(Photo courtesy of Jonathan Kozub)
After having the thrill of being drafted in the third round by the Winnipeg Jets in Nashville last summer, Zach Nehring was looking forward to his first season with the Sioux Falls Stampede of the United States Hockey League. After a slow start, he faced some early adversity.
“Definitely quite the experience. Coming into a new league it's tougher competition, new guys. (New) building I wasn't used to that. It's all an adjustment. It was unfortunate, got injured 10 games in and missed about two months with a pretty bad concussion,” said Nehring at Jets development camp earlier this month.
“Didn't get back out there till after Christmas. And the first ten games were an adjustment, but I thought the last 15-20 games was kind of me, how I wanted myself to be performing.”
It was a frustrating experience to say the least for the now 19-year-old especially when it came to the concussion that he suffered at the end of November. Nehring missed out on a critical window to get used to a new league and new teammates.
“The first 10-20 games are kind of where you get your feet wet and feel comfortable. And that was cut short for me,” said Nehring.
“So, it was super tough mentally, just to deal with that and spend a lot of time in my room, just by myself with the lights off because my headaches were so bad. But I'm just grateful it all healed up having any issues since I was glad to just finish off the year.”
A couple challenges during recovery that Nehring had were not being around his teammates and trying to avoid coming back too soon. The Minot product feels that he is past all of the hurdles from the injury and ready to go for the upcoming season.
“The mental side was probably one of the biggest. Obviously, I had lingering issues up in my neck from where I got hit with a stick. So, I had to do some more work on the summer just to kind of make sure more preventative care than anything,” said Nehring.
“And it's made a huge difference had me haven't had any issues since. So, I'm super grateful for that and have been going full throttle. So obviously if something comes up, that's kind of where you take precautions, but it's been good.”
Even though Nehring wasn’t able to be around his teammates and coaching staff, he wasn’t completely alone. His twin sister was nearby attending college in Sioux Falls and of course, Jets director of player development, Jimmy Roy, was just a phone call away.
“Jimmy especially was a lot of help for me. I mean, he's had a few concussions in his day. So, he's been there, especially playing in the pro level and how to handle that. It's definitely tough. And a lot of people especially on the outside, like they don't understand and how that feels and how you kind of have to go about it,” said Nehring.
“It's a lot of work. A lot of it, you're kind of doing by yourself, you don't really have anyone around you. Unless you're talking to your parents or especially like Jimmy and they were a lot of help for me and I'm super happy to have him in my corner.”
Nehring has moved on from the USHL to college hockey for the 2024-25 season. He will begin his first campaign with Western Michigan University this fall.
“Going into college next year. It's bigger, stronger, guys. But I think I'm ready. You know, just the training in the summer has been nice kind of compare yourself and put yourself with those older guys in the weight room especially,” said Nehring.
“I think that’s the big focus for me. It’s just getting stronger and filling out my frame. I’m really excited to play for (head coach) Pat Ferschweiler and the Broncos this year. It’ll be an exciting group. We got a lot of young guys, so I’m interested to see how it goes and I’m ready to push myself every day.”
