NEUGSIE’S AROUND THE RINKS

By: Jamie Neugebauer
Voice of the ND Hounds/DUBNetwork MJ Warriors Beat Writer

1. Did they ruin it?: The Montreal Canadiens have torn off a bunch of wins in a row in the last couple of weeks since the hiring of peewee coach/Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis – including a thunderous blasting of the most enigmatic team ever, the Toronto Maple Leafs. It had me wondering: what’s the point? Did they ruin their draft pick? My first thought was yes, what a waste, but then I remembered that there is are just a gaggle of players to go in the Top 10 in this draft coming up similar in that they are pretty good, but aren’t going to be generational. So, win on! Better for the likes of Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki to develop in that environment.
2. Juraj: Maybe it’s because he’s Slovak, but even projected around rounds 6-10 for the draft, Juraj Slafkovsky might turn out to be the best player taken in 2022. The analytics gurus will tell you not to base NHL opinions on short international tournaments, but seven goals in seven games in a dominant individual performance that was critical in bringing his country a famous bronze at the Beijing Games has me thinking! The 6-foot-4, 220-pounder has that wow factor missing from Shane Wright, in my opinion, and some success against men like that, on a stage like that, I believe will go a way in the minds of scouts. He can score any way you want, and size isn’t an issue.
3. Bedard: I came on Rod’s show before the aborted World Juniors and said that going to it would be good for Regina’s Connor Bedard, so that he could just play hockey with some really good players, relax, and get back into his groove – and boy has he ever. With his 26 points in February, he has earned WHL Player of the Month honours, and while the team is on the bubble, he has done his part this year (as much as you can ask a 16-year-old!). It would be so great for the Pats fanbase to fill that rink to see Bedard in a playoff game, and get a little sports buzz going in this city!
4. Next year in Moose Jaw: In the meantime, the Moose Jaw Warriors have hit 30 wins, and are not a bubble playoff team at all – they’re in. But given their roster is built around 2003s-2005s, it makes me really think that as good as they are this year, wait till next. Would it be possible for New York Rangers pick Ryder Korczak to come back and lead this team as a 2002-born overager instead of making the jump to the AHL? Certainly, and with the crop of elite talent around him, boy this team can be scary in 2022-2023. The Silver Fox (MJ superfan Kelly Remple) and I agree they were a few years away a couple of years ago, so strap yourself in Warriors fans! Brayden Yager and Jagger Firkus have especially grown up in front of our eyes, and between Firkus and Dman Denton Mateychuk, MJ could see two guys in the first round of the next draft. Yager is a Top 10 lock in 2023, write it down now.
5. Road tripping: Came back in the early hours of Monday morning from the best Notre Dame Hounds Junior A roady I’ve ever been on as Brett Pilkington’s men rang off three wins from three in Nipawin, Flin Flon, and La Ronge this past weekend. Impressive stuff and something that’s never happened in the five years I’ve been around! ND has six games left on the schedule – more than anyone in the league – and sits in the eighth and final playoff spot with a five-point lead and a game in hand on Kindersley, the only true competition behind them. The three victories were all so different: the Nipawin game was one they dominated, but kept giving leads away before Kev Anderson produced some absolute magic to snatch it in the third; the Flin Flon game was a cagey nail-biter with rookie Landon Peterson playing unlikely hero with the game-winner late in which Austin Elliott was brilliant in net, and then a romp in La Ronge capped off by a magnificent Will Dawson hat trick. It was fun, but it did not sort anything as we head to the final couple of weeks of the season. If they make it, it is most likely going to be either mighty Estevan or Humboldt in Round 1 for the Hounds.
6. Kev: There are certain players one looks back on one’s career and remembers: “what a privilege to watch that kid regularly”; and Notre Dame captain Kevin Anderson is going to be one of those for me. The 119^th-ranked North American skater ahead of the next NHL Draft not only has been so consistent offensively this season at 70 points in 52 games, but he has made every linemate better, has killed penalties regularly, won faceoffs, played great defence, and has improved from start to finish. He skates well, takes his business in the gym seriously, and at the same time remains so humble and team-first…am I gushing? For sure I am, but this is my column, so I’ll do what I want. An NHL team could do a lot worse in the middle rounds than the Princeton University commit, especially since you can honestly slot him anywhere 1-12 in your forward corps at the next level and all he’ll do is work for you.
7. The Ram: As special as Kev has been this year, the MVP in the SJHL has to be locked up by Humboldt’s University of Toronto-committed goaltender Rayce Ramsay. The former Kamloops Blazers’ goaltender is a win away from a remarkable 40 on the season, something I’ve never seen and may never see again, and just the mental and physical durability to not only produce results but great performances regularly is just astounding. The year after the crash, a 17-year-old Rayce beat out 20-year-olds from the Humboldt job before moving on to the WHL, so maybe that mentality he has should not come as this much of a surprise; but how can you not be impressed. Do I hope he does it against Kindersley this week, to help ND get closer to clinching a playoff spot? Absolutely I do. At the time of writing the Ram is 39-9, with a 2.02 GAA, and a .929 save percentage…how can you honestly do better than that?
8. Darkhorse: I was on Flin Flon radio with the incredible legend of Rob Hart (and what a sweet guy too), and he asked me about whom I thought is the dark horse to make a run in the SJHL playoffs. Well, it’s the same answer I give most years: the Melfort Mustangs. I feel like a broken record, but Trevor Blevins’ men are finally getting healthy, and just like seemingly every year, are figuring out how to play his brand of structured, hard-nosed, winning hockey at the right time. Much depends on young James Venne, or if the older-though-no-more-experienced Joel Favreau in net is healthy, but defensive stalwarts Hayden Tuba and Kevin Minnoch are coming back, and this team will grind you into dust. Not a big prediction, but captain Ben Tkachuk is going to have an awesome post-season, and with his blend of speed, honest two-way hard work, and underappreciated skill, could do a job at an NCAA D1 school; I have no doubts.
9. The Cougs: Yes, it’s too bad the University of Regina’s men’s and women’s hockey teams are probably disappointed to have been beaten out of the first round of their respective post-seasons; but what a job by those two coaches and that group of athletes to just get there. Todd Johnson’s men’s squad has been much maligned as the whipping boys of CanadaWest for years, so for them to take this step this year, and make it in; to build a platform to grow this program in the right direction, it just brings a big-time smile to face. Sarah Hodges’ womens’ crew was in a major rebuild, leaned on a very few vets and an extremely young group, and pulled off an epic end to the season to make it in! I hope they let me continue to be part of this story as a broadcaster moving forward because something cool is happening in the provincial capital!
10. Big Centennial: Am I going to bury the lead here? Not sure. At any rate, I am hearing that the Centennial Cup in Estevan at the end of May is going to be expanded to include the champions of all nine Junior A leagues in the CJHL umbrella, plus the hosts, to make a fascinating 10-team field. I’ll talk more about this in the coming weeks, but it looks like the pandemic pauses have led to the decision to do away with the regional tournaments, and thus to change the format. This means we would see two SJHL teams at the event no matter what, which is cool, and it will be especially interesting to see how teams and leagues truly compare where it matters: on the ice. Stay tuned for more!

(Follow Jamie on Twitter at @Neugsie)