BY MATT MACKINDER
Clarkston News Editor

Brendan Walk averaged better than a point per game as a senior on the Clarkston hockey team in 2018-19, compiling 33 points in 24 games that season.
He parlayed that season into an opportunity to play junior hockey with the United States Premier Hockey League’s Hudson (Wis.) Havoc the past two seasons, collecting 82 points over 68 games combined.
This season, his final season of junior hockey eligibility, the 20-year-old Walk made the move to the new Cincinnati Jr. Cyclones team and has been on fire offensively, going for 12 goals and 41 points so far in just 24 games. He’s currently second in team scoring begind captain Drake Barnish, who leads the USPHL in scoring with 68 points, and is tied for 11thoverall in the USPHL, a league that stretches from West Coast to East Coast and even into Florida and Maine.
“The opportunity to play in Cincinnati came up through Jim Mitchell,” Walk said. “He helped run my previous team in Hudson and asked me and a few other players on my Hudson team to come to Cincinnati. The season so far is going well. We are starting to play some good hockey, and I see a lot of chemistry being formed in the room.
“The last two seasons have been good, for the most part. Missing most of last year due to injury, I learned a lot of valuable life lessons that I am very grateful for. Living away from home isn’t always the easiest, but in both Cincinnati and in Hudson last year, I had a really good support system that made the move extremely comfortable.”
Back on November 24, Walk was named the USPHL Premier Great Lakes Division Forward of the Week after a stellar showing in the Boston area during the league’s Islanders Hockey Club Showcase event.
Walk earned two goals, including the game-winner, and an assist against the Philadelphia Hockey Club. He also had two assists against the Rum River Mallards and two goals and four assists for six points against the Dells Ducks.
“I would say my game has developed a lot playing in the USPHL,” said Walk, who attended Bailey Lake Elementary. “The style of play is a lot different than youth hockey and adjusting to the junior level, I believe, has helped me form a more complete game.”
Just prior to the start of the 2021-22 season, Walk was named an alternate captain for the Jr. Cyclones.
“I was very honored about being named a captain in Cincinnati,” Walk said. “To be able to lead and create a culture in a new program has been a very fun task for me and the other leaders on my team to have obtained. We have a great group of guys, and the season has been very successful so far.
“Our expectation as an expansion team is to hold a winning a record and take a run at the first spot in our division. We have a good mix of veterans and rookies on our team, and I believe we will be a very complete team by the time playoffs rolls around.”
As of this past weekend, Cincinnati was 15-12-0, good for fourth place in the Great Lakes Division and just two points behind the third-place Columbus Mavericks.
The Toledo Cherokee sit in second place, while the Mount Clemens-based powerhouse Metro Jets are running away with the division with a 22-1-0 record after starting the season with 20 straight victories.
Enjoying his last ride in junior hockey, Walk is aspiring to take his game to the next rung of the hockey advancement ladder in 2022-23.
“My goal in hockey is to be able to play at the NCAA level,” said Walk. “This being my last year of juniors has had a different feel to the season, and I have been enjoying all of the moments this season has inspired.”

PHOTO: Brendan Walk has been among the top scorers in the USPHL this season playing for the Cincinnati Jr. Cyclones. Photo provided by Jilleen Hays