NEUGSIE’S AROUND THE SJHL

By: Jamie Neugebauer
Voice of the ND Hounds

1. What If?: What if Premier Moe and Dr. Shahab greenlight an SJHL bubble sometime in April? How awesome would it be to have it in Regina’s Co-operators Arena, and one at Saskatoon’s Merlis Belsher Arena? Very. As far as I’ve heard, money, while always central, isn’t the only issue in the way, and unless the government gives the idea the go-ahead very soon, you’d have to think the time crunch would be pretty crunchy. Do I dare to keep hoping and believing? Do any of the players? League president Bill Chow has said that he’ll keep hoping until the plug is officially pulled, but I’m starting to wonder how late is too late for anything. The Covid numbers the last week or so have been pretty good in our province, but are they good enough? What do they mean? No idea. At this point, I’d take for my daughter to be able to see her grandparents, and a normal-ish August training camp, and mid-September start to 2021-2022. Anything else would be really rich gravy.
2. How Close Is The Dub?: Jeff Marek’s tweet on Feb 3 set the Sask hockey world on fire when he said that “Hearing the WHL has received approval from the province of Saskatchewan to hold a bubble in Regina. Still waiting for Manitoba to allow Brandon + Winnipeg to join.” It was kyboshed officially the next day, that no approval was given, but some of my sources have said that it’s all possible to be allowed soon, and they are just waiting on the Manitobans before it’s all given the thumbs up. I quickly reached out to a Pats player I know, joking that he finally could teach boy wonder how to play the game. He laughed and said “it’ll probably be the other way around!”. Curious that a guy as credentialed as Jeff Marek would throw out that kind of smoke if there wasn’t any fire, but who knows.
3. Is This The Last Week?: As I mentioned, the Covid numbers have been plummeting in our province. What does it mean? Are people just too cold to bother getting tested? (only half kidding there). Anyways, we are due another update from Premier Moe and Dr. Shahab by the time my next column comes out, and if they say “nothing is changing for another month”, could all Sask hockey leagues finally just come out and say “the plug is pulled?”; seems pretty possible, with no source but my own estimation. As I wrote last week, there are reasons the league is holding off, and it isn’t any sort of desire to hold anyone emotionally hostage. So until then, there is still some hope!
4. Jealous of BC: Speaking of hope, I was pretty happy for the hockey folks in B.C. when last Friday, Feb. 5, health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Premier John Horgan actually addressed hockey specifically in their province. They realize it matters to their people, who would have thought it!? Henry spoke about wanting to find a way for their WHL teams to have a spring season, and about funding for the dub and the BCHL. Premier Horgan was quoted as saying: “These are organizations that employ a lot of people, create a lot of hope & opportunity for youngsters…we’re looking at what we can do to help the leagues.” Imagine that! Some communication! Some acknowledgement!
5. A New Herd: SJ GMs are constantly signing and listing kids, so it’s hard to keep track of it all on here; but the biggest movers and shakers this past week were the Melfort Mustangs. Trevor Blevins’ crew announced a whole bunch of new signings, specifically from Alberta, featuring big ’03-born left defenceman Will Barrett, who was off to a good start with the Airdrie Bisons U18s, as well as D-men Max Mills and Lare Paytayken, and forwards Tye Evans, Thomas Moore, and Cody Laliberte. I’m sure these were all in the works for a while, as I’m sure numerous moves from all over the league have been; I am just saying that the Mustangs have done a great job announcing all these new adds the last week or so! I will also certainly be interested to see another new Mustang, the 04-born forward Connor Hvidston, who was lighting it up with the Yorkton U18s, and is already signed by the Swift Current Broncos. Is he for real, or just a skilled kid that got lots of ice on a struggling Yorkton Maulers squad? We’ll find out!
6. White Commits: Good news for 2000-born La Ronge defender Jaxon White as the Warman native committed to Maryville University D1 ACHA hockey for next year! Always great when a kid finds a post-secondary spot, and I actually think White could really have been a sneaky good pickup for the Wolves this season after he had been acquired from Flin Flon. Anyways, kudos to Jaxon, who I hear from mutual friends is a great kid!
7. Chat With Ross: Spoke with Ross Hawryluk, Western Michigan University’s new goaltender and Nipawin Hawks alumnus, on the SJ at Noon show Monday! Impressive mind on the kid, and clearly is loving life in Kalamozoo, MI! I asked him “how come Doug Johnson’s teams are always so hard to score on” and he noted that DJ requires a full squad commitment to keeping the puck out of the Hawks’ net…whatever he does, it works! You can go back and find that full interview on the SJHL’s Twitch page during the show on Feb. 8!
8. Pilon And I See Eye to Eye: Weyburn Red Wings head coach and GM Rich Pilon was on that same show, and I asked him in what direction he felt the SJHL is going. He and I agreed completely that it has to keep getting younger, and NCAA focussed, a way he has gone both by purpose, and by necessity, during the current Red Wings’ rebuild. With guys like Connor McGrath and Graham Skinner to build around the next couple years, I think it’s a pretty good start! His honesty and polish as an interviewee is so refreshing.
9. McGarva’s Great Start: Speaking of good starts, huge kudos to Concordia University of Wisconsin goaltender Liam McGarva, recently of the La Ronge Ice Wolves and the reigning Sherwood Division Goaltender of the Year! The 2000-born Ft. Saskatchewan, AB product was named the NCAA D3 NCHA Defensive Player of the Week after his first three games for the school yielded two wins, a 2.79 goals-against average, and a .937 save percentage. Not too shabby! McGarva, like Hawryluk, headed south only after the new year.
10. Hextall to Pittsburgh!: We end the week with the news that former Melville Millionaires goaltender Ron Hextall was hired as the general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday. Hextall played 37 games for the Mils in the 1980-81 campaign, with a GAA of 6.57 according to Elite Prospects….I guess that was okay for the 80s? It didn’t hurt the long-time NHLers career obviously, as he went on to a long stint in Brandon for the Wheat Kings, Philly, Quebec, and the New York Islanders. The godfather of puck-handling goalies had been working as a senior advisor for the L.A. Kings, and was the GM of the Philadelphia Flyers from 2014 to Nov. 2018.

(Follow Jamie on Twitter at @Neugsie)