The top reason to watch every NHL team in the Frozen Frenzy
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Greg Wyshynski
The NHL Frozen Frenzy is like the best hockey buffet ever cooked up.
There will be some popular main courses. There will be some delectable side dishes. But with all 32 teams in action from 6 p.m. ET puck drops through the Battle of California showdown between the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks at 11 p.m. ET, fans will be able to sample all the NHL has to offer in one gluttonous sitting.
Here are reasons to watch all 32 teams during the Frozen Frenzy and beyond, from superstar players to teams with championship aspirations to controversial storylines to Alex Ovechkin once again chasing NHL goal-scoring history.
Here we go … and enjoy the Frenzy!
Atlantic Division
The constant David Pastrnak
Since 2023, the Bruins have said farewell to franchise standard-bearers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci (retirement) as well as Brad Marchand, their heart-and-soul captain who won a Stanley Cup with Florida after an NHL deadline trade.
Which is to say that Pastrnak has seen a lot of friends leave the Bruins’ locker room, but he just keeps doing what he does best: scoring at will. Pasta has 13 points, including five goals, in his first 10 games this season. That’s to be expected for the fifth leading scorer in the NHL (329 in 246 games) over the previous three season.
The cast changes in Boston. Pastrnak remains a shining star.
Is the goaltending finally fixed?
There are many reasons why the Sabres have crashed like a Bills fan through a table in every season since last making the playoffs in 2011, but one of the primary ones has been a lack of quality goaltending. That problem was exacerbated by presumed starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen taking a step back last season.
Injuries to Luukkonen in the preseason opened the door for backup Alex Lyon, signed as a free agent and coming out of the gate with a .922 save percentage in seven games; and rookie Colten Ellis, who made 29 saves in his NHL debut. Dashing early-season hopes is kind of the Sabres’ thing, but at the very least, these two netminders have generated some hope for Buffalo.
Is this the year?
It’s an annual rite in the NHL: The Red Wings being poised to break out as a contender before falling short of the postseason, which they’ve done every season since 2015-16.
But through nine games, Detroit is 6-3-0 and in second in the Atlantic Division thanks to a dominant 5-1-0 record at home. The chemistry between leading scorer Dylan Larkin (13 points) and standout winger Lucas Raymond with rookie forward Emmitt “Finsanity” Finnie has been palpable. The line of Alex DeBrincat, Marco Kasper and Patrick Kane is chipping in. The Red Wings are thriving despite goalies John Gibson (acquired from the Ducks last summer) and Cam Talbot playing below replacement level to start the season.
If every part of Detroit’s engine gets roaring at the same time, how far can the team roll?
The champs are (mostly) here!
The Panthers’ bid for a third straight Stanley Cup win and fourth straight trip to the Cup Final got off to an injurious start.
Star winger Matthew Tkachuk had groin surgery in August, putting him out until December at the earliest. Then the Panthers lost star center and team captain Aleksander Barkov on his first day of training camp, needing surgery to repair the ACL and MCL in his right knee — injuries that will sideline him for the regular season and potentially the playoffs. They also lost defenseman Dmitry Kulikov for five months with an upper-body injury.
And yet the Panthers are maintaining their level of play, if not thriving: 5-5-0 in their first 10, being led in both goals (five) and points (11) by the Rat King himself, Brad Marchand.
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Brad Marchand scores goal vs. Penguins
Brad Marchand lights the lamp
No. 1 for a reason
Through 10 games, the Canadiens led the Atlantic with a 7-3-0 record. There are plenty of reasons for this great start, from the outstanding play of rookie goalie Jakub Dobes and winger Ivan Demidov to the continued maturation of players such as Lane Hutson and Alex Newhook.
But the constant for the Habs has been their No. 1 line of Cole Caufield (seven goals), Nick Suzuki (13 points) and Juraj Slafkovsky, who are scoring over 3.5 goals per 60 minutes and giving up only 0.95 goals per 60 minutes to far this season.
The bunch without Brady
Brady Tkachuk is the driving force behind the Ottawa Senators, both statistically and as one of the NHL’s most influential captains. But the Sens lost him to a torn ligament in his right thumb on Oct. 13 which required surgery, and likely will keep him out until around Thanksgiving.
The Sens are 4-4-1 through nine games. Helping to fill the void left by Tkachuk are two players off to a fast start: Centers Shane Pinto (eight goals through nine games) and Dylan Cozens (six).
Is their luck turning?
Eight of the Lightning’s first nine games this season have been decided by one goal. They were 1-2-2 in those games until back-to-back wins against the Ducks and Golden Knights at home.
Of course, as Billy Zane taught us in “Titanic”: Sometimes you make your own luck. Getting a more consistent defensive performance from their dynamic top line — Brayden Point is a minus-10 already — would be a good start.
What happens when the World Series is over?
The good news in Toronto: The incredible run by the Blue Jays to the World Series has brought the city — and much of the nation — together in following every Vladimir Guerrero Jr. swing and Trey Yesavage pitch this postseason. (Hence the change in start time for the Maple Leafs-Flames game to 6 p.m. ET.)
That means there has been a lot less attention — and scrutiny — on a post-Mitch Marner Maple Leafs team that is decidedly OK and nothing more so far. They’re eighth offensively thanks to 14 points in eight games by William Nylander — and 28th defensively thanks to below-replacement goaltending. Joseph Woll is back after an extended personal absence, so that should help the latter.
But once the World Series is over, fans will go from talking about Max Scherzer to Max Domi. And we can’t even imagine the takes if the Jays eliminate the Dodgers and plan the parade the Leafs have been trying to draw up again since the 1960s.
Metropolitan Division
When will Nikolaj Ehlers get rolling?
Some cynical Winnipeg fans are bathing in schadenfreude watching Ehlers’ first handful of games with the Hurricanes.
Ehlers left the Jets as a free agent for a six-year, $51 million deal as the latest solution on the wing for Carolina’s top line. While linemates Seth Jarvis (seven goals) and Sebastian Aho (10 points) are thriving, Ehlers went five straight games without a point to start the season.
The good news for Carolina and their new great Dane: He has assists in three straight games, so maybe the aforementioned rolling has started.
The Big Boss
Dmitri Voronkov doesn’t have the name recognition of Zach Werenski, Adam Fantilli or linemate Kirill Marchenko when it comes to Blue Jackets in the hockey discourse. But the 6-foot-5, 235-pound winger who self-bestowed the nickname “Big Boss” has been an absolute force so far this season on Columbus’s top line.
He scored five goals and added four assists through eight games for the Jackets, skating to a plus-8. GM Don Waddell challenged Voronkov to work on his conditioning when he signed him to a two-year contract extension in July. That could be the key for the Big Boss surpassing his 23 goals and 24 assists in 73 games last season.
Jack Hughes, goal machine
When Hughes is healthy and in the lineup, few players in the NHL provide their team the propulsive offensive spark that the 24-year-old center provides the Devils. Hughes has eight goals in nine games for New Jersey, including two game winners. Jesper Bratt has assisted on five of them — there are times when Bratt and Hughes seem like they’re playing on a different speed setting than everyone else.
The Devils have never had a 50-goal or 100-point scorer in franchise history. Hughes is on pace for both — provided he can stay in the lineup.
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Jack Hughes scores hat trick in Devils’ win
Jack Hughes leads the Devils to a 5-2 win over the Maple Leafs with his third career hat trick.
The joy of Matthew Schaefer
Few rookies have arrived in the NHL with the boundless enthusiasm and positivity of Matthew Schaefer. The first overall pick in this summer’s draft, the 18-year-old defenseman has earned his freshman year ice time (23:12 per game) with seven points through eight games, including three points on the power play.
The charismatic Schaefer was an instant fan favorite, with the crowd at UBS Arena chanting his name during a recent win over San Jose. Schaefer acknowledged those cheers after the game: “I love this place! Let’s go Islanders, baby!”
Are they OK?
Perhaps this is a transition season. Perhaps new captain J.T. Miller hasn’t imprinted his win-at-all-costs style on the rest of the roster. Perhaps new coach Mike Sullivan just needs more time to unlock his roster’s offense or perhaps even he can’t solve the team’s depth issues.
Whatever the reasons, the Rangers have stumbled to a 3-5-2 start, with goal scoring that ranks 31st in the NHL. There’s still plenty of time to turn the team around in front of goalie Igor Shesterkin. Perhaps that starts during the Frenzy.
Trevor Zegras‘ second act
Before the season, former Ducks phenom Zegras told me that he wanted people to “go from saying ‘He’s good at hockey’ to ‘He’s a hockey player'” after his first season in Philadelphia.
The early returns are strong: two goals and six assists in eight games, skating to a plus-5 while averaging 16:48 of ice time per game. The only bummer for Zegras is that he hasn’t gotten a strong run at center yet for the Flyers. But as his game continues to rebound, perhaps those opportunities to be a “hockey player” will flourish.
Crosby, Malkin delay the inevitable
What the projected timeline had been for the Penguins this season: After an atrocious start clinches a fourth straight season without reaching the playoffs, franchise icons Evgeni Malkin (in the last year of his contract) and Sidney Crosby (exhausted by losing) are traded to Stanley Cup contenders.
Instead, Geno and Sid have disrupted the timeline.
The Penguins’ stars have helped the team to a 6-2-1 start, good for second in the Metro. Malkin leads the team with 14 points through nine games, while Crosby has 11 points through nine games, which includes a recent hat trick against the Stanley Cup champion Panthers. They’ve both said they don’t want their ride in Pittsburgh to end. They’re playing like it.
Ovechkin goes for 900 (and more…)
During last season’s Frozen Frenzy, Alex Ovechkin was still 41 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL goals record. One year later, Ovi has not only surpassed The Great One’s 894 career goals — the “Gr8 Chase” ended on Apr. 6 — but he is one goal away from becoming the first NHL player to score 900 goals in his career.
Ovechkin recently played his 1,500th career game, a standard only seven other players have achieved. That’s a lot of games … and how many more Ovechkin will play in the NHL beyond this season is an undeniable undercurrent every time he steps on the ice for the Capitals.
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Alex Ovechkin extends record goal tally with No. 899
Alex Ovechkin lights the lamp for his 899th goal to pad the Capitals’ lead.
Central Division
The new dynamic duo
For 15 years and three Stanley Cup championships, the Blackhawks were defined by a pair of star forwards: Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. We’re not looking to burden two burgeoning stars with that weight of history, but it’s hard not to get caught up in the “Chicago’s new dynamic duo” hype when discussing Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar.
Bedard, 20, is looking to rebound after failing to meet expectations last season, following his rookie of the year win in 2023-24. Nazar, 21, looks primed for a breakout season in Year 2, leading Chicago in goals (four) and points (nine) through nine games.
If nothing else, they’ve already achieved something Kane and Toews did in Chicago: Making the Blackhawks a team worth watching again.
Nate Dog is barking
Nathan MacKinnon willed the Avalanche to a Stanley Cup in 2022. Since then, Colorado has lost in the first round twice and the second round once despite a deep, star-studded lineup.
“You don’t want to win just one with this group. If we only got one, it would be tough,” MacKinnon said before the season.
The hunger for a championship is back for the Avalanche and MacKinnon, who has seven goals and seven assists through 10 game and is looking absolutely dangerous every time he touches the puck.
Otter in the net
It has been quite a ride for Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger. He made the Team USA 4 Nations Face-Off roster last season and is expected to challenge Connor Hellebuyck as the nation’s Olympic starter next February in Italy.
Then, he’ll hope to lead the Stars back to the Western Conference finals … where coach Peter DeBoer pulled him after giving up two goals on two shots in their Game 5 elimination to the Oilers. DeBoer was let go this offseason, partially for the way he handled that situation. Oettinger has said his piece about how it affected him.
Now, it’s back to leading the Stars to a fourth straight conference finals while increasing his standing in the eyes of Team USA.
The $136 million man
Kirill Kaprizov has been the most important player on the Wild since he arrived in the NHL, winning rookie of the year in 2020-21. Beginning next season, he’ll also be their wealthiest player.
Kaprizov and the Wild shocked the NHL when the inked an eight-year, $136 million contract extension in September. It’s the richest contract in total dollars and annual cap hit ($17 million) in NHL history.
As he does every season, Kaprizov is proving his worth: He has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 10 games.
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Kirill Kaprizov tallies goal vs. Rangers
Kirill Kaprizov nets goal for Wild
Countdown to extinction
The Predators (4-4-2) are off to a better start than last season’s 0-5-0 stumble that helped dig a hole from which they could not climb. But there are many more questions than answers right now.
Can they maintain that pace without top defenseman Roman Josi, who is week-to-week because of an upper body injury? What happened to Steven Stamkos, as one of the best goal scorers of the past 20 NHL seasons mustered only one power-play goal in his first 10 games?
The good news is that Juuse Saros looks like his old self again. Perhaps he can keep this thing on track because if Nashville jumps the rails, it might be time for GM Barry Trotz to plot a new course for the franchise.
The future is now for Jimmy Snuggerud
Snuggerud is so polished as a 21-year-old player that it’s sometimes hard to remember that he’s an NHL rookie.
Blues fans (and Snuggerud himself) got a reminder of that last week when coach Jim Montgomery kept him on the bench for the third period and overtime in a loss to the Kings. Snuggerud has three goals and three assists through eight games for the Blues, making his mark in a crowded rookie field this season.
Meet the NHL’s newest contender
While they have many former Arizona Coyotes players on their roster, the Mammoth are considered a new franchise by the NHL. They were the Utah Hockey Club in their inaugural 2024-25 season. Now they’re the Utah Mammoth in Year 2 and looking to make some serious noise in the Western Conference despite their newbie status.
That goes for their players, too: Top scorers like Logan Cooley (21 years old), Dylan Guenther (22) and JJ Peterka (24, acquired from Buffalo last summer) are some of their youngest players, as well. The Mammoth enter the Frenzy atop of the Central Division having won seven games in a row — unsurprisingly, a franchise record.
The Toews comeback
Before this season, Jonathan Toews last played in the NHL on April 13, 2023, as the then-captain of the Chicago Blackhawks and a three-time Stanley Cup champion.
Dealing with the effects of long COVID-19 and chronic immune response syndrome, Toews said he was stepping away from hockey but not retiring. He went on a “healing journey” that included “five weeks in India undergoing an Ayurvedic detox called a Panchakarma” in November 2024, after which Toews said his health was “trending” in the right direction.
He signed with his hometown Jets as a free agent this summer. That Toews is even playing is miraculous. That he has five points in nine games, playing 16:04 per game on average for the Jets, is extraordinary.
Pacific Division
Leo Carlsson‘s star turn
Carlsson has oozed star quality since the Ducks drafted him No. 2 in 2023. His big frame (6-foot-3) and great hands have earned him comparisons to Penguins star Evgeni Malkin, and now Carlsson is trying to have the offensive stats to match.
The 20-year-old center has nine points through eight games, playing in between fellow young star Cutter Gauthier and veteran winger Alex Killorn. He’s one to watch, for sure.
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Leo Carlsson scores goal vs. Predators
Leo Carlsson nets goal for Ducks
Time to salvage the season?
After nearly making the playoffs last season with 96 points, the Flames are one of the most disappointing teams early in the 2025-26 season.
Their offense ranks last in the NHL (2.00 goals per game) after producing only one goal in five of their first seven games. That led standout goalie Dustin Wolf to lament, via Sportsnet: “I mean, I can’t generate offense. I do my job, I try to keep the puck out of our net, and hope that our guys can generate a couple.”
Calgary had an uptick in scoring heading into the Frenzy, scoring three times in a loss to Winnipeg and a season-high five times in a win over the Rangers. But at 2-7-1 after 10 games, time is already running short for coach Ryan Huska’s team.
Can they turn things around, starting against Toronto?
Connor and Leon
Let’s not overthink this. The Oilers are blessed with arguably the two best hockey players on the planet in Connor McDavid, who has 12 points in 10 games but only one goal thus far, and Leon Draisaitl, who has 11 points in 10 games, including seven goals.
They power their own lines for Edmonton and combine their supernatural hockey acumen on the power play. Connor and Leon have led the Oilers to back-to-back Stanley Cup Final losses to the Panthers.
With McDavid signing just a two-year contract extension before the season, the Oilers explicitly understand they’re on the clock to win soon with these two superstars on the roster.
Farewell, Mr. Kopitar
While some veteran NHL stars are playing it coy about their futures, Kings captain Anze Kopitar announced before the season that this will be his last NHL campaign. (That he announced it the same day that Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw revealed he was retiring was a matter of unfortunate timing.)
The legendary center is in his 20th season with the Kings, having led them to two Stanley Cup wins and winning both the Selke Trophy (best defensive forward) and Lady Byng (gentlemanly play) twice. Catch the best Slovenian-born player in hockey history while you can.
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Anze Kopitar announces he’ll retire after season to focus on family
Kings captain Anze Kopitar, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, announces he will retire after the 2025-26 season to focus on family.
Macklin Celebrini, superstar
After being drafted first overall in 2024, Celebrini had a strong rookie season (63 points in 70 games) and was a finalist for the Calder Trophy. Through nine games this season, it’s clear he’s on the cusp of superstardom.
Celebrini has dominated with six goals and nine assists, combining with fellow young star Will Smith and veteran winger Tyler Toffoli on a line that’s averaging over 4.6 goals per 60 minutes when paired together.
He has played himself into the Team Canada Olympic roster conversation. He’s going viral in weird New York City street interviews. He has arrived.
The NHL’s most surprising start
The Kraken began this season with a new head coach in Lane Lambert, a new power forward in former Stars winger Mason Marchment but much of the same cast as last season’s also-ran that earned coach Dan Bylsma a ticket out of town.
There wasn’t much optimism surrounding the Kraken … and yet there they are at 5-2-2 through their first nine games, second in the Pacific Division.
They’re not dominating offensively or defensively, nor are their special teams exemplary. But the Kraken are winning hockey games, including being a perfect 3-0-0 at home, where they’ll face the Canadiens in the Frozen Frenzy.
J.T. Miller returns
The Canucks are 5-5-0 under new head coach Adam Foote, which is impressive given some of the injuries the team has been playing through — the latest being star defenseman Quinn Hughes, who has a lower-body injury.
But Tuesday night’s spotlight is on a former Canucks player: Rangers captain J.T. Miller, who makes his first trip back to Vancouver after they traded him to the Blueshirts last season.
Please recall that Miller was traded after clashing with Vancouver star center Elias Pettersson, a conflict that rocked the Canucks’ locker room so roughly that team president Jim Rutherford said there was “no good solution that would keep this group together.”
How Miller will be received by Vancouver fans is one of the Frozen Frenzy’s most anticipated moments.
Mitch Marner finding his fit
The 28-year-old winger made his dramatic exit from Toronto last summer after nine seasons of outstanding statistical output but was treated as a postseason pariah for the Maple Leafs’ lack of playoff success. He’s in Vegas now on a blockbuster eight-year, $96 million contract.
Marner has produced around his career averages so far (10 points through nine games), but he’s still finding his fit with the Knights. His much-anticipated line with Jack Eichel was broken up after three games — with Marner dropping down to play with Tomas Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev — but Marner and Eichel were reunited in Sunday’s overtime loss to Tampa Bay. Only two of Marner’s points have come on the power play, but Vegas is ninth in the NHL with the man advantage.
One extra bit of intrigue in Vegas’ Frozen Frenzy matchup against Carolina: Marner used his no-movement clause to reject a trade to the Hurricanes during last season, later saying it was out of consideration of his wife’s pregnancy. (They welcomed a daughter in May 2025.)
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Andrea Adelson
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Sydney Reeves remembers going to her first Ohio State game as a little girl, mostly to watch the band. Her parents were proud marching band alums, and every year they would march as part of the band alumni game — when former members come back to perform alongside current members.
Sydney’s grandparents, season-ticket holders since 1964, would point out the spot where her parents each made history. In 1992, Wendy Reeves dotted the i, then one year later her husband, Chad, did it, making them the first married couple to “dot the i” in Script Ohio, one of the most recognizable traditions in college football.
Mesmerized as the band marched perfectly to spell “Ohio” in script, Sydney waited for the person tabbed to dot the i that day to strut to the top of the letter, take their hat off and bow to the roar of the crowd. She thought to herself, “I don’t know when or how, but I’m going to do this.”
And if anyone was destined to dot the i, it was Sydney Reeves. She got her first introduction to music at 2 weeks old, when Wendy, a band director, sat her in her baby carrier at middle school band rehearsal. At 2, Reeves asked for a little tuba to keep under her bed. At 8, she knew she wanted to follow in her parents’ footsteps as an Ohio State sousaphone player.
In the years in between, her parents told her stories about their marching band experiences. Chad and Wendy met in the band, naturally. He proposed during an Ohio State skull session, the term for the warmup pep rally that the band puts on before every home game. Chad told everyone in the band, plus Wendy’s family members, what was going to happen without revealing his secret to her until he got on one knee. Wendy, astounded, remembers turning around and seeing family with signs reading, “Wendy, be my tuba for life!”
She said yes. They married in December 1992 and played their sousaphones at the wedding.
As children growing up, Sydney and her older sister, Samantha, would watch the proposal over and over on VHS tape. They would watch the wedding, too, specifically the part when their parents played Ohio State songs. On the anniversaries of the days they each dotted the i, Chad and Wendy would take out another set of VHS tapes and play those, too.
Samantha did not have much interest in doing band in college. But Sydney had already decided she wanted to follow in her parents’ footsteps. So when she got to middle school and walked into her mom’s band room, there was no discussion about what instrument she would play.
AT EVERY BUCKEYES home game since 1936, the 225-member Ohio State marching band has spelled out “Ohio” in script. To put the iconic finishing touch on the word, a senior sousaphone player is selected to strut to the top of the i and dot it.
“A moment of glory,” Wendy says.
But, originally, dotting the i wasn’t much of an honor, Christopher Hoch, the director of marching and athletic bands at Ohio State, said. The first i dotter was “an afterthought.”
“It was an E-flat cornet player — the smallest instrument in the band,” Hoch said. “The next time they did the Script Ohio, the band director at the time decided, ‘We need something that’s a little bit more visible, a little bit more flashy.’ So, they went from the smallest instrument in the band to the largest instrument. You can clearly see that giant sousaphone bell every time the i dotter struts to the top of the i now.”
The sousaphone is a tuba variant created in the nineteenth century at the direction of John Philip Sousa. It wraps around the marcher so that its weight can be carried by the player’s shoulder rather than their arms. But generally, before anyone learns how to march holding the 35- to 40-pound instrument, they learn how to play the tuba. That was tough sledding for Sydney, who said with a laugh, “It took a lot of air.”
“It took a lot of time, and practice, and patience to be able to get myself going in sixth grade.”
Luckily, she had two experts at home. Wendy taught Sydney how to play the tuba, and once she got to high school, Chad helped teach her how to march with the sousaphone. Marching in high school is one thing, though. Making the Ohio State marching band is another.
About 400 people try out for the band each year. But even if you make the cut one year, there are no guarantees you make it the next. Sometimes veterans lose their spots. The tryout requires a music audition and a series of four marching auditions, plus 30 minutes of simultaneous marching and playing in front of the band staff.
“Students spend an entire summer working out, practicing, trying to get all their marching fundamentals right, trying to get their music learned,” Hoch said.
That is exactly what Sydney did going into her freshman year in 2021. She attended all the summer practice sessions at Ohio State. Chad and Wendy would go, too, watching and giving her feedback. Then Sydney would go home to practice with her parents some more.
Sydney thought she was well prepared when she tried out, but she did not make the band. Crushed, she turned to her parents again. Chad took her out to the high school field whenever Sydney came home so they could practice.
“We would march up and down the field, trying to perfect all the fundamentals,” Sydney said. “It was just really cool being able to see that he could still do it all, and do it better than me.”
SYDNEY CALLS CHAD her “best friend” and her “rock.” They would sing “You are My Sunshine” in the car on the way to school when she was a little girl. Whenever she needed a hug, she would go to him, because he gave the best hugs. But there were also hard moments for the Reeves family.
Chad struggled with addiction, and Sydney described “good days and bad days” growing up.
“The good always outweighed the bad,” Sydney said. “It didn’t matter what was happening. If he needed help, we helped. It was very important to us that he knew that he was so loved.”
Added Wendy: “Every family has struggles of one kind or another. It just depends what struggle becomes yours. It doesn’t make a person a bad person. It doesn’t take anything away from their successes.
“But I think the challenge in a family comes from wanting that person to find their personal best, to find their success in recovery. Chad worked very, very hard at recovery. We, as a family, supported that.”
Sydney was at Ohio Stadium in November 2021 for a sorority event when she got a phone call and learned that her dad was in the hospital. He was found unresponsive at home. By the time she arrived, Chad had died, from an accidental drug overdose. He was 51.
“It was heartbreaking, because you never want to lose a parent, and you never want to lose a parent at a young age especially,” Sydney said. “But we knew that he was safe and that everything was going to be OK.”
They held the funeral on a football Saturday. Wendy told everyone to wear scarlet and gray. So many people came to pay their respects, including friends from the time Chad and Wendy spent in the band. At the reception, they streamed the Ohio State game, just as Chad would have wanted.
Sydney returned to school two weeks after his passing, more determined than ever to make the band in her sophomore year. She doubled down on her efforts to get in good physical shape and perfect her music and marching. In her mind, Sydney could hear her dad repeating his favorite line:
To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.
“The memories and the drive that he gave me on those days that we practiced, I took those, and I would do the things that he would tell me,” Sydney said. “They would repeat in my mind and I’d be like, ‘OK, you’ve got to focus. You’ve got to do this.’ I would always say his favorite quote before I do pretty much anything. That really just calmed my nerves and got me ready.”
All that work paid off. Sydney made the band. As long as she continued to improve and make the band every year she was at Ohio State, Sydney knew she would be in position to one day dot the i. The honor is reserved for senior sousaphone players, so some years there is more competition than others. There are 28 total sousaphone players in the band — 24 who march and four alternates. Some years, there will be enough home games for each senior to get a chance to dot the i, and other years, some people will miss out. (This year, there are seven senior sousaphone players.)
“The i dot selection process is kind of complicated,” Hoch said. “There is a rank-order system based on the number of performances that you have marched as a regular band member.”
With that in the back of her mind, Sydney prepared for her first game, in 2022. At the skull session, Wendy presented Sydney with a gift: a Buckeye on a string that Chad wore when he marched in the band.
“This was papa’s,” Wendy told Sydney.
Sydney put it on underneath her uniform, and as she and her fellow band members went down the ramp and onto the field to perform, she cried.
“Because I was doing this thing that I had always wanted to do, that my parents got to do, and that I was making all of my family proud,” she said.
“To anyone outside of the Ohio State family, it might seem silly, a nut on a string, right?” Wendy said. “But for her, it would be like getting something that was very meaningful of his. It is a link to his time in the band, and it was moving for her, and she was thrilled to have it.”
The string started to fray as she wore it that year, so Sydney put it away until later. She didn’t want to wear it again until she got her chance to dot the i.
SYDNEY LEARNED THIS past April she would dot the i on October 4 against Minnesota. So, she got to work, focused on perfecting the tradition’s trademark strut.
She practiced in her backyard, and her mom would tape her, then break down the tape step by step — just like a football coach. Then in July, Sydney started practicing with the drum major, who leads the sousaphone player to the i.
“You’re kicking your legs out in front of you with a little bit of a leaning back motion, and you do about 16 of them to get to the spot from the bottom of the O,” Sydney said. “That is the most challenging part of the entire day, because it’s not something that we normally do, and it’s heavy, and you’re thinking, ‘I have to control my breathing, because I have to play.'”
Sydney learned she would have a practice run of sorts when she found out she would be one of multiple i dotters for the alumni game on Sept. 6 against Grambling. What made that day extra special was having her mom, aunt and uncle — all band alums — on the field marching with her.
That experience was great, but against Minnesota, she would have the spotlight all to herself.
And now, Sydney Reeves from Dublin, Ohio, brings this 89-year tradition back to halftime. The incomparable Script Ohio.
Sydney and the band had just completed their halftime performance. Now the public address announcer told the crowd that she would be closing things out. Sydney had to focus on every step, every move, every fundamental she had been coached on over the years.
Wendy watched from the stands, clasping her hands, saying, “Come on, little one! Come on, little one!” counting down in her head exactly what Sydney had to do and when.
When the band finished looping the final O, Sydney followed the drum major, one strut at a time. She dotted the i and bowed, betraying little emotion. But tucked under her uniform she could feel the buckeye. She felt her dad’s embrace, his encouragement, his courage, one generation connected to the next — a legacy firmly planted on the Ohio Stadium turf.
“I do feel like it brought me closer to him,” Sydney said. “Being able to have this thing that he also was able to have is really awesome. It would’ve been even more special if he could be there in person. But it was very special that I had his buckeye, and I had his memories.
“And I knew that he was looking down on me.”
After years of dreaming and waiting, it was over, just like that. Wendy turned around in the stands to a legion of high-fives and well-wishers, who told her, “You did it, mom!”
“I hadn’t done anything except stand there and watch her dot the i,” Wendy said.
But that, of course, is not true. When Wendy decided at age 11 that she wanted to play the tuba and dot the i in the Ohio State marching band, few women had gotten that opportunity. That decision ultimately inspired her daughter to make history right alongside her parents.
With her i dot, Sydney became the first child of two people who had previously dotted the i at Ohio State to also dot the i.
“It is a dream that you have your whole life, so being able to accomplish that dream is like nothing you could imagine,” Sydney said. “In that moment, it’s this fairy tale that you see in movies, and you get to keep those memories for the rest of your life.”
Sydney gave her mom a big hug when she got back into the stands. But Wendy had already sent her a text message, right after the halftime show ended.
“Sweet dot, baby.”
The SEC has asked the NCAA to rescind a pending rule change that will allow athletes and athletic department staff members to bet on professional sports beginning on Nov. 1, according to a copy of a memo obtained by ESPN.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey sent a letter to NCAA president Charlie Baker on Oct. 25, stating that during an Oct. 13 conference meeting, “The message of our Presidents and Chancellors was clear and united: this policy change represents a major step in the wrong direction.”
Last week, the NCAA’s Division I cabinet approved a rule change to allow betting on professional sports, and Division II and III management councils also signed off on it, allowing it to go into effect on Saturday. NCAA athletes are still prohibited from betting on college sports and sharing information about college sports with bettors. Betting sites also aren’t allowed to advertise or sponsor NCAA championships.
“On behalf of our universities, I write to urge action by the NCAA Division I Board of Directors to rescind this change and reaffirm the Association’s commitment to maintaining strong national standards that keep collegiate participants separated from sports wagering activity at every level,” Sankey wrote. “If there are legal or practical concerns about the prior policy, those should be addressed through careful refinement — not through wholesale removal of the guardrails that have long supported the integrity of games and the well-being of those who participate.”
If the rule goes into effect, it would mark a shift in a long-held policy that had become difficult to enforce with an increase in legal sports betting in the United States. The NCAA has faced an uptick in alleged betting violations by players in recent years. In September, the NCAA announced that a Fresno State men’s basketball player had manipulated his own performance for gambling purposes and conspired with two other players in a prop betting scheme. The NCAA is investigating 13 additional players from six schools regarding potential gambling violations dealing with integrity issues.
On Oct. 22, when the NCAA announced the adoption of the new proposal, it stated that approving the rule change “is not an endorsement of sports betting, particularly for student-athletes.”
“Our action reflects alignment across divisions while maintaining the principles that guide college sports,” said Roberta Page, director of athletics at Slippery Rock and chair of the Division II Management Council, in the NCAA’s news release. “This change recognizes the realities of today’s sports environment without compromising our commitment to protecting the integrity of college competition or the well-being of student-athletes.”
Sankey wrote that the “integrity of competition is directly threatened when anyone with insider access becomes involved in gambling.” He also said the SEC is “equally concerned about the vulnerability of our student-athletes.”
“The SEC’s Presidents and Chancellors believe the NCAA should restore its prior policy-or a modified policy-communicating a prohibition on gambling by student-athletes and athletics staff, regardless of the divisional level of their sport,” Sankey wrote. “While developing and enacting campus or conference-level policy may be considered, the NCAA’s policy has long stood as an expression of our collective integrity, and its removal sends the wrong signal at a time when the gambling industry is expanding its reach and influence.”
ESPN’s Pete Thamel contributed to this report.
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