The Simple Equation of Dustin Brown
Published on January 11, 2016 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Guelph Storm News Release
Currently in his 12th NHL season, Dustin Brown has become one of the most respected leaders in the game, but the equation that got the former Guelph Storm forward there hasn't changed much since his days of major junior.
Steph Coratti, GuelphStorm.com ---
Summing up Los Angeles Kings' captain Dustin Brown is a seemingly easy task.
Overbearing humility, unmatched quiet leader, all standing on the foundation of subtle, but always respected character.
A pretty simple equation - an equation that was well formulated and more than noticeable even in the early teenaged years for the now two-time Stanley Cup Champion.
A native of Ithaca, New York, Brown came to the Royal City after being selected in the second round, 26th overall in the 2000 OHL Priority Selection. The Guelph Storm were just two years removed from the franchise's first league championship, and Brown was strategically put in place to help the team get right back there.
The right winger wasted no time filling the role and living up to - even, arguably, exceeding - expectations, with a 45-point rookie season as a 16-year-old, pocketing 23 goals and 22 assists through 53 games in the 2000-01 campaign.
To conclude the first season of his three-year OHL tenure, Brown was named the OHL's recipient of the Bobby Smith Trophy as the league's Scholastic Player of the Year. Brown would go on to earn the trophy every year of his major junior career, illustrating exactly who the 1984-born forward is off the ice.
"He was never loud or boisterous in my history of civics class," Joe Tersigni wrote previously in 2014 of his former student at Our Lady of Lourdes. "But he was an excellent student who was never afraid to defend his country in arguments over Canadian-American relations."
"Dustin was so focused on the importance of his education that he wantd to graduate from both his home high school in Ithaca and Our Lady of Lourdes in Guelph," Tersigni continued on. "He did it. Few Jr. A hockey players can claim a feat such as that."
Few major junior players can also claim they registered more than a point-per-game in a three-year career, something Brown's resume boasts well before becoming the appointed NHL star he is today.
Brown's rookie season would be the only campaign that saw the Storm forward tally less than a point-per-game, recording 73 points (41 goals, 32 assists) in 63 games as a sophomore, followed up with a career-high 76 points (34 goals, 42 assists) in 58 games as a veteran in the 2002-03 season.
Coming off leading the Storm roster and holding a 20th standing among league point-getters, the Los Angeles Kings would select their future captain in the first round, 13th overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.
From there, Brown graduated from a short, but more than impressive OHL career, earning a spot with the Kings the very next season, appearing in 31 games as a rookie.
Fast-forward 12 years later, and the former second round pick of the Guelph Storm is one of the most respected leaders in the sport, gaining the reputation with one very simple equation.
Overbearing humility, unmatched quiet leader, all standing on the foundation of subtle, but always respected character.
There are things to add to the equation now, however, with two Stanley Cup rings at the top of the list as Brown became only the second American captain to hoist the sport's most sought after prize, along with the Mark Messier Leadership Award in 2014, while remaining prominent in the Los Angeles community as a recipient of the NHL's Foundation Award in 2011.
Additionally, Brown made history as the youngest player to wear the 'C' in Kings' history while becoming the only American-born captain in team history during the 2008-09 campaign.
The equation has certainly grown, as has Dustin Brown, but the quiet and humble, barely a teenager, 16-year-old kid the Royal City once openly welcomed is still, by no question, at the very heart of it all.
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