Unique bonds created through billeting carry Brian & Cailin Daub to the 2025 World Juniors

As he entered Canada’s lineup for the first time at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship this past Sunday, Brampton Steelheads forward Carson Rehkopf had plenty of supporters in the stands to watch him play against Germany.

His mother Connie and father John were among the many who made the trip – along with his billets Brian and Cailin Daub – who welcomed Carson into their home during the three seasons he spent playing for the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). 

It’s an experience and connection that remains near and dear to Rehkopf’s heart.

“Billet families are one of the most underappreciated things in junior [hockey],” stated Rehkopf, who was acquired by the Brampton Steelheads in the offseason following his three years in Kitchener. “You come in at 16 [years old]. That I never lived away from home. I got super close to [Brian and Cailin]. I was there for three years and they’ve meant a lot to me. They are kind of just like second parents to me, honestly. They came to Sweden last year [for the 2024 World Juniors]. They came to my draft [in 2023]. They are just still so involved.

“Even in the exhibition [in Kitchener playing for the Steelheads], they came and brought me a goody bag like typical billets.”

If you don’t know about billets, they are essential to the success of any club in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). There are roughly 1,300 billet families across the CHL’s Member Leagues (Western Hockey League – WHL, Ontario Hockey League – OHL, & Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League – QMJHL).

With many players leaving home to play in one of the CHL’s Member Leagues, billet families provide players with a home-away-from-home in the communities where they play major junior hockey. In many instances, billets do so when players are away from their families for the first time in their lifetime.

The latter is something that Brian and Cailin Daub have become very familiar with, as they have now billeted Kitchener Rangers players in each of the last 26 seasons. Over that time, the Daubs have housed more than 30 players, including Rehkopf and current Kitchener Rangers defenceman Jakub Chromiak, all in an effort to help each of these players realize their potential in pursuit of their dream of playing professional hockey.

“We started in 1999. That was our first season. It was just a little tiny ad we saw in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record, and [Cailin and I] both saw it at different times,” recounted Brian about how he and his wife Cailin became billets. “I don’t know why we connected or why we talked about it, but I said to [Cailin]: ‘Did you see that little ad in the paper?’ And the next day, I called the Rangers office and within a couple of days, we had a teenager living in our house and eating dinner with us.

“I think it is a very special relationship with the billet because you kind of become their pseudo-parents, especially when the Mom and Dad are far away,” explained Cailin. “Even though they’re in so much contact with their parents, we’re the immediate people that help them when they’re sick, help them when things aren’t going right in certain places.

“We’re the people that kind of help them through that, and it is the best – it’s a great job.”

One of the players that the Daubs have supported is Jakub Chromiak, who is the current Rangers player that Brian and Cailin are billeting. Specifically, the Daubs welcomed Jakub into their home this past October after he was acquired by the Rangers from the Kingston Frontenacs in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. The latter presented a unique opportunity for Chromiak to get acquainted with his new billets at the Daub’s Thanksgiving dinner.

“I think it was a bit strange for him, but he was sitting around the dinner table with 15 other people, enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with us because it was his first couple of days [in Kitchener]. He sort of got a feel for the family and the dynamics and that sort of thing,” recounted Brian, who before retiring was an elementary school teacher at Smithson Public School in Kitchener.

“It was a really good experience to meet all of their family, and Cailin is a really good cook. She knows what she is doing in the kitchen and I love her food,” laughed Chromiak.

“We got him playing games and [Jakub] was right into it,” said Cailin, who is also a retired teacher having taught special education at Chicopee Hills Public School. “Those are the parts that are really meaningful when you talk about relationships. That’s also where the relationships are built. Around the kitchen table – no cell phones at the table, kitchen-table conversations – and during games.”

Speaking of games, Chromiak is also part of the reason why Brian and Cailin have journeyed to Ottawa for the 2025 World Juniors. In addition to being here to support Canadian forward Carson Rehkopf, the Daubs have also been front and centre at TD Place (the home of the Ottawa 67’s) to cheer on Jakub, who is one of three CHL players competing for Team Slovakia.

Unable to have his family attend the tournament, Chromiak’s billets Brian and Cailin have acted as a support network for him while he endeavours to help his country attain its first medal at the World Juniors in 10 years.

“It’s amazing. I met them after the game [against Kazakhtan] and they are really supportive,” said Chromiak about both Brian and Cailin. “I think that’s probably the most important thing when you’re playing in [the OHL] is to have good teammates and good billets.”

“You don’t always know what they need from you, but sometimes it’s not words, it’s just being there,” added Brian. “It’s just so that they see your face and they know that with a smile or a hug or something that’s all they need.”

“It’s just being in person,” shared Cailin about supporting Chromiak during what is his first-ever World Juniors experience. “Being down there with the kids and giving the players fist pumps before the game – there we are.”

Being present to support their boys is nothing new for the Daubs. The 2025 edition of the tournament marks the second year in a row they’ve attended the event. Last year, they traveled across the Atlantic to Gothenburg, Sweden, to cheer on not just Rehkopf but also Slovakian forward Filip Mešár, who was the other Kitchener player Brian and Cailin were billeting at the time.

The lengths the Daubs have gone to both support their players and foster a nurturing home-away-from-home for each one during their time in Kitchener has allowed them to create one-of-a-kind bonds with almost all of the players who have come through their doors.

One of these special bonds was developed with St. Louis Blues forward and Kitchener Rangers alumnus Radek Faksa. Having spent the better part of his OHL career with the Rangers between 2011-14, the Czech star spent a few years with the Daubs during his time in Kitchener. There, Brian, Cailin, and their kids Ainsley and Ben helped Faksa with his English while he developed his game on the ice, which would eventually see him get drafted by the Dallas Stars with the 13th overall pick of the 2012 NHL Draft.

The special relationship that was forged between Faksa and the Daubs is what undoubtedly prompted Radek to invite Brian on the Stars’ annual Father’s road trip back in March 2017, something that to this day still means a great deal to Brian.

“Every time somebody asks me about it, I just well up inside,” said Brian. “I was actually at a ski race up in Collingwood and [Radek] texted me and said ‘Hey Bri, are you interested in coming to dad’s weekend with me?’ I think it just kind of shattered my whole day. I was like ‘Are you kidding me? Of course!’

“One of the stops was in Washington, he and I got to go out and walk around, see the monuments, and all those sorts of special places, and just spend a little bit of time together, and that’s the thing I remember most about that trip is just the two of us hanging out.”

The Daubs have also done a fair bit of travelling thanks to the relationships they have developed not just with the players themselves, but also with their families, many of whom they have invited into their own home in Kitchener. However, in 2019, it was the Daubs’ turn to spend time in the homes of the players with whom they had bonded with. Specifically, over that summer, they traveled to Europe to visit the home countries and communities of several former Kitchener Rangers players including Patrik Andersson, Rickard Hugg, Gustav Franzen, Radek Faksa, and Cedric Schiemenz.

“It was unbelievable. I don’t know if we have just been incredibly lucky with our European families but they have welcomed us with open arms and treated us just like family every time we go over there,” stated Brian. “Living within their culture is a completely different experience.”

As the 2025 World Juniors now shift to the knockout stages, the Daubs will no doubt be rooting for both Rehkopf and Chromiak to succeed as they work towards helping their countries find the podium at the tournament. Namely, Brian and Cailin will be in attendance as Rehkopf and Canada look to punch their ticket to the semifinals when they face Czechia at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, but only after they first head over to support Chromiak and Slovakia as they aim to do the same at TD Place against Finland at 5 p.m. ET.

Their experience in Ottawa, however, will continue in part to be shaped by the family they have created through their ties to Carson and the Rehkopfs.

“[Connie Rehkopf] and [John Rehkopf] take very good care of us.” Even at this tournament, [Connie] is always texting us like ‘Come to this’,” shared Cailin.

“We’ve been very fortunate to make such great family connections and that is what it is about. That is what hockey is about. Hockey is a family.”