Player recap--Neal Prokop

Oh that tongue, it's in every picture I swear.

I believe the Americans could have done better against Calgary if Neal had still been playing. Could they have beat the Hitmen? Hard to say, that was a darn good team. But you can be sure he would have parked his big body in Jones' kitchen and made things a bit more difficult.

Neal had one hell of a season. His best in his WHL career so far. He accumulated 22 goals and 23 assists in the regular season, far surpassing anything he'd done in other seasons in the Dub. 

Prokop didn't wear an "A" on his sweater but he was most definitely part of the leadership of this team.  His work ethic and drive were shown every shift, every night.  He worked on "team building" off the ice too in the fall with the team baseball games (boys are silly, God love 'em).

This coming season would be Neal's 20-year-old season and obviously we all wish he'd be back.  But with the femur break, I think the chances of that happening are...zero  :(  Best case scenario, from what I've read, it's a year before full-contact which would be next playoffs, you don't save a 20 spot for someone who might be able to play in the playoffs.  It just breaks my heart.  Hopefully Neal will recover 100% and be able to keep playing hockey, either at the minor league level or college.  Hell, hopefully some pro team will take notice and want to take a chance on him.  Bottom line, best wishes for Neal and everything he has to look forward to in his future.

Neal's Look-Alike is Pierre Bouvier, a Canadian musician, who is best known as the lead singer for pop punk band Simple Plan (or so says Wikipedia, I've never heard of him, but kudos MyHeritage.com once again for making the match).