Here is my chat on the first ever Patriots Pod with the club's head coach and general manager Jason Fortier.
http://bit.ly/1toynkp
In Part 1, we discuss how last year is sitting with him, how proud he is of Mike Prapavessis' being selected by the Dallas Stars in the fourth round of the NHL draft and who he expects to step up as a leader on the club.
Enjoy folks.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
The returnees (NYR forwards edition)
With a boatload of graduations, only a handful of North York Rangers are returning for next year. With the loss of guys like Corey Kalk, John Carpino, Patty Piacentini and Alex Leader, you might expect a club to worry.
While those guys are definitely missed, there is a very genuine sense of optimism about this up-coming season around the club, as the returning guys look to continue to grow up - and if they fulfill that 'growing up' potential...look out folks.
I am obviously excited to see everyone that is coming back, so if I don't mention someone specifically, don't take it as an offence?.
I'll start with the forwards.
Deaner, Mark Joslin and I talk about it all the time: Gabe Valenzuela's potential for this next season is mind-boggling. Remarkably underrated last season, his loss to injury early in the playoff series vs. the Toronto Patriots last year made a big impact. He's back and with his hands, vision, intelligence and escapability, the other teams in the OJHL had better take notice. He also kills penalties as well as anyone, is a strong face-off guy, and a tremendous leader and person on and off the ice. Any coach would take a half-dozen Gabes if they had any sense. I really really believe he's a future high-end Division I player.
Matt Whittaker probably started last year with a little bit of an "I just committed to D1" hangover. He maybe tried to do too much, strayed from his north-south game and tried to dangle a little too often. From the second half of the year on, North York had one of the best records in the league, and the fact that Whitty figured it out (or, as Deaner likes to say: "figured out what gets him paid") had a pretty large role in that. I've seen him play a half-dozen times this summer, he's clearly working hard on getting a little faster, and the authority with which he holds the puck as a power forward is beginning to become as impressive as anyone in the league that I can think of for next year. He kills penalties very well too. I really want to see him finish his check every time this up-coming season, for the 'benefit' of all the young 5-foot-9, 160-pound defencemen he'll be taking on this year.
Zach Fung and Gabe really developed some nice chemistry last year, and that can only bode well for both of their prospects coming up. Funger is a swiss-army knife, to take a phrase from Brian Burke. He has a rocket of a shot, he cares a ton about his teammates, he has underrated speed and he can make life hard for anybody in the OJ on 200-feet of the ice. I'm curious, with all the offensive-minded d-men the front office brought in, whether he will remain at the point on the power play, though I'm sure Mark Joslin would say he's curious to see that too. His commitment to fitness heading into last year really made a difference and he's on a nice trajectory in his hockey career. Whether or not he's on the power play, I'd love to see him blast away all next year; if he does, he'll put up numbers.
Teddy Hunt is fast, really really fast. He also has very nice offensive instincts and was almost a point-per-game guy as a third-liner in 18 games for the Rangers last year, so the trend truly appears to be upwards for him. He's a really nice kid off the ice, but I'd like to see him be a little more aggressive on the ice. I don't mean that he should get into a fight, but I want to see him challenge defenders wide as often as he can (especially on the insanely wide ice at Herb Carnegie) and take the puck to the blue paint.
Kyle Clarke was only starting to get a sense of what junior hockey was all about last year, but he was as good as anybody in midget last year (some say the best), so with another summer under his belt we'll see what kind of player he is at this level. It's hard to say at this point, but he has the ability and did well in spots on key lines for the Rangers down the stretch last year.
While those guys are definitely missed, there is a very genuine sense of optimism about this up-coming season around the club, as the returning guys look to continue to grow up - and if they fulfill that 'growing up' potential...look out folks.
I am obviously excited to see everyone that is coming back, so if I don't mention someone specifically, don't take it as an offence?.
I'll start with the forwards.
Deaner, Mark Joslin and I talk about it all the time: Gabe Valenzuela's potential for this next season is mind-boggling. Remarkably underrated last season, his loss to injury early in the playoff series vs. the Toronto Patriots last year made a big impact. He's back and with his hands, vision, intelligence and escapability, the other teams in the OJHL had better take notice. He also kills penalties as well as anyone, is a strong face-off guy, and a tremendous leader and person on and off the ice. Any coach would take a half-dozen Gabes if they had any sense. I really really believe he's a future high-end Division I player.
Matt Whittaker probably started last year with a little bit of an "I just committed to D1" hangover. He maybe tried to do too much, strayed from his north-south game and tried to dangle a little too often. From the second half of the year on, North York had one of the best records in the league, and the fact that Whitty figured it out (or, as Deaner likes to say: "figured out what gets him paid") had a pretty large role in that. I've seen him play a half-dozen times this summer, he's clearly working hard on getting a little faster, and the authority with which he holds the puck as a power forward is beginning to become as impressive as anyone in the league that I can think of for next year. He kills penalties very well too. I really want to see him finish his check every time this up-coming season, for the 'benefit' of all the young 5-foot-9, 160-pound defencemen he'll be taking on this year.
Zach Fung and Gabe really developed some nice chemistry last year, and that can only bode well for both of their prospects coming up. Funger is a swiss-army knife, to take a phrase from Brian Burke. He has a rocket of a shot, he cares a ton about his teammates, he has underrated speed and he can make life hard for anybody in the OJ on 200-feet of the ice. I'm curious, with all the offensive-minded d-men the front office brought in, whether he will remain at the point on the power play, though I'm sure Mark Joslin would say he's curious to see that too. His commitment to fitness heading into last year really made a difference and he's on a nice trajectory in his hockey career. Whether or not he's on the power play, I'd love to see him blast away all next year; if he does, he'll put up numbers.
Teddy Hunt is fast, really really fast. He also has very nice offensive instincts and was almost a point-per-game guy as a third-liner in 18 games for the Rangers last year, so the trend truly appears to be upwards for him. He's a really nice kid off the ice, but I'd like to see him be a little more aggressive on the ice. I don't mean that he should get into a fight, but I want to see him challenge defenders wide as often as he can (especially on the insanely wide ice at Herb Carnegie) and take the puck to the blue paint.
Kyle Clarke was only starting to get a sense of what junior hockey was all about last year, but he was as good as anybody in midget last year (some say the best), so with another summer under his belt we'll see what kind of player he is at this level. It's hard to say at this point, but he has the ability and did well in spots on key lines for the Rangers down the stretch last year.
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Chat with Georgetown captain Stephen Hladin
So folks, I haven't posted in a bit because life has been a tad hectic the last little bit.
Today I spoke with Georgetown captain Stephen Hladin for the first podcast entry of Neugsie on the OJHL's pod. Hladin had a monster year last season, scoring 38 goals (second best in the league), and 83 points (also second best) in 53 regular season games; and scored 23 points in only 13 playoff games, good for a tie for second most in the league. His points-per-game ratio (1.77) in the post-season was second most to Toronto's Kevin Shier, made all the more impressive by a fairly clear injury (as he talks about in the podcast).
So without further ado, one of the best and most talented kids I've dealt with in the league, Stephen Hladin.
Click here for the podcast
Today I spoke with Georgetown captain Stephen Hladin for the first podcast entry of Neugsie on the OJHL's pod. Hladin had a monster year last season, scoring 38 goals (second best in the league), and 83 points (also second best) in 53 regular season games; and scored 23 points in only 13 playoff games, good for a tie for second most in the league. His points-per-game ratio (1.77) in the post-season was second most to Toronto's Kevin Shier, made all the more impressive by a fairly clear injury (as he talks about in the podcast).
So without further ado, one of the best and most talented kids I've dealt with in the league, Stephen Hladin.
Click here for the podcast
Thursday, July 10, 2014
My chat with NYR's new head coach, Mark Joslin
So I had a nice chat with North York's new head coach Mark Joslin, who was, as I forgot to mention in the podcast, the club's full-time assistant coach last year. If you're curious, he is the uncle of former NHLer and current AIK Solna (Swedish League) defenceman Derek Joslin. Nice guy as well.
Here it is: http://bit.ly/1q2vYvo
Here it is: http://bit.ly/1q2vYvo
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