By Bruce Karnick

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Every kid that plays sports dreams of making the big leagues. Regardless of what sport they play, the plan is to make it to the professional level when in reality the odds are extremely slim. That does not mean that some kids will not get a sniff of what it is like. For 12 area high school hockey players, COVID gave them just that experience. Last minute challenges due to COVID brought Paul Winkels and his production crew to the Hastings Civic Arena for a New Years Eve film session. 12 high school boys, from Hastings, Farmington and Holy Angels participated in an NHL commercial shoot. Four of those players were Raiders. Conner Stoffel, Jake Harris, Eddie Peine and Logan Debettignies suited up and took the ice for roughly two and a half hours of the last day in 2020.

The filming started with a breakaway shot where the featured player, a young man from Holy Angels was on a break away and the rest were chasing. Stoffel and Harris were the two prominent players in the scene giving chase. After that, there was a setup of a body check shot that did not take long. Stoffel spent some time on the phone with us to describe the afternoon.

“We played a game for like 45 minutes and then they were standing in certain corners of the rink. They’re just recording us while we were playing so I don’t know if they were getting short little clips of us playing and make it into something longer. I wasn’t really sure,” Stoffel explained.

How did the Hastings players find out about the opportunity? HHS Varsity Head coach Adam Welch communicated the event to the team on an app they use for practices and other things. “We’re just like, yeah, let’s do it. Because then we got to go and skate. It was nice to be able to skate with full gear again, before January fourth, that way we are kind of ready, we’re not just like, rusty,” Stoffel said.

Aside from the coolness of being in a commercial for the NHL, this was a paid acting gig, too. Each player was paid $100 for their time. “Well worth the two and a half hours. Plus, we got to skate,” Stoffel added.

Have no fear fans, it does not affect their eligibility for high school amateur status. They were paid to act, not paid to play hockey. It just so happened the acting involved hockey. What they did was no different than if they were hired to act in a car or Dairy Queen commercial.

How was the over all experience? “It was alright,” Stoffel said.

“The featured player was in all the shots, so I’m sure he had a lot of fun, but for the guys that were background players, it did get kind of boring at times. I would definitely do it again, but it was just nice to be back on the ice again,” Stoffel added.

The boys will get an email with a link to the commercial once it is done, but that time frame was not given to them. What they were told is, this is part of a larger commercial that will be played on the jumbotron in Philly during home games showcasing the development of hockey. Given the NHL is slated to start mid-January and it’s still not clear if fans will be allowed, it may not see airtime until next winter.

What does Stoffel think about sports starting back up this week?

“I’m super excited. I mean, wearing a mask underneath the helmet, it’s gonna be a little bit of an adjustment. But I mean, I’m just, I’m just excited to get back to play.”

Normally the season is half over by now and the boys just want to play, even if it means no fans at games. Luckily for the players, CCM has made a mask that attaches to the cage of their helmet that allows better airflow while protecting others around them and they are not horribly expensive. A quick search for CCM Masks for helmet revealed the product to be called “CCM Game ON Player Face Mask”, it was $20 and looks to be available at major retailers that carry hockey equipment.

The big thing is our athletes get to play again, and soon. The good news is Hastings is lucky to have all three media types to cover the sports between The Journal, Community TV, and Radio.

Producer Paul Winkels gives directions for the next shot to the players. Photo by Bruce Karnick