Rod Brind’Amour, the coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, has frequently stated that his team has to be more consistent this year. He won’t discuss Stefan Noesen in that way. Noesen always puts out effort. It must be. The forward has had to work hard for everything in his hockey career, which he likes to refer to as a “wild show,” including playing time, roster places, and points. Though he didn’t use the word “wild,” you get the sense. In an interview with N&O this week, Noesen said, “It’s been a whirlwind.” It is grating. You can tell that I play very hard and that I give it my all every day.That describes my career in a nutshell. It’s been challenging. There are never any easy routes. As the son of a former collegiate basketball star, Noesen, 30, grew up in Texas. His kid called his father, Glen, a relentless, aggressive point guard for Angelo State, a “bad dude.” Though technically he didn’t say “dude,” you get the point. “And he enjoys reminding me of that,” Noesen grinned.
Noesen said he gave basketball a try as a kid but noted there was not a lot of need for ”short, white power forwards.” He said he was on skates at 3 and started competitive hockey at age 4, and that was that. He liked it even if his parents didn’t always like it. “I was a handful,” he said. Not off the ice. On it, where he could be a bad dude. “I was an absolute psycho when I was a kid,” Noesen said. “Oh, yeah. I’d go on the ice and get five or six penalties from hitting people too hard. Fight, do all that kind of stuff. “I was always bigger than everyone. I could score. But I’d lead the team in goals and penalty minutes. It was that way all the way, for a long time.”
Noesen was a first-round draft pick by the Ottawa Senators in 2011, taken 21st overall. He never played for the Sens but made NHL stops in Anaheim, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, San Jose and Toronto when he wasn’t in the American Hockey League. “A lot of ups and downs, lot of adversity, lot of self-reflection,” Noesen said. “I had a lot of pride. I never counted myself out at anything. “Negative stuff doesn’t really impact me. It kind of motivates me. That’s the way it’s always been and always will be.” There were injuries. There were naysayers, and noise. As he said, it was a bumpy ride. Then, the Carolina Hurricanes came calling.
The Canes signed him as a free agent in August 2021. Playing for the Chicago Wolves in 2021-22, he had an AHL-best 48 goals in 70 games — plus 112 penalty minutes. The Wolves won the 2022 Calder Cup championship and Noesen did his part with nine goals and 25 points in the 18 playoff games. That earned him a new two-year contract with the Hurricanes, and he was in the lineup in for 78 games in the 2022-23 regular season and 15 in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
In the second-round series against New Jersey, Noesen took exception to the Deviis’ Erik Haula during Game 3 as the Canes were taking an 8-2 beating. Down went Haula in what seemed like an “enough is enough” kind of one-sided confrontation. That series, in essence, was over. No more fun for the Devils.
Leave a Reply