University of Minnesota Athletics
Freshman Faceoff: Brent Gates Jr.
9/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
As we get closer and closer to the 2015-16 Gopher Hockey season, we continue our "Freshman Faceoff" series today with incoming forward Brent Gates Jr.
A native of Grand Rapids, Mich., Brent Gates Jr. comes to the University of Minnesota after spending the last two seasons in the USHL with the Green Bay Gamblers. The forward totaled 85 career games in the USHL, scoring 42 points (21 goals, 21 assists). Gates also helped the United States go undefeated at the 2013 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament in Slovakia as well as a bronze medal at the 2014 Ivan Hlinka Tournament in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Gates is a second-generation Gopher, following his father (also Brent Gates), who was the 1991 Big Ten Baseball Player of the Year and a First Team All-American.
First off, what was it about the University of Minnesota that made you want to play for Gopher Hockey?
It's a pretty elite organization. Obviously they're always competing for a national championships and Big Ten championships. They're known to produce a lot of pros and at the same time you can get a good education and be able to go to a Big Ten university and experience the college life.
You were drafted by the Anaheim Ducks this year. What was that experience like?
It was really cool. I wasn't at the draft, but I was with my family, and I saw my name on TV and the computer and it was pretty surreal. We kind of spent the day celebrating with my family and hung out with some friends that night back on campus here. Being drafted by a good organization and being drafted in general, it was always my dream and having it come true was pretty amazing.
Your dad had a lot of success here as a baseball player. How much influence did he have on your decision to come to Minnesota?
He didn't have a huge influence. He obviously gave me all the information I needed and helped tell me what it's like. He loved it here, so he told me that and he told me why he loved it, why it would be a good situation. But it's not like he pressured me or anything. He left it up to me. He supplied me with what I needed to know about the school and left the decision up to me.
You played baseball for your dad and won a pair of state championships. What was it like playing for him and having that kind of success?
It was awesome. I played baseball since I was little, and I was really into it actually. My dad was always my coach…just because of the knowledge he has, it wouldn't make sense to play for anyone else. He was always tough on me as a coach but at the same time, he wanted me to succeed. He never put me before the team, he was always a little bit harder on me than he was the other guys just because he knew I had potential. And it might have been a little uncomfortable for him, he didn't want to be the coach that favors his son. I loved playing for him, but at the same time we would butt heads at times just because we were so competitive and both pretty opinionated. Overall, winning the state championships with him was unbelievable, and I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anyone else.
Was there ever a thought to play baseball in college or even men's volleyball potentially? (Gates' mother played college volleyball at Arizona State)
I never played volleyball even though all my sisters played. Baseball, I think I went through a point when I was 12, 13, 14 when I thought about baseball, and my dad said you might want to look at it because you have potential to be able to play baseball at a high level. He said just take a look. I did think about it. I actually was looking at some different schools to maybe play baseball, but I never went on a visit for it. I always kind of knew hockey was the route I wanted to go.
How did you start playing hockey?
When my dad came here, he made friends with a lot of the hockey guys because it was the big sport. But just being in the state of Minnesota, it seemed like everything was hockey when he was here, so he was buddies with them. He had never actually played before, but he'd mess around on the ice with them. He ended up loving the sport, loved watching it. He watched the Red Wings a lot, and he decided to put me on skates when I was like two. We lived on a lake, and he'd dress me up in snowmobile gear and a snowmobile helmet and just skate around with me and pick me up when I fell. It just kind of went from there. I loved it and started playing organized hockey and here we are.
Talk about playing two seasons in Green Bay and playing in the USHL.
My rookie year I came in as a tender, so I just turned 16 that August. I was really young playing with 20 year olds. That was an adjustment. My first year we had a good time and had a lot of old veterans, so I played more of a role to get better and improve and learn from the older guys. But mainly get ready for this past year. My second year, I knew I was a leader. I played the second or third most games in the USHL. We had a younger group of guys. I felt that I needed to take the team and lead them if we were going have any chance, and unfortunately I went down early but I was having a good year up to that point. All the coaches that were there the two years I was there were incredible and helped me learn so much. Especially Pat Mikesch, who worked with me a lot on my offensive skills. Our strength coach, Jason Aldrich, was probably one of the biggest things that helped me. I feel like I went in there as a boy and came out as a man. Not many junior teams have the strength and conditioning aspect of development, but Green Bay is one of the places that does and he did an amazing job and we actually became very close.
You helped the U.S. Under-17 Select Team win the 2013 Five Nations Tournament. What was that like?
For Five Nations, being able to go out and wear the jersey, playing against other kids that didn't even speak the language, it was kind of a whole different experience because you're used to playing kids who are like you and speak the same language and eat the same food and live in the same part of the world. But going out there, it was totally different on and off the ice. It was really cool to experience that.
Off the ice, what are you interested in?
I like to play XBox. I like to golf, even though I'm not very good I enjoy it. I'd say probably video games. I really enjoy watching movies too. I like them all. But I like horror movies.
What are your favorite movies?
Annabelle, probably my favorite horror movie. We saw it as a team. It's not my favorite all time movie but it's probably my favorite horror movie. I'd have to say either 50 First Dates or possibly American Sniper are my favorite movies.
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