It's been a unique, and sometimes challenging road for San Jose Sharks prospect Brady Knowling. But the 18-year-old goaltender is breaking through, and a big season with the OHL's Saginaw Spirit arriving.
The life of an 18-year-old ice hockey goaltender features some of the most drastic ups and downs of any athlete. For Brady Knowling, that fact holds true in so many ways.
From injury and the mental hurdles that come with recovery to the NHL draft and skating for Team USA at the World Junior Championship and the Under-18s, Knowling has dealt with quite a bit in the last couple of years. He’s had to adapt, grow, and mature with so much still ahead of him.
Before we look ahead, let’s take a trip back to his U-17 season. He is a Toronto-born kid who had dual citizenship because of his parents, and he had the opportunity to go to Plymouth, Mich., to play for USA Hockey’s NTDP, or he could have gone right to the OHL to play with the Saginaw Spirit.
Despite being aware of the landscape-altering changes regarding the NCAA eligibility of CHL athletes on the horizon, Knowling and his family felt that the right decision was to head to the NTDP, have the chance to represent Team USA on a nightly basis and develop his game with a world-class program. Diverse competition was a big part of the draw to the program for Knowling.
“It's pretty cool because one day you could be playing in Cedar Rapids against a USHL team and the next day you could be playing Western Michigan, the defending national champion, and then the week after that, you could be in Sweden playing against kids your own age on an international stage,” Knowling told TheHockeyNews.com.
Understanding that he would get to see different levels of competition and that he’d be playing with the best U.S.-born players in his age group presented intrigue that he couldn’t pass up. He was in a unique situation as the one kid from outside of the States that jumped to the NTDP.
While many of the kids knew each other or played against each other at times, Knowling was an outsider for the most part. He was the Canadian kid who was pulling a USA sweater over his head every night with his new team.
Before he even really got started at the program, he had to undergo knee surgery, which limited him for that U-17 season. His first game didn’t come until January that year, and he admits that he never really found his footing from that point on.
“That first year was really tough for me, Knowling said. "Getting surgery and then just watching the guys on the ice rather than being out there with them, it wasn’t fun.
“I'm sitting there as a 16-year-old, first time away from home, new billet house and all of the stuff. These guys that I've never played with in my life because they're all American, and I grew up in Toronto playing in the GTHL, are just bonding as a team. They are going to play in NAHL games and in the USHL, and I'm just kind of sitting there. I just have to kind of do my own thing,” he explained.
The mental burden that Knowling placed on himself during the first few months at the NTDP were heavy. He was constantly battling himself.
How hard should he be on himself? Should he feel sorry for himself? Why not just be reclusive and play Xbox in the dark every day? Will he ever be good at hockey again? Can he play at this level? Should he just go home?
“You don't really know what you're doing, and you never really know if you're going to be good again," he said. "You're going to come back, and you're going to be like, ‘Oh my god, what if I just suck’ and all that stuff.
“And then it did kind of happen. I ended up letting in 10 goals in my first game back,” Knowling laughed.
It wasn’t just that first game back, though. He let in seven in his second game. Had a couple of decent outings in relief before playing decently in a small Five Nations tournament.
When the team returned to the USHL, though, Knowling was pulled in his first game and let in 10 goals again in his second game. That kind of set the tone for the rest of his U-17 year.
He was back on the ice but far from in fine form.
Knowling acknowledged that he never felt quite right when he returned. He was hesitant and afraid of making mistakes. He let things compound rather than trust that his game could recover after a mistake or two.
He spent the summer finding himself as a person and then as a goalie. He relied on finding his spark off the ice, which allowed him to find it on the ice.
Knowling played for Team USA’s Hlinka-Gretzky squad, something that is typically reserved for players who are not with the NTDP. It was there that Knowling began to find his game again.
Helping Team USA to gold on the back of his .914 save percentage, Knowling was looking like his old self again, and he was ready to get going for the NTDP in what was set to be his biggest year yet - his draft year.
Last year was about getting back to himself and finding his groove with the NTDP. Knowling leaned into his work from the summer and tried to just be himself.
“I’m a pretty energetic guy, that’s just who I am,” Knowling said. “I am on the ice with the team, and I am going to talk to them and be involved in everything.”
Knowling isn’t the typical isolationist goalie who skates away from scrums or stays quiet on the ice. He’s constantly talking to his defenders, telling them where the forecheckers are coming from and identifying their outlets when they have their back to the play. He’s also joking between whistles and celebrating his team’s goals.
“I think a lot of people kind of have this mindset that goalie is like their own little thing and leave them in their own, Knowling explained. "Even coaches sometimes, they just leave their goalie be. Sure, I do my own thing on game day, and I'm pretty dialled. I'm not really like talking to a lot of people before the game, but it's like once I'm on the ice, we're in it together and my excitement comes out.”
Knowling’s draft year was up-and-down when it came to his play. He was quite good at times and showcased all of the tools that made him one of the top netminders in the draft class. His skating was already strong, but he developed it even further ahead of last season. His size and fluidity in the crease are assets that any team is looking for in their netminder.
When the World Junior Championship came around in the winter, Knowling found himself in Minnesota as the team’s third-string netminder. At 17, Knowling understood how unique it was for him to be at the annual U-20 showcase. He took the chance to just soak up the experience and learn from those around him.
“I was just sitting there trying to get it as good as I can in the five days that I have to practice with these guys and kind of see what it's like being there," he said. "Me and Kemper (Nicholas Kempf) are really good friends, and on the ice he was kind of a mentor while I was at world juniors.”
As the third-string netminder, Knowling wasn’t expecting to play much, but he did get into one game. He started a game against Sweden, giving up five goals on 28 shots in a game where the play in front of him didn’t really help him out. Knowling looked like he belonged, though. He wasn’t a goalie who looked in over his head at 17 years old.
“My goal was to just be present and absorb the experience on and off the ice,” Knowling said. “A bunch of us would get together on one of our rooms, and we watched all of the Harry Potter movies, most of the Star Wars movies. Those are the things I’ll remember that no one really talks about.”
The off-ice memories were what Knowling valued from the last couple of years. He was reflective about his time at the NTDP. From jumping in frozen lakes in Sweden with his brethren while overseas for an international tournament to countless sauna sessions where hockey was the last topic of conversation, Knowling will always value his experience at the NTDP.
When draft day arrived, he was selected in the fourth round by the San Jose Sharks, one of the NHL’s most exciting up-and-coming teams. The last couple of years flashed through his mind. From the recovery and rehab that he went through after the knee surgery to the moments with the boys that no one ever sees, Knowling was ecstatic to finally have all of his work pay off.
Looking ahead, Knowling is joining the Spirit in the OHL for a year before heading to Boston University next year. He’s taking full advantage of the new rules and the avenues that he’s been presented with. NTDP to the OHL to the NCAA, and hopefully pro after that.
“I’m really excited about being able to have the best of both worlds, playing in OHL and in college," he said. "It’s every goalie’s dream. I am very lucky that the rule change and timing worked out.”
Knowling has the potential to be one of the OHL’s best netminders. As he heads into this season, he remains focused on just being himself and doing what he can on the ice to help his team win.
Having been through so much already, the ups and the downs, it’s a new opportunity for Knowling to continue writing his story. One that features as many quiet moments of growth on the ice as it does big saves and wins on the ice.
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