PROFILE
TYLER
BRENNAN
SIZE
MATTERS
B Y S C O T T TAY L O R
Photos by Bruce Fedyck
9 0 | G AME O N | D EC EM BER 2017
TYLER BRENNAN is a great
young goaltender, but he’s
still just a kid. And because
he’s a kid, he’ll do dumb
things from time-to-time.
If you ask him his most
embarrassing moment as a
hockey player, he doesn’t have
to tax his memory much.
“It was just a couple of
weekends ago,” he said,
laughing. “I stepped on the ice
in Victoria with no blades in
(my skates) and just wiped out
on the ice. I pulled the blades
out to put my other blades in
and I never put them back in.
And I went out, stepped on
my skates and just fell. It was
pretty embarrassing. I had to go
back in and put the blades in.”
RHA Nationals Elite Bantam
Head Coach Brad Purdie learned
last year that you have to cut
these guys some slack. They’re
kids, they’ll surprise you.
But when it comes to Tyler
Brennan standing between the
pipes, Purdie’s only sur prise is
how much better he gets in the
RHA program every single day.
Of course, he’s only 14-years-
old but he’s already 6-foot-3 and
he has a lot of tools in the box.
“Tyler is a really good
kid, somebody that made us
very excited when the family
made the decision to join our
program” Purdie said. “He’s got
the one thing you can’t teach
and that’s size. He’s a big goalie
and I think for players at this
age, and I would assume going
forward, when a shooter looks
up and sees a big goalie and
there is not a lot to shoot at, it
plays with your mind. Players
then start trying to pick
spots instead of just shooting
the puck and there really
isn’t a lot to shoot at. That
really plays into the goalie’s
advantage and he learns
even more how to use his
body and his size and doesn’t
give away a lot of the net.
“He’s been working a lot
with Marty (former WHL
goalie Brett Martyniuk)
and he’s getting better and
he gives us a chance to win
every time he goes in the net.
That’s all you can ask from
a goalie. Both of our goalies
have been really good for us
(Brennan and Jaxson Taupert