Last summer, University of Minnesota men’s hockey coach Bob Motzko was in the Gophers locker room, checking out computer renderings of a darker, anthracite-colored jersey the program is designing for the future, when team captain Brock Faber happened to walk by.
“What are you doing?” the junior defenseman asked.
“Oh, we’re designing a darker jersey and here are a couple renderings,” Motzko answered.
“That would be awesome,” Faber said, excitedly. “I used to do this as a kid. I used to make so many Gophers jerseys.”
Faber may have been a star athlete his whole life. He played hockey, football, baseball, lacrosse and soccer before turning his attention solely to hockey, where he’s won gold for the U.S. at world juniors, represented his country at the Olympics and this week will try to help the Gophers win their first national championship since they won back-to-back ones in 2002 (the year Faber was born) and 2003. He’s as competitive as it gets playing cornhole and is a mean darts player — although not as fiery about the latter as his dad, Jay.
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But apparently, Faber was also something of an artist as a kid.
If there was paper and crayons or markers around, he’d grab them and almost unconsciously start drawing Wild, Gophers and USA Hockey logos and designing different jerseys. His mom, Karri, still has many of the pictures stuffed in drawers.
This is why after the initial shock of last June’s trade from the Kings to his hometown Wild, Faber realized how much of a dream come true this could be.
Flip through any photo album in the Fabers’ home, and you’ll find pictures of Brock wearing Wild or Gophers attire as he cheers on his favorite teams.
Heck, even last season, while he was still part of the Kings organization as a 2020 second-round pick, Faber couldn’t help jumping out of his seat when Kirill Kaprizov beat then-Senators goalie Filip Gustavsson with an overtime shot in November. And last April, when Faber and Gophers teammates Jackson LaCombe, Carl Fish and Mike Koster attended an Avalanche-Wild game to support former Gophers captain Ben Meyers in his first visit to his home-state rink as an opponent, Faber, wearing a gold MINNESOTA sweatshirt, leaped again and banged on the glass as Kaprizov celebrated his franchise-record 47th goal right in front of them.
“The Wild have always been my team,” Faber says.
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By early next week, they are expected to officially become his team when the 20-year-old signs his first pro contract.
Signing with the Wild has been the last thing on Faber’s mind, though, especially since arriving in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday ahead of Thursday’s Frozen Four matchup against Boston University with a shot to play in Saturday’s national championship game against Michigan or Qunnipiac.
“He has his eye on the ball because there’s no other ball,” Jay Faber says.
“He’s 100 percent focused,” Karri says. “Brock’s whole life, he’s had milestones. National championship in college is one of them.”
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“For the Gophers!” Jay interjects with a hearty laugh, a reference to his son initially committing to Notre Dame as a 14-year-old. “He strayed a little bit, but when he came back, it was, ‘I’ve always been a Gopher and I have one goal in mind.'”
This is why the Gophers named Faber captain.
“Brock is our leader and he’s put his heart and soul into this team,” Motzko says. “And, of course, he’s got a bright future waiting for him, but not one ounce of him has thought about that. He’s got both feet in, and that’s what makes him a leader. He’s had a terrific season for us.”
Faber has indeed, with a career-high 25 points in 36 games, a plus-27 rating and his second straight Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honor and third All-Big Ten. Along with one of the most dynamic lines in school history — Matthew Knies, Logan Cooley and Jimmy Snuggerud — he’s helped the top-seeded Gophers cruise through the NCAA Tournament so far, with 9-2 and 4-1 wins over Canisius and St. Cloud State.
“It’s definitely a special team,” Faber says. “We have a boatload of talent on our team and another thing is just top to bottom we have a lot of great people on this team and a great coaching staff and it’s definitely been a special ride. We’d really love to top it off with a championship.
“We’re looking forward to hopefully something special before I think about what’s next.”
Watch Faber play for the U, and you’ll see as steady a defenseman as there’s been for a program that has graduated years of defensemen to the NHL. He’s an effortless skater and uses his quick feet and a great stick to defend and get the puck north quickly.
And, again, he’s as competitive as players get.
Where does he get that quality?
Jay points to his wife.
Karri brushes that off: “Both of us.”
“Seriously though,” Jay says. “There’s a million dads that are over-the-top competitive. If Mom’s competitive, it’s a guaranteed deal.”
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Jay played every sport as a kid, switching from basketball to hockey when he was 13. But football was his sport. He went to Bloomington Jefferson and played two years of college football. Karri played soccer and ran track at rival Bloomington Kennedy.
Jay coached his son in every sport except soccer, something he left to Karri. Mom says Brock’s best sport was football, as a running back, “But he loved hockey.”
“He wanted to go to the (U.S. National Team Development Program),” Jay says. “Different seasons, he loved competing in different sports. Football was so intense, and he loved that intensity.”
But Faber knew hockey could be his ticket, so he took it seriously. He grew up with two sisters and watched his parents work hard for his living.
Karri works at Tradition Companies and Jay buys and sells lab equipment.
“We’re boring, 9-to-5, middle-class employees,” Karri says.
Payton, Faber’s 24-year-old sister, played soccer at a high level and is the brains of the family.
“Well, her and my mom,” Faber says, laughing.
Payton graduated from Minnesota in 3 ½ years and now works in advertising in Chicago.
And Faber’s 23-year-old sister, Paige, may be the best hockey player in the family. She was born with a cognitive disability and plays for Minnesota Special Hockey, which is sponsored by the Wild.
“She is ultra-competitive and ultra-skilled, but the stuff Brock was given, she wasn’t,” Jay says. “If she would have been given both, she would have been …”
“Oh my God — a star,” Karri finishes.
Jay built a rink in their backyard, and Brock and Paige used to play hockey with each other after school. And Jay used to put Brock and Paige against each other in everything they played.
“I’d say, ‘Try to beat your sister in a race,'” Jay says. “Early on, he couldn’t because she was lightning quick.”
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Brock and Paige’s love of sports and especially hockey is what bonds them. They go to each other’s games and Brock enjoys hanging out with his sister’s friends. Paige feels he’s someone who will always talk and listen to her.
“Paige is the best. She’s the light of my life,” Faber says. “She’s been the best sister I could have asked for. She’s special needs yet teaches me things every day. She loves hockey and is very gifted at it. She’s been to just about every one of my games since I can remember. She’s always got a smile on her face. And I’ve learned so much from her, especially just being grateful for this life I’m able to live. It just gives you a true perspective on life.”
Soon, Paige will get to see him don a Wild sweater like she does for Minnesota Special Hockey.
“That’s no different in her head,” Karri says. “She wears a Wild jersey, so she thinks that Brock just signed up to play for the Wild in the future.”
It might never have happened had Faber signed with Los Angeles after his sophomore year. As big of a Wild fan as he is and was, he was all-in on the Kings. But he had unfinished business on the Gophers’ campus after advancing to last year’s Frozen Four.
“He made the decision to come back all on his own,” Motzko says. “I didn’t even have a meeting with him. He came in and knocked on my door and said, ‘I’m coming back.’ And, of course, I stood up and hugged him.”
Faber’s parents say Kings general manager Rob Blake and his staff treated Faber like gold, and Faber was initially devastated last June when he learned he was dealt to the Wild along with a first-round pick for Kevin Fiala.
He was writing an essay for his computer ethics class and put his phone across the room so he wouldn’t be distracted. He kept hearing it buzz and finally got up to make sure nothing was wrong. The missed calls were from Blake. He called back and learned of the trade.
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Faber quickly called his dad, who was shopping at Home Depot. Then his mom.
“He was hurt,” Karri recalls. “He asked, ‘What did I do wrong? Why don’t they want me?'”
“He didn’t know the business part of it,” Jay says. “I actually called Motzko and said, ‘I’m worried about Brock because he thinks the Kings didn’t want him.’ He said, ‘No, no, here’s how much (the Wild) wanted him.”
“It took an hour to sink in, and then once (Wild GM Bill) Guerin called him, then he was over the moon,” Karri says.
The Wild have largely left Faber alone this year. They didn’t want to distract him. But Faber and Guerin have had a few talks.
“He is always upbeat, energetic, laughing,” Faber says. “When you think of talking to a GM, you think it would be a lot different — a lot more formal. But he’s been awesome. The few times I have talked to him, it’s been lots of funny conversations.”
When Faber played for the U.S. NTDP, he admits there were times he was homesick. That’s another reason he’s excited that he’ll go from playing for his hometown Gophers to his hometown Wild. He doesn’t have to move.
“I’ve always been a homebody,” he says. “I love it here in Minnesota.”
Even without having to move, though, his life is about to change dramatically.
He will parachute into an NHL playoff race on a Wild team trying to win the second division title in team history and ramping up for a postseason with the aspiration of at least advancing past the first round for the first time in eight years.
“Obviously, life’s about to be much different,” Faber says.
The big question is if he’ll get to play. If he signs after the national championship game, the Wild will have three regular-season games left. Could we see him get a taste, in part to rest one of the heavy-minute regulars?
Or if the Wild go on a run and like what they’re seeing in practice, could we even see him get playoff action?
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At a minimum, we know the Wild are going to give Faber every opportunity to make the team out of training camp in the fall. It sure feels like they’re banking on him to replace pending free agent Matt Dumba, perhaps eventually playing on the right side of Jonas Brodin.
Motzko has no doubt Faber’s game will translate to the next level.
“Brock’s always been the youngest guy everywhere he has been since Bantams, so he can handle the pressure and feel comfortable walking into an NHL locker room,” Motzko says. “He’s had a tremendous year for us. He’s having his best offensive year. He is gaining confidence more to make plays, and that was going to have to come, too, for him to play at the next level. He’s already a world-class defender. That part of it comes easy for him. He’s fearless. He takes on all comers. His skating is elite.
“With us, you can’t get around him. He is just that good. There will not be many defenders better than Brock as he makes the adjustment. And he is tough. He’s not overpowering, he is not big, but he’s really strong and controls the game from the backside. We have some stars here that get all the accolades because you can see what they do easily. But a lot of games, when you watch back on film, Brock’s footprints are all over it.”
Faber’s excited. He feels he’ll have no problem handling the pressure of playing in his hometown because he already is.
“Having the chance to play with the Wild is a dream come true,” he says. “And hopefully I do get to that point someday, but I have something else big on my mind right now. I am fully bought in (with the Gophers). I mean, I love it here. This is also a dream come true. I love my teammates, and while it’s definitely a challenge at times to not look to the future, it’s pretty easy when I have such great people around me that keep me levelheaded and keep me focused on the now.
“Thankfully, I’ve had a good career so far, and I’ll do my best to continue that at the next level. But right now, a national championship is on my mind.”
(All photos courtesy of Karri Faber)