A Quick Chat with Evan “Public” McEneny
By Cam Charron
11 years ago
Evan McEneny, who signed an ELC with the Canucks last week despite being undrafted, was in my neck of the woods Friday night with his Kitchener Rangers and I took the opportunity to catch up with him and get to know him a little better. After introducing myself as being from “Canucks Army”, he asked if we were the guys who came up with the above photoshop.
Yes… yes we did.
We’ve been led to believe that your name is pronounced “Mick-ENN-eny”, but that’s apparently not true.
Nah, it’s “MAC-in-enny”
We were wrestling with Public McEneny or McEneny of the State as your nickname. Any preference?
[Laughs] Either… whatever sounds good.
What was your impression of Vancouver when you went in the summer?
It’s a great city. It’s the most beautiful city I’ve ever been to so far. I’m really excited about being part of the organization there, the city was great to us and they treated us really well.
How about the Grouse Grind?
I think my team did it in 50 minutes, but that’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. It wasn’t like you had to impress some one doing it, it was a fun thing to do, so it was fun being with all the guys.
Just about the process of you signing with the Canucks, obviously you were at their prospects camp but were you talking with them at all over the course of the summer or keeping in touch?
No, just when they wanted me to come to camp, you know, they didn’t talk to me much about even offering me anything. And I just came home from school one day and my agent called me and said they wanted to talk, so it was good.
How would you describe the type of game you play?
A good puck-moving defenceman. I try to add some offence but I try to be good in my own zone and be hard to play against.
Tonight you seemed more committed to the defensive end.
Yeah, that’s been one of my biggest challenges coming out of minor midget. I was dominant offensively, but it wasn’t as hard to defend, but now since everyone’s bigger, faster and stronger it’s harder to defend so that’s one of the things I have to prove the most.
The Rangers won 3-0, scoring two empty-net goals. The winning goal came on a 5-on-3 with McEneny manning the point with Ryan Murphy. McEneny fired a hard shot just wide but it caromed in front, off the boards, and set up Kitchener’s only goal against a goaltender. The Rangers are the odds-on favourites in the OHL this season.
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