Opponents love to chirp Taylor Makar for the name on the back of his jersey.
From his junior hockey career with the Brooks Bandits to college hockey rinks now, they’ll tell the UMass freshman “you’re only here because of your brother.” “You’re in your brother’s shadow.” Or, most simply, “you’re not as good as your brother.”
His brother is Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar, who won a Hobey Baker award at UMass and took the Minutemen to the national championship game in 2019. The former No. 4 overall pick and Calder Trophy (rookie of the year) winner is a two-time All-Star and one of the leading candidates for the Norris Award (best defenseman) this season.
“He’s had to deal with it a lot, but he’s great at dealing with it,” said Gary Makar, their father. “The whole comparison thing, we’ve got a whole thing in our family: five useless words, ‘what do other people think.’ It doesn’t matter. It’s what you think. If you look in the mirror, that’s your competition.”
So when Taylor hears the attempted digs and trash talk, he’ll look at the other guys and smile.
“They’ll chirp me and say ‘You know, you’re not as good as your brother,’ and I’ll say ‘I don’t think you are either. But not a lot of people are,’” he said. “It’s always there, but it just doesn’t really bother me.”
It’s why he had no problem following Cale’s path to Brooks and UMass (and potentially eventually Colorado, which drafted him in the seventh round this summer). Taylor is his own player at a different position – forward compared to Cale’s role on the blue line – and his own person. Taylor is listed at 6-foot-3, a full four inches taller than Cale’s listed height of 5-11, a big man with a big personality.
“They’re like complete opposites,” said UMass captain Bobby Trivigno, who played with both of them. “Cale was very reserved and quiet. T-Mac (Taylor) is definitely more of a personality, maybe because he’s the younger brother.”
Taylor overtook Cale in size after a growth spurt during his midget hockey days (around age 14 or 15). He reminds his older brother of it when they FaceTime or when they see each other.
“Taylor would always laugh like, ‘I don’t understand how he’s the best player in the world, and I beat that guy up every time I see him,’” said Ryan Papaioannou, their coach with the Brooks Bandits.
It’s a continuation of their front yard scraps in Calgary. They’d play hockey, basketball or some other sport, and the competitiveness would often boil over.
“Every day I would end up in a fight. Someone was getting mad, someone was getting hurt. I think he made me get stitches a few times. I made him cry, you know, brotherly things,” Taylor said. “We would do everything together, and that’s still how it is.”
The comparisons didn’t even really start until Taylor decided to play junior hockey at Brooks. It wasn’t predestined, either. He went through a recruiting process and decided to play for the Bandits among his options.
“It was the best program in the Alberta Junior Hockey League,” Gary Makar said. “The coaches were great, so it was an excellent development thing.”
Taylor didn’t make an immediate impact on the ice with the Bandits in the 2018-19 season. They were a veteran team with national championship aspirations that needed their young players comfortable filling roles. Sound familiar?
“You’re not going to rattle him. Him being scratched and out of the lineup, it’s not going to bother him. It’s going to make him put in more work and find other ways to create value,” Papaioannou said. “Taylor’s the center of the room. Everybody loves Taylor. If you need him to take faceoffs, if you need him to fill a water bottle, he’s just an integral part of a team.”
Brooks won the Inter-Pipeline Cup that season, and Taylor filled a larger role over his next two years as a Bandit, even as the COVID-19 pandemic altered them. His second year in 2019-20 was shut down by the pandemic’s outset, and his third (and final) faced the scheduling machinations and cancelations that all sports leagues did trying to play through a pandemic.
“He went through a process with us of learning where and when to use his puck skills and where and when to use his feet,” Papaioannou said. “He’s super competitive. There’s not a hit he’d back down from or a battle he wouldn’t want to go into.”
That edge separates Taylor from Cale perhaps more than any other factor. Cale had to learn to be elusive and avoid hits. Taylor will go through someone if necessary.
“Cale was such a mild mannered kid and player. It’s really hard to rattle Cale. Taylor can snap,” Papaioannou said. “Taylor’s not a guy you want to be on the wrong side of. He didn’t do it often, but when he decided he was gonna go over the line, he certainly knew how.”
Coaches at the next level acknowledged what Taylor can bring to a team. He committed to UMass in July of 2019 after another full recruiting process.
“I was thinking about other places, but once I saw how my brother played here, how guys on this team develop, I knew I wanted to come here,” Taylor said.
Gary warned him that the comparisons were only going to keep coming. He was going to see pictures and other reminders of Cale everywhere on campus and around the facilities. Taylor told him, “I’ll forge my own way.”
The path hasn’t always been smooth or clear. Taylor debuted as UMass’ third-line center in the season-opener against Minnesota State. He showed promise on some shifts but also served time in the penalty box.
Makar was scratched from the next game and only appeared in the lineup twice over the next month. When he did see the ice, he was sometimes UMass’ designated player to send to the penalty box when a player was ejected or the Minutemen were whistled for too many men.
“One-hundred percent just learning how to play college hockey. It’s a faster, bigger game, less time and space,” he said. “The program here and the coaches here definitely helped all of us freshmen, novice players, adapt to the game.”
He’s played in 18 of UMass’ 31 games this season but appeared in eight of the last nine. The run began in a crucial rubber match against UMass Lowell, who the Minutemen were chasing for first place in Hockey East, on Dec. 30. Makar scored his first goal of the season to tie the game at 2 – or so he thought. The tally was waived off after review.
The Makar family watched from afar – his parents Gary Makar and Laura McGregor from Calgary and Cale from Colorado. After the first goal was disallowed, Cale texted Gary: “he’s gonna get one today.” Lo and behold, with 6 minutes, 21 seconds on the clock, Taylor picked up a loose puck then beat River Hawks goalie Owen Savory through his legs to knot the game at 3 (UMass eventually won 4-3 thanks to a Scott Morrow goal in the final three minutes).
The bench erupted. A huge smile spread across Trivigno’s face.
“It sounds like his reaction was because of Taylor. Taylor is a really good kid that we’ve all been waiting for him to kind of figure it out,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said. “Taylor, although he hasn’t played a lot of minutes he’s an important part of the team. He’s a big locker room guy, got a big presence.”
CC: @Avalanche
For real this time!!!#NewMass X #Flagship 🚩 pic.twitter.com/NMdaZClK6P
— UMass Hockey (@UMassHockey) January 30, 2022
Since becoming a regular member of the lineup, Makar has eight of his 13 shots and only one of his six penalties.
“You just have to know where you’re supposed to be on the ice. The speed is a real huge asset, his energy is a big asset. I hope he just finds confidence now,” Carvel said. “I told him, ‘I don’t ever want to take you out of the lineup again.’ And that’s not up to me. It’s up to you, but let’s make sure that doesn’t happen.”
It’s happened on every team he’s been a part of so far. He’s always been either a captain or assistant captain. Sometimes that path takes filling water bottles or serving as the designated penalty box sitter.
“From a hockey perspective his day to day habits and his work ethic and the way he takes care of himself, he’s ready to be a pro. He wants to be a pro. Me looking at where he’s at in UMass’ lineup, I see it ending up the exact same way it was (at Brooks),” Papaioannou said. “He bides his time until he’s one of the key guys they need to have in every night.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.