Brandon Tabakin wins 2019 Clark Cup title with Sioux Falls Stampede

Brandon Tabakin totaled 11 points (1-10—11) in 60 regular-season games. (Jasen Robbennolt / Sioux Falls Stampede)

Winning is nothing new to Brandon Tabakin. The 19-year-old defenseman from Woodbury, N.Y., won multiple Atlantic Youth Hockey League championships and a Tier 1 Elite Hockey League title with the North Jersey Avalanche growing up.

But being a member of the 2019 Clark Cup champion Sioux Falls Stampede?

“This is, by far, the biggest thing I’ve ever won,” Tabakin stated. “It’s a good feeling. We worked really hard for it all year. That was always the end goal.”

With the top spot in the Western Conference held by the Tri-City Storm, and for the most part out of reach in the final weeks of the season, the Stampede gunned for the second seed. The race for that position proved to be beneficial for Sioux Falls when the playoffs commenced.

“We were playing playoff hockey a while before the playoffs started,” remembered Tabakin, who totaled 11 points (1-10—11) in 60 regular-season games and one assist in a dozen playoff contests this past campaign.

The Stampede ended up tying for it in points with the Waterloo Black Hawks. However, Waterloo had the tiebreaker, which dropped Sioux Falls to the third seed. This meant that instead of receiving a first-round bye, the Stampede had to engage the rival Sioux City Musketeers.

“That was a hot and heavy series to get started,” Tabakin said.

The second contest in particular was a sweat inducer, as the Stampede, who won the first match, stamped their ticket to the conference semifinals by prevailing in a four-overtime marathon to sweep the two-game series.

“That was an emotional roller coaster, overtime after overtime, as we tried to stay mentally sharp and know that we would eventually come out on top,” Tabakin said. “Luckily, we did.”

Next up was a battle with Waterloo.

“Their fans hate us, and we don’t like them,” Tabakin chuckled. “We managed to scrap out an overtime win in the first game, which is huge, to start a series 1-0. But we were so exhausted we lost Game 2.”

That was the only loss they suffered during their championship run.

The Stampede took the next two contests on home ice to advance to the conference final, where they vanquished the Storm.

“They were a great team all year and the Anderson Cup champions,” Tabakin explained. “We knew they would be a challenge. But we stuck to our game plan, and we did a really good job of handling them, sweeping them on the road and then finishing it off at home.”

Tabakin’s favorite moment of the title run, aside from the moment when they became champions, was when the Stampede eliminated Tri-City and “knew we were going to the Clark Cup final and had a shot at it all.”

The 5-9, 160-pound blueliner elaborated, “We really felt like we were the best team in the West. And even though we placed third, to at least get out of the conference was an unbelievable feeling. We were so confident, and we felt so accomplished.”

Their final opponent was the Chicago Steel, whom they dispatched in three games.

“We felt we could use our depth at forward and defense, and that we could work them below the dots,” Tabakin said. “It was a great feeling to win. For me, personally, being drafted by Chicago (37^th overall in the 2016 United States Hockey League Phase I Draft), it was a little bit of revenge at the end. I’m happy I could end my junior career on a note like that.”

Another reason the victory was special for Tabakin was because he was one of just a handful of returnees on the Stampede roster from the previous season. This meant, right from the get-go, that he was going to be leaned on to lead the way by head coach and general manager Scott Owens.

Tabakin not only accepted the task but also mastered it, using the knowledge he gained from the 2017-18 campaign, when he recorded a goal and four assists in 42 regular-season games and an assist in three playoff matches as a USHL rookie.

“Being a leader, I made sure I was more vocal and setting an example other guys would follow,” Tabakin said. “When I was a rookie, I had great vets who showed me what to do and how to treat everybody with respect. Our team this past year didn’t have a line between the rookies and the veterans; we meshed as one group. Going into the season, the first thing we talked about was making sure that the rookies were comfortable outside the rink. Some guys were in high school and needed help with that and getting acclimated to the new community. It can be hard going away from home, especially for certain guys who get homesick.”

Tabakin was the ideal person to guide the younger players in this regard because he went through a similar experience the season prior.

“Where I’m from, it’s a little bit of a bubble, where everybody knows everybody, so I had to branch out,” he said. “My first year in the USHL, I was a senior in high school, so I started a new school when it was everybody’s last year in my grade, and they all knew each other. I had to open myself up, meet new people and change my lifestyle a little bit.”

Once Tabakin helped them take care of their off-ice business, it made the process of aiding them on the ice much smoother.

“Some of them in the heat of the games got a little frazzled or tried to do too much,” he noted. “One of the things I learned playing junior hockey is sometimes just flipping a puck out and fighting to live another day is what it has to be; you can’t always out-skill your way since everybody is good in the league. Sometimes, you just have to make the more simple play and try again another time. The rookies we had were all really good, composed and confident, and they were a big part of our team. We wouldn’t have done it without them.”

In addition to assisting the newcomers, Tabakin took his own play to a higher level. This was a goal of his from the moment last season ended.

“I played less games my first year of juniors than I did my last year with the Avalanche, but the junior game intensity is way higher, a much faster pace and more physical, so I worked hard in the offseason to get my body ready to handle that, especially since I was hoping that I would get more minutes this past year,” he explained. “I worked on everything, but specifically my skating because that’s one of the biggest things I use to help myself. And then during the season, I worked on closing out guys rather than burying them in the defensive zone — keeping an eye on them, going and closing out, taking the puck away and breaking it out, ending the offense that they had.”

Owens called the left-handed shooter an “unsung guy” for the Stampede because of his desire to contribute any way possible, even though it sometimes meant sacrificing points.

“At the end of the day, it’s not about points,” Tabakin said. “I know I can bring offense and that it doesn’t always show up on the scoresheet. If I make a good transition pass it can create momentum. If I take a shot on net, maybe three guys touch it afterward, and even though I don’t get a point, we still score a goal. During the playoffs, there were no egos on our team. That was a big thing that we preached. We are all doing it for each other, and whether or not some guys get points, all that matters is the win. And with the power play and penalty kill, whatever they needed me to do I was ready to step in. If one of those was struggling, I was ready to go in and rise up to the task because there’s no reason to be afraid of anything.”

After concluding his USHL career atop the league mountain, Tabakin is now focused on getting in the best shape possible this summer so he can flourish right off the bat with the Yale Bulldogs next season.

“I know a bunch of guys there, and they’ve told me what it’s like and how good of a time college is,” he said. “I just want to be ready to help that team win and be ready for whatever my role is going to be as a freshman. Whether it’s a top-four pair or top-six pair, I want to do whatever I can to help them win. It’s a great program, and we are looking to rise up again.”

Along the way, Tabakin also has his sights set on capturing the attention of National Hockey League scouts after he went undrafted in his first year of eligibility in 2018.

“Everybody has their own path to the NHL,” he said. “There’s more than one way to get there. It doesn’t always have to be from getting drafted; it could start with a simple camp invite. I don’t have to be drafted to still accomplish that dream. If something comes along the way, it’ll be really nice, and hopefully I take advantage of it. But I’m not too worried about that right now. I’m focused on getting ready for college.”

And if Tabakin has his way, his freshman year will have the same ending as this past season, with him holding a trophy above his head.