A family affair: Fantilli, Brindley stay teammates with Blue Jackets

Across Bridgestone Arena on Thursday morning, Adam Fantilli and Gavin Brindley locked eyes and hoped for the best.

Wednesday night, the Blue Jackets had made Fantilli their top pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, and with the team on the board with the second pick in Thursday's second round, the hope among the two University of Michigan teammates was that they'd soon be reunited in Columbus as well.

"He was staring across to me and they were picking, and he was like, fingers crossed," Brindley said.

By now, if you're a Blue Jackets fan, you know what happened next. Columbus did in fact use that second-round selection on Brindley, ensuring the two "best friends," in Fantilli's words, wouldn't be separated at the NHL level. The two scoring standouts -- one No. 3 overall in the draft, the other No. 34 -- suddenly had their desired outcome.

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"I said a prayer there," Fantilli said. "I was crossing my fingers. We made eye contact before that pick. When I saw him, I started crying a little bit. I was so excited that we were going to be in the same spot. It was amazing."

Moments after the pick, the two were embracing in a massive hug on the draft floor, then once Brindley's media responsibilities were over, the players and their families headed to the Blue Jackets' suite in the Nashville arena to reconnect.

At an occasion that meant so much to everyone, the fact the two will be able to continue their journey together in the pros made it a week they'll never forget.

"For sure," said Ryan Brindley, Gavin's father. "Obviously they play well together. They're good buddies off the ice. You have to have good chemistry as a team to be successful on the ice. They're just really good human beings and good teammates. They fit the culture well, and hopefully they can help Columbus."

Hockey Families

It would be easy to think that the Fantillis and Brindleys first met at Michigan, but hockey is a small world.

Ryan Brindley had a nine-year professional playing career that ended with Florida of the ECHL, then he went into youth coaching, including for the Florida squad featuring Gavin that went to the famed Quebec International Pee-Wee Tournament in 2017.

With a father in the game, Gavin quickly took to the sport as a youngster and was a high-level player growing up in South Florida. Fantilli, meanwhile, was born and raised in Nobleton, Ontario, at the northern edge of the Greater Toronto Area, a place where it's much easier to get into the sport but perhaps harder to stand out.

The two also have their size differences -- Fantilli looks like a prototypical power forward at 6-2, while the 5-8 Brindley has to make do as a smaller player -- but nonetheless they found themselves often seeing one another on the youth hockey circuit.

Most notably, both represented their home countries in 2020 at the Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland, in a tournament that also featured 2022 CBJ first-rounder Denton Mateychuk and 2023 top-10 picks Matvei MIchkov and Nate Danielson.

"With youth hockey and everything, they were always top players of their age groups, so we'd play them all the time," Ryan said. "They played them in some international tournaments when they were younger and overseas and all over the spring tournaments and whatnot. We got to know (the Fantilli family). They're great people."

That continued on to Michigan, where the two came in as part of a large freshman class this past season and made an instant impact. Even after the losses of top-five picks Owen Power, Matty Beniers and Kent Johnson to the NHL, the Wolverines returned to the Frozen Four thanks to such players as Fantilli and Brindley stepping up.

Fantilli led the nation in goals (30) and points (65) and became the third freshman ever to win the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in college hockey, while Brindley's 12-26-38 line in 41 games placed him fifth on the Wolverines in scoring and 10th among freshmen in the NCAA.

Linemates at Michigan as the season went on, they also became close as time passed as well.

"He's probably my best friend on the team," Fantilli said. "Everywhere we go, we have so much fun together. We spend almost every single day together at school. On the ice, you guys see how smart he is, how hard he works and how much of a dawg he is. I am so happy we are still going to be teammates."

Michigan Men

The irony, of course, is that the two Wolverines are just the latest to trade the maize and blue of Michigan for union blue.

The next step of irony, then, is that Brindley's mother, Rochelle, actually grew up in Ohio. A native of Coshocton, about 90 minutes northeast of Columbus, Rochelle and her family even supported Ohio State for most of their lives.

"They're big Ohio State fans," Gavin said with a laugh. "Don't repeat that. It didn't come from me."

When told her son said she is an Ohio State fan, Rochelle had a quick reply.

"Was," she said with a laugh. "He grew up an Ohio State fan. Now my family is really having a time."

All jokes aside, it's a family affair for the Brindleys in the Buckeye State. Gavin said he still has family not just in Coshocton but in the Columbus area, and his parents met as students at Miami (Ohio) when Ryan was a member of the hockey team. The beginning of his pro career was largely a tour of southwest Ohio, with stops in Cincinnati with the Mighty Ducks of the AHL and the Cyclones of the ECHL, plus time with Dayton of the ECHL.

"Being drafted to a place like Columbus, I have a ton of family in Ohio and I can't wait to get there," Gavin said. "I get to play in Columbus and Ohio and in front of my family and a lot of friends that are there too. It will be fun. Obviously, I would have loved to go in the first round, but I'm way more happy now that I'm in Columbus than going somewhere else. So it's pretty exciting."

Fantilli had a similar reaction as well. While he doesn't have the same ties to the Buckeye State as Brindley, he said before the draft that he could see Columbus becoming home. A big part of that is the Michigan contingent already with the Blue Jackets, including first-round draft picks Kent Johnson (2021) and Zach Werenski (2015) as well as former Michigan captain Nick Blankenburg.

"This is where I thought would be the best fit," Fantilli said. "It's an amazing town. All the fans there seem to be amazing, so I'm super excited to get started."