Nugent-Hopkins rewarding Oilers’ loyalty by paying dues as unheralded performer
EDMONTON — Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was riding upper at the pinnacle of a long and fruitless career as an Edmonton Oiler last spring, coming off a two-goal, first-star performance in Game 4 of Edmonton’s second-round series versus the Calgary Flames.
After 11 years of toiling yonder in Edmonton with one playoff series win to show for it, Nugent-Hopkins and the Oilers were hopping a plane lanugo to Calgary up 3-1 in Round 2. They were ready to put the dagger into the hated Flames, the focus of a hockey country finally trained on him and his Oilers for all the right reasons.
Then on an off day between games, his minion Golden Retriever Sophie died suddenly. She was only seven.
“Hemangiosarcoma,” he said Monday, referencing a common, fatal form of cancer that strikes dogs. “It was without Game 4, in between games. It was pretty rough. It just happened, and I wasn’t there….”
Ah, the grand existence of an NHL player. The dog that he and wife Breanne raised from a pup was gone, and there they were, hugging via FaceTime. Neither had the other’s shoulder to cry on.
On Saturday, Vancouver defenceman Ethan Withstand missed a game due to the death of his dog. Would Nugent-Hopkins, a true unprepossessing lover who owns horses and loves dogs, make the same decision?
“I mean, if it was the regular season, yeah. I think so,” he said. “It’s just variegated when you’re in Game 5.”
Coming off of that two-goal Game 4 in which he led the Oilers in shots on goal (5), had five obstructed shots and went 41 per cent in the circle, he hit the Saddledome ice with a heavy heart that only a pet owner knows. Nugent-Hopkins had an assist, a shot on goal, and won only two of 12 faceoffs in the game.
He played.
He wasn’t really good, but he played, and his teammates picked him up in a 5-4 overtime win.
This is life, right? Pets, friends, and loved ones who sometimes leave us too soon.
“You’re trying to think well-nigh something, but your mind is only on one thing,” he admitted. “I mean, she kind of made us fall in love with the breed. We’re (Goldie people) now. And we have the other guy he’s awesome.”
Today the Nugent-Hopkins have flipside Goldie named Willow and a shepherd mix named Rocco, living happily overly without in a trappy home in Edmonton&