Ottawa BlackJacks President’s Letter: Volume 1, Issue 1, October 7th, 2024

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the President’s Letter and the Ottawa BlackJacks of the CEBL, Canada’s largest professional men’s basketball league! The first few weeks of my time with this great franchise have flown by and there is already much to share. 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 inaugural edition of the OBJ President’s Letter.

POST-SECONDARY BASKETBALL KICKS-OFF IN LATE SEPTEMBER: 
Virtually all of the Capital Region’s post-secondary programs began play in late September.   Beginning Thursday night, September 26th in Saskatoon,  Taffe Charles and the Carleton Ravens men’s team defeated the host Saskatchewan Huskies, coached by former Raven Assistant Jamie Campbell, 73-67 at the three-day Ron and Jane Graham Shootout.  The Ravens then came up flat on Friday, losing to UBC Thunderbirds, before knocking off MacEwan on Saturday.  Friday night, September 27th at Montpetit Hall, uOttawa Gee-Gees were very impressive in hammering visiting McGill Redbirds 97-46.  UBC and uOttawa are likely two of the top three-to-five teams in U SPORTS at this juncture.  This season’s Gee-Gees may be Coach James Derouin’s deepest and most impressive team in his career with BlackJacks own 6’7” forward Justin Ndjock-Tadjore, 6’5” Jacques-Melaine Guemeta (24 of his 26 points before halftime) and veteran 6’6” forward Brock Newton.  Ottawa dominated despite not having available 6’0” point guard Dragan Stajic, who also was on our BlackJacks roster this past summer.  The Gee-Gees have a ton of young talent coming up to support the excellent group of upperclassmen and don’t be surprised if Ottawa is ranked at or near the top of U SPORTS men’s rankings for the entire season.  Also, it is great to see Clarence “CP” Porter back on the Gee-Gees bench for his 28th season as an Assistant and 33rd overall with the program. 

At Algonquin last Friday night, the Wolves men’s team kicked off their pre-season with an easy win over Conestoga and then traveled to Brockville but were flat in what Head Coach Trevor Costello termed “a bad loss” to Loyalist College (Belleville) in a pre-season game played at Brockville C.I. high school.  Earlier in the day, Costello ran a clinic for 25 boys at Thousand Islands Secondary School while Algonquin women’s coach Jaime McLean ran a similar clinic at Brockville Collegiate.  The men’s Wolves travel to the Joel Tyrell Classic in Montreal over Thanksgiving weekend for games against Outaouais and John Abbott before kicking off the OCAA regular season with a cross-town rivalry game at La Cite (3 PM, Saturday, October 19th, 2024)

Jaime’s women’s Wolves group has already had several scrimmages including at uOttawa as well as last weekend’s Battle of the St. Lawrence, an annual event put on by the Brockville Blazers.  The Wolves handled division rival Loyalist 67-42. 

uOttawa Gee-Gees women had a successful weekend in Calgary, participating in the Calgary Cup and going a perfect 3-0 including knocking off the host Dinos 60-59 on Thursday night.  Head Coach Rose-Anne Joly’s squad also had wins over UVic and UPEI to start their pre-season, which continues this Thursday night at home against McGill followed by an 11:00 AM start at home on Saturday vs. UNB.  This past weekend, 6’0” 4th year wing Allie McCarthy averaged 20.6 ppg including 25 against UPEI in the final game.  McCarthy was 25-43 (58%) from the field overall. 

Carleton Ravens women host UNB at the Raven’s Nest at 6 PM this coming Thursday, October 10th.  Coach Dani Sinclair’s side swept a pair of games over the weekend in Montreal over Concordia and UQAM and are 3-2 thus far in the early season.  Men’s coach Taff Charles’ daughter Maya is on the Ravens roster however is currently nursing a knee injury.

Heritage College captured the Tournoi des Phenix in Gatineau last weekend.  Head Coach Carlos Brown got an early look at his group including his son Elijah – it is wonderful that Father is able to coach Son. 

ST. LUKE’S “THE PARK” EXPECTED TO GET A MAKE-OVER: 

For virtually everyone involved in the Capital Region basketball community, St. Luke’s Park on Frank Street represents the Mecca of Ottawa outdoor pick-up basketball.  My first Sunday ever after arriving in Ottawa in late August, 1991 was spent at the Park playing pick-up and building friendships that have lasted for decades.  Thanks in part to the hard work of the growing St. Luke’s Community Association led by Mahamat-Ali “Mo” Haggar and supported by many others, the Park will be refurbished.  Thanks to Ariel Troster, City of Ottawa Councillor for Somerset Ward and her team, a budget has been allocated and work is scheduled to commence in the next 2-3 weeks to begin updating Ottawa’s version of NYC’s Rucker Park. 

The Community hosted a barbecue last Sunday and, among the players that were there, I was able to catch-up to local men’s league legend Makur Shayok who arrived in Canada in the early 1990’s after a successful NCAA career at Dayton with the Flyers.  As the story goes, after graduating from Dayton, Makur had nowhere else to go except here to Canada. 

He moved his family, which then included four young children, to Ottawa in August 1992, just after he graduated from Dayton.  Makur applied for political asylum because of warfare in his home country, needing the free health care the Canadian government would provide.  While Makur is understandably very proud of his South Sudanese heritage, he again paid tribute to Canada as his home and a wonderful country that accepted him when he arrived at our border after playing in the U.S.  Of course, basketball fans know that at least three of Makur’s children have forged their own careers in basketball:  Yar, Shayok and Marial Shayok – more on them in future letters – but with my first President’s Letter I do want to pay special tribute to their Father Makur who I’m told is still in a nightmare matchup in the post.  And he still believes he holds the Algonquin Sunday League record for points with 60 – an assertion that may be challenged by others still associated with that legendary Sunday league (Trevor:  what do you say about this record?).  I am looking forward to sharing more about St. Luke’s as information becomes available.

THANKS TO MERRICK PALMER AND FABIENNE BLIZZARD: 

BlackJacks Manager of Community Services/Operations Jessica Zarowny and I were invited to the Capital Courts Training Center in Orleans on Sunday, September 22nd for a Boys and Girls skills session and we were able to connect with several people in the Community.  Fabienne and I rode the buses together in the early 1990’s when she was a three-time All Star with the Gee-Gees women’s team and she has raised two wonderful children including daughter Tyra who played at Windsor and uOttawa before embarking on a professional career, most recently in the Moroccan DEX-D.  Merrick’s story is simply another shining example of what hard work and the entrepreneurial spirit can achieve – even in the face of being the 7th of seven children raised by a single Mother after his father passed suddenly when he was two years old after just arriving in Canada from Jamaica.  I plan to have more on this with Merrick’s permission going forward but suffice to say his story is inspirational. And he did bury us with a three-point dagger in the 1993 CIAU semi-final  in Halifax in front of 10,000+ partisan St. FX fans so there’s that.  X under legendary Coach Steve Konchalski went on to win their first of three National championships the next afternoon over McMaster coached by Joe Raso.

WHERE ARE THEY PLAYING?  BLACKJACKS PLAYING OVERSEAS: 

6’4” Canadian guard Keevan Veinot came alive late in the season, with two of his top performances coming in the playoffs in the win at Scarborough (18 points, 6 assists) and at Niagara (11 points, 5 assists).  Keevan has already played three games with Donar Groningen in the Dutch League where he is averaging just under 25 ppg while shooting 10-17 from three and 14-15 from the free throw line early in their season.  Another Canadian, 6’9” James Karnik (Surrey, BC), a Boston College product, is a teammate of Keevan’s in the Netherlands.  Ottawa’s own 6’5” wing Lloyd Pandi, the CEBL Defensive Player-of-the-Year this past season, has joined SC Rasta Vechta of the German Bundesliga after their promotion from German ProA in 2022-23 and had an 8-point, 3-rebound performance in his first game against Bonn last week.  The coaching staff uncovered a gem in the middle last season in 6’10” Isaih Moore, who came to the BlackJacks from Sioux City of the NBA G-League.  We are pleased to share that Isaih recently signed with Manchester Basketball, playing in Super League Basketball. 

https://www.manchester.basketball/news/isaih-moore-signs-for-manchester.  OBJ’s all-time leading scorer 6’7” Deng Adel averaged 11 ppg in his first two games with the Brisbane Bullets.  Bullets have started 0-2 in the NBL-Australia.  5’11” Shamar Givance who was an excellent mid-season addition by Coach Derouin and staff – almost single handedly willing the BlackJacks to a playoff win at Niagara has found a home for this season in Cyprus with Payabl Eka Ael Limassol (Cyprus-OPAP Basket League)

BLACKJACKS ALUMNUS IN SPAIN: 

Local Ottawa talent has been a growing staple of BlackJacks and many are familiar with 6’7” Thomas Scrubb who has spent parts of three seasons with the home side – it likely would have been four this past summer however Tommy was with Canada’s Sr. Men’s National team at the Olympics in France.  Tommy is now getting prepared for his 10th season of professional basketball in the top league in Spain (Liga ACB) for Club Cantera Base 1939 Canarias S.A.D., commonly known as La Laguna Tenerife, based in La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. 

Tommy joins fellow Carleton alumnus Aaron Doornekamp, now 38 years old and still contributing major minutes on one of Spain’s top teams - Tenerife finished tied for 4th in the 18-team first division table in 2023-24.  Basketball has always been a family affair with Tommy and his wife, Catherine Traer, the former uOttawa and Carleton star who has resumed her professional playing career, also in Spain so the family will be together this season!  Catherine’s father Rick Traer is a long-time Capital Region basketball contributor, having played at uOttawa in the 70’s, doing a tenure as Executive Director of Canada Basketball in the 1990’s and active in the Gatineau/Ottawa basketball community.  Tenerife is a top club in Europe, also participating in the FIBA Champions League (BCL).  Liga ACB teams play approximately two ACB games per week plus tournaments – here is Tenerife Laguna’s schedule:  https://cbcanarias.net/temporada/. 

The BlackJacks wish Tommy, Catherine, and Aaron a great 2024-25 season.

DONATING TICKETS TO BLACKJACKS GAMES:

One of our major strategic initiatives is ensuring fans of all ages and economic backgrounds can attend BlackJacks games in person.  Very shortly we will be launching a program that accepts donations from individuals and businesses that will be used to purchase and distribute tickets to various communities around the Capital Region.  All donations are tax deductible and donors will receive an official tax receipt.

For more information on the Capital Region Basketball Events scene, please visit our BlackJacks Community Basketball Calendar https://www.theblackjacks.ca/ottawa-blackjacks-launch-community-basketball-calendar 

Please feel free to reach out to me anytime [email protected]  and consider following me on X/Twitter @objprezwacyk, Instagram @objprezwacyk and LinkedIn Mark Wacyk | LinkedIn