Photo courtesy San Jose SharksCALGARY – It's a long road from a junior 'B' walk-on at the University of Calgary to the bright lights of the National Hockey League.
Nearly 13 years after his longshot tryout with the Dinos men's hockey team back in 2001, 32-year-old Bracken Kearns was back in town Thursday night, skating at the Scotiabank Saddledome, wearing number 38 for the San Jose Sharks. In his first game in the city since graduating in 2005, Kearns received more than 15 minutes of ice time as the Sharks fell 4-1 to the Calgary Flames.
It took 584 regular season games for 10 teams in three leagues over nine years for Kearns (BA '05) to get back to Calgary ice – an incredible story of hard work and perseverance for the former Dinos captain that started at Father David Bauer Arena.
After considering a career in golf growing up, Kearns turned his attention back to hockey as he and some friends made the journey to Calgary, hoping to land a spot on the Dinos men's hockey team. Kearns had spent the previous year playing for the Grandview Steelers in Burnaby, B.C. and was looking to focus his efforts on just one sport, understanding that his golf game might take a hit.
When Kearns first stepped on campus, the Dinos men's hockey team was in the midst of changes. The team was coming off a second-place finish in the west division and head coach Scott Atkinson was getting ready for his first year behind the bench. The son of former Vancouver Canuck Dennis, Kearns was one of only a handful of players to join the team as a walk-on, something rare enough in CIS hockey even with a more experienced resume.
"We had a couple of walk-ons that year," explained Kearns in a quiet Sharks dressing room at the Saddledome following the loss. "Duncan Keith, who plays for Chicago – his little brother was a walk-on as well. I was lucky to make that team. They gave me a chance. I'm thankful to Scotty and to the team for accepting me that first year."
With Kearns in Dinos colours, Calgary finished second in the four-team west division all four years, finishing behind only the Alberta Golden Bears each season. While he never earned an all-star honour or a major award, Kearns continued to get better every season, climaxing at the CIS level with a 35-point point campaign in 2004-05, when he earned the honour of wearing the 'C.'
"I feel like I have improved every year and that was a big thing for me in university," he described. "I played there for four years and I tried to get better every year and I feel like I did. For me to end up being captain that final year was huge for me and my confidence. I've tried to take the same approach to pro hockey and try to get better every year."
In 2005, Kearns graduated from the University of Calgary with a degree in economics. After considering a career in securities or insurance, the 6-foot forward decided to give the professional hockey ranks a try, beginning in Toledo, Ohio in the ECHL.
Over the next six seasons, Kearns emerged out of that league and became a strong American Hockey League player. After dressing for teams called the Storm, Admirals, Royals, IceHogs, and Rampage, Kearns earned his first trip to the NHL in 2011-12 when the Florida Panthers called up the then-30-year -old. It was through his hard work at the AHL level, though, that paved the way for his current NHL tenure with the Sharks.
Even with his journeys across the minor hockey league map, the former Dino has no problem admitting many of the things he knows about the game came from his time playing Canadian university hockey.
"[CIS] was my first serious taste of competitive hockey. I learned a lot
from how much Scotty had us prepared for each weekend. In minor-pro, you don't practice as much, but at the university level, you practice all week so you have to have good practice habits and hope they end up showing in the game.
"It was really special being a part of the team here, and being a part of the athletics. They have a great program with hockey and all the other sports. Just being part of that made you feel good. It was a blast, it was a great city and school to be in. I have so many great buddies and teammates that I played with who are just unreal guys, I just had a wonderful time."
Prior to this past month, it would have been easy to classify Kearns as a career minor-leaguer. Thursday night's game was just his 23rd career regular season NHL contest, but his 18th this season.
With injuries to the likes of Tomas Hertl, Martin Havlat, Raffi Torres and Adam Burish, Kearns was reassigned from the Sharks' AHL affiliate in Worcester, Mass., where the North Vancouver native was leading the team in scoring. In his second game of the year, Kearns registered his first NHL goal, helping to end Anaheim's 10-game win streak. He found the net in each of the next two games as well, staking his claim as an everyday NHLer.
As the Sharks look to get healthy and make another deep run into the playoffs, Kearns is keeping everything in perspective. Whether the rest of his season resides in San Jose or Worcester, this trip to Calgary will be one he will always remember.
"I'm a day-to-day player and I have to focus on practice or whatever game is at hand.
"Obviously we weren't happy with our game (tonight), but it was a dream come true to play here."
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