Bradley Horner sneakily pursuing important role with 67’s
Bradley Horner is as humble as anyone in hockey.
After a breakout second half of the 2023-24 season, which saw him make the move to forward, scoring six goals and 15 points, and another five points in 10 playoff games, Horner returned to a quiet life in Vankleek Hill over the summer.
During the day, he worked for his father, primarily putting his welding skills to work in a myriad of different techniques, scenarios, and applications.
“My father has been running his business for about 20 years now,” Horner explained. “I learned from him and his guys, they’ve gotten me into the trade a little bit. It’s not repetitive stuff, it’s always something different, so you might be in the industrial plants, you might be doing some fabrication work in the shop, it varies every day.”
His time on the job site wrapped up around 3:30 every day, leaving limited time for the 19-year-old to focus on hockey. For many, that might be a difficult hurdle to navigation, but for Horner, his evenings became known as “go time,” packing in as much as he could into a few short hours.
“I’d go home, grab a quick bite to eat, and maybe a 15 to 30-minute nap,” Horner said. “When I woke up, I’d go do what I needed to do in the gym and be back in bed by 7:30.”
Lining up as a defenceman to start last season, Horner found it difficult to see regular ice time, and never found his groove. With the 67’s missing bodies, he got an opportunity up front, and took advantage, which he now believes was a second lease on OHL life.
“The coaches really liked me up there,” Horner said. “We had a really good defensive core, and coming back from that injury, it was really hard to get back into it, but I think I found my niche on forward.”
From talking to Horner, you’d never guess that he found any level of success a season ago – he’s keen to downplay much of it – but you can easily pick up on his passion for hockey, even through his short, to-the-point answers.
He’s the first to admit that there’s still a lot to learn, he still doesn’t have a full season at forward under his belt, and had never played anything but defence in his minor hockey career. To reach the heights Horner believes he’s capable of, the recipe is simple.
“I need to buy in,” Horner explained. “I still need to sharpen my skills, become more than just a dump-and-chase kind of guy, and get a little smarter with the puck. Obviously, I need to do my job, and that’s to lay body, backcheck, and do whatever else I’m asked to do.”
Despite the big change in the style of game he now plays, not too much in the offseason needed to be tweaked.
“Maybe it’s a few more sprints and little less transition work,” Horner detailed. “I still think skating backwards gives me a little more flexibility compared to other forwards, so that’s a little bit of an advantage for me.”
If there was anything to change in the past four months, it was in the six inches between Horner’s ears. The luxury of video study was at his fingertips all offseason long, which he took advantage of to understand his position more intimately.
“I learned a lot,” Horner said. “It helps watching film, because sometimes, I’ve been a little hesitant and unsure of what to do having never played forward before, but I’ve been learning and growing by watching film.”
Horner says there is no extra pressure this season, which makes sense considering his relatively laid-back personality, but what he acknowledges awaits him is an opportunity to be seized.
“It’s an open door,” Horner said. “I’m just going to try my hardest out there and see where it takes me, honestly.”
If he can kick that door down, there’s the chance of an NHL opportunity waiting behind it, but it’s not top-of-mind right now.
“Every kid that’s in the OHL is looking for that opportunity,” Horner said. “I just have to be patient, and work my butt off, and if it works out, then it works out, but if not, I know that I tried my best.”
