At the start of Hockey Canada’s pre-tournament camp for the 2025 World Championship, players were saying hi and introducing themselves.
Harrison Brunicke, a 2024 second-round pick of the Penguins invited to participate, was with a couple of the younger guys - who were starstruck by Sidney Crosby. The captain approached the defenseman, and “he's like, ‘what's up, brother?’ So, I was like, oh my God. Like, he knows me,” Brunicke said with a laugh.
Back in the fall, there were some people in the organization who didn’t know Brunicke “from a hole in the wall” at the start of training camp, as Penguins assistant coach David Quinn told him during a meeting. “But then obviously I had a good camp, and I really asserted myself, and they were happy,” Brunicke said.
It’s been quite the year for Brunicke since being selected 44th overall, the first South African-born skater drafted to the NHL. Before spending time in Europe with Team Canada, Brunicke made his professional debut with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League after another strong junior season with Kamloops of the Western Hockey League.
When Brunicke looks back, skating in four preseason games with Pittsburgh and coming close to being on the opening-night roster was the foundation for it all.
“Staying as long as I did last year, obviously it’s not making a team yet or anything. But I think I just kind of showed what I could do a little bit, and I think they kind of realized that as well,” the 19-year-old said. “So, that was just another little feather in the cap for me, just knowing how close I was, and how much harder I have to work this year to get to that level again.”
At 6-foot-2 and 196 pounds, Brunicke is a rangy defenseman who can skate and move the puck. The Penguins were thrilled to land a player with that unique combination of attributes, and Brunicke was equally excited to join such a franchise. “Right from the minute I got drafted, I obviously knew it's a world-class organization and I'm going to be treated well, things like that,” he said.
Brunicke stood out at the Prospects Challenge, saying he learned a lot about himself and that experience helped his game. But when it came to main camp, Brunicke had no idea what to expect. “Going right into it, you're on the ice with Crosby and (Evgeni) Malkin and those guys, so it was pretty intimidating,” he said with a laugh. “But once you kind of got used to it, I just felt better. I felt more confident.”
That showed in his play, with Brunicke joining the rush, showing poise with the puck, and seeming much older than his then-18 years. It earned plenty of admiration from his teammates, coaches and management, along with an extended stay.
“After you’re done at the rink, you come and just lay your bed in the hotel. So, each day, I was just like, ‘I'm still here, I’m still going.’ But there were a couple of times where I called my agent and was like, ‘Am I staying here? Am I going? Do you know anything?” Brunicke said. “It got to a point where I was kind of like, I don't know what I'm doing here [laughs], if I should go to the rink tomorrow or what.”
The Penguins ultimately decided that returning Brunicke to his junior team was best for his development. While it stung a bit at the time, Brunicke did return with a lot of confidence, perhaps a little too much.
“At times, I think you think about it too much, where you try to do too much and you're kind of getting away from your game or getting out of position,” he said.
A broken wrist that sidelined Brunicke for weeks and kept him from playing in the 2025 World Junior Championship was an unfortunate and challenging experience. But the silver lining is that it helped Brunicke with the mental side of the game, “just realizing things can happen, and you’ve got to kind of work around them.”
Brunicke returned to game action at the end of January and finished the year strong, leading all Blazers blueliners in goals (5), assists (25) and points (30) despite playing in just 41 games. He did a better job of letting the game come to him while still playing with assertiveness.
“Finding that balance really helped me. That’s when I started playing some of my best hockey again, and I thought that carried over to Wilkes,” Brunicke said.
He appeared in 10 regular-season games with WBS, debuting in Charlotte on March 29. Brunicke thought the adjustment to playing among bigger, stronger and faster skaters went well to start. But after a couple of contests, Brunicke felt like his defensive game was lacking. Talking with Penguins assistant GM Jason Spezza helped Brunicke refocus.
“He just kind of let me know what they want to see and stuff,” Brunicke said. “The next game we played was Hershey, and I thought I played exactly how he wanted me to play. So, I thought from there, I really understood what they're expecting out of me at the pro level. So, carried that on into playoffs. I thought I played well in playoffs. It was sad that we kind of ended that early.”
WBS fell to Lehigh Valley in the first game of a best-of-three series. In Game 2 on the road, Brunicke scored his first professional goal to give WBS a 2-1 lead in the third period.
“It was crazy. I mean, even just playing in that rink at that moment, it was so loud,” Brunicke said. “That whole experience, that whole play kind of developing, joining the rush, finding a loose play... then just kind of watching the puck going the whole way was pretty cool. I turned to celebrate, and I saw Owen (Pickering) there, and he was like, screaming [laughs]. It was awesome.”
