Brooks Rogowski’s Unlikely Path from Michigan High School Hockey to the OHL

Around eighteen months ago, Brooks Rogowski was a high school hockey player in Michigan with his sights set on a baseball scholarship. Today, he’s a 6-foot-6 power forward for the Oshawa Generals, a Hlinka Gretzky Cup gold medalist, and a highly touted draftee for the upcoming 2026 NHL Draft.

It’s the kind of meteoric rise that seems impossible, except it happened.

“I would’ve told you that you’re crazy,” Rogowski admits when asked if he could have imagined this path. “I mean, I was just playing high school hockey in Michigan. It’s been a good and lucky circumstance, really, and I’m super thankful for it.”

But those who discovered Rogowski knew it was more than luck. It was untapped potential waiting to be unleashed.

The story begins with Maddux Rychel, then in his second year as a scout for the Oshawa Generals, going over a “Players to Watch” list for the upcoming OHL Priority Selection. While Rogowski’s name caught his attention, he didn’t think much of it initially. One day, he decided to take a trip down to check him out, and that one viewing changed everything.

“I went to one of his games and started to think that there’s something there,” Rychel recalls. “I want to say I probably took about 12 to 15 trips over to Michigan to watch him play.”

What Rychel saw was rare: a towering forward who could skate, make plays across the ice, and dominate at the high school level alongside his older brother, Cael. But convincing the Generals’ brass was another matter entirely.

“When we got to the draft, I was really pounding the table for him,” Rychel says. “The night before, we were reviewing video, and everyone was kind of questioning me, but I was dead set on it and kept pitching that if he was playing in the GTHL, he would have been a first-rounder all day long.”

Some colleagues jokingly referred to Rychel’s relentless pursuit as a “secret mission.” But Oshawa General Manager Roger Hunt trusted his scout’s conviction.

“Maddux was constantly saying that if Brooks was in the GTHL, he’d be a first-round pick,” Hunt explains. “As we were getting closer to the draft, Maddux was insistent on this kid, so we trusted him and how strongly he felt.”

When Oshawa’s second-round pick came up in the 2024 Priority Selection, they didn’t hesitate. Brooks Rogowski was selected 38th overall and was heading to the OHL.

However, Oshawa wasn’t the only team tracking Rogowski. Across the league, Saginaw Spirit assistant General Manager Brian Prout had also been tipped off about the intriguing high school prospect.

“Brian went down and watched him play and came back to me and said I think you should come watch this player,” recalls Saginaw GM Dave Drinkill. “Brooks stood out immediately because of his skating, his size and his ability to make plays all over the ice.”

Saginaw had a history of successfully drafting high school players, including Dean Loukus, who had a successful stint with the Spirit not long ago. They invited the Rogowski family to Saginaw for a game, but before, they sat them down in a boardroom, and explained everything about the OHL from the ground up, including the draft, standard player agreements – the whole operation.

“They had no idea about the OHL or what it was,” Drinkill says. “A lot was getting thrown at them at once, but we could tell that they were intrigued.”

Completely confident they’d found and secured a hidden gem, Saginaw prepared to select Rogowski on draft day. Then, to their surprise, Oshawa made their move in the second round.

“We were just shocked to find out we weren’t the only team that had eyes on him,” Drinkill admits. “It’s just funny because everything has kind of worked out in my head the way I thought it would with Brooks, but just in Oshawa and not with us.”

However, for much of his life, hockey wasn’t the plan. Baseball was. 

Athleticism runs deep in the Rogowski family. His father, Casey, was drafted by the Chicago White Sox, while his uncle Ryan was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers, with both spending time in the minor leagues. While his siblings and mother, Libby, also played high level sports. 

“I really wasn’t a hockey player. I was more of a baseball player,” Brooks explains. “I was going to play baseball or try to get a scholarship in baseball. I think a couple of months before the drafts, a couple of guys saw me and I got lucky.”

Hunt sees it differently, though. “I joke with him all the time,” he says. “Eighteen months ago, he wasn’t sure hockey was even the path, and now he’s a Hlinka gold medalist, he’s been to an OHL championship, and he’s a projected high NHL draft pick. It shows that when you stay open-minded, opportunities can come fast.”

Additionally, his multi-sport background proved invaluable. “When I was younger, I played every sport under the sun,” Rogowski says. “I think just being a multi-sport athlete has really helped me develop transferable motor skills.”

This helped Drinkill notice something else during his evaluation: a refreshing rawness to Rogowski’s game. “It was almost like he played hockey because he liked it and happened to be good at it. I don’t think he had really given it a thought that hey, there could be a career here for me.”

Following training camp with Oshawa, the decision was clear: Brooks was ready to play.

Now in his second OHL season, the 6-foot-6, 231-pound forward has recorded seven goals and 18 assists through 31 games. His blend of size, skating, and offensive ability has made him a focal point for NHL scouts.

“For NHL scouts, one of the first things you will notice is that he has been blessed with a big body, he’s a monster of a kid,” Hunt says. “He can also skate and has decent skills as well. I think for NHL teams, it’s going to be a forecast. What he is today is not what he’s going to be ultimately, and I think with the amount of noise he’s made thus far on the hockey scene, NHL teams will be licking their lips to get him into their system.”

This past summer also brought validation when Rogowski competed for and won gold with Team USA at the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, cementing his status as an elite prospect.

“He’s an incredible person who was brought up well and was surrounded by sports the whole duration of his life,” said Hunt. “He understands what it takes to be an athlete.”

Committed to Michigan State University for the 2027-28 season, Rogowski will first turn his attention to the 2026 NHL Draft, where the player once focused on a baseball future is now projected to hear his name called early.

“He’s got the makings to be a long-time professional hockey player,” Hunt says.

For Brooks Rogowski, his journey from Detroit high school rinks to the OHL, and potentially beyond, proves that sometimes the best opportunities are the ones you never saw coming.