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.