Brock Faber, Matthew Knies and a Gopher bond that carries over to their first NHL meeting

For at least one weekend over the summer, Brock Faber and Matthew Knies got to be college kids again.

They were — well, they felt like — Gophers.

Faber, the 21-year-old rookie Minnesota Wild defenseman, and Knies, the 20-year-old rookie Toronto Maple Leafs winger, joined their former University of Minnesota teammates in early August for a golf outing in southern Minnesota. Just a few months earlier, they had played for a national title together in the NCAA Frozen Four, fighting back tears after an overtime loss in the title game. Faber and Knies jumped right from that into the NHL playoffs, while their former teammates and roommates watched (and screamed) from their campus couches.

The emotional goodbyes in the spring seemed as quick as a shift, so this three-day getaway 90 minutes from the Twin Cities offered much-needed comedy and closure. For Knies and Faber, they could finally catch their breath. And catch up. The Gophers — current and former — played four rounds of golf at Dacotah Ridge Golf Club over three days in a Ryder Cup-style format, shuttling back and forth from a hotel.

There were plenty of inside scoops. And intel-swapping.

“We were both a little bit struck by the moment,” Knies said. “I think we both got thrown into the playoffs and it was hard to take it all in at once. So when we sat down and we talked in the summer, it was pretty cool to hear some of the stories.

“It was that kind of conversation where it was just like, ‘Was it like this for you?’ ‘Did you get this?’ ‘Did you get that?’ ‘How was the food?’ ‘How was the arena?’ ‘How was the atmosphere?’ Stuff like that. It was just pretty cool to hear that he had a very similar story.”

They won’t have to wait long for another chance to chat face-to-face, as Faber and the Wild will be in Toronto on Saturday to face Knies and the Leafs. They’ve got seven combined regular-season games to their name, but this one — their first NHL meeting — has been circled since the schedules came out in June.

Reaching the best league in the world is one thing, but both former Gophers stars are already playing key roles: Faber in the shutdown pair for the Wild, Knies in the middle six for the high-powered Leafs.

Knies proudly watched Faber’s first NHL goal on Thursday night.

“It’s crazy,” Faber said. “(Life) has definitely changed. It’s a whole different lifestyle than college. I’m enjoying the hell out of this. It’s fun. I love playing against some of the best players in the world. It’s been great. Everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”

“I feel like it just goes by so quick,” Knies added. “A lot of the advice that the older players have given me is just take it all in, enjoy it day by day. It goes by so fast, and you obviously play every other night, so it goes away in the blink of an eye. So just try to enjoy it as much as possible.”

The “hockey house” is the go-to spot on campus for the Gophers to congregate.

The two-level home has three players living upstairs, three downstairs. As expected, the couches around the TV are typically crowded during the NHL playoffs. On April 17, there were about a dozen guys there, including six players who lived in a nearby apartment. Faber was making his playoff debut, and he made it memorable. His game-saving diving block on a Mason Marchment rush chance in double OT enabled the win.

“I remember it was 12:30 a.m., overtime, and everyone else was asleep on the couch,” said Gophers fifth-year senior forward Bryce Brodzinski, a Philadelphia Flyers prospect. “I got out of my chair screaming that, ‘It was Faber!’ The other guys were like, ‘No it wasn’t.’ People got quiet. We were waiting for what the announcer said. Everyone was so genuinely excited for him. I know a lot of people were kind of surprised how quickly he adapted to the NHL, but no one on our team was. We knew he was ready the day he stepped in as a freshman.”

The luck of the schedule allowed the Gophers to watch Faber and Knies on TV on alternating nights.

“Not a moment too big for either one of them,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko said. “Love them both. They both had fantastic experiences here, were great to be around. They cared deeply about our program. They’re going to be special to us forever.”

The two were dominant college players, with Faber backstopping the blue line and Knies a key cog on arguably the best line in college hockey with now-Arizona Coyotes rookie Logan Cooley and St. Louis Blues top prospect Jimmy Snuggerud. They were also quite a bit different personality-wise. Teammates joked that Faber, the low-key, smart, skilled, heart-and-soul captain, looked more like a scientist with his glasses. Knies was the outgoing jokester.

Just a few nights before their first Frozen Four matchup in Tampa in April, there was Knies playing ping pong and calling “next” in video games in the lounge. Down the hall, it was Faber in a near-empty food room having wings and chatting with fellow defenseman Jackson LaCombe.

“Faber is that advanced, super-mature mind,” Brodzinski said. “Kniesy has got that little kid in him. When they got on the ice, they were super mature. But off the ice, you never got a hold on Kniesy, but Faber, you knew what he was doing.”

Faber could let loose, too, of course; as much as he gave well-timed speeches, he was also a ringer on the softball field. But the former captain would be the first to tell you that Knies “was the leader in fun.” Knies often would drop a mash-up video in the team’s group chat, intermixing cleverly cropped photos and inside joke moments that would have his teammates howling.

“I’m going to miss those,” said Gopher senior defenseman Carl Fish, Faber’s former roommate. “That’s what we’re going to be missing, his comedic wizardry.”

Brodzinski said Knies actually still sends some of those videos, though he funnels them through his former linemate, Snuggerud, who drops them in the text chain. “You can tell by how dumb they are that it came from Matthew Knies’ mind,” Brodzinski said, laughing. “But he’s still connected to us. (The videos) are all about us. I was curious to see if he was making videos out of (William) Nylander, (Auston) Matthews and (John Tavares), but I don’t think those guys would understand his mind quite like we do.”

Not that Knies is all play and no work. He takes himself seriously on the ice, Fish said, especially his one-on-one battles with Faber — which could be something to watch on Saturday in Toronto.

“They got pretty heated in practice,” Fish said. “With roommate bias, I’ve got to go with Fabes. Sorry Knies, if you’re reading this. I think Fabes won most of them.”

Faber said they’re going to have their hands full with Knies, noting his size (6-foot-3, 217 pounds) and skill set.

“He’s an elite player with elite talent, as we all know,” Faber said. “He’s an incredible person, works his ass off. He deserves every accolade he gets. He’s going to play in the league for a long time.”

“It’s going to be fun,” Knies said of facing Faber. “I’m excited to see him. I saw him score his first goal — super pumped for him. I’m not too excited to play against him, because I think he’s a really good player and it’s going to be hard to play against him. But I’m just pumped to see him.”

As much as Faber and Knies’ NHL decision was debated and hyped last spring, it was pretty clear in their minds.

“Everyone knew going into the year it was going to be the final one,” Faber said. “We all had talked about it when we went back (for the 2022-23 season), knowing it was going to be our last.”

Seeing where Faber and Knies are now, it’s easy to see why.

Knies got some top-six time with some of the Maple Leafs’ top stars in the playoffs before getting injured. He’s been living with Tavares, the captain, smoothly adjusting to life in the center of the hockey universe. Faber recently moved into an apartment in the North Loop of Minneapolis, the first time he’s had his own place. He is living the dream of playing for his hometown team. He bought about a dozen tickets for the season opener, and there was no lack of additional requests. Tons of family and friends made it into the building to see his first NHL goal.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Faber said, smiling. “Obviously there are so many people and friends asking. My whole family, every extended cousin lives here, so I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m too nice. I can’t say no.”

It’s stunning how smoothly Faber has jumped into the NHL and a top-four role. His dressing room stall is next to his defensive partner, Jonas Brodin, one of the best defensive defensemen in the league.

“He’s so good,” Brodin said. “It’s like he’s played for a long time in the league.”

As Wild coach Dean Evason put it, Faber looks like a “seasoned pro.”

When asked how he’s seen Faber grow since he made his first impression in the NHL in the spring, Evason shook his head.

“He’s the exact same guy,” Evason said. ” He came in like this … confident and aggressive and mature. As far as being more comfortable or more confident, no, he’s exactly what he was when we first saw him in that first game. It’s fantastic. He’s got everything it takes to be a National Hockey League player for a very, very long time.”

Faber said he knows he’ll have ups and downs this season. But he loves the challenge of facing top players like Matthews and Mitch Marner. The trust the team has in him already shows. He logged a team-high 21:33 in Thursday’s opener, including playing the final two minutes of the game with the opposing goalie pulled.

“I trust my feet, I trust my brain, and I trust my D partner, obviously,” Faber said. “I’ve had every tool since I’ve been here to bring the best out of myself.”

This is not surprising to Motzko, who didn’t think it was a stretch for Faber to be playing this kind of meaningful role this soon.

“I think he needed another year,” Motzko joked. “No. Brock is 1) a leader, 2) a world-class skater and defender. And there’s not a thing that’s going to intimidate him. He showed that last year, he’s not going to be nervous. Might be some butterflies early, but he’s going to go out and do what he’s done. He’s done it at the national program, world juniors, he’s done it here. He’s going to be a tremendous player for them.”

Faber and Knies’ former Gopher teammates wish they could be on the couch of the “hockey house” on campus watching the showdown on Saturday in Toronto. They’ve got a game of their own against St. Thomas.

“It’s weird without them,” Fish said.

But they’ll be keeping tabs.

Jonas Siegel contributed to this report 

(Top photo courtesy of University of Minnesota)