Neighbours carving old-school style into game, earning respect from teammates as a result

ST. LOUIS -- Ronnie Attard just took a pass on his backhand trying to skate forward into the neutral zone, and the Philadelphia Flyers defenseman was about to be on the receiving end of a brick wall.

It came at the 6:14 mark of the second period, and on the dishing end of that brick wall moment was Blues forward Jake Neighbours.

It knocked Attard on his backside, and quickly, as the shoulder check knocked the rookie off his skates.

Attard's teammates didn't like it, as Neighbours was confronted by the other four Flyers on the ice and wasn't in the mood at the time to fight.

You can see the 2020 first-round pick say to the Flyers, "it was fine." And it was. It was one of three hits in the game for Neighbours, who's making quite the name for himself as an old-school hockey player. But a clean hockey player.

"I just said he fell. I was like, 'If I go right through him and put him through the boards or something like that, then yeah, you've got a case to come and challenge me.'" Neighbours said. "But he started going down on his own so I just went right through him."

When told the following day after practice he looked like a wrecking ball out there, a 4-2 Blues win, Neighbours said, "That's what I do."

Indeed it is, and he's becoming not only a fan favorite for it, but a respected teammate at the ripe old age of 21.

Neighbours has three hits in that game, but he's carving himself quite an early career as a responsible two-way player that's not afraid to muck and grind. He's trying to establish himself as a bit of a yesteryear type of player, one that can not only factor with his offensive skill, like he did once again scoring Saturday in Minnesota, but also being an effective straight line player that will skate through people should it be needed.

"That's his game I think more than anything," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "He's a physical player. He's going to go through people, plays a straight line game. That's him."

And he's establishing it early in his career that it's OK to play big, even though his size (6-foot, 201 pounds) may not be your prototypical big man.

"I think kind of my brand of hockey's a little bit of a lost art, I would say, and a lot of kids these days are more into the puck tricks and all that stuff," Neighbours said. "I think I'm just someone that likes to play hard and play the right way."

Neighbours, who has 10 points (six goals, four assists) in his first full season in the NHL in 41 games this season, has learned from some of the better ones in the locker room, namely, Brayden Schenn, who took Neighbours in when he first came to St. Louis and has been known to dish out the physicality when called upon. It seems to be rubbing off on Neighbours in the right way.

"He’s just playing hard," Blues defenseman Justin Faulk said. "I don’t think there’s anything crazy with the hits. It’s weird that people get noticed for just kind of playing the game, a physical brand and hard. I know there’s a little less of it nowadays, so when a new guy comes in maybe it’s a little bit of a surprise.

"You've got to earn your way in this league somehow. It’s nice to see that there’s some guys that are still doing it that way. He’s obviously not in a position right now where he’s putting up a ton of points I don’t think, but he’s still being effective out there. He’s playing physical, and teams know that. It makes it hard on the other team. And like I said, you've got to earn your stripes somehow."

And Neighbours knows it. Needless to say, he can handle himself too if someone wants to drop the gloves.

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"It's part of earning your stripes and earning respect from your teammates," he said. "You want to show them you care and you want to show them you're going to compete and do what it takes to win. I think I play a style of hockey that's winning hockey. I try and play the right way all the time, and I think these guys know that now, but now that I've done it or earned the respect or whatever, I can't stop now. It's something that has to be a staple of my game my whole career."

Like father, like son?

Pehaps, because Neighbours, who recently fought in a game in front of his visiting mom [Tanya Lacoursiere], claims his old-school mentality came from his dad Ed.

"I think using my body to my advantage and my stature, and also my dad, he always raised me aggressively to play the game aggressive and to be on top of guys and go through them," Neighbours said. "He claims he was a physical player when he played, but he's pretty small, so I don't know about that. A lot stems from my dad.

"He played one year pro in Germany and then got married and never went back."

Neighbours has 59 hits this season, and he had 10 in the nine games he played in 2021-22 before being sent back to junior hockey. They may not be eye-popping numbers but it's not always the amount one delivers, it's the quality of those hits and checks, and when Neighbours studied the game when he was young, he knew it would suit his style and help progress his career.

"I watched a lot of hockey growing up," Neighbours said. "My family's big hockey fans. My dad played, my brothers played recreationally. We're a big hockey family, so we watched a lot of games.

"I think honestly, I take it back to World Juniors watching Canada and all the big hits and how the crowd would react, it's just something. It gets me going and the crowd's getting up for a big hit or something like that, it's just something when you can create all that momentum for your team."

Berube has mentioned a number of times how much he loves and appreciates Neighbours' game, and the coach has not only rewarded him with responsibilities and ice time down the stretch of a non-playoff season for the Blues, but he's putting him in top-six roles to see how he performs under challenging moments. By thrusting him up the lineup, it's easy to say Neighbours is gaining more trust from the coaching staff.

"Very well-liked kid. Put that aside with the hockey," Berube said. "He's very respected, he has a lot of respect for his teammates, the organization, the way he carries himself, how he handles himself, his personality. It's outstanding.

"His on-ice play is effort, right? People are attracted to guys that are competitive and work hard and that's what he brings every night, physical play, hard work, competitiveness, fire in his belly. That's great stuff."

Neighbours has watched enough Blues hockey, especially when he knew there was a chance he'd be drafted by them, to know that even though their style has changed with the times in more recently, Blues hockey entails playing hard, and playing physical, and he wants to fit into that fabric more than anything.

"Absolutely, I think it's the style we want to play and be hard to play against and a hard-checking team," Neighbours said. "I think I fit that. I like to be on top of guys, hound pucks and obviously be physical."