I noticed Nimchonok frequently over the Silver Stick, and I thought the finals was his best performance. Jay was calm and patient on retrievals, consistently picking up dumped-in pucks, getting his head up and scanning for options. He almost always connected on clean exit passes to jumpstart the transition, bringing a solid puck-moving element to the Upper Canada back-end. Defensively, I thought he displayed sound gap control, effectively forcing attackers to the outside on entries and winning battles in his own end to secure possession. Both of these two areas made Jay a solid contributor for UCC, doing the little things right to help them exit their zone and get going the other direction.

Nimchonok was the defender I noticed the most on the Upper Canada squad. He always seemed to want to engage defensively, get in attackers’ space and didn’t hesitate from applying contact. He won quite a few pucks in his defensive zone, winning battles in his corners, and he brought a solid defensive effort in a game where Hill controlled most of the game. Jay connected on most of his outlet passes, overall making for a solid showing as a defender who could win pucks and get them up ice with control.