NEUGSIE’S AROUND THE SJHL

By: Jamie Neugebauer
Voice of the ND Hounds

1. What A Time!: The SJHL Showcase Virtual Sim was this past Friday and Saturday broadcast live on Twitch, and what an incredible time! From the leadership of Logan Fraser, to the field direction of Tanner Goetz, Andy the sound engineer, Brett Kozak, and everyone, it was an awesome job. It was the North Young Guns ‘Global Ag Risk’ team under Battlefords’ bench boss Brayden Klimosko who beat Team Sherwood in an epic final, and I know I can speak for my partner in hockey Rory McGouran when I say we both could not have asked for a more enjoyable event. So much fun to talk about something other than the pandemic!
2. Those ‘Stangs!: One of the big stories out of the Sim was the play of the Melfort Mustangs boys, again! The ‘Stangs took home the Virtual Canalta Cup this past summer, and from Sask Milk Cup Top Goaltender Joel Favreau, to my Top Forward Ben Tkachuk, and all the others, Melfort’s boys really show out on SJ sims! Not sure what it is! Benny Tkachuk sent me an awesome pic of his sushi celebration feast afterward! Man what a gem coach Trevor Blevins has in that guy. All the games are on demand on the league’s SJHL Twitch page, by the way.
3. Kindos Love Sims: Speaking of showing out on the sims, how about those Kindersley boys? Current Minnesota Golden Gopher and Kindo native Justen Close was the best tender the league has seen in real life in a while a couple years ago, but last year’s Canalta Cup sim MVP was Kyle Bosch of the Mustangs, another Kindersley native, and this Showcase’s undisputed MVP was Logan Linklater, also from the ‘Hub of West Central Saskatchewan’. Clearly, it’s a town of 4,500 hockey nuts! Enjoy Linklater Prince Albert Raiders fans!
4. Dally’s Book: Really cool to see Kaleb Dahlgren’s book is coming out soon! Entitled ‘Crossroads: My Story of Tragedy and Resilience as a Humboldt Bronco’, Dally, a crash survivor, a former Notre Dame Hound, and even more importantly, an incredible human being, has taken it upon himself for the years since the tragedy to really be a spokesman for that whole team. At the same time, he has used his platform to further causes like diabetes awareness. The book is officially to be released March 16, but you can pre-order at all sorts of places, including Amazon. What a leader, and a person willing to talk when the story he’s asked to tell must be agony to keep talking about. Please consider this book as those boys (and Dayna Brons) deserve to never be forgotten. Pretty proud of Dally!
5. Bubble or Bust: A lot of the talk around the SJHL these days is that it’s bubble or bust if there is to be any more 2020-2021 season. Thinking about the sheer weight of cost and logistics for the SJ to have bubbles, while considering the pandemic, not to mention any sort of government approval (which, as we obviously know, hasn’t been close to forthcoming) makes my head spin. The committee the league put together is indeed working with the government on possibilities, and it seems that the only thing that makes any sense is two bubbles, one in Regina, one in Saskatoon, with six teams each (as long as all the teams join, of course), over about three weeks. Any sort of 20-21 season sounds super pie-in-the-sky to me, but of course it would be fantastic and I would lobby so hard to get in any said bubble if it happens! One person I know who is in the know said that there at least is SOME sort of chance, so let’s keep hoping!
6. Ice: With bubble-or-bust pretty much a reality as far as I know, the lobbying of the Melfort Mustangs and Melville Millionaires to keep ice in their respective rinks has to have a lot more to do with continued development of young players, of a hope to at least practice as a team at some point, and to give local minor hockey players and their families some sort of return for their fees. The Sask male and female U18 AAA leagues officially ‘postponed’ themselves, meaning that teams which shut themselves down for the rest of the year save some face, while leaving space for others to potentially come back if the government allows it at all. Hard to see even this bubble notion surviving past the up-coming Feb. 19 announcement date (or Feb. 16, I guess, since that’s the Tuesday before Feb. 19).
7. The Plug Still In?: Some people have asked me “why hasn’t the SJHL just pulled the plug! Stop giving these kids hope, just let them get on with their lives!”. There are plenty of reasons for the SJHL not to just cancel yet, let me assure you, but I genuinely believe league President Bill Chow, Logan Fraser, and everyone in the league office, are the type of people to not give up till it’s absolutely over. I hear the Board of Governors have said a return to play is something they are still committed to, but at what financial cost will that commitment hold…
8. Stars Finally Get Their Guy: Battlefords North Stars made by far the largest move so far as far I can tell as far as commitments for the 21-22 season. Holden Doell, a 2003-born forward who started the year with the Saskatoon Blazers U18s, and led the Sask U18 league in scoring last season, could probably have gone to all sorts of places across Canada or the United States; but he chose the North Stars. The Martensville, SK native had three points in three games as a call-up for Battlefords last year, and I believe is going to be a star in the SJHL. Brayden also has told me that he will be joining Battlefords right away if there is any resumption of this campaign. Great get and I can’t wait to see him in black and silver!
9. ‘YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUETT!’: More good news out of Notre Dame as the speedy Minnesotan Truett Olson has joined fellow Hound Nate Albers as a commitment to D1 ACHC’s Liberty University for next year. Both Olson and Albers were eligible to come back next season, but have elected to move on, and are already playing some Junior A hockey in the USPHL right now with the Tampa Bay Juniors. I’m very happy for Truett and Nate, both incredible kids, but I’m also a little upset because from Olson I finally got a decently cool phrase to yell when a player scores a goal…I guess nobody in the SJHL will be trying to handle the Truett anymore!
10. Couple Signings: So, as promised, there have been plenty of commitments to the SJHL teams for next year announced already. One interesting one for Calgary Flames fans is that Brett Pilkington and ND have added 2003-born forward Kailer Hulse, the nephew of former NHLer Cale, out of prep school. Other interesting ones are forward Milo Schneidmiller, another Calgary boy, whom the North Stars added as another kid who joins the SJ after lighting up the Western States Hockey League (ala Daylon Mannon and Narek Aleksanyan in La Ronge). Schneidmiller comes from the same program that veteran Stars’ D-man Timon Prexler came from. Humboldt has dipped again into the BC Jr B loup to grab a former teammate of Jackson Bohan and Braiden Koran, as 02-born forward Ryan Bennett looks to be in the green and gold for 21-22. Unlike a lot of SJ teams, Scott Barney and his B.C.-based lieutenant Curt Toneff, have hit on far more players than they’ve missed from that level. I’ll talk about more commits in future columns!

(Follow Jamie on Twitter at @Neugsie)