Former Bear Neil Doef Enjoys His First Year at Princeton University

Just One Of the Guys

Spinal Injury Doesn’t Keep Princeton’s Doef Down

by Jashvina Shah/Staff Writer (@icehockeystick)

Neil Doef (l.) receiving the E.J. McGuire Award from the NHL’s Bill Daly at the 2016 NHL Draft.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Last Saturday, Neil’s teammates helped him onto the ice as his mother and father, Bobbi-Jean and Bruce Doef, watched from the stands. Princeton had just won the ECAC Tournament and the players were celebrating their win.

“He loves it,” Bobbi-Jean said. “He absolutely loves Princeton. Even more so than I ever anticipated. He’s a quiet kid, he keeps to himself. Hockey’s been his whole life so I wasn’t sure how it was going to go.

“They’ve embraced him.”

Just over three years ago, Bobbi-Jean and Bruce had received a call.

“I think I knew with my heart, when they called me from out west that it was bad,” Bobbi-Jean said. “I’m not sure I ever anticipated that it was that bad. But we had a great support system that night.”

Neil had been playing for Canada East in the World Junior A challenge, skating with and against some of the best players in his age group. During one of the games, he fell awkwardly into the boards. He didn’t get up and was stretchered off the ice and taken to the hospital.

While waiting to fly out to to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the Doefs stayed with Ryan Kuffner’s family. At the time, Ryan, now a junior at Princeton, was playing on the same Canada East team.

“I’m not sure how well our night would have been without that,” Bobbi-Jean said.

When they flew to Neil, they discovered that he had suffered a spinal cord injury.

“It was rough. I’m not going to lie, it was rough. We just bonded together and did what had to do. You don’t really have a choice. You have to stay strong, you have to just go through and support him the best you could. And that’s what we did as a family, and as a community.”

The doctors told the Doefs that Neil would never walk again. But when they heard that, they said, “You don’t know our son.”

And when Neil heard the news, he thought the same thing.

“For me, I never really thought that that was going to be a possibility,” Neil said. “I knew I was going to do everything I could to walk again. … [I was] just trying to focus on the positives.”

While Neil was still in the hospital, the coaching staff of Ron Fogarty, Brad Dexter and Stavros Paskaris, then in its first year, announced they would honor their commitment to Neil, who had been recruited by the previous coaching staff.

“I just had to make sure that I did everything on my end so that I was able to come here,” Neil said. “They basically just honored their commitment and they included me as part of the team.”

Princeton created and wore “ND 19” decals. A GoFundMe raised over $30,000 of support less than three days after the injury occurred. Kevin Tansey, then a player at Clarkson, organized a charity hockey game for the family during winter break that season.

“I received a ton of outside support,” Neil said. “The hockey community is an amazing community. … I think it was amazing to see the support. It was crazy to see the support and that definitely helped me try to stay positive.”

Neil was in the hospital for four months, first needing to regain his strength before starting rehab. He began with the basics, learning how to do everything again. In a few months he regained mobility and was able to take a couple of steps before needing to sit down.

“He attacked that as he does everything in life. It’s all in. He doesn’t accept, he’s never really accepted being told he can’t do something,” Bobbi-Jean said.

“His work ethic when he played hockey was very reflective of his work ethic during physio.”

He returned to his home of Smiths Falls, Ontario, in a wheelchair. He began physiotherapy in Ottawa and continued that until the fall of 2015. In Smiths Falls he worked with working with Roy Myllari, father of Penn State’s Kris Myllari, until he left for Princeton. Those two are now at the same NCAA Regional here, as opponents.

It took time, and work, but Neil eventually was able to walk again with the help of a cane. Just that alone is remarkable, and his efforts were rewarded by NHL’s Central Scouting at the NHL Draft in 2016, when he was awarded the E.J. McGuire Award, given to someone “who best exemplifies the commitment to excellence through strength of character, competitiveness and athleticism.” E.J. McGuire was the former head of Central Scouting and a former NCAA and NHL coach, who passed away from cancer in 2011.

Doef, then 19, received a standing ovation from NHL general managers and others in attendance.

“It was just a series of ups and downs,” Neil said. “With any recovery for the most part there’s going to be good days and bad days, but like I said my main focus was just trying to stay positive.”

Still intent on going to Princeton, Neil also focused on finishing high school. He took a couple of extra classes to make up for those he missed while he was in the hospital, and then worked on hi SATs.

While Neil doesn’t have a specific role with the team, he often watches from the press box, and doesn’t hesitate to help his teammates improve.

“If I see something on the ice that maybe a player could improve on or maybe just a simple play like that, I’ll try to let them know,” Neil said.

Neil has followed the team since he was a recruit, watching the team go from 10-win seasons to four-win seasons. And now, he’s been able to watch the team post 19 wins for the first time since 2008-9, the last time the team made the NCAA tournament.

He’s also been able to watch the Tigers improve over the season, and go from a team fighting for home in in the first round of the ECAC tournament to a team that has lost just twice in the last 16 games

“I think at the start of the year, obviously you have new incoming players so you’re just trying to get a feel for each other. I think that’ definitely built over the year,” Neil said. “The boys have become a lot closer and I think that’s really made them play the way they’re playing right now. They’re a close knit bunch of guys.”

After Princeton won the ECAC tournament, Neil told his mom he wants to go to St. Paul, Minn. — the site of the Frozen Four.

“I think people would doubt me when I say that I’ve never really seen him down. And that’s the truth,” Bobbi-Jean said. “He doesn’t really talk about the lack of hockey anymore in his life in that capacity. I’m sure he misses it. But he’s never said, why me. He’s never said, I’m so frustrated that I can’t play, or sad, or whatever. He doesn’t talk that way.

“He just embraces what he has and knows it could have been a whole lot worse and honestly he is just positive.”