Caledon’s Brody McLean expects to head south for 5th year of NCAA lacrosse

April 9, 2020 · 0 Comments

Written By ROBERT BELARDI

Take your pick. It’s playing hockey or playing lacrosse.

Choose between Canada’s national sport or Canada’s most beloved past time. Idolize some of the greatest players to have ever graced the ice in the NHL, such as Wayne Gretzky or Steve Yzerman, or, choose to learn from lacrosse legends such as Colin Doyle and Jim “Scoop” Veltman.

For some it might be a recreational choice, but, for Caledon native Brody McLean, his enamour for lacrosse, would ultimately lead to a life-changing decision.

“I don’t really know how to describe it, I kinda, just had this feeling. I was always having more fun playing lacrosse and I figured, if I’m going to keep pursuing this and keep playing this every day of my life, I’d rather be happy doing it,” McLean said to The Citizen, while at home in Caledon.

His parents, Terry and Cathy McLean, always provided options for their children.

“Both of our kids played multiple sports when they were young. My husband and I felt that we wanted to expose them to all kinds of things – obviously hockey, my husband played hockey and coached hockey,” Cathy said.

For Brody, hockey and lacrosse were his two sports growing up and for his older sister Paige, she balanced hockey, swimming and soccer.

Brody, began skating at the age of two and began playing paperweight lacrosse with the Caledon Bandits at the age of four, with his father Terry, as the coach at the time, playing box and field lacrosse thereout.

Brody stayed with the Bandits until midget and his hockey career began to soar tremendously. He was a part of the Caledon Hawks and helped the Novice AA team to a title as captain. McLean, moved over to play AAA for the Brampton Battalion from minor Atom through to minor Bantam.

McLean joined the Ontario Edge program throughout this time. The program no longer runs in Caledon and only a few players from the local area were chosen to be on the team.

Edge was Canada’s number one lacrosse training and development program for players to be seen by NCAA scouts.

“Being with Edge and being around the best players in Ontario just took my game to a different level, kinda, helped me develop mentally,” Brody insisted.

When Brody finalized his decision to permanently stick with lacrosse in grade 10, he was rapt by the opportunity.

He led an undefeated Edge team to the NSCLA National Cup; a tournament with a prestigious profile and a tournament with high recruitment standards.

“That was the tournament where I flipped the switch and became more of a shooter.”

“I mean just our team came together. That tournament was my favourite win,” Brody explained.

At the same time, he helped kick start the lacrosse program at his high school at the time, St. Michael’s Catholic Secondary School, as captain. McLean recorded a 100-point season in 19 games along with an MVP award, subsequently for the next three years.

In July of 2014, McLean became a part of Team Ontario u16 that went on to defeat Team B.C, capturing gold at the Canadian Field Nationals.

And in December, after receiving numerous invitations from division one schools in the United States, McLean was earnest, to commit to Stoney Brook University in New York, on a lacrosse scholarship.

Within one year, McLean had a life ahead of him. It all came into fruition and his decision, was undoubtedly, the correct one.

Already at a superlative level of lacrosse, the year of 2015 had more in store. McLean was drafted in January, 5th overall by the Toronto Beaches in the OLA Midget Draft; in other words, junior A lacrosse.

Although that stint was cut short, McLean flopped over to the Burlington Chiefs and Kitchener-Waterloo Braves in his short career in junior A lacrosse.

That didn’t matter, and surely another short stint in his lacrosse career would not have a negative impact. McLean lasted one year at Stoney Brook, without the respect of an opportunity to compete for the team.

So, what now? In a key moment and one, that would be nerve-racking to the average player, McLean wasn’t even phased. Heck, he still had the confidence to know he would find somewhere.

His journey to Towson University was not copacetic, but with a little help, it was pragmatic.

“The owner of Edge, Stu (Stuart) Brown, really helped me out and my old coach Adam. They helped me find a good fit. They were talking to the coaches at Towson at a tournament. They gave me a call right away, and I told them I was looking to transfer,” McLean told The Citizen.

Following a tour at the school campus in Towson, Maryland and a tour of the facility where he would be practicing, McLean knew this was the right spot.

“It felt like a good fit. The main thing for me is being comfortable with the coaching staff.”

Now at Towson for the past three years, McLean has been studying Sports Management. He says, once he graduates, he would like to look into becoming a firefighter.

He has been with the field lacrosse team for the past three seasons, most notably, recording 39 goals and six assists last year.

McLean says that he has learned the habits of his teammates and his team has learned about his. Being on the same page is crucial to playing well, in a league that is incredibly difficult to get right in front of the net.

Following a heartbreaking 14-13 loss to Maryland in the first round of the NCAA championship, where McLean had four goals to his name, he returned this year with a hop in his step and a knack for finding the back of the net quickly.

In the first six games of the season, he led the Towson Tigers with nine goals and three assists, good for the most points on the roster until the season was cancelled.

McLean currently holds a 14-game point streak, dating back to last season.

The 21-year-old says he would like to return to Towson next year, capping off his fifth year of post-secondary school. He would also like to see lacrosse grow in popularity. In the United States, the Premier Lacrosse League, on top of the National Lacrosse League has seemingly helped. He wants to see; Canada’s national sport continue to grow and to educate more children through exposure.