NEUGSIE’S AROUND THE SJHL
By: Jamie Neugebauer
Voice of the ND Hounds
1. It’s coming! – Can you smell that? It’s as sweet a smell as there is: it’s regular season hockey, just around the corner! The puck drops on the 2019-2020 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League campaign on Sept. 13, with a whole slew of great rivalry games front and centre right away.
2. Opening-day fun – The Nipawin-Melfort and Battlefords-Kindersley wars will go right away, and should be absolute doozies; but there is no doubt that a tenacious group in Weyburn will be looking to take a chunk out of their hated nemeses from Estevan as well. It’ll be a fun weekend overall, so make sure you check the league schedule and head out to see the action live.
3. A moment for commits – Have to give a huge round of applause to the 66 (yes, 66!) SJHLers who received commitments through last season, and in the off-season. What are we doing here if not helping kids get to the next level? A great percentage of those were to Division I NCAA programs, and one went straight to pro hockey (Drew Anderson from Weyburn). Very cool!
4. Parity, parity, parity – Last year the parity was crippling, and I don’t expect it to change too much this year either. I have seen teams like Weyburn and La Ronge have home-ice advantage in some pre-season rankings, and the same squads completely out of the playoffs in others. Plenty of teams lost all sorts of key leaders and talent, so we won’t know what most of the squads around the province really are until about a month in. Make sure you take in that Showcase in Warman at the end of the month for a few more answers!
5. Yorkton’s big coup – Love that pickup by Matt Hehr and the Yorkton Terriers in getting Ryan Granville from the Battlefords North Stars. Mobile, smart, right-shot defenceman should slot right into their top D-pairing, in my opinion, beside Tyson Janzen. That group has lots to prove after giving up the most goals of any team in the playoffs a year ago, and losing Ryan Ouellette in net won’t help; so we’ll see what happens out there! Granville should help.
6. What happened to Keigan? – Keigan Callander was an in-and-out of the line-up player for Clint Mylymok’s Hounds back in 2017-18, but he seems to be a favourite of new Weyburn bench boss Rich Pilon. He put up big penalty minutes in Junior B Pilot Butte last year, and was jumping guys left-and-right in the pre-season, so I guess he knows what will get him ice time at this level. I always liked him as a kid, so I’m glad he’s getting a shot to play.
7. Watch for McNarsty – Humboldt broadcaster Rory McGouran has been salivating over the 16-year-old Kamloops Blazers prospect Karter McNarland, whom the Broncos have signed as an ’03 for the year coming up. I have not seen him play just yet, but apparently his skill and hockey sense is through the roof – can’t wait for this weekend to see what he has!
8. Rod to join the call! – Make sure you tune in on Hockeytv.com or on Hounds Hockey Radio for free on Sunday at 6 p.m. as Rod Pedersen will be joining yours truly in the booth from the Duncan McNeill Arena for Notre Dame’s home opener vs. Humboldt! He and I had a blast last year in the playoffs, and obviously it’s a thrill for me to have a broadcaster of his calibre to work with. Cannot wait!
9. SJ joins up with UnderstandUs – Great on the league for investing in a great program like UnderstandUs, a volunteer initiative that combats the stigma of mental health. Check out the league’s official release here for more details: (https://www.sjhl.ca/news_article/show/1046943)
10. Bears bring Rams back down to earth (Bonus) – The Regina Rams football team were brought back down to earth last Friday when the Alberta Bears edged them out in a hard-fought 18-17 decision. Kickers get so much stick for missing key kicks, but who would want that pressure! Good grief! At any rate, second-year man Aldo Galvan had a chance to win it for Regina with 16 seconds left, but missed and had to settle for an inconsequential single as the Bears took an ugly, scratch and claw win. Big one Friday night for freshman quarterback Josh Donnelly and his Rams as the hated Saskatchewan Huskies come to town coming off a big home win against UBC. Should be a doozy!
(Follow Jamie on Twitter at @Neugsie)
