He was the very first member of the Battalion I ever spoke to.
As an entity in the Ontario Hockey League, Brampton was in its twilight, and I, attending a handful of the final remaining games at the Powerade Centre, had ventured through the corridors of the arena in an effort to soak up the essence of what we were getting into.
When I found him, he was working on his stick, hacksaw in hand, dressed in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops. At the time, he wouldn’t have guessed that he would still be working on his stick, still dressed in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops, a thousand days later, this time not in Brampton or North Bay, but in sunny Florida, as a rookie defenseman with the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears.
On that day, a few hours before a Sunday matinee against the visiting Peterborough Petes, a game in which he would be a starter, paired with veteran defenseman Zach Bell, and would end up a tidy +1 in a 5-2 win, I found Brenden to be a gentleman, genuinely interested in offering the best answers he could, to the extent it was possible, given he was completing his second full season, just two weeks shy of a 19th birthday.
He was fascinated that a city could want the Battalion so badly, and I could sense it in is body language and see it in his eyes. As we talked he became hopeful that North Bay’s Memorial Gardens would be what the Budweiser Gardens was for the London Knights, and what the Auditorium was for the Kitchener Rangers. He had played in those places, felt the crushing weight of fandemonium, and craved it, both for himself and for his teammates.
About six months later, when it was time to step on the ice for the first ever North Bay Battalion home game, a venerable Memorial Gardens was shaking to its foundations. Miller poked his head out of the new dressing room and peered down the tunnel, into the pre-game blackness. The ice surface glowed blue in the dark, and the noise was deafening. Team trainer at the time, Kirk Andrew, told me later that Miller turned to him and said, in classic Miller fashion, “It’s f---in’ nuts out there!!” With those words, it would finally be, as the radio voice of the Battalion, Matthew Sookram, would famously quip: Miller time!
Almost instantly, he endeared himself to North Bay fans, leading the team in penalty minutes, and leading all team defensemen in scoring. He demonstrated a reckless disregard for personal safety, venturing into corners against forwards bigger in stature, but never in heart, and fearlessly dropping the gloves, at a time when doing so was quickly falling out of vogue.
“He’s a one of a kind guy,” said Barclay Goodrow, his captain during the inaugural season. “What stands out is that we’ll recognize the emotion he plays with, and that fuelled our team and our run to the finals. You knew he’s going to have your back, you knew he was going to do, pretty much, whatever it takes to win a hockey game.”
Miller followed up a strong regular season with an even better performance in the playoffs, leading the OHL in playoff scoring by defensemen with 3 goals and 17 assists in 21 games. Not bad for a player selected in the 8th round of the 2010 OHL Priority Selection, a draft that had already yielded Marcus McIvor and Dylan Blujus.
“When watching him, I often thought of his OHL beginnings in the last two games of the 2010-11 season, the first at Oshawa and the second at Brampton,” recalled Battalion owner Scott Abbott. “From gangly and out of his element, he made himself a very valuable defenceman. His playoff performance in 2014 was a huge part of the run to the OHL final.”
What everyone loved about Brenden Miller was that he did what most of us are afraid to, he wore his heart on his sleeve. He was exactly what North Bay hoped today’s OHL player would be: good on the ice and great in the community. He was never too busy to stop and say hello. In fact, he relished the responsibility of connecting with fans and appeared honored to carry it out.
We also loved his imperfections. If things weren’t going well, he might introduce an opponent to the blade of his stick and, as his emotions boiled over on the ice he might, to his coach’s dismay, earn an extra two minutes on his way to the box. On other occasions, we can remember Miller being escorted to the penalty box, arms raised triumphantly, beckoning the crowd, as if to say, “wake up, for God’s sakes, we NEED you!”
Not only did we wake up, but his bench did too.
“For not being the biggest guy, he holds his own,” said Goodrow. “He’ll throw his body around and I’ve witnessed him throw a ton of good body checks, and he always got the boys fired up whenever he makes a play like that.”
We also remember his shot, underrated perhaps, but deadly accurate, as he crow-hopped in from his position on the left point, and directed mortars into the yawning cage. In his final season with the Battalion he recorded 19 goals, many of those coming from the point, and added 36 assists, to become one of the top-scoring defensemen in the OHL, high praise in a D-class that featured such notables as Anthony DeAngelo and Chris Bigras.
The stellar performance of his final year roused the attention of pro scouts and, in the summer that followed, the Toronto Maple Leafs came calling, offering a contract within their organization with the Marlies, their AHL affiliate. It was good news for the “Energizer Bunny”, as his coach Stan Butler called him. And for us, his believers in North Bay, it was good news too.
Brenden, who went from Orangeville, Ontario to the orange groves of central Florida, was fresh off an autograph-signing session at the Amway Center in Orlando when I caught up with him.
Ranjan: After 5 years with the Battalion, you find yourself in Florida. Describe your journey following that last game against Oshawa at the Chippewa Street barn?
Brenden Miller: That was a pretty tough day for a couple of us who have been together for four or five years. After that, for me, it was just get to work: I knew I was either going to school or going to play pro hockey, so Marcus and I went out on a visit to University of New Brunswick, where he is right now. We visited the schools and got talking to them, and I told them that I’d be going there if I didn’t go pro. But I talked to my agent and it ended up that the Toronto Marlies wanted to sign me to a 2-year, one-way contract. So I got that, and then I got to go to the Leafs’ development camp up in Collingwood - that was fun, a good experience. Then I went to the Marlies main camp there, and I was told they’ve got a lot of defensemen, a lot of guys on the depth chart, so I’m down here in Orlando with their farm team, the Solar Bears, and I’m working my way up now. It’s been three months, and it’s been a lot of fun.
Ranjan: Up here we’ve had a late start to winter, but you showed North Bay that you’re a cold weather kind of guy. What’s it like going to the rink in Orlando every day?
Brenden Miller: It’s pretty nice, but I wouldn’t mind some cold weather! It gets pretty hot down here, 30 or 35 degrees every day. I’m not complaining about the hot weather, but I wouldn’t mind some snow to cool me down a bit! But we’ve got a nice A/C apartment here, so it’s good. I’ve only played golf a couple of times, because we’ve been on the road quite a bit, but there’s lots of golf around here. I keep up with everyone on Facebook, and I talked to the one North Bay couple, they’ve got a trailer down here, so they might be coming down to see a few games.
Ranjan: Players who’ve been there call it “The Coast”. Why does it have such a rugged reputation?
Brenden Miller: It’s definitely a rugged League, but there’s a lot of skill in the League, but there’s a lot of toughness too. There’s some really good pros down here. I didn’t expect it, it’s been really good hockey, but it’s a step below the AHL so it’s tough to get in the lineup. It’s a good League, a fast League, definitely faster than you might think.
Ranjan: What was it like to receive that first pro paycheque?
Brenden Miller: It was pretty cool. I always go to the rink with a smile on my face. We’re going to the rink to do something we love, and making good money to do it. There’s nothing to be upset about, even if you’re having a bad day. So I went out and bought a couch for me and my roomie here. We’ve got a couple of nice recliners here. It was nice to get a decent-sized pay cheque and I bought a couple of really nice things.
Ranjan: In North Bay you became the elder statesman on the ice. What’s it like to be a rookie again?
Brenden Miller: It’s different. Being a young guy is definitely weird, but we’ve got a lot of young guys here. There are eight of us in our first year pro, all learning this together, so it’s definitely a lot different being a rookie on the ice. I still try to be the go-go cheerleader, but just not as loud as I was back in the Junior days, but it’s just something that comes with being a rookie. As a younger guy you learn how to be a pro from the older guys.
Ranjan: Describe adjustments that you’ve needed to make in your game at this level...
Brenden Miller: It’s a big jump from OHL. Guys are way stronger down here. They’ve been around for a while. They’re men. They know how to play the game and they know the League. We’ve got a few older defensemen here. There’s two ‘88’s, a couple ‘89’s. Now it’s up to guys who are going to work hard, and be pros. It’s a preparation thing. You’ve got to be in it every shift. You can’t take shifts off in pro hockey. I’ve learned from it, learned that no one from the other team takes a shift off. You’ve got to learn from your mistakes there. It’s tougher to get up to speed, but I think that I’m up there now, and so it’s something you’ve got to adjust to as a first year guy. It’s a quicker game and guys are always coming at you hard. Down low the guys are just that much bigger. You can’t just use your body against guys that size. You’ve got have a good stick at all times. If you just go in using your body, guys are going to roll off of you and make you look like an idiot.
Ranjan: What has it been like to be on the same team as former Brampton Battalion defenseman Zach Bell again?
Brenden Miller: It’s awesome! We’re living together, so we’ve got an apartment together. He’s been making my meals for me, pretty much ‘Daddy’ to me! Big brother! It’s been pretty cool because he’s not a rookie, he’s been through it before and he’s teaching me how to act around the rink and be a professional.
Ranjan: Both of you have Battalion stamped in your DNA. Has that helped you in your pro game?
Brenden Miller: Yeah, for sure. We’re both good defensive players, and that’s big down here, in a high-flying League. You’re only allowed to dress 10 forwards a game, and he excels in the defensive side of the game, he’s a big shot blocker, a big strong guy so he does a lot on the pro side of the game.
Ranjan: There’s a few other players on your team that you may have tangled with before: for example, the Rupert twins, Ryan and Matt, from the London Knights...
Brenden Miller: Yeah, though I didn’t get to play against those guys so much, but Erik Bradford, who played in Ottawa and Barrie, and we also grew up together in Orangeville, so I’m playing with him too. What’s pretty cool is that you battle against these guys for 4 or 5 years and you develop this thinking that you don’t like them, but you’ve never met them, but then you play together and you’re best friends!
Ranjan: When you reflect on your Junior career in Brampton and North Bay, what comes to mind?
Brenden Miller: The guys I did it with. Special guys throughout the four years. It was the best four years of my life, this group of guys that I got to go to the rink with every day, and they made me love hockey. You can’t take anything away from the city of North Bay and the fans, and my billet Mom, Sheila Davis. She was the best woman in the world, and I miss her so much! Dearly! She’s an awesome lady! She was always there cooking my meals, and always there for me, and really took care of me as my second Mom when I was up in North Bay. Playing at home in North Bay, every game you got chills before you went out. You could hear the fans from the dressing room, it’s something I miss, playing in Memorial Gardens.
Ranjan: Midway through your final season in North Bay, Coach Butler sends you home to rest a bad hip. When you return, you play some of the best hockey of your career. What happened there?
Brenden Miller: That was a weird time there, at Christmas time, I had a bad hip and knee and I didn’t really get to take time off. I was playing games but I didn’t practice for that whole month. After that one game in Niagara, me and Stan talked, and I talked to my agent, and I said I think I need some time off, and time away, time to be with my family, my brother just had his second daughter, so I got to see her and got a week at home with my family and rest my leg. It’s just one of those things where I needed some rest and Stan thought it would be a good time for me to go home. I think the boys went 2-0-1 with a shootout loss that weekend, so it was a good weekend for the guys and it was a good weekend for me just to get home and come back excited to play.
Ranjan: The Battalion have two promising young defenseman in the lineup in Cam Dineen (‘98) and Brady Lyle (‘99). What advice did help you, or would have helped you, back in your first year on the blueline?
Brenden Miller: It’s always about staying level. You never want to get too high, you never want to get too low. It’s all about being a calm, collected guy, but also knowing when to get the guys going, and never doing too much. I was helped by a lot of older guys in my couple of years: Cameron Wind and Zach Bell. Even in Junior, you’ve got to be a pro every day. You’ve got to go to the rink and treat it like your job. It’s a tough game, and you’ll learn that...but always love the game.
Bluelines: A fireside chat with Brenden Miller is the second-of-four articles running over the holiday season.
Christmas Day: Bluelines: A fireside chat with Barclay Goodrow
Boxing Day: Bluelines: A fireside chat with Brenden Miller
Tuesday, December 29: Bluelines: A fireside chat with Nick Paul
New Year’s Day: Bluelines: A fireside chat with Marcus McIvor
