Plattsburgh State men’s hockey senior forward Alex Brenton grew up in Kanata, Canada where children are bred to play hockey. Brenton was no different.
Brenton has been playing hockey since he was 4 years old and playing in a league with 5 year olds.
“I started off playing when I was 4 years old in an organization 20 minutes outside of Kanata, which is where I’m from,” Brenton said. “In Kanata, you have to be 5 years old to start, but my parents decided to start me off at 4, so they kind of forged my birth certificate and I started playing when I was 4.”
During his final year in Kanata, he was heavily recruited by PSUC head coach Bob Emery to come play here. Emery started recruiting Brenton in 2011, and Brenton hadn’t heard of the college until Emery called him.
Brenton looked into PSUC and saw the school’s hockey program was one of the best and decided it was a good fit. On Jan. 17, 2011, Brenton chose the Cardinals as the team he wanted to play for.
To view more of our videos, visit our Multimedia page.Senior defender Preston Kaye said Brenton is one of the most important guys on the team.
“I definitely think he is irreplaceable,” Kaye said. “He does a lot of the little things. He is such a hard worker, he’s nasty, he’s tough, and that’s what you need to win games and win a championship, so we are definitely moving in the right direction with Alex producing and being a strong part of our team.”
Kaye said Brenton is the type of player who never gives up and will get into people’s faces, even though he isn’t the biggest guy on the ice.
Junior forward Michael Radisa said Brenton is the type of guy who wears his heart on his sleeve and will do anything to help his team.
“I played with Alex the last three years, and my freshman year I think I played in most of the games here and I didn’t score a goal,” Radisa said. “I think I had six or seven assists playing with Alex and Michael Cassidy and just the whole year, he was staying after practice helping me with certain things or saying, ‘Hey, you know it’s going to come.’ He is just a great teammate and a great friend, and he just helped me through a tough time, and that’s when I first started becoming close friends with Alex because I knew he genuinely cared about his team.”
Both Kaye and Radisa agree Brenton is a great friend and person to be around. Radisa said that Brenton is the type of guy who will be there for you when you are sad and bring you up even more when you are happy.
The main goal for Brenton before he graduates from PSUC is to win an NCAA trophy.
“I have a SUNYAC under my belt, I have a Prime Link under my belt, a Buck-Supply under my belt — I have every trophy I can have here, except that,” he said. “So that’s what I am going to work toward this year.”
Email Nick Topping at sports@cardinalpointsonline.com
