Fist fury makes Both fan favourite

The concept that there’s no room in hockey for fighting isn’t flying in the land of the Falcons.
Brad Both will never make the major leagues, but the Barwick native’s penchant for slugging had followers of the Fresno Falcons roaring their approval during this past season in the West Coast Hockey League (WCHL).
“They had a jersey auction for charity and mine went for the highest amount,” chuckled Both from his temporary residence near Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask., where he’s spending his off-season working as a labourer at a cadet camp.
“But then, the same thing happened with the guy who was the enforcer the year before me.”
The 23-year-old left-winger spent much of his season knuckling up as the lead heavyweight for the Falcons, racking up a league-high 438 penalty minutes in 63 games to go along with 13 points.
“Our tough guy from the year before retired and people were looking to me to help out in that area,” said the 6’2”, 220-pounder, who has been with the Falcons for three seasons.
“I got a reputation after a while, and it seemed like every tough guy on the other teams wanted to fight me,” he noted. “No one told me [on the bench] to go out and fight. But the way I play, I hit everybody I can and that makes people want to fight me.”
Both and the Falcons won the WCHL title the previous season, then were hit with a slew of roster changes . They finished fourth in the six-team league this past regular season with a mark of 35-28-9.
But the champs weren’t about to surrender the crown without a struggle. They upset the first-place Idaho Steelheads in six games in the best-of-seven semi-finals, with Both’s only goal of the post-season being the winner in a 3-1 victory in game four.
“It was right there in the slot,” Both said about scoring the biggest goal of his career, which came in front of an overjoyed Falcons home crowd. “It felt great to score. It was awesome, and we sure had one loud group of fans that night.”
From there, it was on to the best-of-seven Taylor Cup final to face the San Diego Gulls. Fresno trailed 3-2 in the series heading into the final two contests in San Diego, but staved off elimination with a 6-3 win in game six.
It was not to be, though, as the Gulls re-grouped to win 3-1 in game seven to become the final WCHL champs.
“I’m not really too sure what happened,” said Both, who registered five points in 12 playoff games. “I guess with the big crowd in game seven, they had that extra step.
“But it was a pretty good season for us,” he reasoned. “We lost a lot of talent after winning the title the year before. People didn’t expect us to get that far.”
Both and the Falcons will face another year of transition on two different fronts starting this fall.
For starters, Fresno and the rest of the WCHL squads will amalgamate with the former East Coast Hockey League to form a 32-team circuit to be known simply as the ECHL.
“It’s going to give us exposure, which we don’t normally get because the WCHL isn’t seen by as many scouts,” said Both. “It will be a younger league overall than the WCHL, and it’s going to be a lot tougher to win.
“But it’s being done for the good of the league.”
The Falcons also will enter the new league with the added benefit of a new rink—the Save Mart Center—which will be christened Nov. 16 with Fresno’s regular-season home-opener.
“What can you say? It’s going to be great to have our own locker room and workout room,” Both said about the Falcons, who averaged 5,200 spectators per game this past season.
“In our old rink [Centennial Garden], we had to move out after every game. Having a new arena should make it easier to attract more players to come to Fresno.”
Both is anticipating the spirit of change will filter down to be applied to his own game—something that started to take place in the second half of the regular season.
“I’m not going to score a lot of goals, but I would like to contribute more offensively this [coming] year,” he remarked. “I had more points in the second half, and I definitely wasn’t in the box as much.
“I was getting more ice time, and your confidence grows when you get to play every shift.”
Both dreams of making the NHL, but is looking to make a more realistic move forward by targeting an invitation to training camp from an American Hockey League team.
For now, though, he’ll prepare for the grind of another Falcons season by putting his nose to the grindstone at the cadet camp—and resting his oft-used knuckles.
“They’re pretty sore after this year,” laughed Both.