Hermantown’s Aaron Pionk talks being drafted by the Minnesota Wild
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It has been a wild week for Hermantown native Aaron Pionk. On Thursday, when the Minnesota Wild made their fifth round selection in the 2023 NHL Draft, the 20-year-old hear his name called.
RELATED STORY: Hermantown’s Aaron Pionk selected by Wild, one of four Bulldogs drafted into NHL.
Pionk was drafted 149th overall into the NHL by his hometown team.
“I think we were just hanging on the couch and finally saw the name pop up on the TV so it was exciting, it was an awesome day,” Pionk recalled.
As far as getting to Draft day he had this to say:
Hermantown native Aaron Pionk discusses being selected by the Minnesota Wild in the 2023 NHL Draft Thursday.
“The little things you do on the weekend or the week you don’t realize are going to add up to something big like this, but they finally do. I started out as a forward playing hockey and I think that kind of went as long as it should. When I started my junior hockey career I switched back to defenseman and kind of had a second chance at the whole go-around.”
Pionk has already skated at the Xcel Energy Center with Hermantown in the state tournament. Now he will return there for the Wild’s development camp July 5-10, then join the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) men’s hockey team this winter.
His older brother Neal Pionk is currently skating with the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets.