Aaron Pionk wasn’t completely surprised when his North American League Hockey coach told him the Wilderness wanted him to play defense. Still, he wasn’t thrilled to hear it.
“I guess it was a little weird to hear from a coach that he doesn’t want you to play the position you’ve always played,” he said.
Pionk, 20, had always been a forward, specifically a center, but had heard the suggestion before from his father, Scott — a longtime coach with stops in the USHL and Division III Wisconsin Superior now running the nascent Stella Maris Academy hockey program in Duluth.
“My dad kind of gave me hints my whole life,” Aaron said this week during the Wild’s three-day prospects camp. “He, maybe, saw something in there.”
And there was the fact that after being drafted by Sioux Falls of the USHL, Pionk failed to make the team as a forward. So, when the Wilderness called, the Hermantown native and graduate of its perennial hockey power high school, read the writing on the wall and went with it.
Smart move. He played his first USHL season last year in Waterloo, and last month was selected by the Wild in the fifth round (149th overall) of the NHL Draft. He was one of 36 players in a three-day camp that wrapped up Sunday at TRIA Rink in Downtown St. Paul.
Wild director of amateur scouting Judd Brackett called him “a smart puck-mover with an accurate shot.”
Pionk’s older brother Neal, 27, is a defenseman with 385 NHL games under his belt. Last season, he played all 82 games for the Winnipeg Jets. Pionk was at his brother’s house north of Duluth, watching the draft, when he got the call — something Neal never got.
“I think he went to three (camps) before he was ever signed,” Pionk said. “Not a lot of people get that experience of someone walking you right through the experience. Now that I’ve switched (positions), I’m starting to realize I do a lot of things that he does.”
But Pionk readily acknowledges is still learning his position. In 51 games with the Cloquet-based Wilderness in 2021-22, he scored nine goals among 28 points in 51 games and was a plus-14. With the Blackhawks last season, he was 12-24–36 and a plus-21 in 60 games.
“I’ve played hockey my whole life, so I know how to do the up-and-down stuff,” Pionk said. “But I’ve had to learn as I go stuff that other defensemen have done their whole life — skating backwards, picking up pucks and making breakout passes. That’s stuff I’ve been working on ever since it happened.”
So far, so good, and he’s thrilled to be with the Wild.
“Being drafted is the first step in the process of making it, making the NHL, and also winning a Stanley Cup,” he said.
After decommitting from Minnesota State in the wake of coach Mike Hastings’ move to Wisconsin, Pionk will play this fall at Minnesota-Duluth.
Novak ‘healthy again’
Pavel Novak, 20, was declared cancer-free after months of treatment in his native Czechia. At TRIA for the prospect camp but unable to skate, he said he expects to be able to participate in training camp this fall.
The 5-9 right wing was selected in the fifth round of the 2020 draft.
“The biggest thing was I just wanted to get healthy again; I didn’t think about the hockey,” he said. “But I knew if I got healthy I’d be able to skate and play hockey again.”
Briefly
Also not skating for prospect camp were left wing Caedan Bankier (right foot) and Kyle Masters (lower body). Both players were injured while playing for Kamloops in the WHL Memorial Cup Tournament. Masters left the ice on a stretcher after being check into the boards and released after a one-night stay in the hospital.
