Tswawwassen’s Brent Seabrook loved the playoffs. He prepped for them in his driveway as a kid while dreaming of an NHL career.

“As a lot of kids growing up, scoring the overtime goal or winning the Stanley Cup in your driveway, I was one of those kids that did that almost every night. I think I won the Stanley cup about 700 times in my driveway,” recalled Seabrook.

The 6-3, 220-pound defenceman realized his dream of playing in the NHL, playing in 1,114 regular season games and collecting 464 points. He also achieved his dream of winning the Stanley Cup. While it didn’t happen the 700 times in his driveway, he hoisted it above his head three times over 15 years as he played in 123 playoff games and registered 59 points, including three game-winning goals.

Seabrook, who began his junior hockey career in the Pacific Junior Hockey League with the Delta Ice Hawks then moved on to the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes, said “there is nothing better” when asked what it was like to win the Stanley Cup.

“Playing playoff hockey is the best hockey you will ever play,” said Seabrook. “After that first Cup, it’s hard getting ready to play those games in the regular season. I always wanted to play in the playoffs. That was when hockey was the most fun, the emotions and how important every shift and every game was. That was really the time of hockey, the time of the year that I loved the most.”

In his NHL.com bio, it was written that Seabrook built a reputation as a clutch postseason player. He scored the overtime winner in the second round of the 2013 playoffs to help the Blackhawks rally from down 3-1 and eliminate the Detroit Red Wings. He was also the OT hero in Game 4 of the Cup Final against the Boston Bruins that spring. Seabrook scored his third playoff OT winner April 21, 2015, against the Nashville Predators, in another Cup-winning spring for the Blackhawks.

Seabrook also enjoyed success on the international stage helping Canada win a gold at the 2005 World Junior Championships. In 2010, when the Blackhawks won their first Cup, Seabrook helped Canada’s men’s team win Olympic gold. Seabrook is one of eight players to accomplish that feat, which includes his Blackhawks teammates Duncan Keith and Jonathan Toews

Winning Olympic gold was another special feeling for Seabrook as was being part of that in Vancouver.

“Being in Canada doing that was very special, essentially in my hometown was even more special,” he said. “That same year winning our first Cup, it couldn’t have been a better year. It was a pretty tremendous year.”

Since stepping away from the NHL in 2021, Seabrook has joined the WHL’s Vancouver Giants as a player development coach working alongside and learning from Michael Dyck, who was his assistant coach with the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

“To be able to be out there with some young kids, and try and help them on their hockey careers, it’s very special to give back,” said Seabrook.