Minutes after inking a new four-year contract with the Maple Leafs, veteran defenceman TJ Brodie was asked to reflect on an event that took place 18 years earlier. In front of a packed house at the Air Canada Centre (now Scotiabank Arena), an 11-year-old Brodie went a perfect 4-for-4 in the accuracy shooting contest at the Leafs annual Skills Competition. The Leafs leapt over the bench, rushing to congratulate the young defenceman from Dresden.
"That whole situation was sort of a dream," Brodie said in his first availability after signing, thinking back on the event. "It was definitely cool to be that close to the players, and guys you see on TV at that age."
Brodie's Blue & White Debut
"To have it come full circle is sort of surreal," he said.
How did it all come together? Here's the inside scoop of what led to a young TJ Brodie skating on the Leafs ice that day.
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It was 2002, and the Maple Leafs ambitious Skills First Challenge had rolled out across the province. Every boys and girls minor hockey team was invited to test their players using the systems developed for this innovative program. The top three skaters and the top goalie from each team then qualified to move into the second stage testing phase, conducted by the Maple Leafs' minor hockey development team.
These tests were conducted in OHL rinks all across Ontario and one of them happened to take place in the home arena of the Sarnia Sting, not far from the town of Dresden, home of the Junior Kings and newest Maple Leaf defenceman TJ Brodie.
The testing took place over two days, but it almost didn't happen. As can often be the case in southwestern Ontario, the weather was terrible that weekend, as a massive snow storm swept through the area, almost preventing the Leafs team from making the journey. But they forged on, and after the weekend ended, TJ was chosen as one of Ontario's top players. 100 minor hockey players (50 boys, 50 girls) were invited to stage three of the Skills First Challenge, held in the early morning of January 29th, 2002 at the home of the Leafs, and TJ was among them.
The young players from across the province hit the ice at 7:00. They needed to move quick, because later that day 18,000 fans would be arriving for the Maple Leafs Annual Skills Competition. Annd it wasn't just the Leafs players that would be competing, the top four boys and the top four girls would earn their places as a part of either Team White or Team Blue, competing right alongside their Leafs heroes.
Logan Couture had earned a spot the year before, while Dougie Hamilton and Max Domi were also given the nod, during subsequent seasons of the program's seven year existence. The most accurate shooter amongst the boys in 2002 was the young TJ Brodie, who was given a home sweater and asked to join Team White, led that year by captain Mats Sundin. TJ's first shot at immortality was just a couple of hours away.
The 2001-2002 season marked the debut of Leafs TV (now Leafs Nation Network), a 24-hour network dedicated to the Blue & White. This was to be the first time the Skills Competition would be broadcast live for fans at home to enjoy and watch as 11 year old TJ Brodie skated into position. He hit the fist target, hit the second one too, then the third, and finally the fourth!
Many a Leaf player had shattered all four targets in the team's Skills Competition, but none before TJ (or after for that matter), had managed to strike all four with just four shots. Tomas Kaberle did go 4 for 4 at the 2008 NHL All Star Game in Atlanta, obviously inspired by TJ's performance six years earlier.
Team White poured off the bench and swarmed Leafs Nation's newest hero as Paul Hendrick conducted his on-ice interview telling TJ, "Word from Pat Quinn, they've just offered you a contract, would you consider signing?"
TJ took a second, then replied: "Yeah, probably."
Now eighteen years later, he put pen to paper. Welcome home TJ.
