Arizona Coyotes equipment staff must react on the fly

SUNRISE, Fla. – As the Coyotes were clinging to a one-goal lead late in the third period Tuesday in Tampa, goalie Louis Domingue skated over to bench.

The snap for the chin strap on his mask had come loose.

Head equipment manager Stan Wilson examined the mask, looking for the screw that ended up getting stuck in the snap, and while he worked to resolve the issue, equipment manager Tony Silva retrieved Domingue’s backup – a plain white lid – so play could resume with the Coyotes set to go on a critical penalty kill.

Domingue’s new bucket wasn’t as comfortable as his usual one.

“It’s so stiff that it gave me a headache,” he said.

But he didn’t have to wear it long.

During the next stoppage in play, he returned to the bench to exchange the mask for his normal one before closing out a successful penalty kill – and one more later in the period – en route to a 5-3 win over the Lightning.

“It’s a small fix,” Wilson said.

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Repairing goalie gear on the fly is just one example of the tasks the equipment staff can face during a game – many overlooked yet significant adjustments that are vital to a player’s ability to perform. And while this support isn’t always acclaimed like goals, assists and saves are, the effort doesn’t go unnoticed by those behind the on-ice action.

“They never get enough credit,” defenseman Connor Murphy said. “They’re awesome guys, too. They’re the guts in the organization, and we’re lucky to have ours.”

A player’s tools are constantly monitored by the equipment staff, which attends to each individual’s needs throughout a game.

“They’re on the ball,” coach Dave Tippett said. “They’re just like players. They’re not on the ice, but they gotta know what’s going on.”

About half the team will rotate its gloves for dry ones midway through each period with the staff making switches during a TV timeout and drying the wet ones so they can be used again. The group is also prepared in case a change needs to be made during the action, like when a stick breaks.

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Each player typically has two additional sticks on the bench, and they’re organized by number although Wilson can also spot a certain player’s stick by the knob. When a stick cracks on the ice, someone on the bench will usually holler out the number of the player who needs a new one.

“I’ve seen it a few times where a guy breaks a stick, comes to the bench, gets a new one and goes right down the ice and (the puck) ends up getting back to him and he scores,” defenseman Alex Goligoski said. “If that transition isn’t seamless, it doesn’t happen.”

Skate blades are another piece of equipment that can be flipped out from the bench with the staff keeping extras close by.

Previously, players would have to remove their entire boot so that the skate blade could be taken to be sharpened – a process that could last a couple of minutes of game time, not real time.

But for about the past three years, removable blades have existed with this the first season every Coyotes player has used the option. Now, fixes can be made in seconds.

“When we first got them, Marty Hanzal came off and he had a bad blade and we switched it, and he went right back out and scored on the power play,” Wilson said. “(In the past), he would have been off getting his skate sharpened.”

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The staff’s duties, however, don’t stop once the game does since equipment needs to be gathered and prepped for tomorrow. That includes packing the gear up and unloading it at the next stop on a road trip – many times in the wee hours of the morning while the players head to the hotel to sleep.

“Players will tell you, whether it’s medical training staff, equipment staff, they’re invaluable to the success on the ice,” Tippett said. “(They) provide them will everything they need from medications to equipment. It’s a big role that is very unheralded a lot of times but is a very intricate part of a team.”

Wilson acknowledged the work the staff does as helpful but summed it up as “just part of what we do.”

Fulfilling the job description, however, doesn’t stop the players from appreciating the contribution – a necessary step in the assembly line that helps keep the team going.

“They’re just like anybody else,” Goligoski said. “They take pride in what they do. The staff here is as good as I’ve seen. They definitely should feel good about the job they do because they’re awesome.”

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444-8276. Follow her at twitter.com/azc_mclellan.