Hopefuls stickhandle game of life
Centres Bradley and McGregor making a difference on issues that hit both close to home
In most ways, Matt Bradley and Ryan McGregor are very much like the 44 other players at the Maple Leafs prospects camp this week: They’re in listen-and-learn mode.
But the two juniors could provide a few lessons themselves when it comes to humanitarian efforts.
Issues such as breast cancer and mental health awareness have touched both players personally, and they’ve responded with their own efforts to support those causes.
“I think a lot of players want to help out if they can,” Bradley said Friday, as the prospects went through one last day of drills before Saturday’s camp-ending scrimmage.
“Sometimes you like to see a smile on someone’s face, and other times it’s because it strikes close to home. I’d encourage anyone to do it.”
Bradley said his breast cancer initiatives, in Medicine Hat and Regina the past three seasons, are something he “holds near and dear to my heart.” Two seasons ago while with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers, he got word from his girlfriend, Molly Ashley, that her mother Darcy had breast cancer. It hit Bradley and his girlfriend’s family hard. It also happened that Bradley had already been raising money for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
“I am dating (Molly) for eight years now and we’ve been best of friends,” said Bradley, who was the recipient of the WHL’s Eastern Conference humanitarian award for 2018.
“Darcy is like a second mother to me. She helped raise me, and when I started with the fundraising we found out she had breast cancer. She’s cancer free now.”
After a trade from the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers sent him to Regina to start last season, the centre pledged $5 of his own money for every point he scored in October, which coincided with Breast Cancer Awareness Month. He raised $85, but further campaigning took that total to $3,595 — a significant follow-up to the $565 he’d raised while in Medicine Hat the previous season.
Fundraising helped Bradley adjust to the trade and change of hockey cities that came with it.
Back home in Surrey, B.C., Bradley vis- its his mother, a vice-principal at a local school, and the two speak to students about healthy living. There are also friends at home who “suffer from addictions” that Bradley talks and listens to as part of his efforts to raise awareness about mental health.
McGregor, similarly, has been touched by mental-health issues.
A hard-working centre for the OHL’s Sting, McGregor, his teammates and the local hockey community in Sarnia were saddened when they learned Steph Shaw, a “great friend” to the team and players, took her own life two years ago.
“She was close to the players in Sarnia, her family had season tickets, and it hurt alot of people when we lost her,” McGregor said.
McGregor and his Sting teammates wore stickers on their helmets in memory of Shaw.
Since then, McGregor has frequently tweeted and retweeted posts about mental health, including mentions from Leafs coach Mike Babcock, who spoke passionately about the subject during the NHL’s awareness initiatives this past season.
McGregor will return to Sarnia, coming off a strong year and a pre-season favourite to advance deep into the playoffs again.
Bradley’s one-year contract with the American Hockey League’s Marlies kicks in this upcoming season. A development squad player with the Calder Cup champions at the end of last season, Bradley knows he’s in for a battle to get ice time with the Marlies in 201819.
“They have a championship team, so for sure, I have my work cut out for me,” Bradley said.