Spider MacNeill: Still Going Strong
November 21, 2023 - Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Charlottetown Islanders News Release
Andrew MacNeill grew up going to P.E.I. Senators games back when the Island was home to the American Hockey League team from 1993-96. He would watch the game but also focus on what he saw the equipment managers doing on and off the bench. He recalls thinking about how the job looked pretty cool to his younger self. He decided to get his foot in the door of the hockey business by becoming a water boy for the Charlottetown Abbies, the local Junior A. team.
Now, 25 years later, MacNeill has been working in the hockey business for 25 years. The last 20 years he's spent with the Charlottetown Islanders (former P.E.I. Rocket) organization as their equipment manager.
MacNeill noted that it's his love for the game that keeps him coming back to the rink after two and a half decades.
"I absolutely love hockey. I played a lot of hockey growing up, I never got to play major junior hockey growing up but I played competitive hockey and I loved it. Whenever minor hockey was done, I wanted to stay in the game," he said. "I knew being around the rink and seeing how equipment managers work, I thought it was a pretty cool opportunity. I thought 'why not do this and I could stay in the game'."
MacNeill said the rewarding part of the job is getting to watch the kids that come through the organization grow.
"Whenever we see these young kids come through the Charlottetown Islanders, be drafted, 16 years old, seeing them then and then seeing them leave as men. Getting to see what they do in the future," he said. "I love the stories of Jimmy Bonneau and Antione Bibeau, we all stay in contact and that's from back in the P.E.I. Rocket days. We're still all friends and family. Seeing the guys grow up into men is the coolest part of this job."
MacNeill has been to hockey camps in Calgary with the Under-17 development group and was also involved last summer with the World Juniors camp. The man they call 'Spider' though, just finished his first job behind the bench at an international event. He was the equipment manager for Team Canada Red at the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge.
"The first night, when I got to walk on the bench, get ready for that game and stand there, it was pretty surreal. I put a lot of time in with hockey in general and being rewarded by being on the international stage in my backyard basically here at the Eastlink Centre, it was pretty special."
Even a man with 25 years of experience in the hockey industry still gets jitters when getting called to the international stage MacNeill mentioned.
"I'm in such a routine here with the Islanders the last 20 seasons. Going on a bench with a different group of kids and coaching staff with different rules and stuff like that, yeah, I felt like a rookie," he said. "Even before warm-ups started just trying to make sure everything was set. With the international rules, the warm-up clock is a lot different than what you see at our games so I was trying to get used to that."
MacNeill said that by mid-tournament, he was rolling though and it was just like any other day at the office.
Due to Hockey Canada protocols, MacNeill wasn't able to stay in his own house during the tournament despite living in Charlottetown. For him though, it just added to the experience.
"I stayed at the Delta with the team so we spent a lot of time together. It wasn't just seeing the guys at the rink, it was seeing them at the hotel and going to meals together made it all pretty special. I took the coaching staff to a couple of local restaurants and showed them around town, it was all pretty cool."
Now, time to answer the age-old question, where did 'Spider' come from?
"Grade one, I got the nickname 'Spider'. My best friend Mike McGuigan, his father Barney put the name on me. I was the tall, long legs long arms lanky kid in elementary school. One night I came off the ice and Barney just said, 'You're the spider'. I didn't know what he was talking about then he said 'You got the long arms and the long legs and we're going to call you the spider'," said MacNeill.
MacNeill later found out that his dad's nickname was Webber, which he thought was a cool connection.
MacNeill noted these past 20 seasons with the Islanders/Rocket have just flown by.
"We're one of the luckiest teams in the CHL to have our staff that we have. Jim, Hendo, Guy, Dev, Paul Drew, we're all a tight-knit family. When the hockey season is over, we're still hanging out together. We're going to barbeques, we're golfing together, we're talking baseball in the offseason, we are really tight," he said. "The success we've had on the ice the past couple of years, that's a big part of it too. Our staff is really easy to get along with, we are a family."
The Islanders host the Baie-Comeau Drakkar at the Eastlink Centre Charlottetown on Wednesday, November 22 at 7:00 p.m. Click here to buy tickets.
Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from November 21, 2023
- Spider MacNeill: Still Going Strong - Charlottetown Islanders
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- CHL Top-10 Rankings Announced for Week 8 - QMJHL
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