When he was playing in the USHL, Chase Bradley of UConn got into the habit of trying to throw a big hit on his first shift of the night.
“It got me into the game,” he says.
And it still does. A couple of minutes into Friday’s game against Union, the sophomore winger unloaded on a Dutchmen defenseman.
“He put him in the third row,” said an NHL scout who was at the game.
The hits kept on coming as Bradley set up a goal and scored an empty netter to wrap up a 4-1 win.
He went back to work on Saturday when he was credited with the primary assist on a power play goal in the second period and then scored the game-winner in overtime as the Huskies improved to 4-0 with a 4-3 victory and a sweep of Union.
Bradley’s four-point weekend performance – with a dozen or so hits sprinkled in – earned him Hockey East Player of the Week honors.
The heavy game that Bradley and his teammates execute so well has become a UConn trademark over the last couple of seasons.
For my money, the Huskies were the most physical team in the league last year, when they advanced to the championship game of the Hockey East tournament before losing to UMass in overtime.
Early this season UConn has picked up where it left off, despite losing players like Jachym Kondelik, Marc Gatcomb, Jonny Evans and Vladislav Firstov to graduation or pro contracts.
Bradley and linemate Nick Capone (East Haven, Conn.) are among the most physical players in Hockey East, and there are plenty of other Huskies who are willing and able to play the body.
“(Hudson) Schandor and (Ryan) Tverberg play the same way. (Justin) Pearson (Nashua, N.H.) and (Ty) Amonte (Humarock, Mass.) play the same way. I’d like to think that’s the identity of our team. They just adhere to that identity,” said coach Mike Cavanaugh (North Andover, Mass.).
“Capone and Bradley are both heavy, heavy players but Tverberg plays heavy and Pearson plays heavy and Amonte plays heavy.”
Bradley, who is six feet tall and a solid 195 pounds, was Detroit’s seventh-round pick in 2020. Capone was selected in the sixth round by Tampa Bay in 2020. Tristan Fraser, the freshman who centers their line, is undrafted.
“We’re all three really physical players. We can break down their defensemen and stick it to them in the zone. Get puck possession in the offensive zone and also make plays on the rush. It’s not easy but we find ways to make it happen.
“Most of our goals, if not all of them, are within the house. That’s something that coach preaches, is getting to the house. I think we’re doing exactly what we need to do right now,” said Bradley, who played his first hockey at home in St. Louis before moving on to the New Jersey Colonials and then the USHL.
In addition to the physical component to his game, he showed some good hands on Saturday’s OT goal, dangling around a defender and then beating the goalie from close range.
https://twitter.com/UConnMHOC/status/1578874023613988864?s=20&t=bZg2rRpFLYvgMpyrRe_6SQ
“(Freshman) Matthew Wood needs more credit on that. He pulled both defenders his way and when he dropped it to me, that defender was all out of line. Faked the shot, made him go down on one knee, pulled it to my backhand and back to my forehand,” said Bradley.
“It was a great play,” said Cavanagh. “He has that in his game.”
Bradley committed to Northeastern in 2017, but changed to UConn in 2020 while playing in Sioux City.
“We had heard that Northeastern was going to push him off a year. It just, unfortunately, is how a lot of us are doing business these days. We’ve lost kids that way, too. When you recruit a lot of players, you don’t have room for all of them and sometimes you’ve got to push them off a year,” said Cavanagh.
“Sometimes kids will wait and other times kids will say, ‘Hey, I think I’m ready to play next year. I don’t want to wait.’ That was the case with Chase and we certainly watched him play in Sioux City and we really liked his game, so the minute we found out he was going to be pushed off a year, we recruited him.”
For his part, Bradley couldn’t be happier to be in Storrs.
“Nothing against (Northeastern), but I love it here. The coaching staff is awesome. The school is awesome. Lots of support. I love my teammates, we have a special bond here. Everyone gets along. It’s a brotherhood. It’s super exciting and I couldn’t be more thankful, honestly,” he said.
“When I decommitted, UConn was one of the first schools I talked to. It didn’t take me long, honestly. I think I was decommitted for a week, but I trusted everyone here. They brought me in with open arms. After talking to Cav, I felt this is the right place for me. I definitely fit their playing style a little bit more.”
The feedback that he’s getting from the Red Wings is “just keep playing my game. Don’t try to change it up. I have some skill but I think they like the hard, physical play. Getting to the net, doing all the little things right, being sound defensively, being a good penalty killer,” he said.
Bradley and the Huskies are off to a 4-0 start for the first time since the 1970s, when they were playing home games outdoors in Storrs. They are building momentum as they look forward to moving into their new on-campus rink in a few months and set their sights on making a championship run.
“We got a taste of it last year, couldn’t get it done, one goal away, one bounce away, as people would say. We want to get back there. I think we have the team to do it. We’ve just got to keep working toward that goal, bring it every day in practice. We’re definitely hungry,” said Bradley.
