Troy Brouwer and Deryk Engelland are the newest members of the Warriors and Legends Hall of Fame.
The duo were inducted in front of over 100 fans, family and supporters on Friday night at the Moose Jaw Events Centre, with the night featuring plenty of tales from their time with the Warriors and their lengthy NHL careers.
Engelland was the first to be enshrined and was nearly in disbelief that such an honour would come his way, despite his 11-year NHL career and role as one of the faces of the franchise for the Vegas Golden Knights in their earliest years.
“It’s almost surreal,” Engelland said. “You go back 21 years to when I left here, my future was uncertain and I didn’t know what was going to happen, i figured I was going to have to get a job and start working. Then to get a call from Calgary to go to summer camp a week later that was the stepping stone I needed to get to the next level, and to be back here 21 years later getting honoured like this is truly amazing.”
A host of hockey luminaries were featured in his induction video, including former teammate Lane Manson, former Warriors head coach Curtis Hunt, former AHL coach Glenn Gulutzan, Vegas Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon and former Vegas teammate Marc Andre Fleury.
“It’s just a great honour to be here in such a great community and organization and it’s been far too long since I’ve been back here,” Engelland said.
Brouwer was naturally of much the same opinion, especially when it came to the pomp and circumstance of the event.
“I had no idea that it was going to be this big and amazing,” he said. “The Warriors have done an amazing job and I hadn’t been to one of these yet, so to be one of the players selected for it is an honour.”
Brouwer’s induction video was a cavalcade of former Warriors teammates from their epic run to the WHL Final in 2006, including Carter Smith, Steven Gillen, Blair Jones and Jesse Zetariuk.
“I loved playing for this team and to be recognized in this fashion, it isn’t something that I need, but it makes you feel amazing that the contributions you made and the love you put into this city,” Brouwer said before pausing to gather his thoughts. “I can’t even talk about it, to be honest. It’s just really special.”
Smith also delivered the alumni address, while Dave Kiefer spoke on behalf of the Warriors and Brandon Carter from Conexus Credit Union presented the duo with prints of the plaques that will soon be installed on the Warriors and Legends Hall of Fame on the north wall of the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
A native of Delta, B.C., Brouwer played for the Warriors from the 2001-02 season through the 2005-06 campaign. He put up 103 goals and 219 points to go along with 426 penalty minutes in 287 regular season games and also suited up in 45 playoff games -- second most in team history -- and added another 15 goals and 23 points.
Brouwer saved his best for his overage season, scoring 49 goals and 102 points, a 55-point jump over his 47 points the previous season and enough to land him the Bobby Clarke Trophy as the WHL’s top scorer. Brouwer was also named to the WHL Eastern Conference First All-Star team and the CHL Second All-Star Team.
A seventh-round, 214th overall selection by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, Brouwer would go on to play 14 seasons in the NHL with Chicago, Washington, St. Louis, Calgary and Florida. Through his 851 regular season games, Brouwer had 182 goals and 363 points, winning the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2010 and also playing for Canada at the World Championship in 2014.
Brouwer and his family reside in Calgary where he is a NHL pro scout for the St. Louis Blues.
While Engelland wasn’t as high a scorer as Brouwer, he left his mark on the WHL just the same -- in some cases, quite literally. A renowned enforcer in his time with the Warriors, Engelland suited up in 243 games for Moose Jaw and put up 14 goals and 48 points to go along with 520 penalty minutes, eighth most in franchise history.
Drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the sixth round, 194th overall in 2000, he would go on to play 11 seasons in the NHL with Pittsburgh, Calgary, and Vegas. In 671 regular season games, he had 30 goals and 127 points to go along with 579 penalty minutes. He also played six seasons in the American Hockey League from 2003-2010 and was a Calder Cup Champion with the Hershey Bears in 2006.
Engelland was selected in the first round of the NHL expansion draft by the Vegas Golden Knights, and immediately became a team legend when, as the team’s assistant captain, he gave a heartfelt speech on ice prior to their first-ever home game. His address to the crowd came after 58 people were killed in a mass shooting only days before, and his tireless efforts to help the community recover led to Engelland winning the NHL’s Mark Messier Leadership Award that season.
Engelland and his family reside in Las Vegas where he is involved with the Vegas Golden Knights Foundation as a special assistant to owner Bill Foley.
