McKellar, who apparently sets up interview requests and what not. But he’s not answering today and has no answering service on his cell.
Schreibs wants to confront Mark Hunter, and so does Chris Stevenson.
They expect to get some “half-arsed” explanation. They’re expecting some run-around line, “you can bet your bottom dollar.”
Schreibs said he’s been around a long time and he’s never seen something like this.
He said that they want a Rimouski/London match so bad it’s ridiculous. Schreibs sounded disgusted, and he’s not the only one (see this post).
*Update 5.27 1745h by Sid – (via TEAM 1200/Lee Versage) The Kitchener Rangers are going to send their rivet machine to London for Ottawa’s use. They said that they were surprised that Ottawa hadn’t asked for assistance earlier, knowing London as they do. Love the Rangers!
8 comments:
As a ranger fan, I'm glad we can help you since the ungracious hosts would not. All we ask in return is that you beat the Knights!
Hey there leeaf83! Yes, the Rangers are great, and we have close ties to the team as our brother and fam are Rangers STHs.
I've been following the NOOFer reaction to my post. I feel a little chagrined - I wrote the 'classless pukes' part in a fit of high pique. On reflection I probably should have left the 'pukes' part off.
What angered me the most, was that London is HOSTING this national event. Do they expect the visiting teams - Kelowna or Rimouski for instance - to go down the street to fix repairs if something happens? To go to a local sports shop to get work done?
It was cheap and everyone in hockey knows it was cheap.
And I hope Ottawa beats Rimouski and London . . . but we'll have to wait 'til tomorrow to see which team shows up ;o)
My best friend is a 67s fan and my next door neighbours dad is a scout for them so obviously I have small alliances with them (they were a worthy opponent in 2003 as well).
Gutless pukes isn't an inaccurate comment. Not too long ago the memorial cup did not give a spot to the host team and the London Knights antics are making a case for that again this year. The equipment nonsense is a classless thing to do in a regular hockey game let alone when you're hosting a national tournament. Reminds of the Soviets antics when we were in Russia in 1972. It's bad enough that they don't win by honour and resort to constant diving let alone prevent the other teams from using their equipment room.
And just like how visiting clubs are supposed to have access to the equipment facilities, they also have to set aside seats for the fan bus. On at least 3 seperate occasions our fan bus got down to the JLC to find that they resold our tickets. And Knights fans wonder why everyone hates their team.
Go beat rimouski on saturday so everyone in ontario outside of London can cheer you on in the title game! Brian Kilrea's 100 times the coach Dale Hunter is.
Let's get REAL and HONEST here. It's NOT the responsibility of the Knights to insure that Brad Staubitz has a PROPER pair of backup skates in his equipment bag. Those should have been in good repair, and readily available when this incident occurred. If that were the case, Brad would have simply switched pairs, and returned to the ice at the very next play stoppage. An EMERGENCY REPAIR while the game was in progress, should NEVER have been necessary. The repair could have been done between periods, on a non-emergency basis, and it's my understanding that it was.
Now, tell me exactly WHO the negligent people were in this situation.....Right, it's them evil Knights.
Perhaps it's time to re-educate players and equipment managers as to exactly what their responsibilities are, with regards to having proper equipment available.
Is this kjh (similar post w/caps on NOOF)?
Okay, I’ll go along with you . . .
I'll agree that Staubitz was at fault for not maintaining his b-up skates.
And Patafie was at fault for not ensuring the equipment was in proper condition (as per his role as equipment manager).
Does this mean that if/when a problem does occur, say during a game where everyone is probably a little panicky, that they should be told, “Sorry, you’re SOL. Tough luck kid, but you should have been better prepared. You can’t use our equipment.”
Would you argue the same if Ottawa’s trainer did not have the necessary medical supplies that might be needed if a player went down, say their own backboard and neckbrace? Should it be fair for the host team to say, “Sorry, you’re SOL. Tough luck, but you should have been better prepared in case of a neck injury.”
But what makes it worse, are the comments of M. Hunter. According to the Ottawa Sun article, Chris Maton apologized, saying M. Hunter told them to do it (see the newest post for link to article if you haven't read it. And if you don’t believe Hunter said what he did, because it’s written in an Ottawa newspaper, find out how to ask Chris Maton if it’s true. I’d like to know if someone is not telling the truth.)
You be honest with me now. What would you say if the roles were reversed, and you found out that Kilrea told an Ottawa liaison to kick Brankley out of the training room? Would you say X London player should have been better prepared, and it's not Ottawa's responsibility to make sure his skates work?
London is HOSTING the event. If they don’t want to provide assistance to the other teams, then they should have told said teams, so that they could arrange to have their own equipment sent down in advance of the tournament.
And I don't think the Knights are "evil", but things like this make it hard to root for them.
Yes, those indeed were my comments on the NOOF (posted as kjh). Don Brankley has a past record of helping opposition players who have been injured. Often, he's the first on the scene, whenever that has occurred, so I think the "injury arguement" is simply a smokescreen. The skate in question WAS FIXED between periods, as it ordinarily would have been. The fact that an "emergency repair" was even necessary, was because someone didn't inform their equipment manager that one of their backup skates was busted...or if they did, it wasn't properly attended to. To expect to be given free reign of another team's dressing room/equipment room, while their training staff are attending to their bench duties is really expecting a LOT. I seriously doubt that even Kilrea would allow that to occur.
If such a thing happened to the Knights, during ANY game, then I'd say they (player or equipment manager) brought the misfortune upon themselves. Last thing I'd be doing, is attempting to blame the team they were playing.
The first responsibility of the Ottawa training staff/equipment people is to the 67's players. As such, I'd expect them to be on the bench, attending to their players needs.Whenever an opposing player leaves the ice surface under his own steam, they'd probably assume that the opposition training staff were capable of attending to that player's needs, whatever they might be. If an equipment repair is required, these are normally attended to BETWEEN PERIODS, and I'd never expect anything more. This is normal operating procedure, and as such should have been adequate. It became inadequate, because of a pair of backup skates that were not properly maintained.
If the same situation occurred with Brankley and a Knights player being the ones with a busted skate, I'd say the same....it was THEIR NEGLIGENCE that made the problem.
Knights Fan showing that London class: "Who cares what we did to win.."
There it is folks, I can't top that.
"Who cares what we did to win.."
That was the entire point. Delaying Staubitz' return to the ice was NOT why Ottawa lost: London is the best CHL team this year, which no one is denying. People were upset because it wasn't a very classy thing to do.
So thanks for reinforcing our argument.
Yes. It would have received more attention from those outside of Ottawa.
C'mon Knights Fan, did you not read the previous comments? Or posts?
From my comment to kjh above, I tried to get him to see the situation from reverse - say Killer ordered Brankley out of Ottawa's room. I think it would be just as classless.
And in this post here, I said exactly the same thing you just posted: Can you imagine the stink this would have caused if it had of been Crosby's skate that we're discussing? Or C. Perry? Oh hell, anyone besides an Ottawa player (because Ottawa is really an inconsequential nuisance team that doesn't really matter).
Can we please move on. Your team on the ice was absolutely dominant. Enjoy it.
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