Brekke May Have Lost a Title to Long-Time Mentor and Friend, But Saints’ Day is Coming
by Joshua Seguin/Staff Writer (@JoshSeguin24)
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. Looking down on the ice in the ECAC championship between St. Lawrence and Cornell, one could look at the benches to see the connections, and to see what Brent Brekke was trying to do with his Saints team.
He’s trying to emulate his mentor and his friend — the man behind the opposite bench — in playing a tough, heavy game that wears down opponents.
“You have to win the game defensively,” Brekke said. “We are never going to be a team that is filled with draft picks and beat teams with a lot of skill, so you have to play well on the defensive side to have success. If you play at a high level defensively, you will be hard to play against. That is what you want as a coach, at least that is what I want for my program. (Cornell) embodies that, they relish in it and they have a lot of pride in it.”
Although SLU had chances, controlled play and outshot the Big Red, it never found that sustained moments of skill to break the game open, or take the chance. It did get one, from Cameron Buhl early in the third period to make it a one-goal game, but it wasn’t able to find another.
Nevertheless, it’s clear St. Lawrence is getting there under Brekke. The progress shown towards the end of the season that got St. Lawrence here, was not a fluke. It was the fruits of Brekke’s rebuilding, slowly but surely, until more has clicked than not.
To be able to win a championship against one of his biggest mentors would’ve been sweet. But not yet.
That person is long-time Cornell bench boss Mike Schafer. The two go back almost three and a half decades in hockey. Brekke was a player for Schafer, while Schafer was an assistant at Western Michigan, from 1990-1994. Brekke, a good defenseman, embodied what Shafer often looks for in his defenders.
“He has known me since I was a teenager,” said Brekke. “He is a mentor and a father-like figure for me. I just have so much respect for him. (The biggest things I ever learned from him) were just to compete, be a good person, run the program the right way and to do things with integrity.
“At the end of the day, if you do things the right way and you surround yourself with the right people, players…
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