NEUGSIE’S AROUND THE RINKS

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

1. USports puck drop: I Tweeted it out on the day I heard last Thursday, but CanadaWest hockey has a schedule! The puck is set to drop on Oct. 15 for both the men and women, and I love the idea of leagues being proactive in setting target dates, making potential schedules, without waiting for the government (or the dreaded ‘Business Response Team’) to give the thumbs up or down. Let’s be ready! Let’s get information out there! That’s how buzz is created, and tickets and advertising sold, and players committed. I am told that the University of Regina’s men’s and women’s teams are both expecting serious improvement for this year, but we’ll see because especially on the men’s side I have not seen it since I’ve been in Saskatchewan. With Babcock part of the crew up north, it’s a good time for the Cougars to figure it out! Don’t expect Regina captain Tristan Frei to be back.
2. Disaster for Canada: The expectations for Team Canada at the 2021 IIHF World Championships in Latvia were honestly pretty low given the young, unproven roster they were able to cobble together…but for any group bearing the Maple Leaf, an 0-3 start, with two goals scored and 10 against, and losses to Latvia and Germany, this has been an unmitigated disaster. Ok, it’s not the end of the world. Who is paying attention anyway? There is no relegation, and the draft-eligible Owen Power has been awesome against real pros, but this has been poor from Gerard Gallant’s men. The goalies they’ve faced (Germany and Latvia especially) played incredible, for sure, but there has not been a lot of commitment to do even the simple things needed to score when the offence isn’t flowing: get pucks through to the net, get traffic in front, stop in the blue paint and make life difficult for the goalie, etc. It has been a tough, exhausting year for everyone involved, but time is running short for the young Canadians to even make the quarterfinals – something I never thought I’d write about. With four games left at the time of writing they pretty much need to win out. And you say to me: “Jamie, they only have to beat Norway, Italy, and Kazakhstan now to get to a crucial round-robin finale vs. Finland”, but I say nothing is a given at all in this tournament, and with this group that has shown almost no offensive flair. I said it before it all started: this is the best chance for a Swiss gold medal ever, and they are looking great.
3. Disaster for Edmonton: If expectations were low for Canada, they were pretty high for the Edmonton Oilers, the No. 2 team in the NHL North. Let’s be clear: almost nobody saw a Winnipeg sweep coming, but I just wish I could see a board battle win/loss ratio for these two teams over the series: I think it’ll be a huge number in favour of the Jets. Now, it was a sweep with lots of overtime, and tight games, so it was not exactly a ‘blew-them-away’-type of situation, but still, a sweep? Winning in the playoffs so often looks different than winning in the regular season, it’s just a fact, and there still is (and I believe, always will be) space for “heavy hockey”. What does that mean? Win board scrums, win big face-offs, protect the puck in the corner, commit to blocking shots, commit to finishing checks, commit to backchecking with vigour, and the list goes on. I don’t think the Oilers lacked effort at all, I just think the Jets are just flying in these underappreciated categories and should scare anyone – especially with Connor Hellebuyck looking as good as he is in the net. My thesis: this is more success for Winnipeg than a horrible failure for Edmonton.
4. McDavid out?: I’ve seen all sorts of sympathy (and more than a few funny memes) regarding Connor McDavid’s past, present, and future in Edmonton, and I’ll just say this to the people who think it’s all but a lock he’s going to push his way out: he won’t, that’s not who he is. When he was picked first overall in the Ontario Hockey League draft by the Erie Otters, it was the beginning of the present era in the ‘O’ where kids and their agents are more than ever telling certain teams “don’t draft me, I’m not coming”. Erie was the least sexy spot in the league at the time, and McDavid could have easily said “forget about it!”, but he didn’t, and went on record saying that the attitude of not reporting is wrong and that if a team is kind enough to pick him, then he plans on paying them back and playing. Yes, I know, this is a much bigger world, but I believe he’s still that same kid inside. For better or worse, I believe he’ll bash his head against the wall over and again, as he has already before he demands a move. I also believe he feels responsible for whether the Oilers get over the hump, and I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with him, I’m just going on what I think I know about him as a person. I know a billion people out there would say “he’d be nuts to not ask out!”, and that’s your prerogative! I have nothing but respect for Connor. GM Ken Holland has $27 million in cap space to spend this off-season, so it’s on him now!
5. Tough Leafs: I love the quote I heard after the Leafs’ Game 2 domination of the Habs: Toronto’s toughness has to be their power play. Neither team has been very good with the power play, to be honest, and as much as people love to tweet a thousand times a minute about whether the refs and lineys are helping Toronto (I’ll let you guess what I think of that hogwash), the Habs love to feel aggrieved, and are good at penalty killing; so special teams in Games 1 and 3 have not been that important. In Game 2 the Leafs’ power play came alive, and the best way to deal with the hatchet-job Habs is to not retaliate (ala Nazem Kadri…but that’s another topic) but to put the puck in the net. I don’t love Rasmus Sandin at the point of PP1, as much as Sheldon Keefe is trying to force-feed his former Soo Greyhounds star back there, but with Willy Nylander (who looks great, by the way), Auston Matthews (who looks…okay…), and Mitch Marner (who looks terrible), etc you’d think they would figure this man-advantage out sooner or later! I wasn’t worried about the Leafs vs Montreal after Game 1, and I’m not worried today. Keep up the Leafs hatred you poets out there! We love it! When it comes to being a Leafs fan we get two things more often than not: hatred (when we’re good and feared), and sympathy (at other times). Bring on the hatred!
6. Campbell and Price: Let’s get it straight: if it were not for Carey Price’s heroics in the Montreal net, it would be a Leafs sweep right now. He’s made so many big stops, and the ones that went in were rarely his fault. But how about Jack Campbell? There were whispers that Keefe would go to the ‘devil ya know’ in net, also known as Fredrik Andersen (I’m glad those whispers were quiet!), but Campbell has been excellent. A 1.35 goals against, a .951 save percentage at the time of writing, a big shutout in Game 4, and in a white-knuckle series where the other guy is one of the best goaltenders to ever play the game, the pressure has not gotten to him. He’s also faced about 27 shots per game, which is pretty low, but when he’s been called upon, he’s been great. Let’s give him some credit!
7. Hunt commits: Back to Junior A news and big 2000-born Melfort Mustangs defenceman Andrew Hunt has committed to a great spot: Carleton University in USports. The Ottawa-based school is an Ontario powerhouse, and I think is poised to make a run at the country next year. Hunt is another example of a guy who never got to show his absolute best in the SJ because of stupid Covid, joining the club from a struggling Olds Grizzlys (Alberta Junior League) mid-2019-2020, and got better every game he played for the ‘Stangs. At 6’3, 200 lbs, Hunt has all the tools to be very good at the next level, and I truly believe projects to be a pro defender if he wants to be. 
8. Holoien moves on: The Battlefords North Stars are looking for a new assistant coach because Rob Holoien has moved back to be the head coach of the Jr. B Carrot River Thunder, and back home to Melfort to be closer to family. Holoien joined the Stars in the middle of 18-19 and his energy and enthusiasm were a big part of Battlefords’ great success over the years since! A personality that will be missed in the league. A fun fact about Holoien is that he once played in the British Columbia Hockey League for the Victoria Salsa…how can anyone be in a bad mood if they play for a team named after Salsa? 
9. Liverpool miracle: Okay time for some soccer talk, my other great sports passion. Riddled with injuries, and mired down the table only weeks ago, Liverpool Football Club has stormed back and with Sunday’s victory over Crystal Palace (in front of numerous fans at their home ground), took over the third spot in the English Premier League, and more importantly, a spot in next year’s Champions League! Their German manager Jurgen Klopp had to patch the backline together with duct tape and bratwurst drippings, and I (and many like me) had all but given up hope around the new year, so this is nothing short of a miracle! Soccer has been the most important sport in the world for over 100 years, and with the European Championships starting June 11, now is a great time for you all to get on board! England will name its final squad for the tournament on June 1, if you’re looking for someone fun to cheer for. On another note, really glad to see Rachel Bishop, the Rod Pedersen Show intern, give the ‘Beautiful Game’ all sorts of great coverage on this site, and she’s a Liverpool supporter too!
10. Here today, gone tomorrow: I’ll end off on the Blue Jays, and I remember May 18, just over a week ago at the time of writing, the Jays had just roasted the mighty Boston Red Sox 8-0 with magnificent pitching performance all around. Fast forward to today and Toronto’s bullpen is the laughing stock of the MLB! Their collective ERA since then has been around 6.50 (which is bad, if you’re wondering), and though injuries have played a huge part, I have not enjoyed some of Manager Charlie Montoyo’s decisions over this stretch either. That being said, it’s wild how public opinion can swing so fast! Also, the Tampa Bay Rays, who smashed Toronto around the last series, will make a lot of teams look bad this whole season…so there’s that. Still, no time to panic! It’s baseball, there are still a billion games left.

(Follow Jamie on Twitter at @Neugsie)