In late July, NHL scouts traveled to Central Europe for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, an under-18 worldwide match, to look at among the finest younger gamers eligible for the 2024 NHL Draft.
Over six days, scouts bounced between the FOSFA Area in Břeclav, Czech Republic, and the Pavol Demitra Ice Hockey Stadium in Trenčín, Slovakia, as they watched probably first-round picks Berkly Catton and Sam Dickinson from Workforce Canada and extremely rated Czechia defenseman Adam Jiricek. However few prospects caught their consideration as a lot as Trevor Connelly, a 17-year-old ahead from Tustin, Calif.
Over 5 video games, he scored 5 objectives and had 5 assists and led Workforce USA to its first medal on the occasion since 2016. He displayed dynamic skating, puck abilities and offensive creativity. Within the bronze medal sport, Connelly went end-to-end and chipped a shot over the shoulder of Finland’s goalie. One scout mentioned of Connelly: “He appeared like the very best participant right here.”
His play was written about glowingly by a number of hockey publications, with The Hockey Information calling his efficiency the “begin of the hype practice for him.” After enjoying properly in america’ prime junior league and shining in one other worldwide occasion in December, he moved as much as No. 5 on one outstanding listing of North American prospects.
Connelly was identified to scouts earlier than the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, however his play pressured groups to think about him anew. He was not only a prospect; he was a possible affect NHL participant. However that made the analysis of him thornier as a result of, as one scout mentioned, “Some stuff I’m simply not keen to look the opposite manner on.”
Many NHL evaluators have been already conscious that, in 2022, when he was 16, Connelly posted to Snapchat an image of a teammate sitting on the ground of the kids’s space of a library with constructing blocks assembled within the form of a swastika. Connelly added the caption “creations.” He was faraway from his staff, the Lengthy Island Gulls, after that incident. Connelly apologized for the posting of the swastika and mentioned he didn’t perceive how hurtful it might be to others. Some NHL individuals have been additionally conscious he had been accused of directing a racial slur at an opponent throughout a sport in 2021, which he has denied. He was initially suspended after that allegation, although the suspension was not upheld, with the disciplinary committee for the California Newbie Hockey Affiliation writing that the allegation couldn’t be corroborated. Connelly instructed The Athletic he doesn’t use racial slurs. Some groups have been additionally conscious that Connelly had been concerned with 4 newbie packages from 2020-22, an unusually vagabond profession for a participant along with his expertise; a kind of stops, at Bishop Kearney, a highschool in Rochester, N.Y., with a choose hockey program, lasted lower than two weeks.
Groups are additionally evaluating Connelly amidst a sea change within the stage of scrutiny being utilized to conduct by NHL executives, coaches and gamers. Actions that may have beforehand gone unnoticed or unexamined are being uncovered and judged by the media and followers. That has led to the exile of a number of outstanding hockey males over the previous few years.
That scrutiny has trickled all the way down to the draft course of. Within the 2020 and 2021 drafts, groups selected prospects they knew had dedicated misconduct and have been fiercely criticized. One staff — the Arizona Coyotes — rapidly renounced the participant’s rights. One other — the Montreal Canadiens — retained the participant however endured a dressing down from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, amongst others.
“You have been all the time apprehensive in regards to the participant’s character and the way it may have an effect on your staff, however the exterior issues are newer. How will your followers react? What’s going to the suggestions be on social media? Will individuals dig up something on this participant’s outdated social media posts? How will this choose replicate in your staff and staff possession? These are all newer issues we didn’t fear about as a lot earlier than,” mentioned one NHL government.
Even groups that mentioned they’ve already determined in opposition to drafting Connelly are grappling with the questions his analysis raises, figuring it received’t be the final time they’re put to this check. How a lot ought to a corporation’s acknowledged values determine within the draft course of? How do groups weigh a prospect’s expertise versus misdeeds from the previous? As a result of prospects are sometimes minors when troubling conduct happens, groups are additionally attempting to decipher what acts are byproducts of immaturity versus indicators of a bigger concern. And when is a second probability warranted?
Stated the NHL government: “Earlier than, we by no means would have met with our public relations division to debate a possible draft choose.”
In a current rating of NHL Draft prospects, Trevor Connelly is No. 5 amongst North American skaters. (Courtesy of Tri-Metropolis Storm / USHL)
The due diligence groups do on prospects is, as one NHL government termed it, largely a “phrase of mouth” system. “None of us are HR individuals. None of us know the inquiries to ask. All of us have our community of individuals. We simply name one another,” mentioned an NHL government, who like some others who spoke to The Athletic have been granted anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to discuss prospects or their staff’s draft course of. Some youth hockey sources have been granted anonymity as a consequence of their concern of retribution.
As NHL scouts start evaluating a prospect, their first name is often to a coach who labored with the participant. Some scouts would possibly dig deeper, speaking to oldsters, billets and teammates, however some evaluators don’t, relying nearly totally upon the opinion of a coach with whom they could have a relationship. Coaches can present quite a lot of details about their star gamers. However additionally they are usually not neutral. Teaching a excessive draft choose can result in a greater job for a coach and extra ticket income for a junior staff. The NHL additionally compensates Canadian Hockey League groups for drafted gamers who make the NHL with CHL eligibility remaining. “They’re incentivized to advertise that participant,” mentioned one former NHL government.
Additionally, hockey is a parochial sport, and there’s an ingrained reluctance by a lot of those that converse with NHL scouts to reveal info that might imperil a professional profession. In hockey parlance: Nobody needs to be the man who “buries” a child.
There are absolutely dozens of present NHL gamers, if no more, who’ve benefited from this method. “There are good gamers on the market who’ve executed dangerous stuff which have already been drafted, they simply haven’t been caught,” mentioned one NHL staff official.
However even when the wrongdoing is broadly identified, it hasn’t stopped groups from drafting a gifted prospect.
On the 2014 draft, the Tampa Bay Lightning used the No. 19 total choose on Tony DeAngelo, an 18-year-old defenseman from the Sarnia (Ontario) Sting who was twice suspended for violating the league’s harassment and abuse coverage for using a slur. Al Murray, Tampa Bay’s director of newbie scouting, mentioned on the time of the draft that among the incidents involving DeAngelo have been “blown out of proportion.” Most critically, the Lightning confronted little to no criticism for choosing DeAngelo.
DeAngelo was traded to the Arizona Coyotes after solely two years within the Tampa Bay group, by no means enjoying for the NHL staff, amidst a report of “perspective points.” In whole, he has performed for 5 organizations over 9 seasons and confronted staff and league self-discipline for, amongst different points, a bodily altercation along with his personal staff’s goaltender, for what his coach referred to as a “maturity challenge” and for bodily abuse of an official.
Quick ahead to the 2020 draft.
The Coyotes drafted Mitchell Miller, a defenseman from Sylvania, Ohio, within the fourth spherical. Miller was at one level projected to be chosen a lot larger, however then NHL groups discovered that when Miller was 14 years outdated he was convicted of assault after he kicked and punched a developmentally disabled classmate, referred to as him a racial slur and satisfied him to eat a bit of sweet that had been dragged by way of a urinal.
Like DeAngelo, NHL groups knew about Miller’s previous; some groups took him off their draft board, that means they might not choose him regardless of how far he fell. After the draft, Coyotes president Xavier Gutierrez mentioned the staff would assist Miller study from his previous misconduct. However Coyotes followers weren’t having it. Social media backlash was fierce. Mitchell’s sufferer mentioned how harm he was by the choose; his mom instructed the Coyotes her son by no means acquired an apology from Miller.
A couple of weeks after the draft, the Coyotes renounced Miller’s rights.
In November 2022, the Boston Bruins signed Miller, who was coming off an 83-point marketing campaign with the Tri-Metropolis Storm of the USHL. Boston followers flooded the Bruins’ inbox and posted seething feedback on the staff’s Instagram web page. Revered Boston veterans Patrice Bergeron, Nick Foligno and Brad Marchand voiced their disapproval.
The Bruins promptly launched Miller. Workforce president Cam Neely apologized to the sufferer’s household and mentioned the Bruins can be “re-evaluating” inner processes. Miller now performs in Russia.
One other check for NHL groups got here on the 2021 draft. Logan Mailloux, an 18-year-old from Ontario, tantalized scouts as a blueliner with measurement and talent. However at the very least 9 groups instructed The Athletic that Mailloux had been faraway from their board on account of his prison conviction in Sweden roughly seven months earlier for disseminating {a photograph} of himself and a younger girl, taken with out her consent, engaged in a sexual act. Previous to the draft, Mailloux referred to as the conduct a “silly, infantile mistake,” however in interviews with some NHL groups Mailloux allegedly portrayed the lady as vindictive.
Three days earlier than the draft, the younger girl instructed The Athletic that every one she wished was a “heartfelt apology” from Mailloux. An hour after the publication of that story, Mailloux introduced that he was asking groups to not draft him as a result of he had not “demonstrated robust sufficient maturity or character to earn that privilege.” Mailloux’s announcement prompted many NHL executives to imagine he’d go undrafted.
The draft was held just about that yr, with groups videoconferencing in to make alternatives. When it got here time for the Montreal Canadiens to make the No. 31 total choose, common supervisor Marc Bergevin introduced that the Habs “have been proud to pick out … the Knights de London défenseur Logan Mailloux.” The choose was adopted by a number of seconds of useless air earlier than host John Buccigross mentioned: “All proper, properly, that is one thing the league in all probability needs didn’t occur.” Draft analyst Sam Cosentino added through the broadcast: “Essentially the most polarizing choose I’ve ever seen, perhaps within the historical past of the draft.”
Canadiens assistant common supervisor Trevor Timmins struggled to give you a solution when requested in regards to the choose the next day. Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister and a lifelong Habs fan, mentioned he was “deeply upset.” Montreal subsequently introduced Mailloux wouldn’t attend growth camp or coaching camp.
However he stays within the Habs group and was an all-star for the Laval Rocket of the American Hockey League. The 2 males liable for selecting him, nonetheless, are not with the Habs. Bergevin and Timmins have been ousted inside months of drafting Mailloux. The staff was struggling once they have been let go, however drafting Mailloux stays a part of their legacy in Montreal.
Miller and Mailloux have been convicted of prison acts. What Connelly did or has been accused of doing is more durable to categorize and that makes his analysis totally different. For some groups, that grey area may present the room wanted to take an opportunity on Connelly. For others, that grey area, the unknown, heightens the priority. “He’s a hell of a participant and will play within the league for a very long time,” mentioned one NHL government. “(However) you might not preserve your job after selecting him.”
Connelly, his mom and his representatives have labored exhausting to make the case that Connelly is responsible of solely a single youthful mistake: the posting of the offensive picture to Snapchat. And when discussing that incident, they spotlight the outreach he has executed to higher perceive the hurtful nature of the picture he posted and the group service he’s accomplished.
“We decided that he’s not a hateful child. He’s an ignorant child. And my place is you don’t punish ignorance, you punish hatred. You educate ignorance,” mentioned John Osei-Tutu, an NHL agent advising the Connelly household.
However Connelly’s frequent strikes and brief tenures at outstanding hockey packages have additionally been flagged by groups. Whereas it isn’t uncommon for prime prospects to maneuver to a brand new program in the hunt for a greater scenario, Connelly’s well-traveled profession stands out. Between the ages of roughly 13 and 17, he was a member of seven totally different packages, and that included two stops the place he stayed lower than a month. To grasp what is perhaps behind these frequent strikes, The Athletic spoke to greater than 40 individuals (gamers, mother and father, coaches and others) who interacted with Connelly throughout his enjoying profession.
Connelly performed six seasons for the Anaheim (Calif.) Jr. Geese, ending with the 2018-19 season when Connelly was round 13, and The Athletic interviewed greater than a dozen mother and father who had a baby who was a teammate of Connelly’s throughout at the very least a kind of seasons. Ten of these mother and father mentioned they witnessed conduct by Connelly that they thought of troubling, and eight of these 10 mother and father described Connelly’s actions as bullying.
4 mother and father mentioned they noticed Connelly punch a teammate throughout follow; three of these mother and father mentioned they noticed it occur a number of occasions. It was normally in response to Connelly getting pissed off, these three mother and father say, equivalent to when he misplaced a puck battle or a teammate wouldn’t enable him to chop in line throughout a drill. 5 mother and father mentioned he would slash teammates along with his stick out of frustration. 4 of these 5 mother and father mentioned additionally they noticed him slew-foot gamers — journey an opponent from behind with a leg or foot.
Individually, these incidents are usually not remarkable on the highest ranges of youth hockey. And a few mother and father chalked up Connelly’s conduct to the truth that he was intensively aggressive. Nonetheless, the incidents have been frequent sufficient that eight mother and father mentioned that sooner or later they felt concern for the well-being of their son or that of different gamers.
Dad and mom mentioned Connelly additionally picked on some teammates within the locker room and away from the rink. He appeared to deal with gamers who have been small in stature and/or have been among the many much less gifted members of the staff, based on eight mother and father. He would make enjoyable of their look, inform them they weren’t good gamers and that they didn’t belong on the staff, amongst different insults. “He wasn’t only a troublemaker; it wasn’t simply that. He was imply,” mentioned one mother or father.
One mom mentioned her son prevented staff actions, like bus rides or staff meals, to keep away from being round Connelly greater than was crucial. One other mom mentioned her son requested to not keep on the staff lodge as a result of he didn’t wish to be round Connelly. Yet one more mother or father mentioned she went as far as to ask her son to help a participant Connelly repeatedly picked on. “It’s irritating when it’s important to inform your child to guard his teammate from one other teammate,” she mentioned. Two gamers left the Anaheim Jr. Geese program previous to or throughout or the 2017-18 season partly due to how they have been handled by Connelly, based on three mother and father related to that program.
Connelly, in response to the above allegations, wrote in an e-mail: “I’m stunned and unhappy to listen to these allegations. It’s tough to answer nameless allegations. I’m keen to take a seat down privately with anybody and take heed to what they must say. I wasn’t an ideal child or teammate. It’s no secret I’m extremely aggressive and there have been undoubtedly occasions after I let my competitiveness get the very best of me however I by no means tried to deliberately injure anybody.
“Since I began enjoying journey hockey, I’ve needed to take heed to a number of detrimental issues yelled at me after I was on the ice, largely by mother and father of different gamers. I do know what that appears like and it’s one of many causes I’ve dedicated myself to being a frontrunner on and off the ice.”
Three mother and father mentioned they complained to Jr. Geese coach Eugene Kabanets about Connelly’s conduct sooner or later. (The Athletic reviewed a kind of complaints, despatched through e-mail, when the gamers have been round 11.) Others mentioned they have been reluctant to complain as a result of Connelly was such a superb participant that they didn’t consider Kabanets would do something.
Kabanets acknowledged that there was the “occasional battle” on the staff however described Connelly as a “good teammate.” He added in an e-mail: “If and after I noticed points or when considerations have been ever delivered to my consideration, I spoke to the gamers in query and to their mother and father and we’d handle it instantly at the moment. The principle factor that stands out to me after I take into consideration bullying throughout that point interval is what I noticed Trevor endure personally. He was the sufferer of ridicule and excessive bullying from a younger age, usually from the mother and father of opposing gamers. It was very tough to look at and I do know that it was exhausting for him as a younger baby.”
For the 2019-20 season, then 13-year-old Connelly left the Jr. Geese and performed up an age group with the AA San Diego Saints. Coaches Josh Robinson and Rob Overman mentioned they have been unaware of any particular points involving Connelly throughout his one season with the staff. Tanya Maxwell, who carpooled her son and Connelly to follow a number of occasions per week, mentioned Connelly was a mannequin teammate and added in an e-mail that the fishbowl environment of youth hockey in California may cause “a number of jealousy and unwarranted gossip in regards to the prime gamers.”
In 2020, Connelly, then 14, enrolled at Bishop Kearney, which began a boys choose hockey program through the pandemic, drawing prime gamers from across the nation. Nearly instantly, the college suspended Connelly, however he left Bishop Kearney shortly thereafter. A public relations official working with the household mentioned that every one that ought to be written about Connelly’s brief stint on the college is: “He was there for per week and he left.”
Sources concerned within the college’s hockey program mentioned that Connelly was suspended after urinating on one other scholar’s belongings, amongst different alleged acts. One supply mentioned Connelly was performing in response to hazing that Connelly had acquired earlier. That supply mentioned he witnessed the hazing Connelly endured and likewise noticed college students tease Connelly about being hazed.
Steve Salluzzo, Bishop Kearney’s president, wrote in an e-mail: “We don’t focus on scholar issues with anybody past college students and their households.”
Trevor Connelly mentioned in a press release: “At 14 years outdated, I used to be the sufferer of a humiliating hazing incident in my dorm room after which harassed about it afterwards. I reacted poorly to the scenario with an immature act. Whereas I took accountability on the time, I remorse and am embarrassed by how I dealt with myself.”
Connelly subsequent joined the North Jersey Avalanche of the Atlantic Youth Hockey League. Avalanche coach Donny Kane mentioned Connelly left this system after roughly two weeks as a result of it turned too tough to journey between California and the East Coast recurrently due to journey and quarantine insurance policies through the pandemic. Matt Zocco, a coach and father in this system, mentioned Connelly was “properly mannered” in all his dealings with him.
Connelly returned to Southern California however didn’t rejoin the Jr. Geese. “At the moment we didn’t really feel he was a superb match for our program,” the group mentioned in a press release.
Connelly as an alternative joined Anaheim’s Jr. Ice Canine, and in April 2021, when he was 15 and enjoying for that staff versus the L.A. Jr. Kings, he was accused of directing a racial slur at an opponent. What occurred stays in dispute. The participant got here off the ice “so visibly shaken and upset with tears streaming down his face after the incident that I needed to sit him for the rest of the primary interval so he may acquire himself,” based on an e-mail his coach, Brett Beebe, despatched to Pacific District official Wayne Sawchuk, which was considered by The Athletic.
Video footage of that sport exhibits the participant leaving the ice within the first interval and flagging his coach’s consideration. The 2 transfer behind the bench and converse for roughly one minute, with the coach consoling the participant. The participant then walks to a close-by vestibule and bends over along with his arms on his knees, the place he stays till the interval ends.
Beebe requested in his e-mail to Sawchuk that the incident be reported to members of the Pacific District match disciplinary committee. He later testified earlier than that committee, which suspended Connelly.
The matter was then taken up by the disciplinary listening to committee of the California Newbie Hockey Affiliation (CAHA). After a listening to earlier than that group, the panel discovered that “the alleged incident as described by the Pacific District Match Disciplinary Committee could have occurred, nonetheless, there was no supporting documentation offered by the (Pacific District Match Disciplinary Committee) that corroborated the allegation in opposition to the participant, and the participant maintained that he at no time uttered any racial slurs in opposition to his opponent,” based on its written determination. In closing, the CAHA committee acknowledged that Connelly had not violated the USA Hockey rule masking misconduct.
Connelly attended the listening to, carried out through videoconference, as did his mother and father and Osei-Tutu, his adviser. Beebe and the participant who alleged Connelly used the slur weren’t in attendance, based on the committee’s written determination. Beebe mentioned in an interview he was not made conscious that the listening to was happening, and nobody from CAHA alerted him that the allegation was underneath additional assessment. The participant who made the preliminary allegation was not contacted in regards to the listening to, both, nor have been his mother and father or the participant’s adviser.
CAHA president Tom Hancock declined to remark, citing CAHA’s coverage to not focus on disciplinary issues involving minors. Sawchuk additionally declined to remark. Connelly wrote in an e-mail: “I don’t use racial slurs. I’ve stood up for teammates once they have been referred to as racial slurs and I perceive this can be a downside in our sport. This is the reason I’m so dedicated to my work as a coach and mentor with Hockey Gamers of Colour.”
Colleen Connelly, throughout a two-hour interview in Nebraska, the place Trevor Connelly at the moment performs for the Tri-Metropolis Storm of the USHL, mentioned: “There’s a important historical past with (the LA Jr. Kings) and my son. Dad and mom on that staff have been extraordinarily abusive to Trevor for a few years.”
Connelly returned to the East Coast for the 2021-22 season, becoming a member of the Lengthy Island Gulls. In March 2022, Connelly, then 16, posted the picture on Snapchat of a teammate sitting subsequent to the constructing blocks assembled within the form of a swastika. The picture was rapidly taken down, however screenshots circulated and staff officers and fogeys discovered of the picture. (The Athletic has reviewed a screenshot.)
The 2 gamers weren’t instantly disciplined — they performed in a regional match days later — however after consulting with the U.S. Middle for SafeSport, USA Hockey, New York’s state governing physique and the membership’s lawyer, who carried out an inner investigation, the Gulls eliminated each gamers from the group.
The incident got here at a time when Connelly was in a position to be recruited by school packages, although some faculties had already determined to not pursue him. “Due to every thing that went with him, we simply didn’t (recruit him),” mentioned a coach at one perennial powerhouse.
Connelly referred to as the incident an “terrible mistake” in an e-mail and added: “Whereas I used to be not within the picture and didn’t take part in constructing the image, I perceive and acknowledge how ignorant I used to be in sharing it. I didn’t recognize how offensive and hurtful the publish can be within the second and I nonetheless really feel horrible about it.
“During the last yr and a half, I’ve devoted a number of time and vitality to educating myself, finishing variety trainings, doing volunteer group service work, and to teaching and mentoring different hockey gamers. I’m additionally very grateful to be working with a Rabbi and Cantor. They’ve been very sort to me and I’m studying rather a lot from them.”
In an interview with RinkLive, which got here after Connelly’s play on the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Connelly mentioned he had visited the L.A. Holocaust Museum and skim the guide “Night time” by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, and that he was present process variety, fairness and inclusion programs and performing group service.
Jazmine Miley, the founding father of the Hockey Gamers of Colour program the place Connelly volunteered following the swastika incident, mentioned: “Trevor is an incredible younger man who simply made a dumb mistake and is working his method to fixing that.”
Trevor Connelly mentioned he has “devoted a number of time and vitality to educating myself.” (Courtesy of Tri-Metropolis Storm / USHL)
Osei-Tutu, who started advising the Connelly household across the time Trevor left Bishop Kearney, has been lobbying NHL groups on Connelly’s behalf. In protection of his consumer, he tends to push again on or deny all however the swastika incident. The opposite allegations are unfaithful, misconstrued or lack context, he mentioned. He considers Connelly to be largely “a sufferer of the sport of phone.”
This runs opposite to how some NHL groups view Connelly. “We’re keen to forgive and take an opportunity on a child who simply makes one mistake, the problem for groups comes when there’s a sample and also you’re apprehensive it’s consultant of an actual challenge with the participant and never simply immaturity,” mentioned a scout.
In September, Osei-Tutu despatched a flurry of direct messages defending Connelly to a prospects author after that author posted on social media a quote about Connelly from an unnamed scout: “He’s received prime 10 talent, however backside 10 character.” Osei-Tutu repeatedly expressed concern that The Athletic was attempting to “destroy” or “cancel” Connelly. He additionally provided in an interview the identify of one other prospect who was beforehand disciplined for utilizing racist language and steered The Athletic look into that participant. On a number of events he tried to attract a distinction between Connelly and Mitchell Miller, saying solely his consumer confirmed accountability.
After the Connelly household turned conscious The Athletic was engaged on this story, they engaged an lawyer who beforehand was concerned in a lawsuit in opposition to The Athletic. (That lawsuit has since been dropped.) That lawyer despatched an eight-page letter that, amongst different assertions over greater than 3,500 phrases, attacked the journalistic integrity of one of many writers engaged on this story. The household additionally engaged a Los Angeles-based public relations one who consists of “popularity administration” amongst her areas of experience in her firm bio.
Connelly not too long ago started assembly with NHL groups, and evaluators have requested him direct questions in regards to the swastika incident and his cease at Bishop Kearney and different points, parsing his responses. One evaluator described Connelly as upfront and clear in his assembly with him, one other mentioned Connelly was desirous to deflect blame onto others and confirmed little accountability. However even that parsing is unlikely to deliver true readability for groups debating whether or not they need to choose Connelly on the June 28 draft in Las Vegas. When a prospect’s misconduct falls into a distinct class than, say, Mitchell Miller, when the wrongdoing takes place throughout a prospect’s teenage years (or youthful), when groups try to decipher whether or not wrongdoing is an indication of an actual behavioral downside, a clear analysis of Connelly and gamers like him sooner or later might not be attainable. Particularly as groups think about what including a participant of his expertise can imply for a franchise.
“I consider in a path to redemption nevertheless it’s not my job to offer it,” mentioned one scouting director. However one other evaluator predicted Connelly shall be chosen, simply not as early because the rankings portend. “At one level the distinction between him and the following man shall be too huge,” mentioned the scout. “All it takes is one staff.”
(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic. Most important picture courtesy Dan Hickling / USHL; different photographs courtesy Tri-Metropolis Storm / USHL)