#003 Brandon Hawkins - Toledo Walleye

Toledo Walleye Team Captain Brandon Hawkins joins host Brad Rieger to discuss lifelong love of hockey, the success of the team, and what it means to be the captain.  

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Well, hello everyone, and welcome to Holy Toledo Sports Edition. I'm Brad Rieger, and today we got a special treat. We're going to get to connect with the captain of the Twedo Walleye, Brandon Hawkins. All right, Brandon, it's great to be across from you and uh thanks for carving time out. You just came back from a real lengthy road trip, and this is actually a day off. So thanks for coming into work to talk with us.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Not a not a problem at all. It's uh always a blast to get to talk about an organization that's kind of given me everything I've had and a little bit of history about myself. So it's uh it's been a lot of fun here.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

So your performance has been lights out, and we could spend a lot of time on that. Obviously, you uh have many of the walleye scoring records, and you're right at the top at the ECHL in those same categories. You were uh Turner Cup champion when you were with Fort Wayne and Kelly Cup, Kelly Cup, Kelly Cup uh champion in 2021. Uh three times in a row, first team uh all-star for ECHL, and then back-to-back MVP, uh league MVP for ECHL, which is really digit, but really what I want to point out, you have three bobbleheads up here, and uh that makes it even more it means you've doing a lot of good things.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

I I've I've had my fun. Thankfully, you know what, I I look at a lot of the personal accolades as team awards, not a big fan of of personal awards because it's uh that's to me a me over we mentality. And with the walleye organization, it's always we over me. And thankfully I've gotten to be surrounded by some awesome hockey players in the past that have have helped me go to that stage. But in anything, it's just uh it's kind of a a way to say how good they were, right? Because I wouldn't be who I am without them.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Right. What I'd like to do in this conversation, uh Brandon, is really focus on some of that the human intangibles that you bring to the ice and even off the ice. So let's start with your uh rapport with the fans. Now, uh most of us would like just one cool nickname. You have two. I'm assuming that most people have called you Hawk maybe way back even in the junior high.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

Uh yeah, you know what? It was my that was my dad's name in the roller hockey ring. So I was always Little Hawk. And then growing up, I kind of just adopted it, and then obviously the other one being the mayor.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Yeah, so the mayor, when was the first time you recall hearing that? And what context was it in?

SPEAKER_02 2:36

TJ Hensick, we were here and we got to go out as a team once. And I made friends with uh one of the local bar owners who now owns Erie Street Rocks, uh, Paulie over there. He um he took care of the guys and and we had an awesome time with them after we won the conference final. I believe it was or not conference final, it was our first series win against Cincinnati. And Annie goes, Man, you're gonna be the mayor of this place one day. And you know what? It kind of stuck and went forward, and I'll I'll hold it tight because it's a guy I idolized grown up that said that.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

It stuck. That's great. When you hear people call you the mayor, what do you think fans are saying about you?

SPEAKER_02 3:14

I hope he fixes potholes. No. Um you know what? I thankfully it's really cool that I have a relationship with Mayor Wade. So it's um he I'm probably one of the only people that's been allowed to put my feet on his desk. So that was a cool commercial I got to do with him. But you know what? Hopefully they look at it as somebody who cares about the community here and and wants to leave it better than I found it when I retire. Because in the end, Toledo's given me everything and I want to give back to it.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Yeah. What do you appreciate the most about the the wildlife fans?

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Probably the passion and the blue collar mentality that they have. They're spending their hard-earned money to come watch us, and and you can see how passionate and how much they work to support us, and it's our job to do our end of the bargain.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Now, the Huntington Center is a great place for all of us to watch a game. For you as a player, what about that facility? It's just cool to play in.

SPEAKER_02 4:04

Oh, I mean, the sellouts are fantastic, but you know what, just the noise in general. I've got to play in some some tremendously loud environments over my career. You got to play in TD Garden and in the Bean Pot and Hockey's final when there's 22,000 people in there. Right. I got to play at Bowling Reed State University where we had at capacity game against uh Ohio State and with that low tin roof is probably probably the loudest place I've ever played in. But um, but you can just you know when the fans are behind you and that energy pushes guys, even when you don't have a lot or you're playing that third game in a weekend, you rely on that energy to kind of push you forward.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Yeah. Brandon, in October, uh right before the season, uh coach uh Mikish came to you and tapped you to be the captain of the team. What did he say to you in that conversation?

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Uh he basically is like, this is what we're gonna do. And uh he's like, I trust you. Don't change as a person, lead as who you are, and if you have any problems, come to me and I'll help you get through it. And that was probably one of the coolest things on the planet because I've had some awesome captains over my career. Nick, uh Nick Saracino, who just played in the Olympics for Italy. I had him in Wheeling, I had AJ Jenks in Fort Wayne, who was a longtime walleye, I had TJ Hensick and then John Albert. And you know what? It's tremendous. You kind of try to pick and pick their brain and learn things that they do. So hopefully when when I get the opportunity to do it, I can use my own version, but take all the the great qualities that they had and put it towards being a good captain.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Right. And so what do you enjoy about it?

SPEAKER_02 5:42

You know what? I I've always enjoyed pressure and and high pressure situations, and I I think that's one of the things Mick enjoys about or was the reason he gave me it. But to me, it's um the best part is is guys coming to me when they're when they're in different like they could be down in the dumps, they can be on their high of highs, and and how to deal with different things. Because this is I'm going on my eighth year pro, like I've been in a lot of different situations. So to me, it's I really like the personal relationships and and trying to trying to help and push guys up to the next level. To me, the the ECHL for a lot of the young guys should be a stepping stone. And I all I want to do is see them raise up and go to the AHL and and hopefully go to the NHL. And then I can be like, look, look, Rowan, I got to play with that guy. I got to have a pretty cool friendship with him too.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

How about a teammate that's just hit a rough patch and is struggling on the ice? How do you approach? How do you support or confront to me?

SPEAKER_02 6:38

It's all about the support. You want to lift that guy up. Because in the end, if if they're at their best, we're at our best. So if somebody's down in the dumps, you got to find a way as quick as possible to to get them out of that funk, even if it's not getting them out of the funk on the ice, but going to get everybody together as a group and have a little bit of camaraderie together, or or going out to lunch and being like, hey man, like what's going on?

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Different different situations like that. And I'm a big guy that'll do that in the locker room. Like I have I have no problem. If a guy's having a hard time, I'm gonna go sit next to him. We're gonna figure it out together. Because if you can't lean on me, then that's a problem.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Yeah. Coach Mikish really uh says that you're uh a big camaraderie team team chemistry guy, and you're really a big factor in why things are positive, but it's hard to maintain that through a really tough grinding season. So, how do you keep that positive mojo? And you got veterans and you got rookies and you got roster movement.

SPEAKER_02 7:33

Yeah, how do you do that? You know what? I I live on this this mantra called Paradise Everyday. Paradise every day is uh is uh sometimes you're gonna be dealt uh a bad hand or a or a crap sandwich, and you know what, you gotta you gotta eat it with a smile on your face and and take the positives out of it. We might lose a game, but and I'm not a big fan of moral victories, but you know what? If we lose a game and and we had the work ethic that we need to have every every single game of the year, I can live with that. If we lose a game and there's there's no work ethic and there's and everybody's kind of down in the dun, then I have a problem with it.

SPEAKER_03 8:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

And that's so trying to have this positive outlook on everything is is awesome. And thankfully, my wife's a a great component of that, and she's been my biggest supporter and probably the the biggest reason of who I am right now.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

When you talk about pressure, um, and there's you're obviously your profile is elevated as the captain and kind of the face of the franchise. Um how do you how do you manage that so it's productive and not slide into anything negative? Yep.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

So the thankfully that's that's Kayla. So for anybody who doesn't know Kayla is my wife, when I'm at home, she's the the biggest proponent of saying, hey, you're being too hard on yourself. You're playing great hockey, keep doing what you do and do it with a smile on your face because you love what you do. Now, anytime we're we're anywhere else, it's you know what, there's times where I'm not the best at my game, right? And there's times where I'm down in the dumps. And I try to tell everybody in the locker room, whether you're a first-year pro or a 20-year veteran, you can say anything to everybody. There has to be an open communication policy because if they're not, then then guys are gonna kind of get down on themselves or get down on others, and we can't have that. So to me, it's it's one of those things where I want guys to kind of be in my grill if if I'm not playing well, is and I can do the same to them. But pressure is a it's a privilege. And if you can't uh can't live with it or can't play with it, you probably shouldn't be playing pro hockey. And for the young guys that don't know, we're trying to teach them how to play with it because there's pressure in Toledo and we all know what the expectation is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

You know, in your role as captain, uh Brandon and the face of the franchise, you get a lot of interview requests. And in my research for our discussion, there are a bazillion interviews of you, both with traditional media, online print, and also kind of the digital, uh, the podcast. And you are um really accommodating and also very comfortable. Where does that how did you get comfortable with media and just public speaking?

SPEAKER_02 10:12

So uh when I was 15, 16 years old, my dad told me, like, hey, you're gonna be in different situations with interviews and stuff like that. You gotta be pretty okay with speaking openly in public. Like, so I kind of started working on it or just tried to talk to people that I never knew and and get into situations what made me a little uncomfortable. But then my my second coach and junior Jay Veraday, who used to be with the Red Wings, um, would always put me in situations to to public speak and do things like that. So I got very comfortable in junior doing those type of interviews and and speaking candidly, but also speaking very positively and professionally in an open in an open mic. And to me, that was probably a a great way to get started when it when it comes to the interview process.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Yeah, you're very um confident and humble, which is a tough There's a line to tall. You do, you do that, you do that really well. Um so um let's take let's go to Brandon uh growing up. You grew up in uh Macomb, Michigan, which is Metro Detroit, just north of Detroit. Yep. Uh went to Eisenhower High School. Um but I think there's uh two places that are really important in your development as a hockey player and probably as a person. Number one is the Joe Dumar's Fieldhouse. Yep. Number two is the basement of your home that got kind of modified into a shooting range. The shooting range. We shot 500 to 1,000 pockets. So fill in the details on those two places.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

My uncles, uh Kenny and Kevin Hole, opened Joe Dumar's Fieldhouse, the roller hockey side, which was Detroit Roller Hockey Association. They hired my dad on in 1994, and then my dad worked there through through 2000 and 2005, right around that area. So I grew up with this this awesome with resource because a lot of people didn't have what I got to do. I got to go to the rink with my dad on a weekend, spend there from 8 a.m. until close up shop, and then get there at 8 a.m. again. Subscribe the role for people don't know what that looks like with roller hockey is uh it's a normal sized rink, but instead of ice you have sport court tile, so plastic tile down. So it's it's four-on-four, it's a lot of open ice, there's no offsides, no icing, and no hitting. So it's very, very offensive and very hockey IQ oriented. So I grew up with a a lot of opportunity to grow my offensive abilities. You play man on man full rink, so you have to learn how to beat people one-on-one, but also beat different defensive situations that you may run into in ice hockey. And then thankfully, to to the guys at the rink, whenever there was open ring time, I had the rink to myself. I had my skates on the whole day, no matter what, right? Which was really, really cool. And you know what? Tyler Speegia, who was here last year, we learned how to play the game together at Joe Dumar's field house. The then we have the shooting area, which thankfully I had probably two to three hundred pucks in my basement. It was unfinished, so it was we just put a little shooting pad at one end, which is synthetic ice. It's a little plastic pad, and you can use wood, you can use glass, it doesn't matter. But uh I go down there and shoot pucks for hours and hours, and my goal was to shoot a thousand pucks a day. And we did I did that all the way until my parents finished my basement when I was 16, 17, or did your basement door ever open and say, Hey Brandon, we're trying to go to sleep, or we got dinner, or I would I I would do it like during the day before anybody went to sleep or any situations like that. But that neck that net took a beating and so did the wall behind us.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

And obviously, you're from uh Detroit area, so you're a Red Wings fan. You got to celebrate as a young kid. Yep. What 2002, 2008 Stanley Cups? The uh 97? Yeah, 97, 98. Some great, great hockey. And you're um you wear number 16, and I'm I'm assuming that's a hat tip to your idol Brad Hull. Correct. Who played for the Red Wings for a period of time. Yep. So what attracted you to Brad Hull?

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Um, just his he had this uncanny ability to find time and space, even in tight checking games like the NHL was, where a lot of defensemen play Velcro where they're stuck to you. So he found time and space to get his shot off, and I wanted to model everything I did off of him because it didn't matter who he was playing against or what he was doing. He'd score against your best defenseman, he'd score against your best forward, and he didn't need much space to do it. So that was kind of I loved watching him and Adam Oates play together. That was probably one of the coolest things, and then watching him and Pavel Dadsook play together in Detroit was really special. It was him, Pavel Dadsook, and um I believe Boyd Devereaux. They called him two kids and a goat. And it was uh it was really special to watch him shoot the puck with those guys. But it was really cool because I got to use his sticks growing up because he only used a 62 flex, which for people who don't know is a very bendy whippy stick. So it was okay for me who was a who was a young kid trying to trying to bend something that I shouldn't. But um he it he just became my idol in every asset of the game, and I wanted to be just like him.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Have you ever met him?

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Nope, that's that's one thing to do to bucket list. Yeah, there's probably three athletes on that bucket list him, John Daly, and Michael Jordan.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

There you go. Those are those are three good ones. Um if you look at um say from birth to 18, Brandon, uh, what's the one aspect of your upbringing that really shaped who you are as a person and maybe even now as a as a as a leader?

SPEAKER_02 15:44

I would say resilience. Um, not many kids see their their parents go through what uh what my parents did growing up. My dad hurny or shattered L4, L5 vertebrae playing roller hockey and became permanently disabled when I was around 12. So I didn't get the dad that was passing me pucks and doing things like that. I got that until I was 12 years old and he would still try and do do his best, and he was still very involved in my training and how he wanted me to do things and different things like that. So it was uh but to make ends meet and do different things like that, it was it was very tough. So I played uh I actually played travel hockey or double A single A hockey for a very long time because it's all we could afford. And thankfully I had a coach by the name of Steve Glover who coached the Summit Plastics out of Fraser, uh now Big Boy Arena, I believe, um, who took me in and was like, hey, I'll make things work for you, but I need your help whenever I get the chance. Like, done deal, I'll work for it. So you have to be resilient in those, and that's kind of what what's shaped me as a person, a player today.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Wow, thanks for sharing that. Yeah, not a problem. Um, your path to your professional life here um roller hockey, slinging pucks in the basement, travel hockey, uh Little Caesars, U18, and then a year um in Texas, Toronto, and then you did uh a year in Sioux City. Yep, for the the Musketeers, and then started your college career, two years BGSU, and then finished up at Northeastern. Yep. And then you um started your pro career with uh AHL affiliate with the Pittsburgh Baby Pets. What that path that you took, what really worked well for you?

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Um, you know what? It's the big thing I try to look at is there's no linear path to pro hockey. Like everybody's path is different. There's gonna be times where you go backwards to go forward. There's gonna be times where you have to go at a 45 degree angle and then come back to center. You're never gonna do it in a way that you want to. Like everybody sees this this straight path. That's not how you get there. You you have to be able to take your lumps and bumps and and kind of get beat down a few times to understand where you're at and get better at it. And my first year junior in Texas was awesome. I started on the fourth line, um, worked my way into my own game, which was being a goalscorer and and being a player with hockey IQ that can make plays and do different things like that. But I had to earn that trust to that coach who was a very hard-nosed coach. His name is Tony Cartelli, he had a very, very um winning record in that league. He played for the old Peoria Rivermen too in the in the old days. But um to earn his trust was probably big, and then it happened all over again the following year. New year, new league, new team. I get drafted by Brett Larson, who's the head coach at St. Cloud now. He left to go coach at Ohio State that year. New coach comes in, Jay Veraday. Jay goes, Hey, I'm gonna give you an opportunity. It's all about what you do with it. I see you as this type of player, and I had a slow start, but earned his trust to the point where I was in every situation and every time, and he trusted me to put the puck in the net. Following year, same thing happens again. Go to BG, um, play for another hard coach, hard-nosed coach that expects work ethic and and grind mentality, and you're gonna grind a team town until you win, but you're gonna do it the right way. And I had to learn and get his trust at the same time. Played there two years, things didn't work out, went to Northeastern, and Northeastern kind of knew my game from BG, and they trusted me kind of from the beginning. I had to earn it while I wasn't playing, which is fine. They wanted to see my work ethic and and that I wanted to be there and and wanted to see the team win, and I have no problem showing people that I want that. So they got to a point where they trusted me that first season. I think I had 17 points in 22 games as a as a transfer, and I only got to play half a season that year because the old NCA role is you had to sit a year, but I left a little bit into the semester with BG, so I had to sit a year and a half. So I played 17 games, had 22 points the following year, have all the trust in the world as a as a senior, go in, do my job, uh, had my college high in points that year. Um, then I got to sign with the Wilkesbury Penguins in the American Hockey League, which is every little kid's dream. I get to play pro hockey, or I get to play hockey and be paid for it. There were some really good players in that team. Oh, yeah. There's some NHLers. Yes. So it was uh it was definitely a worldwin experience. And that uh that summer, both my head coach Clark Donatelli and Bill Guerin, who is my GM there, left. He left to go to Minnesota, and uh Clarkey went and coached in the German league. So you know what? It was it's kind of been that way my whole career is you have to earn trust and and find a way to do your job to the best of your ability and and to a point where a coach trusts you to do it in any situation.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Right. And you've always been uh uh a scorer, right? Uh tried to be. Always always been a shooter, high yeah, high prolific shooter and and and score. Um what what's the decision factor for you when when you're in the zone in the offensive zone, whether to shoot it or hold it and pass it? What's what are you thinking?

SPEAKER_02 21:12

Uh you know what the the cool part is being a shooter over my over my whole career is a lot of people downplay my ability to pass the puck. And to me, that's hockey IQ. Right. There's always a play to be made. I always look at it from a two-on, you're always on a two-on-one. It's the very old school way of looking at the game. There's always a two-on-one somewhere. You just have to find it. So if I'm playing with a guy, if I have a shot option and I know I have an opportunity to score, I'm gonna, I'm gonna shoot it. But sometimes when I'm shooting the puck, I'm not shooting the score, I'm shooting to create an opportunity for the next guy that's close to the net.

SPEAKER_03 21:43

Right.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

So it's it's always been a combination of relying on my hockey IQ and my shooting ability to open up different things on different things in the offensive zone.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

Is there a detail, Brandon, that you can give fans to look for that'll give a clue that you're Ready to make a play either for yourself or your team.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

Not really because I I try to I try to use a lot of deception within my game. I want the opponent to not really have a clue or not know my next step. So sometimes there's going to be a shot that no one sees coming, and sometimes there's going to be a pass that no one else saw. And that's just that's my game.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

Yeah. Uh earlier in the year in December against uh Iowa, you had a four-goal game that you had to feel like you were in the zone.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

Yeah, that was that was really cool. That was one of those nights everything was going in. I had one other four-goal game in my career was when I was in Fort Wayne and played against Indy, and that was a special one too, because my uh line mate and captain was AJ Jenks, somebody I looked up to for a long time and watched him play for the Plymouth Whalers. So it was uh that was a special one too.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

Uh recently, uh Brandon, you got uh called up to the Grand Rapids Griffins, and maybe it's the sixth or seventh time you've been up in the AHL. How did the uh Griffins players, coaches, and fans uh receive you?

SPEAKER_02 23:00

It was it was awesome. They have such a good locker room there and uh and a great winning culture. And obviously I played for Wadi, I know what he expects, and and that type of culture is the same culture we have here. So it was uh to get to interact with some of the the awesome individuals in that locker room, like uh AKL, Kanak Leipert, uh Gustafson, who played the NHL for 600 games, Austin Watson, who's played in Tampa with one of my favorite players with uh Nikita Kucherov. Like to be able to pick the brain and talk to guys that have that have been there and that have done it and had for a long time too was really cool. And I try to be a sponge and learn as much as I can. So the whole goal is to get better every day. But when I'm up there with those guys, it was it was cool to be accepted the way I was. Obviously, as a 31-year-old call-up, you never know what to expect, but uh I just wanted to go in there and play my game to the best of my ability, kind of prove that I could still do it, but at the same time, try to help the team as much as I can.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

And you had a nice moment with your son post-game you were doing an interview with and uh people were asking you questions, and your son was you were holding your son in your arms.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

Yeah, that was uh that was really special. That was one of the cool things that I was ex excited to do was he's never got to see me play in the American Hockey League. My wife never got to see me play in the American Hockey League. So to be able to share that experience with those two was was something I'll never forget and something I'm forever indebted to Waddy for. But um, you know what? When I called my wife and told her that uh Waddy was gonna call me up, you should have heard the scream. But uh her excitement for me and her want for me to succeed is kind of what drives me on a lot of days, and it's uh it's tremendously special. It's it's really cool to get to do things with your best friend, and I get to live with mine. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Uh Brandon, take us through. If there's a 7:15 game at the the bank tank, uh what's your um timelines and routine from when you wake up all the way to warm-ups and opening puck drop?

SPEAKER_02 24:58

So usually wake up uh I'll go Friday game. So usually wake up 7:30. I take Rowan, drop him off of daycare, get to the rink about eight o'clock. Most some days I beat our equipment staff there, some days I don't. But um go in, have my energy drink or coffee, whatever it is, hang out, do my thing. We go have morning skate. Uh morning skate, I do the same things every time. It's not so much superstitious, it's just a routine. Uh familiarity brings confidence for me. So if I'm doing the same things and I feel good about it, I'm I'm gonna be pretty good throughout the day. Uh post uh morning skate, I usually get the same lunch, whether it's BB Bop or Chipotle. I it's easy, it's simple, I know I'm gonna feel. Um I nap an hour and a half, maybe. Right. Depends on the day. Um, get to the rink for 4 15, uh, take my sticks, make sure my laces aren't messed up on my skates, uh, go through video and and kind of go about the game. Usually I drink the same energy drink for games. For anybody who doesn't know, it's a Lani new. I I couldn't tell you why my sister left one in the fridge one day. And I I drank it and ended up playing pretty well that day. So I I stayed with it and haven't changed it. Do you have any dinner or is that uh post-game is they usually provide postgame for us, so it's it's not too bad.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

What about music? What about a playlist? You got any songs that pump you up?

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Uh you know, I I like the old era. Uh I'm a I'm old school. Usually I like have a drink on me by ACDC, like that era, shoot the thrill. Um, watched a lot of Robbie Shrimp highlights growing up. I don't know if you know Rob Shrimp is uh he was a tremendous guy in the OHL, and if he played in today's NHL, he'd be a top 10 forward. Um he had this highlight video that was to shoot the thrill, and growing up I'd watch it every time before I went and played. And it's funny how he was always the guy that picked up the pucks and do stuff like that. So I always loved watching him. But uh it's funny how those those type of songs stick with you.

SPEAKER_00 26:51

Post-game, Brandon. How do you unwind from a game?

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Uh, you know what? It's it's really nice because having the little guy at home, it doesn't matter if it's a good game or a bad game. If you get home and that guy's and he's smiling at you, everything else disappears. So it's uh usually it's just it's bedtime for him because by the end of the game, he's usually a menace to society. But um God bless my wife, because usually I have to stay for a minute and she drives him home. So but uh it's cool because my family comes to every home game, so I get to see them after everything. It's kind of like uh get to hug mom and dad and and see them for a couple minutes, help them get out to the car with my dad's scooter and and off we go.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

Away games similar routine? Yeah, it's it's not far off. Okay. Uh speaking of away games, you have some really interesting schedule as far as travel, whether it be uh back-to-back triple games, yeah. Uh so you're dealing with buses, you're dealing with hotels. How do you manage that? Because it's not sexy, that part of the No, but you know what?

SPEAKER_02 27:49

Uh you get paid to put your skates on. If you're gonna complain about playing hockey games no matter where it is, you probably shouldn't be playing professionally.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Good point. Brandon, you uh obviously connect with people really well, but what some of us have noted, many people have noticed, is especially you connect with people that are traveling a tougher road, particularly uh young kids that have special needs. Yep. So I'm assuming your mom's a teacher, your dad worked with special needs, he has his own injury. Yeah, um, so some of that was instilled in you at a young age.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

At a young age. Yeah, very, very young age. My ma uh my dad worked at a special needs school in Farmington Hills, um, and it was delinquent and special needs. So a lot of low-income, my dad would actually bring in clippers and help kids cut hair and help pack lunches for them and do different things like that because they didn't have that stuff. Um, so you know, and I saw him do it, and I always took a liking to helping people in any way, shape, or form. But um, then my mom at her school, she always um her principal and everybody there trusts her in those situations. So usually she gets a lot of opportunity to work with kids with special needs. And then my wife's a speech language therapist and she works out in uh Wassian schools, and she works with special needs kids every day of the week. So I grew up around a kid named Andy Catul, his brother's uh low functioning, low communicating. And we I grew up with Tommy and I love Tommy. I actually have Tommy tattooed on my wrist for anybody who can't see with the autism puzzle piece. So I've taken a liking to it, and you know what, to me, it's one of those things if you can help, why won't you?

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

So I'll help in every situation I can, and it's it's gratifying, but you know what, the friendships that you get to make with those kids over lifetime are pretty special.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

And one of those friendships is with uh Sawyer Molly. Yeah, he's 14 now, but how did that start up?

SPEAKER_02 29:42

Uh at Acoustics for Autism three years ago. I met Sawyer, and you know what? It was like a I got a brother who wasn't so much a friend. So he's uh he sticks close to me as I will him. And to see how much he loves the game and how passionate he is about it and all of his jerseys is is really cool. But I love Sawyer and his family, they've been awesome to me and to mine. So uh his mom and dad are tremendous people, and I know they love Kayla and I and Rowan as much as we do them, and they're stuck with uh another family for life.

SPEAKER_00 30:13

And so uh by your um paying attention and seeing uh young people with special needs, you're elevating them in so many ways, making it feel important. But what did those relationships with Sawyer and others, what did that do for you personally?

SPEAKER_02 30:29

Uh for me, it's like uh it's kind of a patience thing, right? You never know where anybody is in in their walk of life. And somebody could be having a down day, somebody could be having a great day. Smile does a tremendous thing for them. And you know what? We uh we went to the Cherry Street mission and fed the homeless a couple days ago, and they made a good comment that sometimes that this is going to be the only human interaction they have all week. And you know what? Uh paradise every day, come back to that. If I can help somebody be their paradise for a couple minutes and they feel better about themselves, I'm gonna first I'm gonna be a better person, but second, I'm gonna know that they're gonna hopefully have a good day after talking to me.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

Yeah. Let's finish with family. You're a family man. Yep. Where did you and Caleb meet?

SPEAKER_02 31:18

How did you meet? We met at Bowling Green State University, our freshman year. Um I don't like to say this, but I wasn't very nice to her. And you know what? I for the I always do account with her. So the 1,400,000 and 16th time, I'm sorry. Um, but it's it's really cool the relationship we have. We didn't talk for a bit and then uh got back together a few years back, and the rest was kind of history. It's uh it's special the bond we have and and the way we can communicate and do things because I'd rather do anything with her than than do anything at all. So it's um it's been really cool the family we've created, the life we've created. It's I wouldn't have it any other way.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

How does being a husband, a dad, how does that motivate you to be the best version of Brandon Hawkins?

SPEAKER_02 32:09

Uh it's it's one of those things that I know that I have people relying on me. So I have to another pressure situation, right? It's I have to be the best me I can be every day. It doesn't matter. It matters most at the house. But you know, and if I'm being the best version of me at the house, I know that when I go out, I'm gonna be the best version of me everywhere else. It doesn't, and I'm pretty good at compartmentalizing when I go on the ice, and I know that that's my job and stuff like that. But everything I do at home elevates me to another level as my wife elevates me to be a better person, as Rowan elevates me to be a better dad. It's you just have to take it as it goes and and try to be one percent better every day.

unknown 32:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:51

Well, Brandon, I do a lot of these interviews, and this has been one of the more moving ones and insightful and just fun. So thank you for coming on your day off and spending time and giving us a glimpse of who you are as a person. And just thank you for uh representing the Toledo walleye, the city of Toledo, and the game of hockey in such an exemplary and first class way. You're just a great dude.

SPEAKER_02 33:12

Well, I thank you. I appreciate you. There's a lot of people I can thank all the way for along the way for making me who I am, and I wouldn't be who I am today without them.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

Yeah. Well, come back and see us again. How about that? Uh the mayor, ladies and gentlemen, uh thank you and come back and see us again.