NEUGSIE’S NEW YEARS AROUND THE SJHL
By: Jamie Neugebauer
Voice of the ND Hounds
Happy New Year, folks!
I have decided that instead of jumping back to the standard 10 Things, for this New Year’s edition I will go through each of the clubs in the league and pick one all-underrated team nominee to talk about.
I will do it in order of the standings, as of New Year’s Day.
1) Battlefords North Stars – Dylan Esau, F-2001: There are a bunch of unsung heroes on the defending champs, so I could’ve picked a couple different guys, but I am going to settle on Meadow Lake, SK’s Esau. On a stacked, veteran team last year he managed a respectable 19 points, but the strong winger is all about doing the dirty work, the penalty kill, and playing a heavy game along the boards. I guess if you grow up in a rural, farming community like that of Meadow Lake and area, there’s only one way to play the game: tough. He didn’t get a point in 12 playoff games on the Stars’ run to the championship last year, but I’d be shocked if Brayden Klimosko heard a word complaint from the kid about ice time or role. Fun fact about Dylan: big brother Brett is a 6-foot-3, 220-pound senior infielder for the University of Houston baseball team.
2) Flin Flon Bombers – Mason Martin, D-1999: Can the captain, and leading defenceman scorer on the highest scoring team in the SJHL be considered underrated? I don’t really know, but I’ve spoken with Bombers’ bench boss Mike Reagan about him, and he agrees, so that’s good enough for me. On a team with all sorts of forward depth, Martin does a ton of body slamming along the boards in his own zone, and his high-point total has a lot to do with Mason’s cannon of a shot as anything. Any coach will tell you: when you have a lot of offensive geniuses up front, they don’t always remember to skate as fast the other direction; thus Martin has plenty of messes to clean up in the course of Flin Flon’s epic goal-fests.
3) Yorkton Terriers – Steven Norum, F-2001: Out of a Sherwood Park Midget team last year that has about a half dozen kids in the SJHL this season, Norum’s energy and speed impressed me from first viewing. He does a lot of that PK work for Matt Hehr’s team too, and at time of writing has more points than the more highly touted rookie Carson Henry, who started the year on Chantz Petruic’s line (to date, I haven’t seen Norum get to play with Yorkton’s Superman Petruic). Norum’s a north-south kid, stops on pucks, gets into those scrums along the wall that you want to see from a rookie, and on a team with four WHLers and a BCHL veteran up front, he’s still scratching out a very productive season with the ice time he’s getting. He also had more points in midget on the same team last year than Melfort’s highly touted youngster Ben Tkatchuk, by the way.
4) La Ronge Ice Wolves – Grant Longtin, F-2001: I was trying to decide between Longtin or his ever-present centreman Jake Gudjonson, but I don’t think the latter can be considered underrated anymore given the huge points he’s throwing up. Together, their coach Kevin Kaminski have counted on the pair to play the match-up game against the other team’s big dogs, freeing up the likes of Daylon Mannon, Kyle Ford, and Aaron Greyeyes to fill the net. Longtin is small, but he’s a ball of energy, skates well, and he never gives opponents a moment of peace. He’s also played both defence and forward in his time in La Ronge, but from what I’ve seen there is no doubt he’s a better forward. A classic underrated, underappreciated type.
5) Melfort Mustangs – Lucas Ochitwa, D-2001: Is he underrated or just considered a prospect? Either way, I expect the former Swift Current midget to be as good an all-around defenceman as there is in the SJ by next year. Hockey sense already there, he has some great D vets to watch on a regular basis in Nolan Kadachuk and Alex Rondeau, and you just get the sense that he’s the type of kid that enjoys the harder-nosed, faster style of hockey available in junior vs. minor hockey. When Trevor Blevins was doing some dealing in November and December, Ochitwa was one of his kids who were absolutely off the table in any trade; good call by Blevins. He’s as rock solid as they come in this league already.
6) Nipawin Hawks – Michael Makarenko, F-2000: Hard to imagine that a guy as scrappy and tenacious as Makarenko only has eight penalty minutes, but that just comes with doing things the right way. Does the Calgary native have the dynamic skill that his teammates like Jake Tremblay or Austen Flamen possess? No, but he finds a way to produce consistently, often as an ever-present on the Hawks power play not too far from the blue paint. I’d take Makarenko any day of the week on my team, and while I don’t know what moves Doug Johnson will make before the Jan. 10 trade deadline, I’d be stunned out of my mind if the 2000-born Makarenko is part of any of it.
7) Humboldt Broncos – Kade Olsen, D-2001: For all the excitement that Humboldt’s young defence-corps featuring the electric Jackson Bohan and Cody Hough can bring, I’d be willing to wager Broncos’ bench boss Scott Barney finds Olsen just as, if not more critical to the team’s success. The ‘01 is actually one of the few Humboldt players back from last year, where he played a regular shift on that veteran-laden crew, and is one of those defencemen I love: the kind that know what they are good at, and rarely make a mistake with or without the puck. The former Vancouver Giants prospect Olsen is never going to be a dominant offensive force, as far as I can see, but steady-eddies win games and playoff series’, and watching the maturity of the Saskatoon native, I often forget he’s as young as he is. He’s also a pretty smooth skating right-shot D…which don’t grow on trees. As a second option, three out of Braiden Koran’s seven goals this year have been game winners…pretty good ratio.
8) Kindersley Klippers – Mark Snarr, D-2001: I was literally going to write about Mac Gross in this spot, but I guess he was more rated than I thought as the Spokane Chiefs have since called him up to the Western Hockey League, so…I’ll go with Mark Snarr, who I was so impressed with the recent two games the Hounds faced the Klippers. I guess you can’t get more underrated than 0 points in 31 games, but Snarr is so steady, comes away from scrums with the puck so often, and makes a really solid first pass. If you play that many games without factoring in offensively, you have to be doing something right (you’d hope), and in this case, Larry Wintoneak is right on the money keeping the Calgary native in the line-up. Kindersley has proven a tough team to score on since the Dec. 1 acquisition of Matt Sankner from the Flin Flon Bombers in goal, and Snarr is a solid part of that. Hopefully for his sake some offence comes!
9) Notre Dame Hounds – Cole Stevenson, F-2000: When you are around a club as much as I am this one, it’s not easy to know which guy is considered underrated by the wider world, but I am just going to go with one of my favourite kids in the whole league. A dominant face-off guy, he’s 6-foot-4, 205-pounds and uses that brute strength so effectively in board battles, and on the forecheck. There is no doubt that he is one of the best, if not THE best, penalty killers in the SJ, and he has far more offence in his soft mitts than he lets out on a regular basis. He’s also a winner, as a part of the Notre Dame Telus Cup championship in 2018, and I have absolute zero doubt he has the tool kit to play a role at the NCAA Division I or Major Junior levels. I could’ve picked a bunch of Hounds for this list to be honest, with the likes of Sho Takai and Curt Wiebe having awesome two-way years up front, or the human eraser Joe Santalucia and the beautiful skating ability and wicked shot of Hardy Wagner on the back end, but I do feel good about going with Cole. Watch out for ND in 2020 folks!
10) Estevan Bruins – Eddie Gallagher, F-2000: Honestly, the whole Estevan Bruins team is underrated in my opinion, as I really do feel like this team is a lot better than their standing suggests. At any rate, my vote for this list Gallagher is a kid I’ve had a close eye on since he really intrigued me in Game 1 of the pre-season last year. He kind of went one-on-one with current USHL Omaha forward Nolan Renwick dazzling in that game, and it was really entertaining! Eddie is a great skater, shifty with the puck, and possessing of excellent passing abilities, and while the St. Albert native doesn’t get the press Isaiah Thomas might, in my world he’s just as good.
11) Melville Millionaires – Luke Nkwama, F-2000: Is he underrated? It’s insane if he is. The former PA Minto might be the fastest kid in the SJHL, and even when Luke Spadafora and Zach Bannister were around together, I still felt Nkwama was the most dangerous Mil on the ice. He is also one of those great tough-to-play-against Top 6 forwards, who play in all situations, since as much as he is dangerous offensively, he is also a dynamite penalty killer, and never quits in any of the three zones of the ice. So, so impressed by this kid this year. If he isn’t at the Regina Showcase, then everyone should give their heads a shake.
12) Weyburn Red Wings – Riley Little, D-2001: I was so impressed with the one-time Regina Pats prospect last year in midget with the Sask finalist Saskatoon Blazers, and Little has done nothing to change my appreciation of him upon my many viewings in his rookie campaign in the SJHL. No doubt he’s best cast in a steady-eddie role, but like Kindersley’s Snarr, he plays a mature game in what must be a tough mental transition on his part from the star-studded, high expectations the Blazers had last year, to the rebuilding year the Red Wings are undergoing. I love his up-side, and really think he could be a dominant shutdown defenceman in any Junior A league in Canada as soon as next year. He’s already rock solid for Weyburn.
(Follow Jamie on Twitter at @Neugsie)
