Back to School: Shane Pinto
After the Covid-19 pandemic wiped out the conclusion of the 2019-20 NCAA hockey season, Pinto and his teammates at North Dakota, including fellow Sens prospect Jacob Bernard-Docker, were unable to achieve their goal of a national championship. So, Pinto returned for 2020-21.
"It really sucked we couldn't finish what we started and we have a lot of unfinished business and that's a big reason why I came back," Pinto said. "We want to win and the fact we couldn't have any closure on last season was tough."
The Fighting Hawks were the second ranked team in the NCAA with a 26-5-4 record and led the National Hockey Collegiate Conference (NCHC) when the season was cancelled. They were later awarded the Penrose Cup as conference champions, their first since 2016.
Preparation to chase that national title has been a little bit different however for Pinto. After leaving North Dakota at the end of the season, he returned home to Franklin Square, N.Y., where after a two-week break, got himself set-up with home workouts where he did a lot of body weight work. He kept his feet moving by roller blading since a lot of rinks in the state were closed.
As things started to slowly open, the 20-year-old returned to North Dakota where he was able to access the gym and skate too.
"The only big difference now is when we wake up each morning we have to do a wellness check and have our temperature taken every time we get to the rink.," he said. Some of Pinto's teammates have had to quarantine as they were either Covid-19 positive or were in close contact with someone who had it, but things are back on track now.
All of Pinto's classes are on-line as he works towards his kinesiology major but he admits how strange it is to see how quiet campus life is.
"Usually at this time it's pretty active around campus and you see students walking around and being a regular college student. But it's definitely different right now.
"Obviously, you've got to roll with the punches. I've been trying my best to keep up with it and I think I've been doing a good job of that so far but hopefully we can get back to in-person classes to get that college experience."
© Russell Hons
While Pinto continues to keep up with the era of on-line courses, he sure was ahead of the game on the ice last season.
Pinto was named the NCHC Rookie of the Year after tallying 16 goals and 28 points in 33 games as a freshman. He also made the conference's All-Rookie team.
"It was pretty awesome," he said. "You want to set high goals for yourself but I never would have thought at the beginning of last year I would win that award."
While Pinto was a name to Sens fans after being taken 32nd overall in the 2019 NHL Draft, he wasn't necessarily known on the international stage.
Until the 2020 World Juniors.
Pinto electrified the tournament, scoring four goals in five games and adding three assists as the USA reached the quarterfinals. He opened the tournament with back-to-back three points games. The World Juniors explosion carried into the rest of his collegiate season, where 17 of his 28 points came after he returned that included a nine-game point streak.
"That was big for me," Pinto said of his World Juniors breakout. "We obviously didn't get the result we wanted at the end there losing to Finland so I wish we could have gotten a better result but for me personally it went really well.
"I know a lot of people were skeptical when the Sens picked me at 32 but hopefully they saw that tournament and saw what I could do for them in the future. You don't need validation from other people; it's all just within yourself and I've always believed in myself so that's how I look at things."
The past is the past for Pinto now though. The rookie accolades, the World Juniors, the NHL draft; it's all a footnote. Now, it's about looking ahead only.
"The one thing I always tell myself before every season is try and get better every day," he said. "I've always had that motto going into every season and that's what I'll continue to do. It won't change no matter what accomplishments I've had in the past. It's a new year.
"Everyone kind of forgets about what you did in the past and it's about what you do now."
