Excelling on the ice and becoming an all-star player is something that Roblin's Jakob Brook has always strived to achieve. Brook is still in search of becoming an all-star in the Western Hockey League and he'll definitely be in a position to really show what he has next season.
He'll begin the 2020-2021 season with the Regina Pats, where he will play a big role, something that hasn't necessarily been the case throughout his WHL career to date. While Jakob puts a lot of stock into achieving his goals on the ice, he also has goals of excelling in the classroom. Since he was a little kid, Brook has always focused hard on his school work and that's continued into his junior hockey days.
Brook was named last year's WHL's Eastern Conference Scholastic Player of the Year. He averaged 85% in English, 92% in Native Studies, 95% in Physical Science, and 98% in Physical Education.
This year, the Roblin native who loves to fish in his downtime has been up to much of the same thing. In his core classes, Brook maintained an academic average of 93.5%. His highest mark was in Physics 30 (97%) while his biology mark was 93%. He finished with a 92% mark in both Pre-Calculus 30 and English Language Arts.
His success in the classroom has once again been noticed by the league. Brook is the 2019-2020 WHL's Eastern Conference Scholastic Player of the Year, a feat he's now achieved in his first two Western Hockey League seasons.
"That felt really good. I definitely pride myself on my school work and I always work really hard towards keeping my grades up," said Brook. "It's a great honour to be named the Scholastic Player of the Year in the Eastern Conference, it means a lot to me."
When Brook won the award last year, he became the Eastern Conference nominee for the WHL's Scholastic Player of the Year. He ended up coming up short to Dustin Wolf of the Everett Silvertips. His goal coming into this year was to put himself in the same position as he was last year and now he's done that.
"Winning it last year and then not winning it for the league, I wanted to come into this year and repeat that and then win it for the league," said Brook. "That was a big goal of mine and I really hope I can win the league award in the coming weeks."
Brook will go up against Dylan Garand of the Kamloops Blazers. The 17-year-old maintained an academic average of 96.5% and he will graduate with honours. The Blazer net minder also had an all-star season as he helped the Blazers to their first B.C. Division title since 2012. He went 28-10-2 in 42 games. He was named the Western Conference's Scholastic Player of the Year.
"Garand is a great goalie and he has great marks as well," added Brook. "I feel that either one of us is deserving of this. I'm not thinking too much about it and we'll see what happens."
The recipient of the Daryl K. (Doc) Seaman Memorial Trophy for WHL Scholastic Player of the Year will be announced on Wednesday, May 13.
"I'll be very proud and happy if I win that," he concluded.
The last time an Eastern Conference player was named the WHL Scholastic Player of the Year was back in the 2015-2016 season when Tanner Kaspick of the Brandon Wheat Kings took home the award.
