#Victoria #BCHL #NCAA #AHL #ECHL #VHL
This episode was a very special one as we welcomed one of nicest guys in pro hockey! Brandon Wong has a great life in the game of hockey and he shared his story with us.
Brandon worked very hard as a young player and improved yearly and ended up playing more than 400 games of professional hockey over 9 seasons in 8 different countries around the world. As a young guy he went to the Canucks rookie camp and he played with Jordie Benn, Michael Grabner and many others and they shot pucks on Cory Schneider.
He played in the Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators organizations. He has played with Wade Redden, Cam Talbot, Thomas Tatar, Justin Abdelkader, Matt Zuccarello, Brad May, Dale Wiese, Jacob Kindle to just name a few. He was coached by Mike Keenan, played in the John Tortorella system in New York. Played under Jim Nill the GM of the Dallas Stars, Neil Smith former GM of New York Rangers when they beat the Canucks in 1994 and won the Stanley Cup. He also played for Jim Schoenfeld who played in the NHL for Buffalo, Detroit and Boston and was an NHL head coach with Buffalo, New Jersey, Washington and Phoenix.
His life story is enjoyable to listen to and find out about the many steps, twists and turns he took on his adventurous journey. He played locally here in BC growing up and started to become increasingly skilled. We discussed those early years and lots of the players and people he encountered as he embarked on a junior career in the VIJHL and then BCHL.
His success led to a full ride four year scholarship at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut where he ended up with a business management degree. He was twice a finalist for the Hobey Baker award as the best player in the nation in University hockey. He called those four years "the best time of my life "which he said was surprising looking back. He wanted to play in the NHL so much that he thought that was where he was going to have the time of his life.
He played in the American Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League as he worked on finishing university. After three full seasons there he took his talents to Europe and played in Sweden and had a great year there. He took an opportunity to finish the year in Denmark and made that move. Another opportunity in the US came calling and he suited up for another three seasons for four different teams there. He went back to Europe and this time played in Germany and had a great year. The KHL made an offer to him that he seized and played there for his final seasons. He looked very fondly on that experience and really enjoyed the free travel all over Russia and China.
He is now running a hockey program in Victoria, BC Canada where he grew up. He is coaching, mentoring and trying to help pave the way for young kids to follow the same incredible journey that he went on. Good luck to Brandon and to his kids that he is helping fulfill their dreams of becoming pro hockey players and having it enrich their lives!