The Insider Interview - Derek Merlini

The Brahmas' newest defenseman talks about his hockey career and joining the league champions as they defend the President's Cup

When Derek Merlini joins the Texas Brahmas' D corps this fall, he will be the second member of the Port Huron Icehawks (IHL) to have made the jump to the Central Hockey League's defending champions. Merlini will share an apartment with his former teammate, Jamie Carroll, and together, the two will work to help the Brahmas battle their way to another trip to the Finals. I spoke to Derek by phone yesterday. Here is some of our conversation.

Q: Where did you grow up?

A: I grew up in Clinton Township (Michigan), which is a suburb of Bloomfield Hills.

Q: I understand you knew how to skate but didn't start playing hockey until you were nine or ten. How did you get your start in hockey?

A: My Dad put me through skating classes when I was a little bit younger and I didn’t like it at all because I didn’t have a stick in my hand or anything like that; just pure skating classes. I got annoyed with it and I just quit. I grew up in a household that was surrounded…my Dad happened to be friends with a few of the Red Wings and it wasn’t uncommon to see guys like Bob Probert and Shel Kennedy hanging out around our house so, you know, hockey was always around me. So when I was about nine, I asked my Dad if I could go back and start playing hockey.

Q: Where did you start out playing organized hockey?

A: I started out in house leagues and stuff like that…I started so late and kids at my age were already a lot better than me who had been playing for three or four years. So I just started out playing in the house leagues…my summers were pretty much spent at hockey camps. I had my personal coaches, which I was lucky enough that my Dad could afford for me. That’s how I was able to play catch up for the next few years until I went to the (Michigan) Jaguars, but as far as one particular team when I was growing up, I didn’t really have one. I was always around with different teams and different leagues, especially because I moved up from house to AA to AAA as I got older.

Q: Was your Dad your biggest influence and supporter?

A: Oh, for sure. As I said, my Dad had a lot of friends in the hockey world, so he was pretty educated compared to a lot of other fathers, I’d guess you’d say. He was always very good at teaching me and understood what it took for me, so I always respected what he had to say…he was definitely my biggest influence in hockey.

Q: How did you like playing for the Erie Otters and under coach McQueen?

A: I enjoyed my time in Erie. I went there when I was 18. I actually could have went there a year earlier, but I didn’t believe that I was good enough to get playing time...I was on a real good team and I had already made a commitment to my AAA team back in Michigan, so I decided to stay back so I could get a lot more playing time and improve that way. How it turned out was, they had a ton of injuries that year and I would’ve ended up getting a ton of playing time in my first year. In the years that I did play there, I definitely enjoyed it.

Q: Then in your final season there, you were traded to the Plymouth Whalers, who were doing a little bit better than Erie and went into the playoffs that year. How was that experience for you?

A: For me, it was great actually because Plymouth was only about a half-hour from my house, so I was able actually to stay at home while I played. I was able to still have all my friends around me in the area and play at the same time. When they told me I was getting traded, it was great because we knew at the time there was only a three player over-age rule in the OHL and we were carrying four the entire season long, all the way up until the trade deadline, so all four of us over-age guys were waiting for it to happen – there wasn’t a clear-cut guy who was going to be traded or wasn’t going to be traded – It was all just a waiting game for us. But for me, it was good too, because I went from sitting every three or four games because they had somewhat of a rotation, so to go in there and play (in Plymouth), I enjoyed it a lot.

Q: After the OHL, you went on to the University of Windsor. How would you characterize your time playing college hockey?

A: I was actually done with hockey for a little bit and I just decided that I was going to try and go to school and get my degree and move on from hockey. Then I got the opportunity to possibly go over to the University of Windsor which, for me at the time, you know, Windsor was not very far from my home; I would have to live over there but that wasn’t a big deal. I was able to go there and get some of my education done while I kept playing.

Q: From what I've read and what videos I've seen on the Internet, you seem to be the kind of guy that will fight when it's called for but not so much an enforcer-type...

A: Yeah, I wouldn’t call myself an enforcer…I’m definitely there and I will stand up for my teammates but I’m not going to be a guy who is going to go out and fight every other game…I’m not out there looking for fights, in particular. I’m out there to play defense and help my team out more defensively, but at the same time, using my size to stick up for other players.

Q: You mentioned your Dad was friends with Bob Probert, who was a well-known enforcer in the NHL; as far as the physical side of your game goes, did you have any particular influences or did you learn to fight from other players?

A: When Probert was around, I was a lot younger at the time and as I got older and more involved with hockey, he and my Dad sort of lost touch a little bit. I’ve seen him once or twice in the last several years; I was re-introduced to him again as I got older. When I was in Plymouth, they had a guy who worked out of a boxing gym, but he worked out specifically for hockey and he was actually a hockey guy...I did some work with him during the summers.

Q: What are you doing to stay in shape during the off-season?

A: I work out a couple of times a week; I have a trainer, and I also work out other days on my own. But I also lay cement and that job is...too tough. Other jobs, they've got machines, you know, to make everything easier...there's a lot of labor and a lot of work outside up here in the hot...oh, I know in Texas it's very hot, but here we have the heat and the humidity with it, so the humidity just kills you. I've tried working out on those days when I'm outside all day long - it just doesn't work. I actually haven't been working as much this summer because I've had a couple of classes for school that I've been taking, so I've been able to get on the ice a lot more and also work with a trainer, like I said.

Q: The cement laying brings to mind one of your new teammates, A.J. Gale who is up in British Columbia. His summer job is splitting firewood with an axe. He does that all day long and I asked him about his workout and he just kind of laughed and said, "I split firewood, eight hours a day...,"

A: And in the same sense, lugging around wheelbarrows and carrying stuff and all the shovelling...

Q: Anybody who saw Rocky IV knows there's a lot of ways to work out...

A: Oh yeah, it's not all the same (for everyone)...it's not the exact work out I'm looking for - I'd much rather go into the gym and do a hard workout for an hour rather than working for 10 hours all day outside...

Q: You had a breakout season last year in Port Huron...named IHL Rookie of the Week a couple of times and named to the all-rookie team, not to mention your scoring...

A: Yeah, that's right; it was a good season for me. Coming back in, I was just hoping to improve on the year before because when I came in the previous season, the defense was a lot older and it was my first year...I came in half-way through the season and I was just getting used to pro hockey. When I came back last season, I had an increased role on defense and that's why I was able to be solid and I had a bigger role as a penalty killer...it also helped that I enjoyed my D partners and they helped me out a lot too.

Q: What do you think you can bring to the Texas Brahmas?

A: Well, I'm sound, defensively; that's something I pride myself on. I believe I can move the puck and pass the puck pretty well and you know my size too; I bring a physical presence...

Q: Do you have much familiarity with the CHL?

A: My familiarity is not the greatest. I just know what I have heard from other guys who played in the CHL (in Port Huron)...that's pretty much all I know for the most part. In the same sense that I really didn't know anything about the IHL before I got there. There are a lot of guys that are stats guys and stuff like that and they pay a lot of attention to everything. I'm kind of the opposite; I pay attention to what I've got going on and I don't really look at everything else.

Q: So this is a pretty good situation for you in your second season pro, to come on board with a league champion who will be defending the Cup...how excited are you to come into camp and work with a team in that situation?

A: Oh, I'm excited. Everything I've heard about coming down was big. At first, when they told me about winning last year, and the fact that they had a lot of guys returning, core guys, I was really excited. I definitely want to come in and hopefully, win again because at Port Huron, the first year, we went all the way to Game Seven and lost in triple overtime, so that was a pretty big blow. Last year, we had a very solid team and we were in first place all year long. Then we started to fall a little bit at the end and we got knocked out in the first round. So, I definitely want to win it all...I'm definitely excited to come in and be with a top contender this year.

Photo Credit: Hartford Whalers