It’s probably a big reason why Wisconsin freshman forward Brendan Woods’ father, Washington Capitals assistant coach Bob Woods, gave his son a funny look when he said he wanted to be a baseball player during a dual interview when Brendan was younger.
Brendan has certainly found his way though, despite his momentary dream of being a baseball player, realizing the potential he possessed in hockey and taking advantage of the benefits of having such strong hockey roots.
“It comes natural,” Woods said. “You are around it all the time, and it kind of sets you one step ahead of everyone else. You know what to expect.”
Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves added that while final determinations during the recruitment of a player come down to individual traits on and off the ice, coming from a solid hockey environment certainly doesn’t hurt a player’s chances.
Woods chose to come to Wisconsin and play for Eaves after being courted by other national hockey powers such as Minnesota, North Dakota and Colorado College, with hopes of winning an NCAA Championship and receiving the necessary preparation to continue to the NHL.
“What Coach Eaves has done with guys in the past, he’s been there, he knows what it takes [to play in the NHL], so it’s just putting myself in his hands, knowing that I am in the right place, and I know if I give him all I got, he’s going to get me somewhere, and that’s what I am looking forward to,” Woods said.
But for a brief moment, it looked like which college Woods decided to play for had little relevance. In his 2009-10 USHL rookie season playing for the Chicago Steel, Woods suffered a terrible injury. He broke his femur and dislocated his knee on a leg-on-leg collision while in possession of the puck.
“It’s always in the back of my mind,” Woods said. “I wish it didn’t happen; I wonder where I would be strength-wise and even hockey-wise. [At the time] I was uncommitted, but I was having colleges call me, which was a great thing for me to have, because me sitting on the couch wasn’t the greatest thing for me to be doing. Having them call me and letting me know they cared and still had faith and potential and all, that was a good thing.”
While many people played critical roles in his recovery and maintenance of a positive attitude, it was Brendan’s father who really helped push him through.
“He has always been there for me,” Woods said. “I had that traumatic injury with my knee, and we kind of put hockey aside there. I was wondering what I’m going to do, but he was a dad. He was there for me, he was there to encourage me and give me the positives out of it.”
The injury still had an impact, keeping Woods from being drafted in 2010 despite being ranked as the No. 83 skater in North America by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau. He then dropped to No. 147 in 2011 and was bypassed once more.
“The year of my draft year it hurt, but if you look at the positives of not being drafted I could have all teams wanting me,” Woods said. “The hockey world is crazy sometimes. You are going to run into things that are going to tear you to pieces inside, but you have to dig deep and find out what it’s going to take.”
Now that he is back on the ice and contributing nicely for the Badgers, Woods has four points on the season and Eaves sees encouraging signs of the type of player he can envision Woods becoming.
Matching his skills with his physical stature increases the value of Woods to the Badgers even more. Eaves cites Woods’ 6-foot-3 frame and ability to move up and down the ice with good speed as key reasons why he still has what it takes to be an NHL player.
“He is just hard to play against. In the corner he can protect pucks,” Eaves said. “The power play goal that we scored up in St. Cloud, he was a direct result of being in front, being a big body that was hacking and whacking at it, so his presence on the ice can be felt in many ways.”
If Woods is fortunate enough to be drafted into the NHL and play at the next level, would Brendan want to grow his family hockey roots even deeper by playing for his dad and the Capitals?
“Of course not,” Woods says. “I just want to play against him. I don’t think I could handle him screaming at me. He would probably be the hardest. If you ask any kid that plays for their parent, mom or dad, they are always going to be hardest on you, so you would rather play against them and beat them and be able to smile at them across the ice, just letting him know you got the better side of him.”
