McNeill chasing dream after surgeries

Sid McNeill dreamed of the day he would possibly get the possibility to placed on a Team
Canada jersey and signify his nation.

He wasn’t certain if that day would ever occur after present process three coronary heart
surgical procedures three years in the past.

Now, feeling wholesome and powerful, the 18-year-old is donning the Maple Leaf
with Canada East on the World Junior A Challenge in Cornwall, Ont.

“Growing up and watching Team Canada … it was at all times a dream to place this
jersey on,” McNeill says. “For it to occur after the whole lot, it’s
superior.”

McNeill is a 5-foot-7, 140-pound defenceman with the Summerside Western
Capitals of the Maritime Hockey League (MHL), and he’s grateful for the
alternative to signify not solely his province (he’s a Summerside, P.E.I.,
native), however his nation.

“This tournament is a huge stage,” he says. “This is a good alternative
and I plan on profiting from it.”

For months in 2020, McNeill wasn’t certain if he was ever going to have the ability to
play hockey once more. He was in Michigan competing in coaching camp with the
Oakland Jr. Grizzlies AAA program when medical personnel observed an
irregular heartbeat and urged he be taken to the hospital for extra
testing.

“I had a routine bodily they usually discovered an irregular heartbeat. It turned
out to be a coronary heart situation,” mentioned McNeill. “The bizarre half – I felt advantageous.
We went by means of a tricky coaching camp, and I believed I held my very own and my
coronary heart felt advantageous. I by no means had points rising up and there’s no household
historical past both.”

McNeill underwent a battery of checks in Michigan, together with an ECG, EKG,
ultrasound, coronary heart MRI and stress checks. After one other week, he had an
electrophysiology research process to see if he wanted an ablation – a
process to deal with atrial fibrillation which makes use of small burns to trigger
scarring on the within of the guts to assist break up {the electrical} indicators
that trigger irregular heartbeats.

He returned to Toronto for a second opinion and was then flown to Halifax
for the process in September 2020.

“The first ablation they did, they went by means of the arteries and burned a
piece off my coronary heart,” he says. “When I went again for testing, they mentioned it
didn’t work, in order that they did an analogous surgical procedure however with a digital camera to try to get
a picture of what they have been on the lookout for. The third time, they obtained it proper.”

After being out and in of hospitals, McNeill struggled with staying
optimistic and even took time to consider what life might appear like
with out hockey.

“I wasn’t certain what the longer term held for my hockey profession. At one level, I
might have simply mentioned ‘enough is enough’ and be executed with hockey and try to
begin one other profession path. But on the finish of that season [2019-20], I obtained
cleared to play. It was an enormous aid to undergo all of that and nonetheless
play the sport I really like.”

Through the expertise, McNeill has discovered rather a lot about perseverance.

“It has taught me to never give up,” he says. “It helped me notice that
everybody goes by means of adversity. When you come out on the opposite aspect,
issues are rather a lot higher.”

McNeil nonetheless sees his heart specialist in Halifax yearly to verify his coronary heart
price is regular.

A clear invoice of well being isn’t one thing he’s taking as a right, particularly
since he determined to remain in P.E.I. and play for his hometown Western
Capitals, serving to the group to an MHL championship final spring and a spot at
the Centennial Cup, offered by Tim Hortons, Canada’s National Junior A
Championship.

“Playing at house is superior. After having a giant scare, I simply determined the
subsequent time I performed hockey, I needed to be in entrance of my household,” McNeill
says.

And alongside his household. For the previous two seasons, his defence accomplice has
been his older brother, Ed.

“We have been companions for the final two years. It’s particular – not many
individuals get to do this, particularly at a excessive stage of hockey,” he mentioned. “We
work nicely collectively.”

For Western Capitals head coach Billy McGuigan, who can be serving as
bench boss of Canada East in Cornwall, it’s not onerous to explain the impression
McNeill has on his teammates.

“He’s a exceptional younger man. He’s a scholar of the sport, and he’s a man
that at all times desires to be taught and get higher. He has an incredible work ethic,”
McGuigan says. “He is a good asset to have. He means as a lot to this group
with Canada East as he does in Summerside.”

When fascinated about a future in hockey, McNeill is aware of if he retains working,
he might get one other alternative. He has his sights set on school hockey in
the U.S.

“I believe with being a smaller, undersized defenceman, I’ve at all times checked out
taking part in NCAA,” he says. “Hopefully I can play some good hockey right here and
flip some heads and possibly some individuals will have a look at me.”