CARLSBERG ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT – BRAD CUZNER

 

If there’s one thing Brad Cuzner knows, it’s how to appreciate different perspectives.

As a player, he wore the sweater of his hometown Cape Breton Eagles for two seasons – until he closed out his career with his former rivals, the Halifax Mooseheads. He’s spent several years within both the Business Development and Scouting and Recruitment sides of the game. And it’s that well-rounded background that has led him to his current role as Manager of Hockey Operations & Recruitment with the Mooseheads.

After four seasons in the ‘Q’, followed by another four at St. Francis Xavier University, where he earned his business degree, Cuzner, who currently resides in Halifax with, as he puts it, “my beautiful girlfriend and her awesome dog”, took a look around and realized rather quickly where he wanted to go next.

“I saw a lot of my friends getting into careers in sales, or finance, or as lawyers,” Cuzner recalls. Once I was out of hockey, I was pretty much looking for a way to get back in hockey.”

Although his path back to the rink did include time in a Business Development role with Labatt Breweries, Cuzner’s opportunity to return to the game was quick in developing. Following stints with the Portland Winterhawks and Val-d’Or Foreurs, the latter as a Maritime Scout, one of his former ‘Q’ clubs came calling.

“I have lifelong friends and connections here,” Cuzner says of the Halifax organization, where he held the roles of Game Day Operations Manager and Manager of Business Development before moving on to his latest role in June. “(GM) Cam (Russell) and I have stayed in touch for a long time. Brian Urquhart and Travis Kennedy are two great friends on the business side. It’s a real family vibe.”

Of course, sometimes family takes some getting used to. Remember, this is a guy who was born and raised in Glace Bay, the son of Roger Cuzner, one of the best-known Members of Parliament in recent political history and a man synonymous with Cape Breton. And let’s not forget those two seasons in Eagles’ black and gold.

“I grew up watching guys like Dean Ouellet, Chris Culligan, James Sheppard,” Cuzner recalls. “Before that, it was guys like Pascal Morency. My friends and I would go to Eagles games with our chest painted. And admittedly, it was tough when I was put on waivers (by Cape Breton in 2011). I thought as a guy who grew up worshipping the team that being a 20-year-old with them would be the coolest thing. It didn’t work out that way, of course. Coming to Halifax was a whirlwind.”

“I knew coming in (to Halifax), there were a lot of people who hated me and a lot of players who hated me, I’m sure,” he continues with a laugh. But still, I can’t say enough about both organizations. I was lucky to play in the league for three seasons and a few games in a fourth, with two great organizations.”

But playing is one thing; working off the ice is entirely different. And Cuzner is now fully aware of the many aspects to that side of the game, from both a business and a hockey operations perspective, which never would have occurred to him as a player.

“You don’t realize, as a player, how much goes into it,” he remarks. “The amount of hours and the little credit the scouting staff and management get for what they do. The training and coaching staff are here for long hours. Then, on the business side, it’s more 9 to 5 but still, you’re working game nights. There are so many aspects to game presentation. As a player, I thought we all just showed up, did a little workout, jumped on the ice and then everyone left. Obviously, that’s not how it works.”

The second part of Cuzner’s new title – recruitment – has taken on a substantially different meaning over the past two years. Where that once meant trying to find the best players in the World for your program and, especially in the case of players from the US, hoping that someday they might show up to a training camp, the most recent NCAA/CHL agreement has altered both the landscape and the expectations that come with the job. As Cuzner points out, the position is a work in progress.

“Everybody’s still trying to figure it out,” he says. “We talked so often about getting (players eligible for) the NCAA and for a long time, I don’t know if anybody in the CHL ever thought it was going to happen. It’s opened up a whole new World for us.”

It’s led to a trickle-down effect of another kind, as well.

“There’s also more players that are now slipping through the cracks in our own backyard,” Cuzner goes on to say. “There’s more opportunity elsewhere. While Cam and (Assistant GM) Allie (MacDonald) focus on U-15, I’m focused everywhere else. U18, U20, out West. If we find a player in the BCHL or the OJHL that we feel could come in and make a difference, we do it. There’s really no rhyme or reason to it right now. Trying to make sure we don’t fall behind is the main thing, but we’re trying our best to figure it all out.”

With as varied a career as Brad Cuzner has had on and off the ice, figuring things out should certainly be his strong suit.