The unsung playmakers of Olympic hockey magic

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This article was published 09/01/2026 (238 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As the country’s top hockey talents celebrated their selection to the Canadian men’s national team that will play at next month’s Olympic Games in Milan, a pair of Manitobans knew their spots with the team were already secure.

Darren Granger and Kurt Keats aren’t household names like the players and coaches who make up Team Canada: Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Josh Morrissey, or head coach Jon Cooper, to name a few.

That’s because Granger and Keats’ work is done away from the cameras and the spotlight, in locker rooms and offices. Make no mistake, though, they have become equally important to Team Canada’s quest for gold.

Granger is the team’s head equipment manager, while Keats is one of two managers of hockey operations.

The 54-year-old Granger, who grew up in Brandon and got his start with the Western Hockey League’s Wheat Kings, has handled sticks, skates and pads in the NHL for more than three decades.

His first taste of the pros came in 1992 with the Vancouver Canucks as an assistant equipment manager, but he’s been the head guy for the Los Angeles Kings since then-GM Dean Lombardi hired him in 2006.

In that time, Granger has also become a trusted face in the Canadian national team locker rooms, including the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, where Canada struck gold.

The 2026 Olympic Games will mark the 10th international competition that Granger has worked. While he admits preparing for these events can add to the frenzy of his full-time job, he has never rejected an offer from Hockey Canada.

“I’ve never said, ‘no.’ And I won’t,” Granger said.

“They’ve done a lot for me for a long time now. Even when I was younger, just starting out, I had lots of opportunities with — back then — the Program of Excellence, which led into the World Juniors, and then once I was in the NHL, I had opportunities to work the World Championship. So if Hockey Canada calls, I am available, for sure.”

So, how exactly does someone become the equipment manager of the Canadian national team anyway?

“It’s not something you apply for,” said Granger, who was informed that he had been selected for the 4 Nations Face-Off and the Olympic Games in the summer of 2024.

Staffing conversations are held months in advance of a competition between the team’s management group. When those decisions are finalized, in Granger’s case, Team Canada must receive permission from the Los Angeles Kings to borrow their trusted employee, which is a call made by GM Doug Armstrong.

“It’s not something I take for granted,” said Granger, who still gets the same feeling as he did upon receiving his first call to work the 1991-92 World Junior Championship.

“I’m so proud that I can be asked over and over these last few times, and they trust me to be able to do what I need to do, to help the team. You know, there are a lot of guys that are Canadian that do my job in the NHL, and I know them all very well, and they’re very good. So to be asked each time is quite an honour.”

Granger will work closely with Ottawa Senators equipment manager John Forget in the coming weeks to ensure every t is crossed and every i is dotted when it comes to fulfilling each player’s individual preferences. Equally important is their relationship with the athletes. While building familiarity with players can prove more difficult in a short time at an international competition, the veteran equipment guys know what it takes.

“I had two calls before I talked to you this morning, trying to track down Jordan Binnington’s goal equipment and trying to get his mask painted,” Granger said. “It adds a little bit during the season… but we got great support working together with Johnny and people at Hockey Canada.”

“You got to get to know each other quickly,” he added. “The nice thing about our sport is guys are so good that it’s a pretty easy transition to get to know each other. But you do need to build a level of trust that they know that you’re good at what you do.”

Meanwhile, it will be Keats’ first Olympic Games, but his 11th international tournament overall.

The 30-year-old product of Winnipeg played four years at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, helping the Minutemen reach the national championship in his senior year in 2019.

As Keats’ collegiate career was coming to a close, Hockey Canada was accepting applications for the Bill Hay Future Leaders Internship Program — an eight-month tenure with the organization’s national teams. The timing couldn’t have been better, but when Keats was offered the internship, he had a choice to make: continue to chase the professional dream or hang ’em up.

“I figured if I didn’t take this opportunity, I’d probably kick myself for a long time if playing professionally didn’t work out — and that’s where the signs were kind of pointing,” he said. “To me, this was sort of the next best thing, being involved in the game and in a management position.”

Keats ran with that opportunity to a role as hockey operations co-ordinator for three years, helping manage teams for the World Juniors (winning two), World Championship, Spengler Cup and the U16 Youth Olympic Games. In 2023, he was promoted to manager of hockey ops and has worked primarily with men’s teams since.

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Now working with an Olympic team, Keats’ role becomes more administrative and less hands-on. He’s been the main conduit between Hockey Canada, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the IIHF — which has included three trips to Milan in the last 11 months as he and the rest of the hockey operations staff survey the Olympic village and the surrounding area.

Keats — who called preparing for the Olympics a “pinch-me moment” — is happy to take a back seat as he learns from some of the brightest minds in the sport, though.

“When it comes to the Olympic Games, and you have a management group of five NHL general managers, you sit at the table, but you definitely sit back and let the big dogs do their jobs,” he said.

“I think the 4 Nations was really my first taste of best-on-best — and everybody’s in a long time — so that was incredibly exciting. To get that core group of guys together for that tournament and start to make a relationship with a lot of these guys… has been unbelievable.”

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Joshua Frey-Sam
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