Ottawa BlackJacks President's Newsletter: Volume 1, Issue 4

Welcome to the fourth edition of the President’s Letter and the Ottawa BlackJacks of the CEBL, Canada’s largest professional men’s basketball league! This President’s Letter is aimed at keeping our supporters in touch with noteworthy events and news that we follow closely each and every day. Feel free to share any comments you may have positive or constructive otherwise. So without further ado, let’s dive into the fourth edition of the OBJ President’s Letter.

I was also grateful to participate in Christie Lake Kids annual gala in support of their STAR (“Skills Through Arts and Recreation”) City programs where we were fortunate enough to sit with CLK Board Chair Peter Melanson and Board Director Riaz Kara among others. The audience heard first hand from guest speaker Styve Mata, 18, who first was involved with this program at age eight after emigrating from the Congo. Styve’s favorite activity is basketball, which according to many is the most popular sport in these programs. Much thanks to Adrienne Vienneau, CLK Executive Director and Amy Mac Donald for their invitation and opportunity to work together. The BlackJacks are committed to properly support this long-standing, Capital Region focused organization.

ANOTHER OTTAWA NATIVE HITS THE NBA…  For those who have not heard, BlackJacks alumnus and Ottawa’s own Sean Stoqua recently accepted the role of Athletic Performance coach with the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.  Stoqua most recently served as the BlackJacks Athletic Performance Coach and was selected to train both Thunder NBA players as well as OKC’s G-League team. Sean is the son of Ottawa football and basketball legend Pat Stoqua of Carleton Ravens, Ottawa Rough Riders and Lisgar Lords basketball fame. We are extremely proud of Sean’s accomplishments and wish him nothing but the best as he progresses in his career.

CEBL GROWTH…  A meaningful announcement was made earlier this month: The CEBL welcomed serial entrepreneur Drew Green as Chair of the CEBL Board of Governors. Green is an accomplished business person, most recently having founded Indochino, one of North America’s fastest growing apparel brands with 145 retail locations and funded by major venture capital firms. Drew’s Family Office has empowered dozens of other entrepreneurs and hundreds of companies ranging from Fintech, Edtech, eCommerce and real estate. According to Drew, “CEBL and basketball resonate with my family – the epitome of a basketball family in Canada. The league has been a catapult for the growth of the sport in our country and I can’t wait to help lift basketball in Canada to new heights”. Drew and his wife Andrea Dayco have two sons Liam (18 years old/NCAA Division 1 player at Florida Atlantic) and Aidan (16 years old/Montverde Academy). Green also played one season (‘93-’94) at York with the then-Yeoman for legendary Head Coach Bob Bain in Toronto. The BlackJacks welcome Drew Green and his family to the CEBL and look forward to collaborating to increase the popularity and growth of the league.

Congratulations to Ottawa native Adriel “AD” Nyorha who recently committed to NCAA Division 1 Arkansas State. The Red Wolves compete in the Sun Belt Conference and finished 20-17 overall in 2023-24, losing in the conference tournament championship game to James Madison. ASU is 4-1 overall in this early season with their only loss being a nine point setback against then no. 2 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. Nyorha is a product of Ottawa’s CTA Prep program coached by Tony House and Faqrudin “Turtle” Ali. The 6’5” wing is finishing his prep career at Winston Salem Christian Men’s Academy in North Carolina.

Thanks to both Algonquin Wolves Head Coaches:  Trevor Costello (Men’s) and Jaime McLean (Women’s) who were kind enough to invite me to practice recently and spend some time with their players and staff. Both teams are among the top sides in the OCAA with Jaime’s women already at 7-0 in the East with several lopsided victories. Trevor’s men’s team sits at 6-3 in OCAA league play in advance of their return match this coming Friday, Nov. 29 vs. Ottawa city rival LaCite. The Wolves defeated La Cite in October 88-75 and the second game in this series goes at 7 p.m. at the Jack Doyle Athletics and Recreation Centre at the Algonquin Woodroffe Campus this Friday.

BLACKJACKS “BALL 4 ALL” DONATION PROGRAM:   In an effort to allow less fortunate members of our community to attend BlackJacks basketball games at TD Place, our Ball 4 All program in partnership with Kids Up Front Ottawa. Tax deductible donations made to the program will allow Kids Up Front to distribute tickets to their network of agencies throughout the city. This organization has already distributed more than 45,000 tickets to events creating thousands of memories. Please contact me anytime for more information.

LOCAL POST SECONDARY UPDATE… After a sluggish start in the pre-season, Taffe Charles and the Carleton Ravens men’s program sit atop of their division at 9-1 after home victories last weekend against Guelph and McMaster.  Unfortunately, Carleton shot just 4-33 from downtown, suffering their first loss of the OUA regular season at Lakehead in Thunder Bay.  Still, the Ravens are doing it with defense and rebounding – staples of the program over the past two decades – giving up an average of 62.8 p.p.g., allowing just three teams to score more than 70 and have not yet surrendered 80 points in a league game. 6 '6 " sophomore Augustus Brazdeikis leads a balanced scoring attack at 16.1 ppg (8th in the OUA), adding 6.9 rpg (6th in the OUA), leading the Ravens, who now come in at no. 5 in the most recent USPORTS Top 10 ranking. Carleton now prepares for Wednesday’s showdown at uOttawa Gee-Gees in the first of two cross-town rivalry games. Second half domination has been the story behind the recent Ottawa Gee-Gees winning streak which has now reached five in a row after winning a pair in the GTA this past weekend - at U of T and at TMU.  The Gee-Gees have clamped down on teams defensively:  uOttawa allows just 63.4 p.p.g. thus far this season. Derouin recently welcomed back 6’2” fifth-year guard Dragan Stajic who was dealing with concussion symptoms and the Gee-Gees remain without the services of 6' 4” third-year impact guard Khalifa Koulamallah. On the women’s side, Rose-Anne Joly’s Gee-Gees maintain their no. 1 national ranking winning their last five in a row – the only blemish in uOttawa’s season (15-1 overall, 10-1 in league play) was a 58-56 loss at Brock, currently ranked no. 9 in the country.  5 '6 " Natsuki Szczokin  (Barrie, Ontario) is fifth in OUA scoring at 16.1 p.p.g., with double digits totals in each of uOttawa’s nine OUA games. Dani Sinclair’s Carleton Ravens Ladies remain undefeated in league play at 10-0 (16-2 overall) and come in at #4 in the latest USPORTS rankings. Carleton came away with a pair of wins last weekend, knocked off Lakehead on Saturday and had defeated Brock in St. Catharines earlier in the season 76-59. 5 '7 " Dorcas Buisa (Gatineau, PQ) averages 14.2 p.p.g. to lead the balanced Ravens attack after coming alive this past weekend with 38 points vs. Guelph and 31 vs. McMaster, going a combined 24-40 (60%) from the field and 19-23 (83%) from the free throw line. The top two teams in the OUA face-off on Wednesday at uOttawa for the first of two season cross-town match-ups.

FINALLY…  The BlackJacks invite one and all to our annual season-ending party celebrating a successful 2024 campaign. The action gets going at 7 p.m. next Thursday, Dec. 5 at Jack Astor’s Lansdowne - home of our newly-branded BlackJacks indoor basketball cage. Finger food snacks will be served, there will be several contests for prizes including a free-throw shooting contest. On the TV screens, NBA fans can watch our Toronto Raptors host the Oklahoma City Thunder and Canada’s own Shea Gilgious-Alexander (and Sean Stoqua).