Brandon Bochenski: rekindling a love of hockey thanks to the KHL
After finding the game a chore in North America, Brandon Bochenski headed to Kazakhstan and reignited his passion for hockey. Along the way, he became a Barys legend in the KHL.
On a see-saw
Brandon Bochenski found himself in a similar situation to many players who opted to move from North America to the KHL. For years 12 he struggled to secure a spot in the NHL, waiting in farm clubs and battling in the lower leagues. From time to time, he got a look at the show, but never managed to secure his position there. At the same time, it was clear that he had already achieved all he could in the AHL. Finally, in 2010, Brandon made the big decision to transform his career and come to the KHL.
“When I was around the NHL, it was just like being on a see-saw: up and down. And suddenly I wasn’t much enjoying my hockey. But in the KHL I fell in love with the game again, and started loving life more.”
Brandon Bochenski in an interview with Sport Express
The KHL was making waves around the world. The league had Jaromir Jagr and Alexander Radulov, Pavol Demitra and Josef Vasicek, Alexei Morozov and Petr Cajanek, and many more. It was entirely logical that Bochenski would choose to come here to continue his career. The KHL was already used to welcoming classy players from abroad.
Bochenski
455 games
444 (179+265) points
KHL top goalscorer (2012)
KHL All-Star (2012, 2014)
Top scorer among KHL imports (2016)
World Championship Division IA gold (2019)
Sep. 11, 2010 KHL debut for Barys against Severstal
Dec. 8, 2011 first KHL hat-trick, scored on Sibir
In Kazakhstan there weren’t many high-level players. Barys signed imports to act as leaders on the time. In the first two seasons, the top line comprised Slovakia’s Josef Stumpel with Russians Konstantin Glazachev and Maxim Spiridonov. But the Kazakhs could not win a single game in the playoffs in their first two seasons, swept both times by Ak Bars. In 2010, they started building a new top line, which would become the face of the team for many years to come. That, of course, was the renowned Bochenski-Boyd-Dawes line. The first of them to arrive was Brandon Bochenski.
“The KHL turned out as good as I expected, if not better. The players are highly skilled and at times it’s hard to battle with them. But I think I’m getting better and better with each game. Overall, this is a really good league.”
Bochenski in an interview with the Barys official site
Earlier, Bochenski played in North America. He came to Europe just twice. In 2007 he made his debut for Team USA in a major international tournament, playing in the World Championship in Moscow and Mytishchi. The Americans got to the quarterfinals but lost in a shoot-out against Finland. Bochenski scored two goals in seven games, gave three assists and was among the top five scorers on his team. There were some doubts as to whether Bochenski could adapt to life on another continent, and to a game on bigger ice. But, from his first game, he proved his qualities.
Troika with Dawes and Boyd
In his first three games for Barys, Bochenski potted three goals. In his first five, he scored five. By the end of the season he had 22 goals and 23 assists for a team-leading 45 points. But, in the playoffs, the team again failed to lay a glove on Ak Bars. In the summer, further reinforcements were expected. The newcomers included Nigel Dawes and Dustin Boyd and a legendary line was born.
In his second season, Bochenski scored his first hat-trick in the KHL and became the first import to get six points in a game. Previously, only Ilya Kovalchuk, Alexei Morozov, Evgeny Malkin and Albert Leshchyov managed that. Once again, he led Barys in scoring and his 59 points put him in the top three for the whole championship.
At the same time, with a new top line, Barys almost managed to get past Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the first round of the playoffs. Defeat in game seven was hard to take, but it was still the club’s best playoff performance to date. A year later there was a similar story against eventual finalist Traktor.
Bochenski remained a leader for Barys until spring 2017. In 2014 he became an alternate captain on the team. A year later, he was captain. He led the team in scoring three times and shared that honor with Dawes on a further occasion. The only time he wasn’t top scorer was when Dawes finished ahead of him.
In 2015 and 2016, Bochenski, Dawes and Boyd were recognized as the best troika in the league and won the corresponding prizes. In 2014-2015 they combined for 62 goals; the following year it was 50. In total, they had 267 goals in 298 games together. Only Metallurg’s mighty Mozyakin-Kovar-Zaripov line (320 goals in 287 games) scored more.
Such a productive line inevitably improved Barys’s results. In 2014 and 2017 the Kazakhs made it through the first round of the playoffs.
An end and a return
In 2015 Bochenski acquired Kazakh citizenship. In 2016 and 2017 he played for his new country at the World Championship. Back at a major tournament in Moscow, nine years after his World Championship debut, Bochenski was unable to keep Kazakhstan in the elite division. A year later, his second tournament ended in a failure to secure promotion. In 2017, Bochenski captained the team and was second in scoring with 7 (2+5) points.
Bochenski also featured in qualification for the 2018 Olympics. Once again, though, the team could not progress. Despite two goals in three games from Brandon, there was no ticket to PyeongChang.
July 3, 2018 signed a one-year deal with Barys after a year away
May 5, 2019 helped team Kazakhstan win World Championship Division IA and return to the elite division
July 16, 2019 announced his retirement
Dec. 1, 2019 Barys raised his jersey to the rafters of its arena in Astana
June 10, 2020 elected mayor of the American town of Grand Forks
On Feb. 16, 2017, during a game at Metallurg Novokuznetsk, Bochenski took a blow to the head. He could not continue the game and did not return to action until March 13, in time for the last two games of the playoffs. Then he went to the World Championship but soon after he announced his retirement, explaining that he wanted more time with his family. However, a year later he was back. At first he trained on his own. Then he joined the summer camp at Barys. Finally, he signed a one-year contract.
“I felt that I was in good physical shape, I realized how much I loved hockey, how much I loved to play. At the same time, I understood that I won’t always be in this condition, and my time is getting less and less. That’s when I really believed that I should still be playing.”
Bochenski in an interview with KHL.ru
By this time, Bochenski’s old partners at Barys had moved on. Boyd left in 2017, Dawes in 2018. Nonetheless, Barys took second place in the east and made it to the second round of the playoffs. Bochenski was seventh in team scoring with 34 (15+19) points. He also played as Kazakhstan hosted and won World Championship Division IA and returned to the top.
In June, Bochenski was talking about his hopes of playing for a couple more years. However, a month later he announced his retirement for the second time. This time, it was his final decision. At the time, the American forward was the third most productive import in KHL history with 444 (179+265) points in 455 games. Only Matt Ellison (458 points) and Dawes (450) scored more.
At the start of Dec. 2019, Barys marked its 20th anniversary. As part of the celebrations, the club placed the jerseys of seven key players in the rafters of its home arena. Not surprisingly, Bochenski was one of those magnificent seven. He flew in from the USA specially for the ceremony.
“Barys became my second home. I played on many teams, but I loved playing here most of all.”
Brandon Bochenski
Fact file
Brandon Bochenski
Born April 4, 1982 in Blaine (USA)
Playing career: 2001-04 – University of North Dakota; 2004-06 – Binghampton (AHL); 2005/2006 – Ottawa (NHL); 2005-07 – Chicago (NHL), Norfolk (AHL); 2006-08 – Boston (NHL); 2007/2008 – Providence (AHL), Anaheim (NHL), Nashville (NHL); 2008-10 – Tampa Bay (NHL), Norfolk (AHL); 2010-17, 2018/2019 – Barys (KHL).
