Charlottetown Islanders' equipment manager featured in Hometown Hockey broadcast

Watching hockey players hit the ice at practice or a game never gets boring, says Andrew (Spider) MacNeill. 

While he's not a hockey player now, he cherishes his role behind the bench as the equipment manager for the Charlottetown Islanders. 

"I come to the rink every day and get to watch practice and two or three games a week," MacNeill said.

"I love it."

His passion for hockey will be featured on Rogers Hometown Hockey this coming weekend. 

'Good situation'

MacNeill's role as equipment manager is setting up the bench and putting out jerseys, whether it's for practice or a game. 

MacNeill started young, at age eight or nine, filling water bottles behind the bench for the Charlottetown Abbies.

"It's a good situation for me to be in my hometown working with the CHL team, and a lot of guys aren't that fortunate." 

NHL dreams

While he's happy where he is, MacNeill still dreams of moving up and working for an NHL team.

"I had the opportunity to do it at Hockeyville in O'Leary and Summerside with the league with the Ottawa Senators," he said.

MacNeill said it was an honour and privilege to be able to do it. 

But he's even more happy to share his story with Hometown Hockey, which features the stories of the unsung heroes of the game, even though he was a bit reluctant to at first.

"My wife said 'Andrew, you've got to take this opportunity and take it as an honour they're even asking you,' so I rolled with it."

That included being followed for three days at the rink and home. 

The feature will air Sunday on Hometown Hockey. 

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