Pionk reflects on emotional two weeks

WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Jets are on a three-game win streak and are playing some solid hockey, but the team’s on-ice success took a back seat on Friday. 

Defenceman Neal Pionk spoke to the media in Winnipeg for the first time since losing one of his best friends, Adam Johnson, to an on-ice incident on October 28 during a game in the Elite Ice Hockey League in the United Kingdom.

“It still doesn’t feel real,” said Pionk following the Jets’ skate. “You wake up every day hoping it was a bad dream. The mornings have been the hardest. Get through the mornings, coming to the rink, it’s honestly been good.

“It’s been a good distraction. It’s been a whirlwind the past 10 days.”

Watching the 28-year-old play these days you wouldn’t know that he is hurting the way he is. Pionk has four straight games where he has been at even or better in the plus-minus department, and scored his first goal of the season on Tuesday in St. Louis. That goal came the day after Pionk spoke at Johnson’s funeral and celebration of life.

“That was no coincidence. His mom asked me to speak, and I couldn’t have been more honoured,” he said. “You go and speak at something like that and then come back and score a goal, there’s no coincidence in that. I don’t score that often. He would always make fun of me, say, ‘OMG, that’s such a lucky goal’ after I scored.

“It’s little stuff. Everything I do on a day-to-day basis; I think of him. I’m sure I’ve told a bunch of stories. I thank my teammates for letting me tell those stories because I’m sure I’ve repeated a bunch of them. But they’ve been great.”

Pionk, Alex Iafallo, Dominic Toninato and Dylan Samberg all went to the funeral as the Jets ownership group chartered the four players a plane for the flight from Arizona to Minnesota.

“Forever grateful. I can’t even put that into words,” said Pionk. “We would have gotten there regardless, but we would have only spent eight to 10 hours there. With the charter, and I can’t thank Mark Chipman enough, we got to spend over 24 hours there.

“The fact that there was zero hesitation. He basically said whatever you need whenever you need it, it’s there. Boom. I was overwhelmed. It was greatly appreciated.”

Interim head coach Scott Arniel was impressed but not surprised that Chipman and the organization went the extra mile for the players.

“The one thing, even going back to the Moose days, Mark Chipman and the ownership group wants to do everything possible to make this a first-class organization. Sometimes, it’s a hard sell to get people to come (to Winnipeg). We’re never ever going to cut corners when it comes to stuff like that. It just shows the passion and how much we care about family, and we care about the players,” said Arniel.

“I mentioned that there are lots of players that have mentioned to me that there are lots of things that we do as a team that they haven’t done in other cities. That doesn’t need to be a question mark for us. We can’t do anything about the weather, we can’t do anything about whatever it might be but when it comes to treating players and families first class, that’s one thing Mark Chipman and the organization has done right from the beginning.”

The same can be said for Iafallo, who was also a teammate of Johnson's at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

"I haven’t really had anything like this happen in my life so I haven’t really understood it yet. So it’s good to talk with everybody, the guys just in this locker room have been so supportive, the organization as well," said Iafallo.

"If you need anything let them know, that from the bottom of my heart, I just appreciate that."