Story by: Dante De Caria
Ottawa West Golden Knights assistant captain Lucas Brown is 20-years-old and is in his final year of junior hockey.
The Carp, Ontario native was acquired along with defenseman Andrew MacKinnon from the Arnprior Packers in November of 2017. At the time of the trade, Brown was expected to jump into a top six scorer’s role after playing as top nine two-way forward during his time with the Packers.
Before the start of the 2018-19 season, Sundin told Brown that he would receive an “A” on his jersey and that he would be the teams first line center. A role that he took very seriously in the off-season.
“I worked on everything, all-around,” said Brown on his off-season workouts. “I worked on lower body, upper body and just trying to get bigger and stronger for the season. I really just want to have the best season I could ever have.”
“Me and a couple of other guys (Daniel Stratis and Andrew MacKinnon) are going to be leading the lead team and he (Steve Sundin) wants us to help some of the younger guys and give them as much feedback as we got when we were rookies.”
Brown mentioned that it’s exciting to know that he has a letter on his jersey but says that he needs to communicate with the younger guys as much as he can.
“I need to give them as much feedback as I used to get and just make sure I can help them as much as I can.”
Over two seasons between Arnprior and Ottawa West, Lucas Brown scored 36 points (12 G / 24 A) in 90 games. Now that he is in his graduating year, Brown expressed that he wants to produce more, offensively. He said that coming to the rink knowing that you’re on the first line has given him more confidence.
“I feels good. I don’t stress about anything and just try to play my own game. I just want to have an all-around good game and help this team get wins.”
Before becoming a leader on the Ottawa West Golden Knights, Brown learned a lot from some of the veterans on the Packers in the 2016-17 season.
“They just told me to work hard and take it seriously because it’s a big jump from minor hockey to junior. Just focus and play as hard as you can.”
The veterans that Brown pointed out were Matthew Labrosse who won the MVP and Daniel Monk. He said they were the two leaders that helped the Packers to a second place, 33-12 record.
“It was a great season,” said Brown. “We had great vet’s and they helped me have a great experience and become a better hockey player.”
Outside of the rink, Lucas Brown is in his first year of Business Marketing at Algonquin College after taking two years off school just to focus on work and hockey.
“I started working at Play it Again Sports a couple of years ago and last year I started working at CED which is good because I get to practice shooting on goalies.”
One of the reasons why Brown started working in Hockey stores is because he loves hockey, saying that he just wants to do anything that’s around the game.
With a much shortened CCHL Tier 2 season, Lucas Brown will have more time to balance his school, work and hockey schedule.
Full Interview below:
