NEUGSIE’S AROUND THE RINKS FOR WILLY’S TAPHOUSE

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

New name: Henceforth, my column shall be known as “Neugsie around the rinks, presented by Willy’s Taphouse”. Why? There just isn’t a kinder, harder-working owner, and staff anywhere than Pete Sereggela’s Willy’s (Tower Café, etc.) there in Estevan, The pizza is also incredible, and their passion for the Bruins is truly something to behold, so with Rod’s blessing, I have decided to shout Pete and crew out when I write my column! They were so kind to our whole crew during the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League final, and continue to be to everyone at the Centennial Cup!
What a blast! The Centennial Cup, the National Junior A Championship here in Canada, has been an absolute blast. Three games a day, for the most part, for a week, with playoff games ahead, well what more could I want! There have been elements of my preview that have turned out to be bang on, and some not so much, but that’s why you put yourself out there! It has been nice to see Rod hold court and even before he arrived, I overheard fans talking about the show, and when he and Darren might show up. Gave me a chuckle! So nice to see a friend do so well as Rod is, boy, do they love him up here!
Top so far: A lot of people have asked me who the top teams are the Centennial has been so far, and in a lot of cases a team that showed really well one day, might be a shadow of themselves the next. That being said I think the teams that have turned the most heads in terms of being perhaps better than I thought are the Dauphin Kings of the Manitoba League, coached by Doug Hedley, who coached in the SJHL for 10 years in the 90s, and College Francais de Longueuil of Quebec, who have been a lot more physical and defensively savvy than I was expecting. Dauphin’s defence-corps and goaltending, notably Carson Cherepak, have played the best hockey of the event so far, while Longueuil led by their leading sniper Maxime Gagne has gritted and found ways to compete. Great on them both!
Gratifying: It is also very gratifying to me to see the Ontario Junior Hockey League champion Pickering Panthers show so well. I cut my teeth in the Junior A game in the OJ and covered four teams at once the last year I lived in Ontario back in 2016-17, and as I sit writing this in my hotel on Tuesday, the Pick Show has a very real chance at winning this thing. Forwards Jacob Partridge, Dustin Hutton and Ian Martin have especially been deadly, while I love (seriously love) what I’ve seen from 2004-born defenceman Lucas Littlejohn, who happens to be the son of my pal and minor pro legend Frank Littlejohn (seriously, look up Frank’s Elite Prospects page if you want a ride). It was nice to see OJ commish Marty Savoy too, whom I reminded owes me lunch from six years ago; but I doubt I’ll ever see that lunch. Oh well!
Nobes: One of my favourite players and stories heading in was the Ottawa Jr. Senators of the Central Canadian League, and their Top Dman Bodie Nobes. Nobes, a 2003-born two-way defenceman committed to the University of Maine, is the son of the late Kelly Nobes, who was the coach of the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks the first couple of years I covered any team. At that time, it was with the student paper at the university, and I had no clue what I was doing, but Kelly put up with me very kindly anyways. I have so much gratitude for Kelly and was so sad when I heard of his passing back in 2019. Tell you what, Bodie is a heck of a player, my buddies Ben Barr and Jason Fortier down in Maine have a great one on their hands, and I know Kelly would be super proud.
The new boss: Had a chance to have breakfast with the new SJ commish Kyle McIntyre and I have to say, the more I talk to him and see him around, the more I think he is so far an outstanding hire for the league. I don’t mean in any way to diminish my appreciation for Bill Chow and the job he did, I’ll count myself a friend of Bill’s for life, I just mean Kyle looks exactly what we need as a league right now. He loves and knows the game, knows the financial and management side of things too, and while I know he has some difficult moves to make ahead, I can tell he carries himself in a very professional, and kind way.
Feel a little better: Seeing the way the Tampa Bay Lightning handled the Florida Panthers certainly makes me feel even better about the way things went with the Maple Leafs. The Lightning were saying after the Toronto series that the Leafs pushed him as hard as anyone has the last couple of years, but in knowing how good the President’s Cup champion Florida Panthers are, I guess I now have to believe them. The last thing I’ll say about the Leafs for a while is this: you can keep firing front office people till you’re blue the in the face (no pun intended), but it’s ultimately on the players to figure it out. A Tampa three-peat should surprise nobody at this point.
Not sure what to say: What more is there to say about what Connor McDavid is doing to professional hockey? Playoff hockey in the NHL is supposed to be really hard, but his talent is the first in a long time to transcend what we think we know about how the game changes when the business end of the season comes. Twenty-three points in 10 games, that’s just wild. Sit back and enjoy folks, maybe except for you Calgary fans…
End of the run: One last kudos is owed to the Notre Dame Hounds U18 boys and girls. For both to make the national championship in the same year, and in a year where they are both in the same locale…well that’s just wild! Great job to all those young men and women, and their coaches! Pumped to have winners like the boys we at the Hounds Junior A signed from the U18 squad! You have to be one to get that far. Look out for a bunch of those young women at the NCAA and USports level coming up very soon: some players have improved leaps and bounds over the last couple of years down in Wilcox.
The draft: Finally, I hear the SJHL Draft date is finally confirmed to be June 10. No idea what role I’ll have outside ND communications, but I love any sort of draft, so whatever happens, it’s gonna be fun! They’re picking a bunch of 2006s first, which is great and the way it should always be: draft 15-year-olds with some U18 experience, you have a way better idea of what you’re getting! It’s also nice to be well after the WHL draft, to get a better picture of that as well.