NEUGSIE’S AROUND THE RINKS

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

1. Props to Lehner:  I wanted to start by giving big-time props to Vegas goalie Robin Lehner for starting the trend on Twitter where people open up in as clear terms as possible about what mental health issues they are struggling with. A big part of the power our issues have over us is the shame and with that the hunger to hide them to not look weak or give people a ‘weapon to wield against us’. I think Lehner is totally right: being open is our weapon against shame, it doesn’t fix us of course, but I think he’s opened a great flood gate. I saw Theo Fleury post his issues too, and while social media isn’t my place to do that, I have found people to be open with, and I encourage you to do that too. Could write a book about this topic, but I’ll leave it at that. 
2. Warriors get their guys:  It wasn’t a great secret that the Moose Jaw Warriors were going to land at least Martin Rysavy, their big Czech import forward for 2021-2022, though little had been said about the Robert Baco, their big Slovak import forward. Well, GM Jason Ripplinger came out Tuesday and said that both have committed to the Friendly City club for the campaign ahead. It should be a very entertaining year at Mosaic Arena with the forwards legitimately eight or nine deep with players who can score, and three NHL draft picks plus draft-eligible 2004-born Denton Mateychuk on the back end. Is the last question-mark goaltending? There’s plenty of offence upfront and on the blue line, but is there enough shut down? Oh, it’ll be a fun year to follow the Warriors. 
3. Russia v Canada at next two drafts:  If you’re Canadian, you probably have the next two No. 1 NHL picks in ink as Shane Wright and Connor Bedard. If you’re Russian, it could look different: Ivan Miroshnichenko next year, Matvei Michkov the year after. It’ll be so interesting to see how that all shakes down, but I think you’d have to be pretty nuts to predict anybody other than those four. 
4. Olympics:  Yep, I love the Olympics, I’ll say it. How about that women’s national soccer team beating the USA in the semis? That felt great to see, even though I have to admit I didn’t get up at 2 am Sask time to watch it aha. A lot of people sour in the media about how the Americans responded to losing to us, but I say let them say whatever they want! We won! As a long-time Canadian national soccer teams fan, the polite “oh, the Canadians tried really hard, they should feel good about themselves”, then smirk after they beat us, is really old and way worse. Our national teams are just starting to earn respect, so why should we expect it. I have to admit I’m very disappointed with our national basketball teams, but….Covid?…I guess… 
5. Because the Leafs want your love:  Speaking of unpopular decisions, the Leafs have brought in Josh Ho-Sang on a try-out. Lots of rumours and bad things people have to say about the guy back home, but I don’t want to go there because I don’t know the truth of any of it. It’s also only a try-out, and his issues don’t seem to be racial or prejudicial, so it’s pretty different to DeAngelo in my books. What do I know!  
6. Craziest FA day:  I think Duthie said over $500 million was spent on free agency day, with over 100 guys signed! Wild! It was the craziest FA day that I can remember in a long time unless I have Covid amnesia, in which case I claim ignorance. The Devils grab of Dougie Hamilton is the biggest move without a doubt, but what a fun day! Were you happy with your team’s moves? The Leafs kind of had the “throw a bunch of wet paper towel at the wall and see what sticks” mentality, signing a bunch of ‘okay’ dudes, including Nick Ritchie, Ondrej Kase, Kurtis Gabriel, and Michael Bunting. We’ll see, but they didn’t do much with the cap space from losing Jared McCann to Seattle and Zach Hyman to Edmonton…maybe they aren’t done? We’ll see if Petr Mrazek and Jack Campbell are the answers in net. 
7. Praughter:  Thrilled for Devan Praught, the Notre Dame Hounds U18 coach, who got the assistant coach gig for bench boss Dean Brockman with the Swift Current Broncos. He did an awesome job, winning the 2018 Telus Cup, and the 2019 Sask championship, and has moved a whole bunch of kids on to great spots extremely well. Gonna miss that smooth P.E.I. accent around the Dunc! New ND Hounds U18 coach TBD, is what I hear!  
8. Hammer!:  Also thrilled to hear two-year ND Hounds Junior A captain Jared Hamm committed to Minot State University to play some post-secondary next year! He’ll join really good dudes and former Hounds Junior A boys Austin Wieler and Payton Jerome down there, and I think he’ll make a huge impact. Jared has huge skill, and just could not stay healthy during his SJHL career, and even though he played a bunch of games, I don’t think I’ll get in trouble saying that he played a lot of them in a lot of pain. I also love the kid, love his family, and I know he’s going to dominate. So happy he’s not done with the game! Check out my interview with him here, if you’re interested: https://youtu.be/4u1kdFPdlpc 
9. Kane:  I don’t want to talk about this too much because I don’t know the truth of any of it, but I did send a little message to my good buddy and San Jose Shark Mario Ferraro just saying that I was praying for Evander and his family (which is what we all should do). Whatever the truth of all that mess is, the family is clearly in a mess, and that’s heartbreaking in and of itself. I genuinely do wish instead of being quick to hammer people on social media or wherever when they’re down, we should take a second and think about the human beings behind it all. I’m preaching to myself, believe me.  
10. Small PSA:  Not big news but I did sign my contract to keep working with Notre Dame this week, and I always tell people that nothing is official until it’s official, so there you go. Always grateful for the opportunity and privilege to work with the young people down there! 

(Follow Jamie on Twitter at @Neugsie)