It takes a certain level of mental fortitude and snarl to willingly drop the gloves and trade hooks with another player on the ice.
But to leave such a bout — knuckles raw and head spinning — with a grin on your face? Well, that requires a different dose of moxie, entirely.
And yet, such has become a familiar sight for Bruins fans this season whenever Trent Frederic has both doled out and received punishment as the latest in a long line of beloved scrappers donning a black-and-gold sweater.
From the moment he first ingratiated himself to the TD Garden crowd by substituting Brandon Tanev's face for a speed bag in his NHL debut, Frederic has served as a fan favorite. Whether it be trying to bait Alex Ovechkin into a scrap, battling Tom Wilson and Brendan Lemieux or performing a re-enactment of Inception within P.K. Subban's culinary cerebrum, Frederic has already compiled a pretty lengthy highlight reel through 22 games — with the young forward currently leading the league in penalty minutes (43) after pacing the entire AHL with 148 penalty minutes in 59 games with Providence in 2019-20.
But more than the punches landed, it's the 23-year-old winger's enthusiasm that seems to resonate with a fanbase that has long embraced those more than willing to mix things up in order to give their team a spark. After all, there's plenty of big-bodied skaters in this league than can spend five minutes in the box. But few offer the same sight as Frederic does when striding to the sin bin — with either a smirk or a snarl plastered on his face.
It's a sight that Grant Frederic is all too familiar with — having often been the one responsible for etching such a visage on his younger brother's face while growing up together in St. Louis.
"What makes him so scary is that, 1, he doesn't care. He's fearless," Grant said of his brother. "And 2, once he gets hit, you punch him and it's like, 'Oh no, oh no.' Most people, you hit them pretty good and they don't want anything to do with it. He's the opposite. He wants to rip your head off after that."
Grant, three years Trent's elder, is far from surprised whenever he spots his sibling on TV getting involved in scrums or tossing out chirps between whistles. Trent's always been that type of player, with the hard-nosed forward molded from years spent following in his older brother's footsteps, and trading plenty of punches along the way.
"I think it taught him how to really compete and become a tough player," Grant said of his friendly sibling rivalry with Trent. "As you can see, he definitely doesn't like losing. I don't think anyone on that team likes losing ever. That's a good characteristic of his. He's going to compete and he's going to defend his teammates and his friends and family and whoever — that's just his DNA of who he is. "
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Every family has their competitive battles of KanJam, cornhole or lawn football, but it's a bit of a different beast entirely when it comes to the Frederic family.
Trent followed down the same path as Grant as a hockey player, with his elder brother logging two seasons in the USHL before playing D-I hockey at Miami (Ohio) for four years. But sports is deeply rooted within the Frederic clan, far beyond just hockey. Trent and Grant's older sister, K.C., played D-I volleyball at Oregon State University, while older brother Gene played D-I football at the University of Memphis. Their younger brother, Drake, plays high-school hoops.
Grant wishes there was a better story to tell as to why both he and Trent gravitated toward hockey over another sport, but the appeal was rather natural — with both brothers routinely watching Blues stalwarts like Keith Tkachuk and David Backes on TV and at games. Even before hitting the ice, both brothers regularly tussled in their backyard or driveway in mini-scrimmages. But away from the rink, the true arena — or perhaps octagon is a more apt descriptor — sat in an unfinished portion of the Frederic family home's basement, where the duo established themselves as the literal Bash Brothers of the Midwest.
Grant estimates that "thousands of hours" were logged down in their improvised venue, giving the brothers free rein to hone their skills by firing volleys of pucks or battling in one-on-one showdowns.
Even though the storied rules of sibling combat and intra-family competition often have the younger brothers and sisters drawing the short straw when it comes to getting knocked around, Trent more than held his own in battles against the elder Grant. And when Trent punched back — be it on the scoresheet or with an actual jab — Grant was more than willing to offer a retort.
"Trent was obviously a really good player, even at a young age, and he could compete with me being three years older than him," Grant said. "He was in games either beating me or keeping it close — they were back-and-forth games. .. He had some game and he didn't like losing as much as I didn't like losing.
"We'd play one on one, someone scored on each other — you might as well just drop the gloves right away. You weren't going to get an easy goal on us, that's for sure. If it was a nice move, nice shot whatever, maybe we'll be like, 'Yeah, good goal.' But if you wanted a quick goal or tried to play a little cheap or something? You're going to pay for it in our basement with us."
Those inevitable shoves or spats would usually devolve into full-blown scraps between the siblings, prompting their mother, Gaye, to give them boxing gloves and headgear for when a score needed to be settled.
"We would fight a lot. A LOT. All the time. ... It got physical," Grant said. "I mean, we’d throw punches for sure. It wasn't like tackling or anything. It was what you probably see in the NHL, obviously not as heavy of punches, but we were punching. We were lining up for sure."
Trent unfortunately found himself on the wrong side of the scorecard during plenty of heavyweight matchups — with one final battle as teenagers signaling the end of their meetings in the ring.
"I think I just caught him pretty good," Grant said. "He says I knocked him out. I guess, maybe? But I definitely caught him pretty good and after that, it scared me. I was like 'Okay, enough's enough — you're my brother, I love ya. We can't be trying to kill each other here. It's just a game downstairs in our basement, let's take it back a notch.'"
Their days of exchanging fists in their basement might have been long gone, but those hours spent fighting, scrapping, scoring and bonding in their makeshift rink helped set both Frederic brothers on a path towards even greater things on the ice.
Fair to say, all the bumps and bruises were more than worth it.
"I think that's where he learned the hard-nosed part of (the game)," Grant said of Trent developing into a tough customer on the ice. "He gives me a lot of credit, I guess I'll take it for sure. but it's him. He's tough as hell."
Here’s Trent Frederic fighting and eventually knocking out Joseph LaBate of Belleville at the end of October. LaBate, 6’5”, is a tough customer who got some good shots in. Frederic just couldn’t be contained and eventually knocked him out clean. Sheesh. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/dcq7bOZOpS
— Bruins Network (@BruinsNetwork) January 13, 2020
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Frederic has built a reputation up in the pro ranks for his toughness, but more than anything, it's Trent's competitiveness that stands out to Grant when it comes to what has helped shape him into the player he is today.
Those childhood battle royales were prime evidence of that determined drive, and that mindset followed Trent up to the high-school level, especially when both brothers met on the ice as foes at Chaminade (Grant) and De Smet (Trent). There were chirps aplenty when both players were out on the same shift, but there were no major dust-ups on the ice whenever they'd meet in a real game setting.
As for off the ice? Well, that's a bit of a different story.
"Once, we were playing each other and we drove to the game together at this rink in St. Louis and all our family and friends were there. ... We beat De Smet," Grant recalled. "We're in the same locker-room area and during the game I kind of gave him a slash in the back of the legs skating up the ice and he was pissed. And after the game, we won, obviously I'm pumped. And he's like, 'I'm not driving home with you' and refused to get in the car.
"Wouldn't drive home. Made my mom come back and get him from the rink because both parents were at the game. ... He's like 'I'm driving home with them, I'm not getting in your car.' He was like 15 or something. ... It's such a good story of him just being like, 'You want to beat me? I'm not your friend right now.' So that just shows how competitive he is."
High-school hockey would not be the only time the Frederic brothers met out on the ice. Even though Miami and Wisconsin (Trent's collegiate team) never met during Trent's two years of NCAA hockey, they did battle prior to their respective jumps to the NCAA level, with Grant and the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL battling against Trent and the U.S. National Team Development Program.
Along with taking part in a special ceremonial face-off with his younger brother ahead of one of their battles on the ice, Grant's favorite memory might have been when both he and Trent lit the lamp in one game.
"I wish I could tell you I scored a ton of goals but that did not happen," Grant, a defenseman, said. "And so that was pretty cool. He beat me and he beat us, which I hate admitting, but he did."
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Over 1,000 miles now separate Grant and Trent now that the 2021 NHL season is in full swing and Frederic is carving out a regular role in Boston, but both brothers make a habit out of keeping in touch almost daily — including regular FaceTime calls after most games.
Rather than offer commentary on the game or impart any words of wisdom, Grant often cherishes those regular calls as just a way for both siblings to catch up and stay connected — saving the hockey talk for when it's time to praise his younger brother for a great play or joke about whichever player decided to join Trent's growing list of combatants this season.
"Not in the moment, really," Trent said when asked if battling stars like Ovechkin ever leaves him doing a double-take on the ice. "Maybe like my brother or someone who calls me after the game. We kind of laughed about it, that it's Ovechkin. I think he had his jersey in his room hung up, so it's kind of funny. But you're just playing the sport hard. Doesn't matter really who it is."
Both brothers have come a long way from the one-on-one tourneys in their unfinished basement. These days, Frederic is now throwing haymakers and pestering opponents in a barn that's set to welcome back thousands of fans — many of whom are longing for a chance to finally see the St. Louis native live in action in his role as a fly in the ointment of the opposition.
Even though Frederic has excelled in his current role, Grant does hope that his younger brother isn't painted with the same broad brush that often applies to most physical wingers. After all, Frederic has been more than a brawler with Boston, drawing numerous penalties on the ice while also burying three goals in his last seven games.
Grant would be the first one to tell you that Trent has a ways to go before reaching his full potential with the Bruins, and that it'd be unwise to bet against such assertions.
After all, he's seen that competitive fire firsthand, one sparked from years of sibling rivalry — and camaraderie — forged between two brothers tied by their love of the game, and one another.
"I think what doesn't get noticed enough. ... I'm sure it does in their locker room, but maybe not by fans is that he's the nicest kid in the world off the ice," Grant said. "He cares more about his teammates and family and friends and I'm sure he has tons of messages from people. You make the NHL, you score a goal and I'm sure your phone's blowing up and I would be guaranteeing that he probably replies to everyone. I don't know if everyone does that, but that just shows who he is — he cares about everyone, whether he's met you for 20 minutes or he's known you his whole life.
"And that's something that you don't really realize because you only see him going after people. But he's a really, really good brother and great family man."
