 Forward Evan Brophey is this week's player in “Breaking the Ice with…” The feature will be a season long series on plymouthwhalers.com and showcase a different Whaler each week so we can get to know them better.
Drafted into the OHL by the Barrie Colts in the 2nd round (37th overall) in the 2002 OHL Entry Draft, the Chicago Blackhawks selected Brophey in the 3rd round (68th overall) in the 2005 NHL Entry draft. On November 23rd, the Whalers acquired Brophey, Wes Cunningham, and a 4th round draft pick in 2006 from the Belleville Bulls for Cory Tanaka and 2nd round draft picks in 2006 and 2007. Brophey is in his fourth season in the OHL and took a few minutes before practice to help us break the ice. » On the greatest lesson he has learned from hockey… “Probably would be discipline on and off the ice through, you know, hockey has helped to stay away from problems outside the ice such as drugs and alcohol and it gives you a good schedule. Just giving you a bit of direction in life, I’d say.” » On how he started playing hockey… “I think I was about four or five and I think my dad just entered me into a house league.” » On who has influenced him the most in hockey… “Probably would be my whole family. My dad and my brother have really pushed me through hockey. My mom has always been there and my sister has supported me a lot. My sister was actually in gymnastics, but she was really competitive in that. She knows hockey real well, she watches me a lot. My brother played hockey though, Junior B throughout Ontario and he’s a pretty good player too.” » On representing Canada… “I played for Under-17 Ontario. It was definitely exciting. That was my first time representing Canada through hockey. It was part of the Canada Winter Games at that time, so there were people from all over and it was a pretty big competition there for all sports too.”  » On his youth hockey highlight…
“Youth hockey league highlight, not long ago, probably being drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks this summer.” » On if he expected to be drafted by Chicago… “No I really didn’t know. Well, how the draft worked this summer was they only brought in the top 20 in the world, so everyone had to sit at home and watch over the internet and I just kept following over the internet and then my name came up to Chicago, so I was pretty excited.” » On attending Chicago's camps… “I went to the conditioning, rookie, and main camp. I stayed there for three weeks, so it was pretty long, but it was exciting to play with the NHL players too.” » On his most memorable goal… “My most memorable goal would probably be my first OHL goal (scored 2 vs. Belleville on 10/10/02) that happened in Barrie four years ago.” » On his best moment in the OHL… “Best hockey moment is probably being selected to play in the Top Prospects game last year in Vancouver.” » On the Top Prospects and All-Star games… “Besides the Top Prospects, I also played in the All-Star game. They were pretty similar. Before that, we had a practice and a skills competition, so it was pretty similar in that sense.” » On the trade process… “First off, I wasn’t really expecting it, but I wasn’t that surprised either. Just after the practice Tuesday, I came into the coach’s office and he didn’t say anything to me, he just handed me the phone. My agents were on the phone, they just proposed this deal to me to come to Plymouth and I took the time that night to think it over, talk to my family, got some reassurance, and it turned out to be good, so I took it.” » On having Wes Cunningham come over in the trade with him… “Definitely it’s nice to have another teammate come along with you. You’re both kind of scared going into a new room and new people that you have never met before, but you kind of share those feelings with each other.” » On the differences between the OHL cities (played for Barrie and Belleville before) … “Well, Barrie always attracted a great crowd of fans. They had up near 4000 every game, so it was pretty exciting to play in that arena. In Belleville, it was a smaller town, but they are really hockey crazy there too and everyone knew you. In Plymouth here, it seems, I don’t really know the city that well, it seems like it is a little spread out and it seems that a lot of people don’t really know the Plymouth Whalers, but you talk to the people that do and they seem really interested. I think it’s a growing sport here.” » On the player he admires and tries to model his game after… “I guess in the NHL I’d have to say Markus Naslund. I love his offensive ability and he’s a great two-way player as well.”  » On the toughest player he has played against…
“Toughest player, I think Colt King when he was with Oshawa. He caught me blindside and broke my visor with an elbow.” » On his pre-game routine… “Pre-game routine, probably get up, get a good meal, breakfast in me, stay to healthy foods. I’ll watch some TV. I like to laugh a bit, maybe joke around with my buddies or something on the internet. I’ll have a good pre-game nap and some pasta after I wake up and then I’ll just come to the rink and get ready to play.” » On his jersey #11 … “I’ve been #7 all my life, but I came here and #7 was obviously taken, so I just tried to pick the best number that was left.” » On his nicknames… “Brof, people call me Brof.” » On his superstitions… “Not really, I just like to keep the same schedule throughout the day time-wise, but that’s about it.” » On living with a billet family… ”It has been great. Glenn and Chris (Patton) have really brought me in and I have an awesome set-up in the house. The family’s really treating me well, great food and I'm looking forward to the year with them.” » On what he would do if he didn't play hockey… “That’s a tough one. I’d obviously be somewhere in school right now, but I couldn’t tell you where. I was taking classes before I got traded through Carlton University in Ottawa in Ontario. Since the trade, I’ve just kind of been waiting to see what happens through next semester.” » On what he brings to the team… “Obviously I think I bring some skill, offensive ability, but I’m really trying to focus on my two-way game. I just want to help this team win a lot.”  » On his first goal as a Whaler… “It was a good passing play. (Jared) Boll got it back to the defense to (Steve) Ward, he came in and saw me at the side of the net and I just kind of tapped it in.” » On his dream goal… “I think it would be like most players would say, seventh game, Stanley Cup Finals, overtime, just put it in the net.” » On his best friend in hockey… “Can’t really say, I have a lot of great friends through 3 teams now and everyone has been pretty meaningful to me.” » On his dream vacation… “I’d have to say Hawaii.” » On the craziest thing that has happened on the road… “Craziest thing, I don’t really know. Oh, wait, I have the craziest thing. In Erie, we won 2-1 when I was in Barrie and after the game we got beer bottles thrown at us going off the ice. Yeah, so that was probably the craziest.” » On the rule changes in hockey… “I don’t know, the last couple games I experienced, I thought as it went on everyone was adjusting, the refs were too, but the last couple games I thought were just pretty bad. There were some bad calls. The clutch-and-grab game has definitely gone down, I mean, you can’t even touch a person on the puck or you get a penalty. I think, growing up I have been taught always be a stick length from a guy and maybe even had your stick on him or something. You can’t even do that now; you can’t even back-check without putting your stick on the person. So I think that would be one rule that I would change.” » On what reality show he would be on… “Maybe Survivor or something. I’d try to win a million dollars.” » On what other five players he would want on the ice with him… “If I was center, I’d have Pavel Bure on my left wing, Markus Naslund on my right wing, Patrick Roy as my goalie, left defense would be Bobby Orr, right defense would be, oh boy, I’ll just say Rob Blake.” -Natalie Shaver, December 6th, 2005- -- Other Players' "Breaking the Ice" Features -- | 
