Where Are They Now: Quenneville adjusting to pro life

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This article was published 08/02/2017 (3132 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Goal capped one chapter of his hockey life. Now John Quenneville hopes the National Hockey League will soon become a full-time part of his next chapter.

The 20-year-old former Brandon Wheat Kings forward provided the single highlight as his team went winless at the Memorial Cup in Red Deer last spring with his between-the-legs shot on a breakaway against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.

Since then he’s earned a job with the Albany Devils of the American Hockey League, made his NHL debut with the New Jersey Devils, been named to the AHL all-star game and then not allowed to participate.

It’s safe to say he’s been busy.

Quenneville laughs about how he found he was being called up for his first NHL game, which came on Dec. 1 against the Chicago Blackhawks. He had slept in because they had played the night before.

“I woke up at noon with a bunch of missed calls and texts from my coach (Rick Kowalsky) in Albany and then I got up and called him and he said ‘You’re going up, you have to get on a plane at 4 to fly to Chicago.’ So I had to pack up all my stuff and get over to the airport. It was pretty good.”

He quickly called his family to let them know, and his parents, sister and grandparents were in the crowd that night. Sadly, the two people who may have enjoyed it the most, and who he speaks to every day, had to miss it.

Quenneville is very close with his brothers Peter, 22, the former Wheat King who is now playing in Denmark, and David, 18, who is currently injured but a member of the Medicine Hat Tigers in the Western Hockey League.

“It was something else,” he said. “There’s Peter, who’s dreamed of playing in the NHL his whole life, and David, the same thing, my parents and family, everybody who’s helped support us to have that dream. That’s what it’s been all about. To be able to make it and for them to be able to see that I made it is the best part. They’re just so happy about the whole thing.”

Quenneville had 12 shifts in Chicago, playing nine minutes three seconds and earning a minor penalty. Two nights later he played in Nashville against the Predators, earning 13 shifts and 8:21 of ice.

He was scratched for a game at home against the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 6 and then sent back to the AHL the next day.

“It was actually easier to play in the NHL,” he said. “I felt really good out there. It’s a good game. Guys are always in the right positions and the right spots making the right plays. Guys have so much skill. I was playing with really good guys, it was awesome. I just didn’t get enough chances, so that’s probably why they sent me down. Hopefully I can get back up there.”

In 40 AHL games, Quenneville has 10 goals, 20 assists and 42 penalty minutes. The Devils are second in the North Division in the 30-team league with a record of 26-19-1-1.

“It’s been a pretty good transition for me,” he said. “I think my game has translated well. I think the part that is different in the game is that all the guys are big and strong. There are no guys that you’re going to be taking advantage of because you’re way stronger or way bigger than them. The guys are all strong and they all play hard. Everybody shows up every night. The mentality is a little bit different than it is in junior. Guys are really serious about it and it’s their job.”

Quenneville was playing well enough to earn his ill-fated all-star invitation.

He and his Albany teammates Joe Blandisi and Vojtech Mozik were kept away from the game in fear that a virus that had swept through the Devils’ locker-room would spread. Quenneville had already missed four games after getting sick.

Still, he was happy to be chosen.

“It was nice,” he said. “The guys who were there were all top players.”

The Edmonton product, who was picked by the Devils in the first round of the 2014 National Hockey League draft, has been forced to adjust to more than just a higher level of hockey.

He lives with other players on the team, and no longer has billets or his parents to rely on.

“You’re making your own meals and stuff and paying bills at a place,” he said. “It’s a different story. It’s a really different life, to be honest. You have to learn to grow up a little bit quickly but it’s been OK. I haven’t had to cook too much or do too much laundry. It’s been fine.”

That’s not the only change.

After a four-year WHL career, which was spent entirely with Brandon from 2012 to 2016, comprised of 270 regular season and playoff games spread over four seasons in which he scored 112 goals and added 114 assists, Quenneville is adjusting to a new reality in the dressing room.

Quenneville said he plays on what’s considered to be a close team in the AHL but it’s completely different than what he experienced in Brandon.

“When we’re back in junior, everybody is the same age and everybody is at the same stage in his life,” he said. “We all have the exact same goals at that point and everybody is doing the exact same thing and it makes it easy for everybody to be friends. Here, you have to imagine, there are guys on my team that have kids, they have families, they’re older, they have wives or fiancées.

“They’re way past where I’m at in my life so there are guys who are doing different things at different times. The way it is with the guys in junior is a totally different story because you’re hanging out with the guys all the time and everything is about the boys.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

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