Brossoit takes Stanley Cup back to minor hockey home for celebration

CLOVERDALE -- Laurent Brossoit brought the Stanley Cup back to where he played minor hockey on Sunday to celebrate, sign autographs, pose for pictures and hopefully inspire the next generation of Cloverdale Colts to dream big and hopefully one day follow in his path to the NHL.

Hundreds of fans cheered as Brossoit arrived in the Stetson Bowl, a rodeo arena enclosed by grandstands on two sides and located a short distance from the ice rink he played at as a kid, with family, friends, his fiancé, Taryn, and the Stanley Cup all seated in a vintage 1920 LaFrance fire truck that was being towed on trailer by a classic 1981 International fire truck.

"This is overwhelming, a lot more people than I expected," Brossoit said. "I have a lot to be thankful for here in Cloverdale, a lot of great memories here, and I thought what better way to kick off my day with the Cup than to bring it back here to where it all began for me."

The 30-year-old goalie helped the Vegas Golden Knights win the Cup, going 5-2-0 before missing the final 15 games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after sustaining a groin injury in Game 3 of the Western Conference Second Round against the Edmonton Oilers. Vegas went on to win the Stanley Cup with Adin Hill in goal and Brossoit signed one-year, $1.75 million contract as a free agent with the Winnipeg Jets, the team he helped eliminate in the first round of the playoffs.

Not being in goal when Vegas clinched the Cup didn't diminish the celebration in Cloverdale, a suburban community of less than 70,000 people located 26 miles southeast of Vancouver.

Brossoit is the first player from Cloverdale minor hockey to win the Stanley Cup, and signed a Golden Knights jersey that will be enshrined at his old arena to commemorate the victory.

"It's an incredible honor. He's a pioneer in this community and in the association," said Adam Rossignol, who played with Brossoit from age 10 through 15 and is now on the executive of the Cloverdale Minor Hockey Association, helping to organize the ceremony. "To reach the ultimate goal, win the Stanley Cup and bring the Cup back home and have all the kids in the community be able to come out and get to meet him and see the Cup, it's pretty special."

Brossoit was born on Vancouver Island, but moved when he was a kid and played minor hockey in Cloverdale from 2003 to 2008, when he was selected in the 2008 WHL Bantam Draft by the Edmonton Oil Kings. Three years later, he was picked by the Calgary Flames in the sixth round (No. 164) of the 2011 NHL Draft, then traded to the Edmonton Oilers on Nov. 8, 2013.

Brossoit made his NHL debut with the Oilers late in the 2004-15 season and played 28 games with Edmonton over the next four seasons before signing in Winnipeg as a free agent. After three seasons with the Jets primarily backing up Connor Hellebuyck, Brossoit signed in Vegas in 2021 and spent the past two seasons with the Golden Knights, culminating in the Cup.

The significance of Brossoit's early years in Cloverdale are both personal and professional.

From a hockey perspective, Brossoit, who won the 2006 Pee Week AAA provincial championship with Cloverdale, talked about the importance of good competition from all over the area.

"I started playing hockey when I was 10 out here at the barn and I didn't make the A team right away and I worked my way up through Pee Wee and Bantam," Brossoit said. "Without that competition we're grateful to have out here, I wouldn't have been battle tested enough to make it to where I am, so we all have a lot to be grateful for out here in the Lower Mainland."

The personal ties to the area were readily evident when Brossoit introduced his fiancé and told the crowd they were getting married next month and noted that two of his groomsmen, who were also on hand, were former teammates from his minor hockey days in Cloverdale.

Also in attendance was Brossoit's billet dad and brother, Trent and Justin Evans, from his time in Edmonton, first as billets with the Oil Kings and then as a roommate while with the Oilers.

"It makes you so proud as a friend who saw him growing up and watched him signing his first autographs and thinking that was cool," Justin said. "And now seeing all these kids from his hometown, where it all started, coming out to see him and the Stanley Cup."

Brossoit hosted a private party in the evening at his offseason home in North Vancouver with family, friends, mentors and coaches, including his long-time agent, Ray Petkau of Alpha Sports, and trainer Adam Francilia. Also in attendance will be the Tacofino food truck, famous in Vancouver and with roots on Vancouver Island, not far from where Brossoit was born.

After that, Brossoit is taking one day off before making the four-hour drive east Tuesday to Kelowna for NET360, an annual week-long goalie camp hosted by Petkau and Francilia that also includes his brother-in-law Lynden Sammartino, who is a goaltending coach at the nearby University of British Columbia and on Vancouver Island for the WHL Victoria Royals.

"A low-key evening celebrating with close friends and then back to work," Sammartino said.