AS TOLD TO CARTER BROOKS
Photos by James Carey Lauder
Can’t Miss
Him in a
Crowd
I N T E RV I E W
BRETT
LERNOUT
HEIGHT / 6’ 4
WEIGHT / 215
AGE / 22
HE’S A GUY WHO STICKS OUT
in a crowd. At 6-foot-4 and
215 pounds, 22-year-old
Winnipeg-born defenseman
Brett Lernout is making his
presence felt with the Laval
Rocket of the American
Hockey League. After three
seasons in the Western
Hockey League, Lernout was
selected in the third round
(73rd overall) by the Montreal
Canadiens in the 2014 NHL
entry draft out of the Swift
Current Broncos.
Although he’s played only
three games in the National
Hockey League, he has made
a smooth transition to the
AHL and now plays for the
Canadiens’ top farm club, the
Laval Rocket.
Long, lean and bearded,
he’d make a great motorcycle
gang member, but the fact is,
Lernout is a tough, but easy
going member of the Rocket
who has long been one of
hockey’s top prospects. The
former Winnipeg Sharks
Bantam, Warriors City Midget
and Wild Provincial Midget
star, Lernout actually played
six games with the Steinbach
Pistons of the MJHL before
heading out to play for the
WHL’s Saskatoon Blades.
In late November, Lernout
made his first visit as a
professional hockey player to
Winnipeg’s Bell MTS Place,
and Game On Magazine’s
Associate Editor Carter
Brooks caught up to him to
talk all things hockey. From
Lernout’s favourite Manitoba
golf course, to thoughts on
his long-haired, bearded look,
Lernout covered all three
zones of the rink.
BORN / SEPT 24 1995
DEFENSE
SHOOTS RIGHT
DECEMB ER 2017 | GAME ON | 9 9