Estero’s Gavin Brindley and Seamus Casey win gold at World Junior Championships

A championship celebration years in the making for Gavin Brindley and Seamus Casey. Two friends from Estero now with gold medals around their neck after winning the World Junior Ice Hockey Championship with Team USA in Sweden.

“Being able to do that and just know you’re the last team standing in the world and you’re the absolute best,” Brindley said. “No one is ever going to take that away from you.”

“It’s been a dream like forever,” Casey explained. “To finally have it is I don’t know. I have that gold medal forever and I’ll never forget it.”

The journey to a world championship started when the two met as young kids growing up in Estero. The foundation for their friendship: hockey.

“One day I saw Seamus outside with a net and a stick and I’m like what’s this kid doing playing hockey? I’m the only hockey player that I know right now,” Brindley recalled meeting Casey for the first time.

The two became instant friends and made Hertz Arena their second home. The place where their games were formed.

“We would do four stick and pucks in a row,” Brindley recalled. And be on the ice for four hours together. And not think anything of it. I mean so much energy when you’re that age. Why not use it on the ice and have fun?

“They used to make jokes that me and Gavin had a room in the back we would just sleep there,” Casey said.

The win was extra special for Brindley, who lost his grandfather before the tournament. Moments after the final game, he called his grandma on FaceTime with several of his uncles, aunts and cousins in the background.

“I was on the ice like showing them around with the trophy and the medal,” Brindley said.

“It was definitely a crazy moment knowing that grandpa was above watching me and helping us win was even cooler,” Brindley added.