After his rookie season was cut short, the older brother of Cole Caufield found a new lease on life in Reading.
The 2023-24 ECHL season didn’t end quite the way Brock Caufield had envisioned. The 25-year-old right winger and older brother of Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield was about to wrap up his rookie season with the Newfoundland Growlers, who were fighting for a playoff spot.
Then, suddenly, it vanished with the speed of one of Brock’s shots at the net.
The ECHL pulled the plug on the Growlers’ membership last April after the club failed to fulfill all its obligations under the league’s Bylaws. The Growlers still had six regular-season games remaining, all of which were canceled.
“It was kind of crazy how everything happened so fast,” Caufield, a Stevens Point, Wisconsin native, said. “Just when we thought we were fighting for a playoff spot and trying to make our season last as long as possible, it was weird how it all ended. But you can’t control everything.”
That’s certainly true. Sudden change is just a way of life for a professional hockey player. The best way to deal with it is to regroup and keep pushing toward the next opportunity.
With his rookie season abruptly finished, Brock spent a few days at the lake back in Wisconsin before spending the rest of the summer training with Cole in Michigan. It was a good mix of relaxation and hockey, especially after the roller coaster ride of last season.
“I got to hang out with family and stuff, which is always special especially after last year being in Newfoundland and kind of away from everything on an island,” Caufield said.
Caufield was also in search of a new team. When Reading Royals head coach and general manager Jason Binkley called during the summer, the two immediately bonded.
“I like his passion,” Caufield said of Binkley, who’s in his first full season as head coach and GM of the Royals. “We’re similar in a lot of ways. We want to win and we want to build a good culture here. It was a really good fit for me. I decided I wanted to come here and got really excited.”
In Caufield, Binkley saw a player who could strengthen the Royals’ offense by scoring off the rush and making plays.
“Goal scoring is an area we missed last season severely, and I think Brock is a really good start,” Binkley said following Caufield’s signing. “All the reports that we have from Toronto and Newfoundland is that he is nothing but an outstanding person. Everything that he should be bringing to the locker room should be positive and well respected.”
The Caufield brothers had great hockey examples to look up to within the family. Their father, Paul Caufield, played at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. Their grandfather, Wayne Caufield, was a 2011 inductee into the Wisconsin Hockey Hall of Fame. He played semi-professional hockey for 13 years and spent over two decades conducting hockey clinics in the Milwaukee area.
In 63 games with the Growlers last season, Brock Caufield posted 12 goals and 20 assists for 32 points along with six penalty minutes. Following five seasons at the University of Wisconsin, he played under a one-year AHL contract with the Toronto Marlies before joining the Growlers.
At Wisconsin, Brock recorded 74 points (33-41-74) across 172 games. He helped the Badgers capture the B1G Regular Season Championship in 2020-21, and he won B1G Sportsmanship Awards in both the 2020-21 and 2022-23 seasons.
Caufield played 118 games of junior hockey with Green Bay in the USHL. He also attended NHL Development Camps for the Los Angeles Kings (2019) and Buffalo Sabres (2022).
This off-season, Caufield worked hard on developing better offensive instincts which he hopes will help him take the next step in his game. As much as he would like to score more points, he believes the offense will come by making more plays.
“My dad always told me (to) never be satisfied,” Caufield said. “Once you’re satisfied, it’s time to be done. Obviously, you can be happy growing your game and coming to work every day, looking at the results. Try to keep working hard. It’s a long season, and there’s going to be lots of ups and downs, so try to stay even keel and grow throughout the year. That’s my focus.”
Brock and Cole regularly train together in the same gym during the off-season. The biggest lesson Brock has taken from his younger brother’s success is paying attention to the small details.
“It’s the little things, going to the gym, going on the ice,” he explained. “(Cole’s) learned so many things from different people. It’s the same game, but I feel everyone has different ways of teaching things. Obviously, I’m lucky he is where he is and I can learn anything from him and talk to him about the game.”