Pionk coming into training camp with a new attitude
Photo credit: Winnipeg Free Press
Jets defenceman became a father in late August so bring on the Dad strength.
It has been an exciting summer for Neal Pionk, and if fans see him throwing his hip checks with even more force than in previous seasons, it could possibly be attributed to something he picked up in late August:
Pionk and his wife, Kiera, welcomed Stevie Mae to the family on August 21.
"We couldn't be more blessed to have a healthy baby and mom's healthy too," said Pionk on Tuesday, following a one-hour skate at hockey for all centre. "You change your perspective. You know, before, you're thinking about yourself, or you think about you and your wife as a couple. Now it's basically surrounded around her for the most part - making decisions based on where to travel, what to do, what to eat, who's coming into town, who isn't coming into town. So it's all based around her right now."
Roughly a month prior to his daughters birth, Pionk was a groomsman in Dylan Samberg's wedding.
"It was great. We got to kick back and watch him take a million pictures," Pionk laughed. "It was a good event and saw a bunch of the Jets guys there, a bunch of UMD alumni as well. So it was a great time."
Pionk and Samberg's friendship goes back to their hometown of Hermantown, MN, and the duo also spent time together as a defensive pair last season. They played 154:18 at five-on-five together, fifth most of any Jets combination on the blue line last season.
"We have the obvious chemistry. I see him all summer. I see him too much sometimes," Pionk said, with his usual sarcastic tone whenever Samberg comes up. "We live at the same lake together, so we got that going for us."
Like every summer in the National Hockey League, rosters all over the league change and evolve as free agency and trades send players to new locations. While Pionk is very familiar with Samberg, the partner he actually spent the most time last season was Brenden Dillon.
Of course, Dillon signed with the New Jersey Devils.
"I'm happy for him at the end of the day, happy for him, happy for his family," said Pionk. "So I'm sure we'll run into him, and I'll have something to say to him this winter."
While Pionk finished last season with the same 33 points last year as he did in 2022-23, he's always working on trying to find ways to improve his game.
The one thing that he won't let stand in the way of that is the fact he's entering the final year of his contract.
"I've been through contract years before, been through two of them, so I didn't change anything," he said. "I did what I always do in the summer, and trained hard, played a little bit of golf, but more hockey than golf. So yeah, just go into the year and play your game."
He looks forward to continuing to collect those personal milestones on the ice, while celebrating different milestones at home with his new daughter.
"Especially once she starts interacting a little bit, you know, a few months into the year, that'll be really fun," he said. "Right now, she's just eating and sleeping a lot. I've gotten good at changing diapers, but, yeah, I think when they're able to interact and smile at you when you come through the door, I think that'll be huge."
| POLL | ||
11 SEPTEMBRE | 23 ANSWERS Pionk coming into training camp with a new attitude Will Pionk have a career year with points seeing as its a contract year for the Jets player? | ||
| YES | 15 | 65.2 % |
| NO | 8 | 34.8 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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