Faber Stays True to Self in Leading Gophers
Ameer Eldomiatti and Scott Slarks
1/4/2023
Brock Faber is finding himself in a new role as captain of the Minnesota men's hockey team, but if you ask him, he will tell you nothing has changed.
"I'm kind of the same me," Faber explained. "I haven't done anything different since I was named captain. I just try to be a good teammate and try to play the best I can for my teammates."
It had been Faber's dream for as long as he could remember to be able to play for the Gophers and to have such an important role for the team. The reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Faber has helped the Gophers start the season with a 15-5 overall record and a 10-2 mark within Big Ten play. The product of Maple Grove, Minn., however, believes that although he has the letter "C" on his jersey, there are so many strong leaders other than himself to help the Gophers march towards success.
"Obviously you are leading a group of men that are on the same wavelength as you and I've said this a few times, but we have so many leaders on this team," Faber said. "I wear a 'C' and that is what it is, but there's plenty of guys who are deserving of a letter, and we have a ton of guys who have a big say within our team."
The junior explained that although he feels nothing has changed and that he is the same person he always has been, he provided what innate traits he has had since childhood. Those have led him to where he currently stands, as a respected captain and leader of the top-ranked team in the nation.
"I really do think that my upbringing and how I was raised have impacted my leadership," he mentioned. "How my coaches were growing up, it was always to be hard-working, unselfish, kind, humble; those were all things that were taught whether I was a great hockey player or if I never put skates on in my life."
Faber also believes that his experiences playing with Team USA have helped mold him as a leader with the Gophers. He represented the Red, White and Blue in the 2022 Beijing Olympics and served as captain for Team USA in last August's IIHF World Junior Championship.
"I'd say that playing on those big stages with new teammates, new people, new coaching staffs and trying to find a way to continue to be myself through all that, has helped shape me into who I am," Faber added.
Faber also has been able to find himself comfortable leading Minnesota among a group of other strong leaders because he feels that everyone is invested in each other and wants each other to succeed. He knows that what he says will be received by the other players in the room.
"Any successful team needs to have strong relationships," Faber said. "I try to be as loving and caring to every guy on the team and I feel like that trickles down. They know that our new guys feel loved and appreciated and then they start sharing that love too. It just comes down to relationships and how much we care about each other as brothers."
The defenseman expressed how fortunate he was to have great older players to help him develop and improve as a player when he arrived on campus, namely Ben Meyers and Sammy Walker. Faber expressed that he learned lessons of how to approach leadership from them and he feels it's important to pass it down to the younger players, so that everyone on the team feels empowered to speak up and contribute.
"Obviously it doesn't even feel like there are freshman or seniors; it all feels like one team, which is how it's supposed to be."
As the Gophers continue to keep their pace and push for a second-consecutive Big Ten men's hockey crown, Faber believes that the strong cohesion amongst the group is contributing to their impressive play.
"We're getting there; we're not perfect," he said. "We're growing so we are just trying to find ways to take that next step, but that will all come."
With a comfortable and firm leader in Faber, the Maroon and Gold look very capable to continue the success and can take what he has imparted on them to keep the program moving forward for the rest of this season and in upcoming years.
"We're all fighting for one thing and that's to bring home a gold medal for this country."@Brockfaber14 is ready to lead his team at #WorldJuniors@usahockey | @jonmorosi pic.twitter.com/PUG7E97F4T
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) August 10, 2022
