Brodziak, 36 and recently retired after a 12-year National Hockey League career, will be taking part in the World’s Longest Hockey Game beginning Feb. 4 at Saiker’s Acres, located a half-hour east of Edmonton.
And he has a very, very good reason for doing so.
As Brodziak told Jason Gregor in an outstanding feature on OilersNation.com, he’ll be playing for his father Dale, who passed away due to cancer when Kyle was 14, shortly before he joined the Warriors and became one of the most storied players in franchise history.
“I have definitely always wondered what my Dad would’ve thought about my career in the NHL,” Brodziak said in his interview with Gregor. “I always hoped he would’ve been proud, but it would have been nice to have his advice as I navigated my way through my career. There’s no doubt I will be thinking of him a lot more during this game though than I did my career, mainly because of the cause we are playing this game for. This game isn’t about me, or the team I’m playing on, this game is about raising money to potentially finding a cure for the disease that took my Dad away from my family. That is why he will be in my mind a lot during this game.”
The World’s Longest Hockey Game has become an annual event staged by Dr. Brent Saik and features 40 players taking the ice for 252 hours straight. The event has raised $5.48 million for the Cross Cancer Institute in its seven years of existence.
Brodziak will be one of two former NHLers playing in the contest, as he’ll be joined by friend and former Vancouver Canuck Zenith Komarniski.
Brodziak played for the Warriors from 2001-02 through 2003-04, missing only two games in his final three seasons. He was drafted in the seventh round, 214th overall by the Oilers in the 2003 NHL Draft and would put together his best season as a Warrior that winter, putting up 39 goals and 93 points in 70 games.
He would be named a CHL Second Team All-Star Team and to the WHL East First All-Star Team.
That led Brodziak into the NHL, where he played 917 games over 12 seasons for Edmonton, Minnesota and St. Louis before back issues caused him to retire.
Fortunately, those injury issues are behind him -- and now it’s time to play hockey for 10 days straight, regardless of the weather.
“I’ve heard the most difficult things are keeping your feet in good shape, as well as your hip flexors,” said Brodziak. “Booties (on your skates) are very important, to trap the heat in as well as being able to stuff feet warmers in there to help prevent frostbite. There is also a method of duct taping your feet to help with blisters, but I have not learned that method yet. I should be able to manage my hip flexors with my fortunate experience of working with some of the best trainers around while I was playing, but I will just need to make sure to put in the work to keep them loose.”
Donations are being accepted in the name of all 40 players involved, and you can do so by clicking right here.
