NEUGSIE’S AROUND THE RINKS

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

Finals time!: The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League finals are just days away, starting Friday night in Estevan, and I cannot wait. Rory is going to be doing play by play, I’m on colour, and we got a crack squad of broadcasters in the intermission, and hosting during the game, with the great Rusty Cone as the Producer with his excellent Bamboo Shoots people…it’s going to be fantastic folks. Make sure you tune in to Sasktel TV Local and/or HockeyTV for it all! The Bruins have been sitting around a while, but they seem locked in; the Flin Flon Bombers seem to have embraced a quasi-underdog role, though they are a very talented squad as well. Two good teams have officially qualified for the Centennial Cup, as the Bruins are hosts, but are saying all the right things around caring about the league finals anyway. I bet the intensity will be very high, and the entertainment even higher.
Why Estevan will win: The case for Estevan is relatively simple: they are the more talented team. They have 850+ games of Canadian Hockey League experience to bear on a given night, and every one of them looks to have bought in, even the Major Junior vets who, while are valuable, don’t necessarily have the most leading role. Their PK is fabulous, with an emphasis that’s even higher on pressuring and keeping the puck away from their zone than on in-zone coverage, and while Boston Bilous in net and Eric Pearce up front were both young at the time, they both bring WHL championship and Memorial Cup experience with the P.A. Raiders to the table. The blueline led by Dayton Deics is multi-faceted and unheralded, and there are just goals coming from everywhere in this line-up (they have seven of the Top 10 playoff scorers at the time of writing); there is no doubt, they are the betting favourites. But…
Why Flin Flon will win: As so many playoff and final rounds have taught us over the years, being the most talented team is nice, but being the harder working team is nicer. The Bruins may be the fresher team, after an easier run to the finals, but the equally fair argument is that the Bombers are more battle-hardened, fighting their way through Battlefords and Humboldt, as the lower seed both times. Like Bilous for Estevan, Cal Schell has been locked in as a veteran goaltender, and the truth many thought that Flin Flon’s D-Corps was the best in the league has certainly been validated by a total lockdown series on a previously explosive Humboldt team. The Bombers’ power play, the top unit in the regular season, has not woken up yet, and if they do, quarterbacked by the league’s best defenceman in Xavier Lapointe, they can keep up the defence-first intensity they’ve shown throughout the playoffs, then Mike Reagan’s men certainly have a chance.
The Pisani: Edmonton Oilers legend Fernando Pisani has always been a symbol to me of a guy whom nobody expected or thought of coming through big-time in huge moments late in the playoffs. So, who might be the Pisani of this series? My ‘X-Factor’ guy for Estevan is Cody Davis, one of the longest-serving Bruins, who still has no commitment despite a very solid junior career so far, and has all the tools and skills to make a big impact with the eyes of many on the likes of Bruins’ stars Olivier Pouliot, Mark Rumsey, and Eric Pearce. He’s also a relatively local boy, from Alameda, just east of Estevan on the 18, so winning Estevan’s first SJHL championship since 1999 will mean a ton to him (and big brother Jayden, also a Bruins alum currently playing for the U Regina Cougars). My Flin Flon ‘Pisani picks’ is big Mason Kaspick, the younger brother of St. Louis Blues’ farmhand Tanner, who proved his clutch gene at the U18 level for the Brandon Wheat Kings U18s a bunch of years ago, and is a good candidate to try to fill the big void left by injured fellow 2001-birth year Brett Wieschorster. Kaspick loves a blue-paint goal, and lots of eyeballs will be on captain Zak Smith and playoffs-so-far-hero Drew Kuzma and star Jaeden Mercier.
U18s named: Team Canada named its entry for this year’s U18 IIHF tournament to start Saturday in Germany, and without anybody from the QMJHL (due to Covid pauses and whatnot), it’s a really interesting group. Connor Bedard is far and away the biggest name in this group, and if he’s expected to dominate this summer’s World Juniors (I expect he will), I wonder what on earth he’ll do again at THIS event?! His West Van Prep buddy Mathew Ward from Swift Current is on there, and I want to see those two run the show together, while the University of Michigan commit Adam Fantili is probably the biggest name after Bedard. As a result of league playoffs being pushed back, there aren’t even kids who were knocked out in the first round of the CHL post-season on this team, so Junior A kids like Rieger Lorenz out of the recently eliminated Okotoks Oilers of AJHL, a couple of USHL kids, and even a St. Andrew’s College (a great talent-producing prep school close to where I’m from north of Toronto, by the way) prep kid named Matthew Morden, committed to Harvard, will get a shot alongside the usual CHLers from the OHL and WHL. Keep an eye on Chicago Steel (USHL) forward Nick Moldenhauer – he’s dynamite. I really hope this is the tournament that puts Ward’s deserving name fully in the mainstream!
Swift in good hands: Speaking of Ward, he and six Broncos are on Team Canada! Another, Rayan Bettahar, will represent the host Germans, and with seven Swift players getting this experience, it’s just an awesome feather in the cap of that organization, and a testament to the awesome work my good pal Devan Praught and his staff are doing down west there! Big Owen Pickering will be a key part of this very unheralded Team Canada D-Corps, but this Swift team is so full of quality 2004s, with more on the way…look out for them in the very near future starting next year! I did a really fun podcast with Praught yesterday, and chatted a bit about this crew – always a blast talking with Praughter! Check it out here: https://anchor.fm/neugsiesportscast/episodes/Swift-Current-Broncos-head-coach-Devan-Praught–Apr–19–2022-e1hdag8
Those Hounds!: For those that don’t know, I know Praughter from his years as the head coach of the Notre Dame Hounds U18AAAs, and as a teacher at ND, and his old club is one win away from a three-peat SaskU18AAA championship! Their coach, Del Pedrick, and his assistant Kev White, have done a remarkable job getting the best from this group, and while they are without the star power that team like Warman supposedly has, they are such a deep collective, clearly with a great culture. I am pretty excited to have a dose of that culture with the Junior A Hounds next year, as we’ve signed Dmen Vinny Palmarin, Sam Borschowa, and forward Keagan Merriman already, and Brooks commit Luke Marshall has just been a dominant, consistent producer from the blueline all playoffs. This team comes at you in waves and could make a very serious run at the Telus Cup.
We knew it was going to happen…: Back to the Junior A game and ho-hum, it’s Brooks vs Spruce Grove in the AJHL final. We knew it was going to happen, I’ve been saying it all year, but how about an easy rallying cry for a very deep, talented group of SG Saints to try to shock the world? Some have already crowned Brooks as the 2022 Centennial Cup champions, forget about Alberta, so I’m teeing up what might be a great story here. Do I expect Brooks to cruise through this, though? Yes, yes I do.
Kudos to Apud: Have to shout out to former La Ronge Ice Wolves forward Alejandro Apud for representing his native Mexico at the Division IIB IIHF World Championships, which just got underway in Iceland! I love the IIHF and international hockey in general, and I think it’s so cool to have someone specific to root for at these events. I spoke to Alejandro early in the season, and his passion for the game, and La Ronge, are very clear, and I know he carries that whole community with him in his heart as well as his country at that tournament. The Mexicans are overmatched against the hosts Iceland, Belgium, Georgia, and Bulgaria…but how many get to wear their country’s jersey! Not many. He has to be so proud.
OJ-advantage?: Finally, I have to say a word about my old stomping grounds: the Ontario Junior Hockey League. Estevan coach Jason Tatarnic and I are both Ontario boys, so we understand that loup, and while it isn’t in the GREATEST shape it’s ever been quality-wise, most of their playoffs have been Best-of-3s, with only the finals itself going to Best-of-Sevens! Kind of wild, but they committed to finishing their regular season after a much longer Covid pause than other Junior A leagues…so a lighter playoff for whoever gets through it is a nice advantage. My old boys the North York Rangers are already out, unfortunately, but my buddy Blake Ricci has put together a great team with the Toronto Jr. Canadians, and they are a very real threat, as are the likes of the Pickering Panthers, who are one-up on my buddies with the Collingwood Blues. Best of 3s…it’s almost unfair. I
PLEASE: If you see me around the SJHL Finals, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop me and say hello! Would love to chat with and say hey to anybody around this website! Definitely hoping to catch up with Florida/Calgary legend Rod Pedersen while I’m there too *wink*.