Dylan Bradbury, blind hockey player, helps team win silver at national tourney

A blind hockey player from Shearstown has received top praise this week from team members, coaching staff and his hometown.

Dylan Bradbury, 16, was the only person from this province to take part in the 2015 Courage Cup, held recently at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

Bradbury scored the only goal during the gold medal game that was played on Sunday, helping Team Atlantic walk away the silver winners.

Invited to blind hockey school

When he was about seven years of age, Bradbury's mother said the family noticed a change in Dylan's vision, and he was diagnosed later with optic atrophy.

He has a visual acuity of 20/400 in one eye and 20/300 in his other eye, meaning he can see only at 20 and 30 feet what a person with normal vision can see at 400 feet.

"You would never tell, but his vision is pretty bad," said mom Amanda Bradbury.

Dylan's father Jason said it's hard to believe that players like Dylan have vision problems.

"I'm telling you, if you never knew that those players on the ice had something wrong with their vision, it would be hard to tell them apart from other players who have full vision," he said.

Dylan, who attends Ascension Collegiate, played midget and bantam hockey with the Bay Arena for years, but had to stop at midget in the last 12 months, as the level of play surpassed his ability to see. 

A few months later, the CNIB invited him to an information session in St. John's, where he learned of a training camp for blind hockey players.

By August 2014, he was training in Vancouver at a blind hockey school.

Bradbury was then asked to play with Team Atlantic in the recent Courage Canada tournament. 

Maple Leaf Gardens  

The Courage Cup was played last weekend at Maple Leaf Gardens — so for a Leafs fan like Dylan Bradbury it was a thrilling experience.

Amanda Bradbury told the St. John's Morning Show she was incredibly proud to watch Dylan play at the gardens.

"Oh it's emotional first, when you first watch it. But then you know what, after a little while it's like watching any other hockey game," she said.

"But it's a little bit different from the Bay Arena.".

Dylan Bradbury said there are a number of differences in playing blind hockey as opposed to playing a regular hockey game.

He said players follow the sound of the puck.

"There are two kinds of pucks, so your hearing has to be really good," he said.

On faceoffs, players have to shoot the puck to the other end of ice, so blind players can hear where the puck is sliding to, and then chase it. A goalie relies on hearing the puck on ice, but also while it travels through air.

Bradbury added that the top half of the net is blocked off, so only low pucks can get in — and there are no slap shots.

Dylan and his mother stayed with relatives in Cambridge, Ont. while they attended the tourney — however Dylan told CBC he would like to stay in that province, where he can keep playing hockey.

He said he's looking at getting involved with the CNIB's training camp again this year — and hopefully play in the 2016 Courage Cup.

The family was scheduled to return to Shearstown by the end of this week.