Storm profile: Bracken Kearns

2/16/2006

• Position: Center

• Jersey No.: 6

• Height/Weight: 6-0, 195

• Age: 24

• Hometown: Vancouver.

• 2005-06 stats: Has collected 35 points in 38 games this season. Ranked third on the team in points with 19 goals and 16 assists. Has a plus-minus rating of plus-8. Ranked third among rookies in the ECHL in goals scored. Tied for ninth among rookies in the ECHL in points. Shot percentage of .174 is tops on the team and ranks fourth among rookies. Has scored three game-winning goals.

• Career notes: Attended the University of Calgary tallying 83 points in 136 games during a four-year career. Was team captain at Calgary as a senior (2004-05). Scored 12 goals and handed out 23 assists as a senior. Was the top-ranked golfer in Canada at age 15. Father Dennis played 10 years in the NHL for the Vancouver Canucks.

• Favorite way to spend time away from the rink: Golf. I play some guitar. I play so much golf in the summer it s ridiculous. tHockey player you admired growing up: My dad to be honest. I liked Rob Brown, who played for Pittsburgh. He s my dad s godson. He had 50 goals one year. I looked up to him.

• Favorite sport other than hockey: Golf. I m a pretty big sports fan. I like watching the playoffs in all the sports. Being an athlete, I automatically respect what those guys are doing. I like Steve Nash in basketball. He s another good Canadian boy.

• Which do you like more, golf or hockey? My dad put both a hockey stick and golf club in my hands at about the same time. I was about 3 or 4. One of the toughest things I had to do was in my late teens when I had to choose a sport. I loved them both equally. My best golf days were when I was 15 or 16.

• Favorite type of music: I like country. Country is huge where I went to school. In the prairies of Canada, country is huge. It s all American singers but for whatever reason it s huge.

• Favorite food: Italian. I like a nice bowl of pasta with chicken and cheese.

• Favorite Movie: Dumb and Dumber

• Favorite TV Show: I don t watch too much. I will watch Hockey Night in Canada.

• Do you have any superstitions? I always tie my right skate first. My dad did that and it came from my dad. It s more of a habit than a superstition.

• What was it like having a father who played in the NHL? It s pretty cool. He retired in 1981 the same year I was born. So I never saw him play. But I talk to him after every game. He tunes in on the Internet and he watches every game. He critiques every game.

• Favorite sports memory: Canada winning the Gold Medal in hockey at the last Winter Olympics. [Canadian] Mike Weir winning the Masters [in 2003].

• Do you like playing on the smaller ice at the Sports Arena? I love it. The atmosphere is unbelievable. It s tough for away teams. I think the fans have a lot to do with that.

• What is it like to make a living playing pro hockey? It s an unbelievable feeling to get up every morning and have a job where you go to the rink and skate around and have fun. It s nice to follow in my dad s footsteps.