Neepawa Natives not where they'd like to be

Details

Published on Thursday, December 15, 2016

By Eoin Devereux

The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

This week’s Manitoba Junior Hockey League Showcase in Winnipeg marks the mid-way point of the 2016-2017 regular season. For the Neepawa Natives, the first half has not matched the expectations the club had going into the year, as they headed into the league wide event with a 8-21-0 record. That placed them nine points back of the Swan Valley Stampeders for the eight and final playoff spot. 

In an interview with the Neepawa Banner in advance of the MJHL Showcase, head coach Dustin Howden addressed the current state of the team, noting that what has made the first half of the year even more disappointing was that the club has been so close on so many occasions, losing seven games this season by just a goal  (To Selkirk, Portage, Steinbach, Winnipeg and Virden on three different occasions).

“Right now, at this point of the year, we’re honestly not where we wanted to be. We’ve lost quite a few one goal games. Now while we’ve been competitive, which is different than what we’ve been in years past, whether you lose by one or 10 goals, a loss is still a loss,” said Howden.

Throughout the first half, the power-play and penalty kill have proven to be a real Achilles’ heel. Heading into the Showcase, Neepawa’s power-play was dead last in the league (12.31PP%)* and 10th in the penalty kill (77.70PK%)*. Howden said the results during the early portion of the year were nowhere near where they wanted them to be. He does stress, however, that the coaching staff has seen improvement as of late, with players taking fewer ‘soft penalties’, such as hooking or slashing, for example. He also stated that the power-play is coming around, as players have adapted to the system that’s been put in place and are starting to be more confident with the man-advantage. 

As happens with most junior ‘A’ hockey clubs, there has been a revolving door of players joining or exiting the dressing room. The Neepawa Natives are no exception to that rule, as they have released or traded eight players; (Goaltender Jeremy Link, defencemen Josh Atkinson and forwards Aiken Chop, Colin Robin, Dan Derewianchuk, Nathan Hillis, Tarek Paranica and Jace Pesch) and acquired or traded for five (Goaltender Evan Robert, forwards Josh Sielsky, Braeden Binda, Nick Schultze, Zach Johnson and Brett Namaka). Howden said that a turnover of names is the nature of the league, as every club is searching for that right chemistry to make it a contender.

“From the start of the season until now, we’ve added a few new players to the roster and traded or released others. You are always looking to build in junior hockey. Nobody is ever safe and nobody should ever stand pat,” stressed Howden. “The players that we’ve added, we feel add some more team speed and a little more offence for us.”

Shifting attention into the second half of the year, Howden believes that this team is not indicative of its record. With a more favourable second half schedule and players getting more comfortable with the system, he remains optimistic that a push for the playoffs is still viable.

“The first half of the year has gotten away from us, but we feel as though we’re still in a good spot to move up in the standings. The teams that we’re directly chasing in the standing [such as Dauphin and Swan Valley], we’ll have a chance to face in the second half of the season. So that puts our fate in our own hands. That’s all that any team can really ask for, is that chance.”

*These power-play and penalty kill numbers exclude the pair of games played during the MJHL Showcase.