NEUGSIE’S AROUND THE RINKS

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

1. Andy the Savior: Josh Anderson’s winner early in overtime for Montreal in Game 4 of the Cup Final, and his goal earlier that night, were his first two tallies since June 19th’s Game 3 vs. Vegas. The Burlington, ON boy has only scored in three of 21 playoff games, but all three were one-goal wins for the Habs, so I guess he saves it for the biggest days. His lack of consistency these playoffs is still pretty frustrating, even in the midst of what I’m sure is some great euphoria right now, especially since we all know what he can do. Here’s a small Neugsie connection for you: his little brother Jordan played for the Toronto Patriots Junior A back in 15-16, and I was there at the time (was at that club between 2014 and 2017, if you’re interested, and picked up the only championship ring I own when the team made the RBC Cup in 2014! A team from someplace called ‘Yorkton’ won the national championship that year.)
2. Going as I called it: Back to the present and this whole final is really going as I called it. The Habs are out of gas, the seasoned Lightning are a much better team and understand how to win. I don’t believe they ‘let them have Game 4 to win it at home’, but the series isn’t going past Wednesday. Period.
3. Jamer to Ontario/Broncos outlook: In Sask Junior Hockey League news, the Humboldt Broncos want to be young again and made the first move out of the league Tuesday by sending big 2001-born winger Justin Jamer to the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Cobourg Cougars for cash. I know the OJ very well, and Cobourg is a great great spot with a beautiful rink and a great community; so kudos to Humboldt GM/Coach Scott Barney for finding the kid a good spot. On top of that, Jamer is from the Ottawa area, so not super far from Cobourg (which is an hour-and-a-half or so due east of Toronto, if you’re wondering). Humboldt has a lot of very good defenceman, a very good goaltender in Rayce Ramsay, so it’ll be interesting to see how aggressive Barney is at adding scoring punch. It’s crazy to be typing that given that the 20-21 team would’ve scored as well as any Junior A team in Canada ever has, and did so in the brief time the season was alive!
4. MJ Import Draft: Love the idea of the Canadian Hockey League Import Draft, but in the end, nobody actually knows what’s going to happen in it till it actually happens! Ha! Well, it happened this past week and though I thought the Warriors would take a defenceman to complement its already loaded forward corps, they went and filled their last import slot with…another forward. Slovak Robert Baco is huge and looks to be a late-round NHL pick, though he appears to be similar to fellow import Martin Rysavy and another sure-to-be drafted Moose Jaw winger in Eric Alarie, we’ll see! I guess the MJ brass want to put all sorts of size and strength around Brayden Yager and Jagger Firkus upfront, but either way, it is hard for me to imagine a world in which the 21-22 Warriors don’t score a lot of goals. Just have to keep them out! It’ll be intriguing to watch.
5. Pats Import Draft: The Pats on the other hand are looking to the deeper future by adding young skill around Connor Bedard. Regina GM John Paddock went with two 2004 birth years in the skillful creative Finn Joakim Kemmell, and the Swedish playmaker Alexander Suzdalev with his picks, and a cursory glance at what the Pats have coming up in the cupboard, I have to say that they sound just about right. Of course, the trick with picking players in the Import Draft is to get them to come across the pond, but we’ll save that topic for another day!
6. ND’s young captains: The Notre Dame Hounds Junior A announced their captain and an assistant Monday by putting the ‘C’ on 2003-born Princeton commit Kevin Anderson and an ‘A’ on big 2003-born defenceman Jaryd Sych. I love this move by the Hounds brass for several reasons, but the biggest one is that while neither of these guys has been around the SJ block long, they are both high-character premium young prospects; aka what coach/GM Brett Pilkington wants all the players on his team to want to be. It’s a move to make the captains a real all-around example, and I know from a personal standpoint I’ve seen both of these guys grow up so fast, and so well. They aren’t your classic ’20-year-old captains, there to give a swear-filed raw-raw speech’, but the power of example is far more important. They both have it in them to let you know what they think too, so I’m not worried about their age or temperament one bit. 
7. Canada’s disappointment: Canada Basketball’s exit from Olympic qualifying at the hands of the Czech Republic in the semi-finals was only devastating in that they had an epic rally to just get to overtime, and then Trey Lyles simply could not hit his well-created open shot to tie in the last seconds of OT. Otherwise, the attitude on display, the desire and hunger of Canadian NBA players to show up and play hard, was so, so encouraging. They had eight NBA players to the Czechs one, but none of those eight were real big rim protectors or centres; to put in another way, they didn’t have anyone over 6’9, which is extra important in international basketball because there are no rules against just having your biggest guy stand in the middle of the lane and clog things up (like there is in the NBA). Dallas Mavericks’ power forward Dwight Powell did his best, but in the end that, plus ice-cold three-point shooting, was the biggest difference. Either way, I am so thankful to all those guys who showed up, during a pandemic after a long, strange season, to play for Canada and hope they created a new day where our best players are actually excited to wear the red and white. 
8. All-Star Jays: I am actually going to pass off the last two points to my big brother Matthew, who requested a shot at a couple of points since he’s an enormous soccer fan. But first, how about those Blue Jays? Four all-stars, three of them starters, are the most since 1993, and the front office is actually making pretty good moves to fix the broken bullpen. I would’ve loved to see Markham, Ontario’s Jordan Romano make the all-star game as the Jays’ only consistent pitcher all year, but lots to be happy about anyway. The mid-summer classic goes July 13th!
9. Euro grand finale: I’m writing this on the heels of Italy’s cagey but gripping win over Spain in the first semifinal of Euro 2020. They may not have shown it much today, but the Azzuri have been pretty fantastic since their day one matchup vs Turkey. All three teams who’ve survived (England and Denmark square off at 1 pm MT/ST Wednesday) have shown impressive unity, proving once again that a side with decent talent but bristling with chemistry can and likely will go farther than a stacked but divided locker room. Italy’s energetic attack is supported by an aging but stalwart defensive pair. Gareth Southgate’s English squad can finally rely on rewarding experiences in both World Cup and Champions’ League, while enjoying a nice pool party on the side. [https://twitter.com/England/status/1411757626745102337?s=19] Denmark has punched high above their weight, rallying through star Christian Erickson’s health emergency and finding ways to compete without him. It’s a stark contrast with a France side that was astronomic in talent but when it came to chemistry was in worse shape than the Dutch team of the mid-2010s. [https://theathletic.com/2680738/2021/07/01/parents-arguing-benzema-tensions-and-a-hotel-that-wasnt-fancy-enough-the-extraordinary-story-of-frances-euro-2020-exit?source=user-shared-article] While neither Italy or England are as star-studded as France, they do have their share of bright lights: Wednesday afternoon, my eye will be on a resurgent Raheem Sterling, who looks to continue his solid case for Player of the Tournament in front of the Wembley Stadium faithful.
10. Bring soccer home (to our home, anyway): Hopefully soon enough, you won’t have to go to Europe, South America, the US or elsewhere in Canada to enjoy the Beautiful Game in-person. The farthest you’ll have to go is Saskatoon, where Alan Simpson and Living Sky Sports and Entertainment are hoping to launch a Canadian Premier League team by 2023 [https://canpl.ca/article/canadian-premier-league-announces-expansion-in-saskatchewan]. The league burst onto the scene three years ago with a level of play that surprised just about everyone, and has managed to stay afloat during the pandemic with a short bubble tournament in PEI last summer and a “2021 kickoff” bubble in Winnipeg that began a few weeks ago. That momentum is sure to pick up when teams return to their home markets to continue the season in August, and will receive a significant boost as plans for Saskatchewan’s entry are solidified, especially the proposed stadium in Prairieland Park. And the first opportunity for you to show your public support is literally in a matter of days: come on out to Sports on Tap in Saskatoon this Sunday July 11 for a Q&A with Simpson at noon, followed by the Euro Final at 1 and Canada’s Gold Cup opener at 4:30.

(Follow Jamie on Twitter at @Neugsie)