In early February last year, Brian Chambers received a wake-up call.
After starting the 2017-18 season with the United States Hockey League’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, the center from Weymouth, Mass., was sent back to New England, where he finished the campaign with the North American Hockey League’s Northeast Generals.
“After grinding it out from September to February, getting sent back to the NAHL was a little bit disappointing because you want to be in the USHL,” Chambers, 20, said. “I thought, ‘All right, I have to prove to people that I can play at the top level.’ I went back to the USHL this season and I think I’ve done that. I hope I can keep it going.”
Based on his body of work in the first half of this campaign, there’s no reason to believe Chambers won’t conclude it on a high note.
Last season, he totaled just 12 points (4-8—12) in 30 games with the RoughRiders before recording 11 points (3-8—11) in 18 regular-season contests and an assist in five playoff matches with the Generals. In 34 games this season with the Sioux Falls Stampede, the 6-1, 183-pounder has more than doubled his output from a year ago and paces his team in scoring with 30 points (12-18—30), as of Jan. 30.
“It feels awesome having the hard work pay off,” Chambers stated.
Hard work is one of two causes for his success. The other one is his ability to maintain a positive mindset.
For starters, Chambers views his time with the RoughRiders as a good experience.
“I wanted to play at the top (junior level in the country), which is the USHL,” he remembered. “Cedar Rapids was awesome. The fans were good. It was a good place to play. I just didn’t get a chance to play as much as I would’ve liked and I didn’t get an opportunity to be the best player I could be, so it didn’t work out there.”
Chambers also learned one significant difference between the USHL and the NAHL.
“The USHL is definitely more skillful, quicker and faster,” he explained. “The NAHL is more physical with bigger guys and more of a grinder-type game. Physicality is the big word in the NAHL.”
And despite his demotion, another positive was Northeast was a familiar club.
Chambers, who growing up played for the Weymouth town bantam team, Boston Junior Terriers, Bay State Breakers, South Shore Kings, Weymouth High School squad and Boston Advantage, finished the 2016-17 season with the Generals.
“It was very different from my previous hockey experiences,” he said of his first stint with Northeast, in which he tallied three goals and an assist in a dozen matches. “Playing with older guys, it was the most competitive hockey I’d ever played to that point. It was hard to get used to at first. But I’m glad I played the games there because it helped me along in my career.”
When Chambers returned to the Generals, the right-handed shooting forward was greeted by friendly faces from both his prior spell with the team and also his time with the Advantage.
“It was very good,” Chambers said of his second run with the Generals. “It wasn’t that tough. Northeast is a great spot to play. It was a little bit of a transition from the USHL to the NAHL, but it was fun. I started playing a lot there, which I liked. And I wanted to prove people wrong and show that I could play in the USHL and do well. Once I went back to the NAHL, I was all out, trying my hardest and doing the best I could to get back up to the USHL.”
Chambers’ commitment to returning to the USHL didn’t stop with the conclusion of the season. Over the summer, he continued toiling at the rink and in the gym.
On the ice, he focused on his skating, working with the Lovells at the Advantage’s rink, Pilgrim Skating Arena, in Hingham, Mass.
“I worked on inside and outside edges, trying to get faster and having more control and being stronger on my skates,” Chambers said.
In the gym, he sought to get bigger and stronger.
“My trainer, Tom Boothby, helped me out a lot in the summer,” Chambers said. “He played a very important role in helping me make the transition back to the USHL this season. He made workouts for me that fit to me and helped me get better as a player, so when I went back on the ice this season I was ready to go.”
Chambers’ parents, Bill and Barbara, also made sure he was set to go.
Although he lives with a billet family – and no longer has a billet brother, who was defenseman Caleb Price (Hooksett, N.H.) before he was dropped by the Stampede in October – Chambers talks every day with his parents, who always provide him with a heavy dose of optimism.
“They’re always giving me positivity to keep going, keep doing what I’m doing and keep trying my hardest,” he asserted.
In addition to wanting to help the Stampede win, Chambers has other reasons to sustain his strong work ethic: his upcoming college hockey career and his unwavering dream of one day playing in the National Hockey League.
Starting next season, he’ll attend the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, a school where “everything seemed to fit correctly.”
Elaborated Chambers: “It’s a great campus. I love the hockey program. I love the coaches. It’s only an hour away from home, which is awesome. It’s in Hockey East, one of the best conferences in college hockey.”
Chambers is so excited about his future with the River Hawks that he’s getting a head start on the educational side, taking an online course – English Composition I -- out of the University Center in Sioux Falls.
“It’s nice to get my brain going again,” he said, “and seeing what I got coming for me next year when I do go to college.”
And after college, Chambers is hoping to continue playing the game he loves, despite not being drafted by an NHL team.
“I didn’t really think of myself as getting drafted,” he noted, “but when I saw players who I skated with, played with and been around get drafted, it gave me a little bit of influence and helped me grow stronger. It made me more determined to see that I could actually play at that level because they’re playing there, too. Playing in the NHL is everyone’s dream growing up; it would be awesome.”
Before those visions have a chance of becoming reality, though, Chambers still has unfinished business, and that’s to continue to leave his mark in the USHL.
