Benjamin Hochman | Post-Dispatch

Sports columnist

In mourning, the heart can have a hole and hold loved ones. The heart can both ache and break and mend and tend. It can be painfully empty, yet nourishingly full.

All of this is happening under Jake Neighbours’ jersey this season. In September, his dear friend Orca Wiesblatt died. He was 25. A pro hockey player, too.

“I’m just trying to make him proud — I know he’s watching,” Neighbours said Tuesday after Blues practice. “Play with a full heart.”

Three games into this season, Neighbours leads the Blues with three goals. He’s been bumped up to the top line with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich. He’s just playing so well. Just playing with, well, so much heart.

“Just playing hard for him,” Neighbours said.

Wiesblatt died in a crash o

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