If a grizzled vet on an opposing team wants to stay out for a few extra laps after warmups, MacKenzie Weegar will ignore it and skate off the ice. Read More
If a grizzled vet on an opposing team wants to stay out for a few extra laps after warmups, MacKenzie Weegar will ignore it and skate off the ice. If it’s a rookie or, really, any young players with less NHL experience than Weegar? That’s when he digs his feet in and will insist on
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If a grizzled vet on an opposing team wants to stay out for a few extra laps after warmups, MacKenzie Weegar will ignore it and skate off the ice.
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If it’s a rookie or, really, any young players with less NHL experience than Weegar? That’s when he digs his feet in and will insist on being the last one off the ice, especially at the Saddledome.
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If you’ve played more than the 543 games Weegar has on his NHL resume, you’re good. If you’ve got less, he’s staying out there.
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“With these young guys these days, they probably don’t give a s*** anymore, they’re just doing their own thing and they probably don’t care who’s on the other side,” Weegar said with a big smile on his face. “That’s the confidence those kids have these days, honestly, that it’s their show.
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“I’m trying to keep the old dogs alive a little bit.”
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None of this is all that serious. Weegar makes it a habit of being the last player off the ice after warmups and, on Thursday night against the Anaheim Ducks, it got to the point where Grant Buchanan, the in-arena host for Flames games, was actively encouraging two young Ducks — Ducklings? — to leave the ice so the Zambonis could do their job.
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Weegar didn’t flinch. He looked completely unbothered, waiting for Mason McTavish and Trevor Zegras to finally relent and return to their locker room before firing one last shot on net.
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“Zegras and McTavish, they were just goofing around,” Weegar said. “I know McTavish a little bit from Ottawa and we train together so I know he was just doing it to piss me off. I’ll wait out there all day and get the crowd going, I’ll protect the net if they want to shoot some shots.
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“I’ll wait as long as they want me to, it’s the game within the game.”
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Not every player takes the post warm-up stand-offs seriously. Weegar himself doesn’t even get particularly worked up about it, even if he’s adamant that he’ll outlast any young guy who wants to try him.
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Teammate Ryan Lomberg didn’t even realize the lengthy standoff had taken place on Thursday night, but offered full-hearted support for Weegar.
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“Was he out there forever? That’s hilarious,” Lomberg said. “I’m not one to care too much if guys want to stay out longer, but I support Weegsy if he wants to be the last guy out there on our home ice. I think we have the right to do that on home ice, so I appreciate his effort for us.”
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Weegar won’t stay out after warmups for every game. There are a few veterans who he knows want to be the last guys on the ice and the blueliner specifically named Tyler Seguin, Brad Marchand and Mark Scheifele as guys who he doesn’t bother trying to outlast after warmups.
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