Commish Chat #6: Ryan Hines

David Scott
Nov 8 · 5 min read

Kicking off another season of Commish Chat, it’s Ryan Hines! Now entering his sophomore season in the OFNHL, our lone Vegas fan takes us through his backstory to Golden Knights fandom and life as a bastion of beer-league hockey in Melbourne.

Let’s start with the basics: tell us a little about yourself! Who is Ryan Hines?
I live in Melbourne and I work at IceHQ as Beer League Manager and Trainee Ice Technician. We currently have 40 teams over 6 divisions for a summer league so that keeps me pretty busy and I get to watch 4–5 games every night. I’m still new to driving the zamboni and sharpening skates and all the other jobs around the rink, but I absolutely love it!

Absolutely not a video of Ryan learning to drive a zamboni.

I am a bit of a sports nut! Besides hockey, the other leagues I follow the AFL (Collingwood), NFL (New Orleans) and NBA (Brooklyn)…but if there is any kind of sport on I’ll probably be watching it.

What is your earliest hockey memory?
My earliest memory is actually from Happy Gilmore, so while I was never a fan growing up, I would have definitely chosen Bruins. What 80’s kid didn’t love Adam Sandler movies?! I do love the Olympics so that was probably the only hockey I’d watch in those early days, until 2017 when Iwent to the US and saw my first NHL game. I’ve been obsessed since!

Some people may not know but you’re actually an active player at the time of writing, as one of the members of the Reapers beer league hockey team! How long have you been involved in the club? What position do you play? What’s the team (and league) like?
I actually play for 3 teams, it’s my life now haha! In IHV (Ice Hockey Victoria) i play with the Sharks, in the beer league I play with the Reapers, and I just started a rink-run team called ‘Bad Shepherds’ which is to provide a team and a path for our intro to hockey players.

I started the Reapers team with mates I met around the rink while I was learning the game a couple seasons ago. I play as a forward, usually RW or C depending on the team needs. For the Bad Shepherds, Iam playing below my level so I usually sit on the blue line and distribute the puck while leading team on the ice. I’m pretty new to the sport, but I play and train a lot and get plenty of free ice time so I’d say I have come a long way in the last 12 months.

You’re also a regular at AIHL games. So are you a Melbourne Mustangs or Melbourne Ice fan? What’s the best thing about our local semi-pro league?
Mustangs. I had no choice as my coaches and some co-workers are Mustangs players, though I don’t get to as many games as I’d like. The best thing about the AIHL are the big hits!

You’re our resident (only?!) Vegas Golden Knights supporter, how did that come about? Was it a case of jumping on the freshest of bandwagons or do you have historical roots in the area?
I was actually at T-Mobile arena for one of the first Vegas games. I fell in love with the sport, the city and the story, and got to see first hand what the Golden Knights did for a city after a tragedy (the 2017 at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival). I’m in deep now; I’ve met some great people that send me merch and signed memorabilia, and I even have a Golden Knights tattoo.

Vegas is *certainly* not lacking in atmosphere

Do you have a stand-out Golden Knights moment so far?
Personally, besides being at T-Mobile and having that game day experience, I’d have to say meeting some amazing fans and hearing their stories. There’s also a certain buzz in turning the scores off on your phone, avoiding social media and rushing home to watch the playoff games. Finally, winning a VGK worldwide competition and the team sending me a jersey was pretty damn exciting too. But on the ice, it would have been beating Winnipeg to get through to Stanley Cup Final in year 1.

As far as fairytales go, the Vegas trip to the Stanley Cup finals in their inaugural year was pretty good

How do you consume your hockey — live on NHL TV (or equivalent) stream? Catch up on highlights on YouTube later? Social media?
I have an NHL subscription, so I try to watch all VGK games or at least listen, otherwise I’ll watch the game recaps. My social media feed is flooded with hockey and that’s usually enough to get my NHL news fix. When I can, I don’t mind watching The Hockey Guy on YouTube.

You’re now in your second year of OFNHL team ownership, how did you find your first year in the league? What were your highlights or lowlights?
I found it pretty difficult just with the amount of categories involved in our league, as I had previously only played relatively ‘standard’ leagues with six skating categories. I think gaining experience and spending time diving into the stats goes a long way. I started strong and made a few good late draft picks like (Thomas) Chabot, but the team died off as the season went on. Overall, I considered it a successful year by simply taking over a bottom team and ending up with MacKinnon & Panarin as keepers.

When the call for new owners went out in the Australian NHL Fans group last year, what motivated you to get involved? Have you done fantasy hockey before and are you in any other leagues?
I had played one season of fantasy hockey prior to joining OFNHL, and actually have won that league back-to-back now, but it’s certainly not as intense as ours. I’ve played fantasy sports for many years so the transition to hockey wasn’t difficult. I thought I was up to the challenge of joining a league like this…clearly not! (Editor’s note: you’re going fine Ryan, no stress!)

Time for some word association. What pic/gif/meme/video/thing comes to mind when we say…

Beer League Hockey

Ryan Reaves

Las Vegas

David Scott

Written by

Media advisor & comms dude by day, fantasy hockey commissioner by night!

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