Neuls’ off-season agenda: build a garage and hit the ice

Grenfell, Saskatchewan is a Canadian prairie town nestled over 1,100 miles northeast of the ShoWare Center. The town’s population is roughly one-sixth the size of the building’s capacity, and for now it is playing home to Donovan Neuls for the offseason.

“My hometown in Grenfell has about 1,000 people in it. So you could fit about six of those in the ShoWare Center,” Neuls said. “I’m helping a family friend build a garage. Then after that it’s workout for a couple hours, and later in the summer I’ll start skating again.”

Neuls’ low key summer plans are a necessary reminder of the lives that Western Hockey League players lead when they are not on the ice. Things like lending a hand toward friends’ and neighbors’ summer projects are simply part of the daily agenda for many WHLers. While hockey is undoubtedly a top priority, getting back into the groove of their everyday life away from the sport is still of paramount importance.

In the 2016 Playoffs, Neuls had two power play goals and one shorthanded goal. Photo by Brian Liesse

Like most of his contemporaries around the league, summertime means a return to Canada for Neuls. Before joining the Thunderbirds for the 2014-15 season, Neuls, a 5’10 center, had spent his entire life in the province of Saskatchewan. His junior hockey days included stints in the Saskatchewan cities of Melville and Moose Jaw. However, despite his deep Saskatchewan roots, Neuls has taken kindly to the land and lifestyle found in the state of Washington.

“It’s different, it’s a lot different,” Neuls admitted. “I really like Washington. My billets took me around, took me fishing a couple times. It’s really nice to see. We have, I like to think, the best fans in the league.”

In his second year of playing in front of those fans, Neuls’ productivity on the ice improved tremendously. His 14 goals scored in 2015-16 doubled the total he had in the previous season. He also became a vital component of the Thunderbirds’ power play, netting five goals with a man advantage during the 2015-16 regular season.

Staying in line with his quaint, simplistic Saskatchewan nature, Neuls had a straightforward answer when asked how he improved his scoring from his first year in the league to his second. He said most of it was a product of hard work and a true effort to get more pucks to the net. Neuls also noted that his talented teammates made life easier as well, before making another candid statement about his own aspirations.

“I don’t think other teams could match [our depth] because we had four lines and six defensemen that could go every night,” Neuls opined. “I definitely think we can make another run. Hopefully this time finish off what we started. For myself, I just want to come back to Seattle and have a good year.”

Neuls provided one of the hallmark moments of the Thunderbirds’ 2016 march to the WHL Championship. In Game 1 of the opening series against Prince George, the T-Birds faced a 1-0 deficit in the second period. It was Neuls who scored the first Seattle goal of the 2016 playoffs. Not only did his goal spark the team’s victory in that particular game, it ignited the Thunderbirds offense for the duration of the playoffs, during which they averaged just over three goals per game.

Neuls spoke about the importance of that goal and took us through the series of events that led up to it.

“It was definitely nice to tie it up, and then go on to win that one in overtime,” Neuls said. “It was a big win. The crowd’s reaction was pretty special. I think Alexander True made a nice play down low, and it was on a delayed call so I was coming off the bench for the goalie. He [True] found me in the slot and I just took a quick shot. It happened to go in, and then the crowd went crazy.”

Neuls was one of five players from Saskatchewan on the T-Birds’ 2015-16 roster. Photo by Brian Liesse

The playoff success extended beyond the first round for Neuls. He notched five goals and five assists, equaling 10 points in 18 playoff games. Those 18 games included a sweep of the Kelowna Rockets in the Western Conference Championship, and a five-game defeat at the hands of the Brandon Wheat Kings in the WHL Championship. Despite being just a few months removed from winning the Western Conference, Neuls is already nostalgic about the achievement.

“Winning the West final was pretty special,” Neuls said. “With the team we had, it was a great bunch of guys, and I wish I could re-live it right now.”

Playing in the WHL Championship was undoubtedly a tremendous accomplishment for Neuls and his teammates. With the stakes being so high and the eyes of the entire league on them, the Thunderbirds stressed controlling their emotions and not letting the moment get too big for them. When the puck was dropped for Game 1, the team had to trust that their skills would overpower whatever nerves they were experiencing.

“I remember the first game I was really nervous, and then once you kind of get your feet wet it’s just another hockey game,” Neuls said. “You treat it like another hockey game, and you just got to trust your gut when the nerves start kicking in.”

Of course, the Thunderbirds eventually fell short of their ultimate goal: the first WHL Championship in franchise history. The season ended with an 8-4 loss in Game 5 at the ShoWare Center in front of over 5,000 rabid T-Bird fans. With that defeat came the annual return of players to their various home towns. While some T-Birds flocked to metropolis cities such as Edmonton, Calgary, or Winnipeg, Donovan Neuls headed for Grenfell.

His offseason life in the small Saskatchewan town is a stark contrast to his life in Kent during the regular season. But a return to one’s roots can often create clarity of mind and a comfort that comes with familiar surroundings. Neuls’ plan is to use that clarity and comfort to propel him and his teammates to an unfamiliar setting, a WHL Championship trophy ceremony.