NEUGSIE’S AROUND THE RINKS

By: Jamie Neugebauer
Voice of the ND Hounds

1. Call me a homer if you want…: Call me a Notre Dame Hounds homer if you want (did I lose you yet?), but the more I watch Kevin Anderson play, and even more so the way he conducts himself off the ice, I wonder if an NHL team might take a late-round flyer on an excellent young man going to Princeton University next year, with that kind of speed, and very underrated strength. Of course, his game still has tons to grow, and he knows that and I know that writing something like this won’t change his focus or heap any pressure on him, but you could do a lot worse with a 5th-7th round pick. From all sorts of standpoints, personal, from a Notre Dame Hounds perspective, from an SJHL league employee perspective, etc, it would be super cool to see him drafted this summer. Why not, eh? 
2. Been a while: This all comes off the heels of a three-game northeast swing for the Hounds in Nipawin, Flin Flon, and La Ronge wherein Kev posted two hat-tricks and ND took an impressive four of a possible six points in a grueling three-games-in-three-nights for this super young club. There has only been one other such swing in my time at ND (since 2017) where they got that many points on that swing, back in Nov. of 2018, almost three years to the date, when Marshall Wilton was an absolute animal that weekend, but usually it’s a Hounds graveyard. 
3. Happy for Cal: Speaking of Flin Flon, very happy to see Burlington, ONT.’s own Cal Schell having a great year. My buddy Steve Hodson coached him in Hamilton Junior B a couple of years ago and told me when he came out here that Schell was legit, but there were a few doubters league-wide. But after his awesome performance in the last SJHL playoff game to be played – Bombers at Humboldt Broncos in March 2020 – I could tell the real Cal Schell was about to stand up. So far he’s 10-3, with a 2.08 goals-against, and a .937 save percentage with four shutouts, so…not too bad. That Flin Flon D-corps is way underrated and way excellent; I like them a lot…but Cal has been great too. 
4. Mandi!: Super happy to see the Mandi Schwartz Invitational tournament coming back to Notre Dame in December! The best U18 female hockey tournament in western Canada, bar none, and anytime someone can do honour to the name of Mandi Schwartz – the great Hound who passed away in 2011 to cancer – it’s a big plus. I definitely hope to call some of it! We’ll see. Notre Dame’s team under Craig Perrett is stacked like it hasn’t been since I’ve been around too, so that’s awesome. Ryann Perrett (Craig’s daughter), Payton Evans, Russian goaltender Eva Filippova, maybe others…these are all women that probably could do a job at the NCAA Division I level right now. What a great time it’ll be! Be interesting to see if Canada’s No. 1 team, Rink Kelowna Prep comes out, among others! ND is currently No. 9 in Canada, and Regina Rebels are 13 if you were wondering. 
5. Like a good Neighbours…: After nine games in the NHL with the St. Louis Blues, Jake Neighbours has returned to captain the Edmonton Oil Kings, and if I said they were my favourite to take the WHL this year before, they really, really are now. I interviewed Neighbours a couple of times, and even after the first chat I thought to myself, this is the type of human that is what you would expect an NHL captain to be; so, enjoy Edmonton fans. He’s sure to wear a letter at the World Juniors, if healthy, and I would say should be the captain but Shane Wright is hanging around in Ontario, so who knows. The Oil Kings have not lost since he came back, they’re unbeaten in regulation in five (four wins and a shootout loss to the hot Saskatoon Blades), and seriously…if Edmonton is in town, get yourself a ticket. 
6. Still unbeaten: Those Kings are the only team in the WHL to have beaten the Winnipeg ICE, so the final remaining unbeaten team in regulation is the Everett Silvertips, whose only defeat came in a shootout to Portland. They play a suffocating, defensive brand, and have given up only 21 goals in 12 games so far – which is just crazy. They are impressive, BUT the American division isn’t after them and Seattle. 
7. Here to stay…for now: Connor Bedard isn’t going anywhere for a while, is what I hear, but if you read Rod’s stuff, he does a great job covering Boy Wonder anyway. More than any team on earth, the Riders, the Golden Knights, the Cowboys, whomever, Rod loves the Pats. So if he has a Pats take, it’s probably on the money. I’ll say it again: I’m sure GM John Paddock is working the phones to get him some help, but I sure hope it comes sooner than later. 
8. Happy for Mitch: Mitch Marner has cooled off in the last couple of games after a blazing start to November, but for any of you that constantly bash him, just know he is a special, special talent, one of the best players in the world, and if you’re contributing to a potential thought process that he might want out of Toronto…well, if he leaves, it might partly be your fault. He should be on Team Canada, and I hope he’s a Leaf for life. There are problems in that Toronto room, for sure, but he isn’t one of them. 
9. In frigid Edmonton: Canada plays Mexico in men’s soccer in likely the snow in Edmonton Tuesday night. People keep saying “Oh, that’s great for Canada”, but Canada is a great, technical, skilled team too…so it probably doesn’t help either team too much, just probably damages the possibility for an overly entertaining match. John Herdman’s men beat Costa Rica in an also pretty boring game on the 12th, so here we go Canada! 
10. Baby time: I gotta stop writing because my wife is in labour, so have a nice week, people. 

 (Follow Jamie on Twitter at @Neugsie)