Brandon Montour likes the beach and its water, which perhaps should not be surprising. Montour — the Gulls’ versatile 21-year-old defenseman, who leads the team with 21 points and was recently named the AHL’s rookie of the month — exudes a Southern California vibe, even while his Canadian accent does the opposite.

He speaks casually and genuinely, never appearing to be hurried. His go-to post-practice attire is shorts, flip-flops and a hat that partially covers a mop of brown hair.

Like on Wednesday. Two days before the Gulls play the Bakersfield Condors in the first of two California road games this weekend, Montour is leaning against the boards on the outside of the rink at the KROC Center, explaining the origins of his hockey career: Brantford, Ontario.

Montour was surrounded by hockey — his dad played it growing up, and so did Montour’s two brothers — so he started playing at age four, and he has not stopped.


As a teenager, Montour spent three years in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, which allowed his parents and grandparents to watch his games, which were often played only 10 minutes away from his house. He learned and developed. “A good stepping stone,” he says.

A scout for the Waterloo Black Hawks, a team from Iowa in the United States Hockey League, came to a GOJHL game to watch one of Montour’s teammates. He left intrigued by Montour.

The Black Hawks selected Montour in the 18th round of the 2013 draft, 267th overall. When Montour received the phone call that he was going to play for Waterloo, he was confused: There is also a team from Waterloo, Ontario, in the GOJHL.

“I didn’t even know what the league was,” Montour says. “I was like, ‘Wait. I play you guys. Why are you guys calling me?’”


It was a classic mix-up, and the 267th overall pick was the league’s player of the year in his first season. Montour scored 14 goals and had 48 assists for a franchise single-season-record 62 points. Montour says he did not expect such a strong start, and deflects praise to his teammates and coaches, which he does often.

Next were a few months at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he had talked to coaches before he left for the USHL and where he compiled 20 points in 21 games. After that? The NHL draft.

Montour attended the 2014 draft, in Philadelphia, with his parents. He was sitting near the Ducks’ draft table, and he recognized a couple of scouts that had been watching his games. “And one of the guys gave me a thumbs up,” Montour says. He nudged his dad: The Ducks are about to draft me, he told him, and he was right. Anaheim selected him 55th overall, and Montour became the highest draft pick in UMass history.

On the ice, Montour is a blur. He is one of the Gulls’ fastest skaters — “my favorite player on the ice,” defenseman Shea Theodore says — and often starts the break on power plays. In the zone, Eakins said, he is forced to make quick decisions at the top of the power play — does he move the puck once more, or does he put it to the net? Eakins says he usually chooses the right one, though “Monty’s still learning.”


Assistant Coach Marty Wilford works with Montour to help him learn the intricacies of the position: the details of his own zone, how to defend the rush, how to work the “good ice” at middle of the rink. “It’s like going to get your master’s,” Eakins says. “It takes time to get your master’s. You don’t just get it in two months.”

For now? Montour is done with practice for the day, his silver crossover packed with teammates in the parking lot of KROC. “See ya, dude,” he says, and drives away.