Wendell Cruz-Imagn ImagesFrom skating on frozen lakes in Saskatchewan to skating in front of 20,000 people at Madison Square Garden playing for the New York Rangers, Braden Schneider has come a long way.
Schneider was born and spent his early years in the town of Big River, Saskatchewan, a community with a population of less than 1,000 people.
There was an aspect of Schneider's upbringing in a quiet and small environment that helped him develop into the charismatic person he is today.
“I think as a person, you get in a small town, there's so much freedom to do whatever you want,” Schneider said. “Like I remember we'd be playing road hockey until you're getting screamed at to come inside, and biking around town, doing all those things, and just being a kid without having to really worry about anything, and same thing with like the outdoor ranks and the lake, like you would go play for hours, just you and a couple buddies and just fool around and imagine that you're scoring a big goal in the Olympics or World Juniors and just have fun with it.
“I think growing up in a small town, I definitely couldn't imagine it being any other way because it was so much that you could do. I could go on the rink and be the only guy out there and not have to worry about a thing for hours on end until you literally couldn't go anymore, till your parents were wondering where you were. It was awesome and I wouldn't change it for anything.”
Schneider was actually introduced and learned how to skate, not in a hockey setting, but through figure skating.
The Canadian native recalls taking figure skating lessons at the community rink, which is where he began to hone his skills as a young boy on the ice.
It was Schneider’s father, Kelly Schneider, who played a critical role in helping Braden build a strong passion for hockey.
During Braden’s pee-wee hockey days and through a large chunk of his childhood, Kelly served as his coach.
It was a special time for Braden, who credits Kelly for jumpstarting his path into eventually becoming a professional hockey player.
“I think if it wasn't for him, I definitely wouldn't be playing today,” Braden said of his father. “For a good chunk of my life, my dad was my coach. It was a lot of fun and cool to learn from him.”
Braden’s hockey career began to pick up steam in 2017 when he played his first full season with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League.
It wasn’t until Braden was about 17 years old that the thought he could make the NHL truly blossomed in his mind.
“I think it was probably my 17-year-old year after my U18s, when I kind of realized, like, ‘Oh, I do have a chance to play at a professional level.’ It probably wasn't until I was 17, and then 18, obviously your draft year, and you had the scouts talking to you. It probably wasn't till 17 that I thought I had an opportunity to do well with hockey,” Braden emphasized.
Braden entered the NHL Draft in 2020, which was a unique time given the COVID pandemic and the in-person restrictions that came with it.
Ultimately, to Braden’s surprise, he was drafted by the Rangers with the 19th overall pick.
“It was a busy, crazy year meeting with all of the teams,” Braden said of the draft process. “I think I was kind of one of those guys that was in that spot that most teams could have had a shot at me.”
Prior to getting drafted by the Rangers, Braden had never been to the East Coast of the United States, with Toronto being the farthest east he had previously traveled to.
Arriving in New York was certainly an adjustment for Braden, as he grew up in what was essentially a polar opposite environment.
“I remember driving down the West Side Highway and just being like, ‘holy s–t’, looking out the window and, like, twisting your neck and being like, ‘holy s–t’, because I'd never seen anything more than eight stories high before,” said Braden. “Yeah, it was a big culture shock, but so cool.”
As the Rangers were ascending as a team, beginning to become competitive in the Easter Conference, Braden was thrown right into the fire, playing 43 games during the 2021-22 season and 81 games during the 2022-23 campaign.
Throughout the Rangers’ run to the Eastern Conference Final in 2022, Schneider was in the lineup for all 20 playoff games, less than two years after being selected by the Blueshirts.
“You had to learn quick and be ready and kind of take it for what it was,” Braden said of joining the Rangers at the time he did. “It also worked out good because joining, I remember telling myself ‘just play and don't think’. I think when you're doing that, it seems a bit more natural, so it was exciting, nerve-wracking, all the emotions all at once. It was awesome.”
Now, Braden is five years into his NHL career, and it’s safe to say he’s come a long way since his figure skating days as a boy in Saskatchewan.
Through it all, Braden hasn’t forgotten where he came from and his upbringing in Western Canada.
“To think where I’m from and how far I’ve been able to come, when you look at it in hindsight, you're like, ‘wow.’ You feel pretty lucky, pretty grateful to have been given the opportunity to succeed like that, and to make it to this point is so cool. It's something that every kid in Canada dreams of, and to be living it as your life, it’s awesome.”