© MGOBLUE Ice Hockey - 2007
On his roommate ... "Scooter Vaughan is my roommate. We didn't know each other before we got to school. I heard he was a great guy so I was excited to meet him. We're kind of different, but I am much more ‘chill.’ He has to be doing something all the time. But he is a great guy and I love rooming with him. We have the Michigan and California differences. But he played hockey a little bit here growing up, so he knows Michigan."
On living on campus ... "I'm trying to find out where everything is. I have classes on the opposite sides of campus, so I'm always walking everywhere. All of my classes are good. I have sport management classes and geology, but I still don't know where anything is. All of the freshmen on the team are in West Quad (dorms) together. So it's nice to have 12 guys that you can go places together with. There are always four or fives of us walking to class together."
On when he started playing hockey, plus what other sports he played ... "I started playing hockey when I was five and I played forward for a while. I played forward for three years. My dad was a forward when he played in juniors so he got me into that. I lived on a lake so we played lake hockey a lot. You sort of had to be forward. I played lacrosse a lot for about seven or eight years until I left home to go play hockey. I wish I could have kept playing lacrosse, but it wasn't too bad to give it up even though I love the sport."
On when he decided to be a goalie ... "This is actually a weird story. My dad knows Ed Belfour really well. (My dad) knew Belfour when he was in the IHL through a friend that built race cars. Belfour came down to this friend's shop. (Belfour) was playing in the IHL (Saginaw Hawks) at the time. My dad’s friend called my dad to come down and meet Belfour. Ever since then for some reason they always clicked and became friends. They’ve kept in touch. He’d come over to the house when he was with Chicago and they were playing Detroit. We’re pretty close. I trained with him for about a week with Ilya Bryzgalov, Evgeni Nabokov and Vladislav Tretiak. That was an eye-opener when I did that for a week. It was something else. Going back to how I started to play goal, it was partly because of (Belfour). I remember my dad telling me that I found a video in a video store on how to play goalie. He said I got all my goalie equipment on and started watching it. Ever since then I’ve played goalie. I think I must have been about seven. I don’t know why I’m a goalie. I guess Belfour and that video kind of sparked it. It was weird."
On if his parents were okay with his move to goalie ... "It’s expensive, but my dad always says we needed a goalie in a family of shooters. My brother played hockey and he always needed a goalie."
On if he comes from a hockey family ... "Yeah, my dad played hockey for the Detroit Junior Red Wings in the OHL. He played juniors a lot, but he really didn't do much with hockey though. He was a big lacrosse player. I’ve kind of followed in his footsteps."
On when he became serious about hockey ... "I was kind of a late bloomer. It started getting really serious in high school. Before I was kind of a nobody. I just kind of came out of nowhere after my first year of juniors. I kind of surprised everybody. I transferred over to Detroit Catholic Central my freshman year so I could be eligible. I played my whole sophomore year and we won the state championship. After that I went to Lincoln to go play juniors. It was cool to win the championship with Catholic Central because at the time I wasn’t that big on the map. That really helped me. It was a lot of fun. I’ve talked to Brandon Naurato (also a Catholic Central alumnus) about that a little bit, but it was different a little bit when we won it my year. It was a different era when (Naurato) played – they had great teams."
On playing in the USHL ... "I was playing at Catholic Central and then I got drafted into the USHL and I thought that was cool, so I went to the tryout and I played pretty well. I was pretty solid, but nothing special or anything. They ended up taking me. Going into my first year with Lincoln I was 16 and it was my first time away from home so I had to talk to my parents about that. The Stars had an older goalie, Steve Jakiel who played at U-M last year, and I ended up getting some playing time. I was only expecting about 15 games at the start. Then eventually I got a bunch of games and they ended up trading Jakiel away halfway through the year. That’s when I started to play a lot."
On if U-M was always his first choice for college ... "I honestly didn’t expect Michigan to be on the radar at all. When I heard that, I was really shocked. I had been talking to some other schools but nothing big. Eventually, I started talking to Michigan during the second half of my first season in juniors. When summer came I started talking a lot about what was going to happen, but I definitely wanted to go to Michigan. I always saw all the fans when I was growing up and watching them on TV. I was like, 'Wow. I want to play there."
On his thoughts about competing for playing time at U-M ... "I like it. I like the competition. I'm going to do whatever I can. I am very competitive and I like to work my way up. The other goalies and I are getting along very well."
On his previous experiences at Yost ... "I have quite a few actually. For some reason most of the games are against Notre Dame. I don’t know why. Every year I would come and see both of them. I've seen a lot of Michigan. I went to the Cold War game against Michigan State in 2001 and that was awesome. I just remember sitting up there wishing I could play here."
On his strengths and style as a goalie ... "I really like the battle. I like loose pucks and rebounds. Another thing I do is come out further from the goal to cut down on angles. A lot of people are surprised that I come out really far, but it just gives me a little bit of extra advantage. Then also I love to play the puck. I like a hybrid style where you use butterfly and you also use half-splits and a combination of other things. I like to be athletic and then be technically sound. It’s something I hope shooters can’t find a pattern to."
On his favorite player ... "Every time someone asks me that I always think of Darcy Tucker. I don’t know why. I know he's a forward, but he's a tough guy and I like the way he plays. He's a little scrapper. I also like Belfour. I do like forwards though. I guess I’m a closet forward."
On why he is wearing number 35 ... "There is not really any significance. 42 is my real number, but no one has ever gone up that high here at Michigan. 35 and 36 have great traditions behind those numbers here so hopefully I can step it up and play up to that level."
Bryan played in the Frozen Four, coming in for Billy Sauer after the 1st period when U of M was down 3-0 to Notre Dame. U of M couldn't hold off ND in overtime and lost 5-4.
Keep your head up kid, you have a long hockey career ahead of you!
To learn more about Bandits Goalie School, go to: Bandits Goalie Camp - Learn to Rob the Shooters Blind!
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