Walker finds great life outside hockey

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This article was published 16/11/2020 (1253 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brenden Walker grew up with two passions: playing hockey and spending time outdoors.

Luckily for him, they both turned into careers.

Walker, 28, played with the Brandon Wheat Kings for three seasons from 2009 to 2012. After four years in the Western Hockey League and four playing minor pro, he now guides for a living. 

When he a youngster, if he wasn’t playing hockey, he spent every minute outdoors.

“All my spare time I spent in the bush with my dad, hunting and fishing and trapping,” Walker said. “That was the other hobby that really took place in my life, the outdoors, and hockey for sure was number one.”

Walker grew up on a rural property northeast of Ste. Anne, which is 14 kilometres north of Steinbach.

“It was all big bush around us here,” Walker said. “It was big-time country.”

His dad Craig was a minnow farmer, which meant there were a bunch of ponds in the backyard ideal for skating on. He kept flooding the one closest to the house, and that’s where Walker first began skating there with his sisters Brooke and Brittany.

Since he lived out of town, he was utterly reliant on his parents to play hockey, and they stepped up when he first started at age five.

Oddly enough, he wasn’t a big fan of organized games at first.

“I had a tough time at the beginning,” Walker said. “I didn’t really enjoy it, to be honest. I loved playing on the pond and I loved skating around, but when they dropped me off at a rink with a bunch of random kids, I remember sitting there and not really enjoying it. I finally started slowly breaking into it and my mom (Debbie) kept dropping me off at the rink. 

“Sure enough, I ended up loving it.”

He played a bit of defence as youngster when he was shifted around wherever he was needed on a small team, but by the time he was starting to enter more elite hockey he permanently moved to forward. 

Walker grew up 269 kilometres east of Brandon when the Wheat Kings were Manitoba’s only WHL club, and didn’t know a lot about the league or the bantam draft. 

After his major bantam season with the Seine River Snipers bantam AA team, he finally had his name called in the 12th round with the 259th pick of the 2007 draft, after other teams had already begun to pass on their picks.

He played his 15-year-old season in the Manitoba AAA U18 Hockey League with the Eastman Selects, contributing 24 goals and 24 assists in 39 games. 

After attending Brandon’s camp at age 16 and being reassigned, Walker chose to report to the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Portage Terriers rather than return to U18.

It proved to be an inspired decision. After contributing 23 goals and 41 assists in 59 games as a 16-year-old to finish third in team scoring, Walker was named to the 2008-09 all-rookie team and the Terriers won a league title.

“I was super thankful I did that,” Walker said. “(Terriers coach) Blake Spiller was an awesome guy to learn from, especially as a young guy. We had a bunch of older guys on the team, so you kind of get the feel of junior hockey pretty quickly.” 

Spiller put Walker into his top six forwards for most of the season, and the forward said the trust he felt allowed him to build confidence very quickly.

Walker considered going the college route, but instead came into Brandon’s 2009-10 camp well aware that despite his fine season on Portage, he was a 12th-round pick looking to find a spot on a veteran team preparing to host the Memorial Cup. He said general manager and team owner Kelly McCrimmon assured him he would have a good shot at becoming a Wheat King.

“Thankfully enough I actually made the team,” Walker said. “I’m super honoured now when I look back and look at the names that were on that team. It was pretty remarkable. I’m super thankful that Kelly gave me that opportunity to be part of such a great team and such a great group of guys.”

When Walker earned his roster spot, he was entering nearly uncharted territory. 

Since the bantam draft was started in 1990, only five players taken after the 10th round have made the Wheat Kings: Theran Yeo (2002, 207th pick, 11th round, 205 WHL regular season games played), Stephane Robidoux (2006, 11th Rd., 222nd, 39gp), Jesse Sinatynski (2007, 13th Rd., 303rd, 37 gp) and Spencer Galbraith (2008, 12th Rd., 255th, 123gp).

Despite the junior season in Portage, Walker quickly discovered more transition lay ahead.

“I was a big home guy,” Walker said. “I love my parents and I loved the way I lived. It was always very hard for me to leave home. I remember sitting in my billet’s house and there were a lot of tough nights. But you wake up that next morning and go back to work. 

“I lived and breathed hockey, and thankfully in Brandon I got to do a bit of hunting so that helped my mental game a lot … I’m super thankful that I pushed myself and never quit, when so many times you wanted to.”

He said fitting into a star-studded Brandon team that included Brayden Schenn, Scott Glennie, Matt Calvert, Colby Robak and Mark Stone was actually pretty easy. Part of the reason why was Walker’s personality.

“I felt like I was kind of the kid who could just fit into any group,” Walker said. “They always had a good time with me, and they could get away with chirping me because I always accepted it. I was a good rookie, I know I was. I respected the vets and they saw that I always worked hard at practice. I think I fit in pretty well with everyone.”

In 59 games, he contributed nine goals and 10 assists. His first goal came in his fourth WHL game, an insurance marker in a 4-0 win over the host Moose Jaw Warriors on Sept. 26, 2009.

With the spectre of hosting the Memorial Cup over their heads all season, the Wheat Kings finished 50-18-1-3, tops in the East Division and three points back of the eventual league champion Calgary Hitmen in the Eastern Conference.

Walker admitted the national tournament was on his mind a lot.

“As a young guy, you think you’re going to get traded because you’re not that important to this team,” Walker said. “But really you are important to the team because there’s a future too. We were young guys and they still needed young guys. You just wanted to put your work hat on and keep working every day.”

He said the whole team finally relaxed after the trade deadline.

Brandon ultimately fell to Calgary in the conference final of the playoffs. The Memorial Cup kicked off May 13, and Walker played in all five games.

“It was another level for sure,” Walker said. “You see it right away. You’re playing against some of the best teams around Canada and some of the best junior hockey players in Canada and all through the States. It was a great experience.”

He was on the bench on May 21, 2010 when Brandon’s biggest moment of the tournament occurred. Three minutes into overtime, Jay Fehr’s shot from the high slot found the back of the net and Brandon beat their arch rival Calgary 5-4 in the tournament semifinal.

“That was pretty intense,” Walker said. “I remember the place erupting. That was awesome, Fehrsy scoring that one.”

Brandon was trounced 9-1 in the tournament final by Taylor Hall and the Windsor Spitfires, but in a way, that wasn’t the hardest part of the tournament ending. Walker said he and his teammates struggled with letting go of a special group that would never share the ice again.

“At the end of the game, you’re sitting in the room and you’ve battled for eight or nine months together,” Walker said. “There are a lot of mental games through the year and these guys stuck by your side the whole time so it’s always tough leaving the boys.”

Walker’s role increased in his 18-year-old season, and he responded, posting 25 goals and 27 assists in 70 games. He played the most on a line with Glennie and Micheal Ferland.

Walker, who graduated from the league at five-foot-11 and 193 pounds, was the prototypical two-way player. He put up numbers but was also intimately familiar with where his own goalie played.

“My biggest positive was just reading the play,” Walker said. “I always for some reason knew where the puck was going to go. In the D zone, that’s pretty crucial. Your head is on a swivel and you’re always paying attention and on the ball. I hated getting scored on. I’m competitive and that’s the worst feeling in the world.”

After graduating a lot of talent following the Memorial Cup, Brandon went 32-31-1-8 and lost in the 2011 quarterfinals.

Walker’s 19-year-old season proved to be his finest. In 68 games, he had 26 goals and 55 assists as Brandon went 39-28-1-4, losing in the conference semifinal to the eventual champion Edmonton Oil Kings.

“The main thing was the confidence, and Kelly and the coaches having the confidence in me,” Walker said. “Offensively, it was having patience scoring goals and setting up plays. It was everyone having confidence in each other. Our power play was dynamite, and some nights our line was unstoppable. 

“When you have that confidence, it’s hard to beat.” 

Walker was certainly a well-liked player by fans, and he always appreciated their support. He said Brandon had a small-town atmosphere he really enjoyed.

“They are great people,” Walker said. “We did a lot of community work with younger kids in hockey and going to practices all over the countryside there. I enjoyed every minute of that. I still hold a lot of really good relationships throughout that countryside and I head out west two or three times a year to visit people.”

Walker ended up with the perfect billets for his final two years, living in the country with Will Goodon, Kelly Saunders and their family. In a way, it was like being back home.

“I loved it out there,” Walker said.

Walker was entering his overage season in 2012-13, and he remembers McCrimmon calling him one day when the Ste. Anne product was out hunting. McCrimmon told him a deal was imminent, with the likely destination the Saskatoon Blades. 

Sure enough, two days later the trade was announced.

Walker was sent to the Blades on May 3, 2012 for a second-round pick in 2012 (Tanner Browne), and a second-rounder in 2013 and a third-rounder in 2014, both of which Brandon traded.

Little did Walker know, he would continue to pay dividends for Brandon for years in another way.

A provision of the Walker deal allowed Brandon to swap picks in the first round of the 2014 bantam draft if McCrimmon wished. When Saskatoon finished last in the league, McCrimmon scooped up the top overall pick and drafted future captain Stelio Mattheos first overall.

Walker was happy everyone benefited.

“I knew he was doing it for a good cause for me and a good cause for himself and Brandon,” Walker said. “It’s part of the business. I would have loved to finish my 20-year-old year in Brandon but the opportunity in Saskatoon to host a Memorial Cup … I ended up being the captain there and that was a huge grow-up year.

“I put myself in some pretty intense and difficult shoes at some points but I’m super thankful for the opportunity that Kelly gave me.”

Walker’s Blades finished second in the Eastern Conference with a record of 44-22-2-4, but lost 4-0 to the Medicine Hat Tigers in the quarterfinals. It capped a tumultuous year that even included a documentary crew trailing the team around for an eight-part series called On the Edge: The Road to the MasterCard Memorial Cup.

“We had that video crew following us around day to day and that put a lot of stress and tension on us non-stop,” Walker said. “It was a pretty cut-throat year, to be honest.”

The Blades went 1-2 at the Memorial Cup, losing a tiebreaker to the London Knights.

After the year and his WHL career ended, Walker headed to summer camp with the Phoenix Coyotes. He later went to an American Hockey League camp with the Portland Pirates, ultimately landing with the ECHL’s Gwinnett Gladiators.

In two seasons in the ECHL with Gwinnett and the Utah Grizzlies, he put up 93 points in 123 games.

“I had a really good rookie season,” Walker said. “I feel like I did really well when I was in the Coast for my numbers with the teams that we had. My first year, we went through 11 different goalies. It’s pretty crazy, the rosters and the changes you go through in the minors.”

Walker was in camp with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls to start the 2015-16 season, but struggling to deal with the stress of the game and with his wife Ashley pregnant, they headed back to Ste. Anne.

He was there for a couple of months when the phone rang. He was offered a spot for three months with the Coventry Blaze of the Elite Ice Hockey League in the United Kingdom.

They headed to England five days later, although Ashley returned home after a month as her due date approached.

“It was cool,” Walker said. “I’m super happy and thankful I went there. It was just a really good experience and good memories. Ashley got to travel with me. It awesome that we did it and experienced it. Now we get to look back and see some cool pictures.”

Walker had 16 points in 19 games, but decided to permanently return to Canada. He was considering retirement.

“I just really didn’t like the game anymore,” Walker said. “I was just done with never knowing where you’re going to be and what’s going got happen. I was going to have a kid and I live in the country and liked how easy and peaceful it was.”

He got back to Canada in time for the birth of their son Bryce. 

When the ECHL’s Rapid City Rush reached out to him that summer, he decided to give it one last shot in 2016-17. But after earning 18 points in 22 games, he was traded to the Norfolk Admirals just before Christmas.

“That was just another perfect example of not what I wanted to do,” Walker said. “I wanted to be content and still win games and score goals but I didn’t feel like being moved around everywhere with a young family. I just said ‘Ash, we’re going home. We’re going to start life and figure things out.’”

After a winter off from the game, he began playing again with the senior Ste. Anne Aces. 

He admits there are still times when he wishes he was playing pro, particularly because he’s healthy and in good shape. But the feeling passes because he’s happy in his current situation, which now also includes daughter Brielle.

“In the end, I just really enjoy coming home and living my life that I do live now,” Walker said. “Pretty much all of my income revolves around the outdoors. It’s something that I love and have a passion for.” 

In 2017, he started Walker’s Adventures — walkersadventures.ca — which offers guided fishing packages in the summer on Lake of the Woods and during the winter on Lake Winnipeg. It’s proven to be a perfect fit, and last summer was his best one so far.

“I’m super happy about that,” Walker said. “I get to do what I love and show people what I have a passion doing, which is catching fish and having a nice shore lunch, taking families and friends. I see a lot of young kids catch their first fish. 

“It’s special to me, and I really have a passion for it. If you ever got to be in a boat with me for a day, you would see why people laugh. They catch the fish and I get just as excited.”

He added it’s a stressful world we live in, and it’s nice to get out and breathe some fresh air.

Walker now skates with Bryce, who is four, and enjoys the passion he already shows for the game. Fatherhood obviously agrees with him.

“You can’t believe how much love you can have for a little human,” Walker said. “The day we had them and the day I got to meet them, it’s just amazing the love you can have. Every day I’m so thankful that I’ve got some healthy kids. I never want to take it for granted.”

Nor does he devalue what the game taught him.

Walker said the lessons that stick with him from hockey include being on time and being professional about life. But it also taught him a lot more.

“Hockey brings you up to be a man,” Walker said. “To be honest, you’re 16, 17, 18 years old and growing up in an atmosphere where you’re being looked up to and you have to be a role model. I think that was a huge lesson. You have to be a good human, and to be a good human, you need to have respect for people and your teammates.”

While his junior hockey career didn’t start or end in Brandon, he treasures the three years he spent with the Wheat Kings. Eleven years after he played his first WHL game in the city, the logo still gives him a visceral reaction. 

“It means the world to me,” Walker said. “So many kids want to be in those shoes. I never take it for granted. Whenever I see a Brandon Wheat Kings logo anywhere, I get excited and it puts a smile on my face. I’m always so thankful I got the opportunity to be there and wear the logo. 

“I can’t thank Kelly and everyone out there enough.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

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