Elevating his game

If there is one thing Brett Brochu has learned during his hockey journey,
it’s to be more patient and not stress out about the unknowns.

That’s easy enough to say, but it becomes increasingly difficult when you
are faced with adversity, like Brochu did after the Ontario Hockey League
(OHL) draft.

The 19-year-old goaltender was selected by the London Knights in sixth
round of the 2018 OHL Priority Selection, 114th overall. When he went to
look for a team to play with the following season, he had difficulties
finding one.

“I tried out for about five or six different Junior B teams and got cut
from all of them,” he says. “I ended up finding my way on to a Junior C
team in Dresden.”

Despite the hardship, Brochu found a silver lining in the situation. He
says his time in the Provincial Junior Hockey League benefited his
development because he played almost every single game with the Dresden Jr.
Kings.

“I just tried telling myself that it would all work out if I just kept
doing what I’m doing, working hard and sticking to the process,” he says.
“But obviously, it was pretty tough getting cut from that many teams,
knowing that I wanted to play for the Knights the next year.”

Daren Machesney, the Knights’ goaltending coach, first saw Brochu play
while he was on the road scouting.

“We liked him, but obviously the thing was the size issue,” he says. “When
we were watching Brett, he was probably five-foot-seven and that’s pretty
small for goalies. We wanted to see if there was a chance for him to grow.”

The more times Machesney saw Brochu play, however, the more he was
captivated by his skill. The goaltender also hit a bit of a growth spurt to
bring his height to five-foot-11.

“We kept watching him and [were] more and more impressed every time we
watched him,” he says. “We would get other people’s names thrown at us and
Brett would play against those other guys, and he would stick out. We just
kept putting his name to the top of our list… I couldn’t say no.”

With his awareness of Brochu’s talent, Machesney continued to advocate for
the future Knights netminder.

“I think a lot of teams were kicking themselves for not trusting what we’re
saying,” he says. “It just didn’t matter where he was playing, he just
seizes every opportunity and he’s done it for every team.

“I remember talking to his Junior C team and they were like, ‘This is way
better than advertised.’ And they just kept saying to us, ‘You guys are
getting a heck of goalie.’”

With a contract officially signed with London at the start of the 2019-20
season, Brochu achieved his goal of playing in London. All he did in the
pandemic-shortened season was lead all OHL goaltenders in goals-against
average (2.40) and earn a place on the OHL First All-Rookie Team.

He was looking forward to building on that success with the Knights in
2020-21, but COVID-19 prevented that from happening. Amid the uncertainty
and eventual cancellation of the OHL season, Brochu was back on the hunt to
find a place to play.

“I got a good chance at coming [to National Junior Team selection camp in
November 2020], so that kind of put me on the map for some [American Hockey
League] teams for that season,” he says. “It worked out in my favour where
I got to develop in Wilkes-Barre for the full year. But it was definitely
tough not playing a lot of hockey games where I didn’t really know what was
going to happen.”

Brochu ended up temporarily joining the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre Penguins for the
season. Although he had a team to practice and train with again, he was
limited to only one start during the season.

In the face of adversity, it can be very easy to feel down on yourself. But
Brochu still looks back at the experience with some positivity.

“If you look back at it now, it really did help my game and I think it
helped me get a lot better,” he says. “Everything does pan out in the end.
I really do believe that.”

The Belle River, Ont., native has had an excellent start to the 2021-22
season. He is the OHL leader in save percentage (.921) and wins (16) while
also sporting a 2.48 goals-against average.

His path may not look the same as his teammates on Canada’s National Junior
Team, but he still shares the honour of wearing the Maple Leaf on his chest
at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship.

“I never really would have thought that I would be sitting here, but I
definitely dreamt of it,” he says. “I wasn’t going to get down if I wasn’t
on this team, just knowing how it’s panned out for me so far. But this is a
dream come true.”

Machesney is just as excited for his netminder. Although he is only about
three years into his coaching career, he says he will never forget this
moment.

“I mean, there’s been some pretty cool moments in my life. Obviously, my
kids being born and all those things. But for hockey and coaching, [Brochu
joining Canada’s National Junior Team] would be right up there,” he says.
“He’s been a pleasure to coach and as good of a goaltender as he is, he’s
just as good of a person. Those are the guys you really cheer for. If he
gets an opportunity, I think the Canadian fans will be quite impressed and
he’ll be one of the fan favourites.”

As the tournament gets underway, there’s only one goal for Brochu at the
World Juniors: to win gold. Beyond that, he has his eyes focused on his
next goal: playing in the National Hockey League.

“[It has] never crossed my mind that I don’t think it’s not possible for
me,” he says. “I definitely keep thinking about that every day. That’s my
motivation.

“What I want to do for the rest of my life is play professional hockey.”