On Monday, Reddit user /u/k_nasty posted something I and a large chunk of hockey fans did not know. Via Wikipedia, Brooks Orpik is named after Miracle On Ice’s Herb Brooks.
Orpik, born in San Francisco a few months after the U.S. “Miracle on Ice” win over the Soviet Union in Lake Placid in 1980, was named after Team USA Olympic Head Coach Herb Brooks
“Obviously, [it was] my dad’s idea,” Orpik told ESPN’s Scott Burnside at the 2010 Winter Olympics. “My mom didn’t even know what hockey was up until then.”
"My mom always tells me I'd be a lot more embarrassed if they named me Herb instead of Brooks."–Brooks Orpik #Caps
— Jen (@NHLhistorygirl) September 14, 2015
Orpik, who won a silver medal with Team USA at the Vancouver Olympics, got to work with his namesake while in Pittsburgh’s organization early on in his career.
Orpik got to know Brooks before his death in a car accident in the summer of 2003. Orpik recalled how he and former teammate Colby Armstrong would meet with Brooks periodically when Brooks would visit the Penguins’ AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre.
“And we got to pick his brain about anything really,” Orpik said.
The other Brooks, Brooks Laich, is also named after a Hall of Famer: Brooks Robinson.
Now here’s where I’m going to blow your mind. Via /u/DustinPenncakesWSH, both Brooks’ actual first names are Richard (Orpik) and Evan.
And that’s your NHL trivia for the day.
