NEUGSIE’S AROUND THE SJHL
1. How Long Will It Take? – How long will it take for teams to stop taking the La Ronge Ice Wolves lightly? Clearly, Kevin Kaminski has come in and done a fantastic job at the helm, and even more important, he has gotten all sorts of buy-in from his men, even after an 0-5 start. They’ve gone 6-3 since, the tandem of Liam McGarva and Steven Bacovski is giving them the goaltending they need, and their best line doesn’t even include their best player, Zach Bannister. Yep, it’s the Kyle Ford, Daylon Mannon, Aaron Greyeyes unit that wreaks most of the havoc, and that chemistry is so clear to see. Is it time for teams to stop seeing 6-8 La Ronge as easy win night? I think so. Another visit from the nation’s No. 4-ranked Battlefords North Stars will test that theory again Wednesday night.
2. Don’t Sleep on the Terriers! – Speaking of not sleeping on teams, the Yorkton Terriers have snuck up on a few clubs lately too. They dropped the Stars last week, then beat a struggling Notre Dame group before edging the red-hot Flin Flon Bombers on Saturday. Obviously, the addition of Alec Zawatsky has been enormous, but I still think adding Ryan Granville to that D-corps, maligned as it was fairly or not, and getting all-star Tyson Janzen back from injury, is just as important. The Viterra Division is wide open in these early days of the season, but nobody of the four teams have weapons like Chantz Petruic and Zawatsky. Could they be the deadliest pair in the SJ even? There’s an argument to be made.
3. Lay Off Ozar – News came out of the northeast that the Wolves’ ’02 birth-year and Saskatoon Blades prospect Alex Ozar has quit hockey to focus wholly on earning a scholarship to play baseball south of the border. I’ve seen all sorts of conjecture about this, from the disappointment of not making the WHL right away crushing his spirits, to the belief that he simply did not want to be in La Ronge; but nobody knows any of the truth of this, so as far as I can tell, he just loves baseball more than hockey. More power to him, I say! His older brother Owen is in Trail in the BCHL, en route to his commitment to the University of Denver, but the Ozar boys did rip up Prince Albert minor baseball, so hope it works out great for Alex! Still, I loved what I saw from him over his PA Mintos career and in his early days for the Ice Wolves, so we’ll see what the future holds. Either way, leave him alone, or applaud him for being honest with himself, and that’s all.
4. The Best Division, for Sher – It’s still such early days, but how about that dog-fight brewing in the stacked Sherwood Division. Every squad of the four has a winning record over their last 10 games, and between Melfort, Nipawin, Flin Flon, and La Ronge, there isn’t an easy night of the bunch. Granted, the Wolves still have to prove it as an organization over a number of weeks after a rough number of seasons, but it’s no secret that the Top 3 clubs have burst from the gate on a mission. There is also something here to be said for continuity, as those three groups – the Mustangs, Hawks, and Bombers – also have three of the longest standing (and most excellent) head coaches in the league, with Trevor Blevins, Doug Johnson, and Mike Reagen, respectively. I still say Battlefords are the best team in this league by a mile, but what do I know?
5. A Breath for Koho – After playing all but five of Notre Dame’s 780ish minutes this year, Hounds’ goaltender Riley Kohonick will finally get his break. Literally, in that ND has a Thanksgiving pause in the schedule between Oct. 9 and 17; and potentially even more so, as Phil Roy has brought in experienced soon-to-be 20-year-old Logan Dyck from the Canmore Eagles of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. I’d say this is a win-win move by the Hounds, as a talented veteran to support Koho can only help him; OR Dyck can come in and play well himself. I’ve heard the question “why bring in a 20-year-old back-up?” Well, I really believe that most coaches have to do their best to win every year in all Junior A leagues, because I’ve seen too much change from season-to-season to rely on the notion that “we’re building for next year”, like they do in the CHL or pros. Ultimately, I have zero doubt that Riley is as good as any goaltender in Canadian Junior A hockey, and echo Rod Pedersen’s sentiment that Koho is easily better than whomever the Regina Pats have thrown out there this year; so, good moves are being made in Wilcox.
6. The ‘Stangs Doing it With Special, Special Teams – I’m not sure if Melfort head coach and GM Trevor Blevins lost sleep in the off-season wondering how he would replace the minutes of Justin Ball, Carson Albrecht, Tanner Zentner, and Kayle Tosh, but he certainly isn’t losing any now. The Mustangs are on fire, and a big part of it has been the special teams, which have not lost a step from last year’s run to the final. At 89.2 per cent, the penalty kill has been a brick wall and is tops in the SJ, ahead of the great goaltending Melfort is getting from Shawn Parkinson and Tanner Martin. The power play, not to be outdone, sits at 23.7 per cent, with goals coming from an impressive seven different players through only 13 games played. They’ve also done it mostly without Ryley Lanthier, the forward the club hoped would be its No. 1 weapon up front. Impressive stuff, Melfort.
7. You Can Calm Down Now, Nipawin – Staying in the Sherwood, the great fans of the Hawks expect their club to win every game, and fair enough: Doug Johnson has delivered a great, winning product to the people of Nipawin for 10 years and counting; but there was some hand wringing last week after a three-losses-out-of-four road stretch, in which there was not a ton of zip in the Hawks game. I said it then, I’ll say it again: Nipawin will always be fine with Doug at the helm, and after solid wins over Kindersley and Humboldt, I seem to have been proven right. The real crucible will come Friday night with some must-watch action as the Hawks travel west to take on the Battlefords North Stars. If you haven’t watched an SJ game so far this season, this might be the one…though the quality of Battlefords’ HockeyTV broadcasts are shocking, so I’ll leave that with you.
8. The Hair Gets His Shot – Hockey hair specialist, and Terriers forward Brett LeGrandeur was picked up off the Humboldt Broncos scrap heap by Matt Hehr this off-season, and he is rewarding his coach. A good skater with a nose for a good, hard forecheck, LeGrandeur has earned a spot on the wing of the Petruic-Zawatsky line, and looks good doing the dirty work for those two. He’s also on a five-game point-scoring streak at time of writing, with all 10 of his points coming over that span since Oct. 1. Good for you, Brett!
9. And the Leading Scorer in the League Is… – You guessed it, or probably not…it’s La Ronge forward Daylon Mannon. Flin Flon’s Alec Malo and Donovan Houle-Villeneuve, and Yorkton’s Petruic have more points-per-game, but let’s ignore that for a second. Working on a line with Kyle Ford, the 20-year-old Californian Mannon plays with a freedom that is refreshing and rare in this day and age of systems and structure, and would someone PLEASE, PLEASE watch for his behind-the-back, no-look feed back-door from behind the net for Ford to tap in to an empty net? Easier said than done, but he’s tried it (and accomplished it) about 100 times already this year. It’s pretty nice, to be honest. Don’t change Daylon!
10. Happy Thanksgiving! (bonus) – Happy Thanksgiving folks! I’m very thankful to be allowed to write this column, and that some of you out there read it! Please leave a comment below with what your favourite dish at the table was this weekend!
(Follow Jamie on Twitter at @Neugsie)
