Neal Pionk

📝 Životopis EN · zdroj TheSportsDB

Neal Robert Pionk (born July 29, 1995) is an American professional ice hockey defenseman for the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League (NHL). An undrafted player, Pionk was signed by the New York Rangers as a college free agent from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2017. Early life Pionk was born on July 29, 1995, in Omaha, Nebraska, to parents Karen and Scott Pionk. His father played baseball for Proctor High School and the University of Wisconsin–Superior before coaching ice hockey at the youth level and for the United States Hockey League (USHL). Pionk was raised in Hermantown, Minnesota, a suburb of Duluth, where his father built a baseball diamond and an ice hockey rink for Pionk and his friends to practice. All five Pionk brothers played baseball and ice hockey as children, and after school they would play two-on-two hockey in this backyard ice rink. In his adolescence, Pionk played with future National Hockey League (NHL) player Dylan Samberg on youth teams and for Hermantown High School. Pionk and his brothers also created an annual pick-up hockey tradition with fellow brothers Travis and Cole Koepke. They referred to this annual tournament as the Holiday Cup…