Height: 5-10
Weight: 185
Shoot: L
Born: 14 Dec 1944, Sudbury ON
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | New York | |||||||||||
| 1973-74 | New York-Jersey | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | San Diego | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
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Oh Yes, and Brian Bradley Too • by Larry Bortstein • The Hockey Spectator • January 5, 1973
The prodigious scoring of the New York Raiders' first line has been duly recorded this initial World Hockey Association season. For much of the year the combination of Ron Ward, Wayne Rivers, and Brian Bradley has been one of the highest scoring threesomes in the league — indeed, in all of big-time hockey. This, despite the fact one member of the threesome — left winger Bradley — had scored only two goals in the Raiders' first 28 games. While Ward was scoring goal after goal in the early weeks of the campaign to become the first 20-goal scorer in WHA history, and Rivers was nearing the 20-goal mark from his right wing position, Brian was acquiring another reputation. At one point during a long stretch of goalless games by Bradley, Raider Coach Camille Henry said jokingly, "If Brian fell out of a canoe, he couldn't hit the ocean." Bradley didn't worry. He never worries — about scoring goals, that is. He lets his linemates take care of those things. He has his own work to attend to. "I concentrate on backchecking and setting up those other guys," says Brian. "When you skate with Wardie and Wayne, who can fire the puck in like they do, you don't have to be a scorer. I look to get the puck into them, and when we go on defense, I'm the first one back to provide the backchecking. That's my job. That's what the club is paying me to do." Bradley, a 28-year-old native of Sudbury, Ontario, never has been a big scorer. Two years ago, with Oklahoma City in the Central League, he reached his pro high for goals in a season with 22. In 1967, during an earlier stint with Oklahoma City, Brian had 21 goals. Bradley doesn't shoot much, and his linemates have been riding him about it all season. "Wardie and Wayne have gotten on me," he admits, "and so has (defenseman) Kent Douglas. It doesn't matter to me." That's why it was so uncharacteristic for Bradley to go on what amounted to a tear — for him — just before Christmas, In one seven game stretch, Brian netted four goals to raise his season output from two to six. After failing to beat the goalie for 16 straight games, Bradley finally scored sgainst Philadelphia's Bernie Parent December 8th — New York's only score in a 3-1 defeat. Then he scored again at Ottawa December 14th as the Raiders beat the Nationals, 4-3. December 17th against Winnipeg at Madison Square Garden, Bradley scored the first goal of the game, eventually dropped by New York, 4-3. It was Brian's first goal in front of the home fans since an 8-6 victory over Ottawa October 14th. Nineteen Garden games had passed between Bradley home goals. It also was Brian's second goal of the season against Winnipeg. After a nine-game drought following his first goal of the year, Bradley scored at Winnipeg November 3rd to help New York to a 9-6 victory. His fourth goal in seven games, against Philadelphia in a 7-2 victory on the road December 19th, topped Brian's splurge — for him the equivalent of three consecutive hat tricks by Bobby Hull. While taking the early-season ribbing about his failure as a scorer good-naturedly, Bradley always suspected would have to deliver before the season got much older. "I knew the other teams would be keying on Wardie and Wayne," he says, "and it would be up to me to get some goals." Ward, who had a nine-assist week at the time Bradley was staging his hot streak, calls Bradley, "the best left winger I ever played with. He's a great passer. You always get the puck in good position. And he's a terrific backchecker. I don't see why he hasn't made it before this year." Before the Raiders gave him his first major league shot this year, Brian had spent all but 22 games of his professional hockey career in the Central League, five full seasons in Oklahoma City, one full season and part of another with Dallas. During the 1968-69 campaign, Bradley also spent 22 games with Quebec in the American League, but his lack of scoring — one goal in 22 games — hastened his departure from that club. Now Brian feels his minor league days are behind him. "I'm grateful to be here," he says. "I've been waiting for something like this for a long time." "My wife is happy here too," Bradley adds. "But even she's been after me to shoot more," he adds with a chuckle. |
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