Bruce Richardson (born June 8, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player best known for his time playing for Braehead Clan and the Nottingham Panthers in the British Elite Ice Hockey League and for the Hershey Bears in the American Hockey League. Richardson was often a favourite with fans wherever he went, due to his aggressive style of play and determination. He was the head coach of the Victoriaville Tigres in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League from 2014 to 2016 and now coach of Armada Blainville-Boisbriand in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

Bruce Richardson
Born (1977-06-08) June 8, 1977 (age 47)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 175 lb (79 kg; 12 st 7 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for QMJHL
Sherbrooke Faucons
Chicoutimi Saguenéens
AHL
Hershey Bears
Cincinnati Mighty Ducks
Milwaukee Admirals
ECHL
Chesapeake Icebreakers
Louisiana IceGators
Pensacola Ice Pilots
UHL
Quad City Mallards
Danbury Trashers
Fort Wayne Komets
IHL
Manitoba Moose
DEL
Iserlohn Roosters
CHL
Wichita Thunder
EIHL
Nottingham Panthers
Braehead Clan
Playing career 1993–2011

Playing career

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North America

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Bruce Richardson started his 18-year playing career in Quebec, with the Sherbrooke Faucons in the QMJHL. He stayed there for 3 and a half years, playing over a hundred games before moving onto the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in the same league.

Most of Richardson's time in North America was spent at the Hershey Bears in Hershey, Pennsylvania. During his first year there he was coached by Bob Hartley, who went on to become a Stanley Cup winning coach with the Colorado Avalanche in 2000-01. He is remembered fondly by the Bears fans, racking up a total of over 150 games in his two spells there, and was named their 'Unsung Hero' for the 1998-99 season. Hershey is also where Richardson met Tim Wedderburn and Jordan Krestanovich, who he became friends with and signed for the Braehead Clan in his first coaching role.

Richardson also played for the Manitoba Moose, in Winnipeg, in the final season of the now defunct IHL.

Despite not ever playing in an NHL game, Richardson did take part in the Detroit Red Wings pre-season in 2001. On September 17, 2001 in a game against the New York Rangers Richardson, wearing the number 68, had a fight with Richard Scott. Richardson also got to take to the ice in Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Rangers, an achievement which he classes as his greatest memory in hockey.[1]

Richardson had a fairly successful season in 2004-05 with the Danbury Trashers in the UHL. The Trashers came second in the Eastern Division, qualifying them for the play-offs. They saw off Adirondack Frostbite, winning 4 games to their 2 in the Quarter-Finals. They then fell to eventual play-off champions Muskegon Fury in the Semi-Finals, winning only 1 game to their 4. Richardson was the Thrashers overall top point scorer for the season, with 25 goals and 62 assists in the regular season and a further 2 goals and 6 assists in the play-offs.

During his time playing hockey in North America, Richardson played alongside many future NHL players. These included Eric Perrin, Raitis Ivanans, Jason Williams, Jordan Krestanovich and many others. It is often suggested that had Bruce been slightly bigger, he may have made it there himself.

Richardson was sometimes considered injury-prone, due to suffering some major injuries in his career. He tore a knee ligament in 2000, and a broken left eye socket in 2002. This was often attributed to the fact that Bruce played with such aggression and determination, and was willing to put his body on the line for his team.

Germany

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Richardson continued to play for many different clubs all across North America until 2005, when Richardson realised that his dream of playing in the NHL may be over. With this in mind, he took on a new challenge and joined the Iserlohn Roosters in the German Hockey League, after a major summer restructuring that saw twelve players leave the club. The Roosters signed him to lead their fourth line, which included two younger players. They wanted Richardson to help their development with his experience.

Return to North America

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Richardson returned to North America after just one season in Germany, to become a player/assistant Coach with the Fort Wayne Komets in the UHL. This was Richardson's first coaching job, which would become a passion of his in the years to come. Upon arriving at the Fort Wayne he had praise heaped on him by a former Komet, Jeff Worlton:

He's one of the nicest hockey guys I’ve ever met in my life, but he's tough as nails. He’ll do anything you need for the team. He’ll fight anybody. I’ve seen him fight guys my size. The only reason he didn’t make it to the show was because of his size.[2]

Richardson eventually helped lead the Komets to the Semi-Finals of the UHL playoffs in what could be considered a fairly successful season. In the 2007/8 season, he left Fort Wayne and moved to Wichita, Kansas, to return to a normal playing role at the Wichita Thunder. He was Wichita's top point scorer for the season, with 57. It was here that he would meet Kyle Bruce, a Canadian winger who he eventually signed for Braehead Clan in his first coaching role.

United Kingdom

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In 2008, Richardson made his second trip to Europe in his career, this time to Britain to become a player/assistant coach at the Nottingham Panthers in the Elite Ice Hockey League under Corey Neilson. He quickly became a fan favourite at the Panthers, winning the clubs 'Team Spirit Award' and was rewarded by being re-signed for a second season.[3] In the 2009-10 season he won the Challenge Cup with Nottingham. This was Richardson's first and only major career trophy. He continued to rack up personal awards too, being named Nottingham's most entertaining player of the year. He was also shortlisted for the Elite League's most entertaining player of the year award.[4]

On May 5, 2010, it was announced that Richardson was to become player/coach of the newly formed, Glasgow based Braehead Clan for their first season in Elite League Ice Hockey.[5] Richardson was given full control to build his own team, his captain being former team-mate at the Nottingham Panthers, Brendan Cook. Other ex team-mates of his Kyle Bruce, Tim Wedderburn and Jordan Krestanovic were also key members of his squad. Richardson led his team to a 5th-place finish in the Elite League, ahead of long-time established Coventry Blaze and Hull Stingrays, an impressive feat for a team in its debut season. Richardson made his fair contribution on the ice also, with 55 points, making him the Clan's 3rd top point scorer for the season. Braehead also won their first silverware, the Aladdin Cup, under Richardson. They defeated his former club, the Nottingham Panthers, in the final.[6] The fifth-place finish qualified Braehead for the play-offs and this, coupled with the Aladdin Cup win, earned Richardson the Ice Hockey Journalist's Elite League Coach of the Year Award.[7] In the play-offs, Braehead were up against the Nottingham Panthers, Richardson's old club. In the first game at home, in front of a Clan record home crowd of 2506 in Braehead Arena, Richardson scored a 3rd period goal to put the Clan into the lead 4-3, but the Panthers fought back and eventually won the game 5-4. The Panthers then cruised past Braehead in the second game 3-0, which was to be Richardson's last game in charge of the Clan.

Despite having a great connection with the fans in Glasgow, in June 2011, Bruce left the Clan to pursue a coaching career in North America.[8] In a farewell message Richardson said:

I often spoke to the fans about my goals and ambitions so most of you will know that my main goal in my career was to move up the coaching ranks. After talking to many high-end people in the world of hockey, they suggested to me that I needed to come back to North America and get my name out there. Many coaches have started their careers in this league.

Another factor which pushed me to make this decision was my family. For the last 16-years we have been moving across the world and my wife and kids have always been there to support me. When the opportunity to coach here in Canada came about, and the chance to stay in my own home without uprooting my family, I just couldn’t say no.

I hope the fans understand my decision and will respect it. I will always have Braehead in my heart, and I will always remember the fans and how they helped me over this past year.[9]

Although he never announced this as his retirement, Richardson appeared to have redirected his focus on gaining experience on becoming a successful coach.

Coaching career

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Richardson coaching from the Team Bench.

Richardson took the role of player-coach for the Braehead Clan in the 2010/11 season. It was announced on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 that he would take the role after ex-Coventry star Adam Calder apparently walked out on the Clan.[10]

After leaving the Braehead Clan as Player/Coach in 2011, he moved to Quebec to coach the Chateauguay Patriotes Midget AAA Hockey club. He made this move in the hope that he could use the Chateauguay Patriotes as a stepping stone to eventually coaching in the NHL.

On August 17, 2011, Richardson led his team to victory in his first match as coach with a 4-1 home win over Lac St-Louis.[11] This kicked off a four-game winning streak, which was followed by some very poor form in the league.[12]

Career statistics

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1993-94 Sherbrooke Faucons QMJHL 3 0 1 1 7 0 0 0 6
1994-95 Sherbrooke Faucons QMJHL 32 1 13 14 25 4 0 1 1 0
1995-96 Sherbrooke Faucons QMJHL 67 19 42 71 206 7 0 2 2 25
1996-97 Sherbrooke Faucons QMJHL 42 14 22 36 165 - - - - -
1996-97 Chicoutimi Saguenéens QMJHL 21 5 3 8 134 21 7 9 16 84
1997-98 Hershey Bears AHL 10 0 0 0 87 - - - - -
1997-98 Chesapeake Icebreakers ECHL 2 0 0 0 26 - - - - -
1997-98 Chicoutimi Saguenéens QMJHL 43 7 20 27 264 6 2 4 6 11
1998-99 Hershey Bears AHL 44 4 7 11 132 3 0 0 0 15
1998-99 Quad City Mallards UHL 16 4 7 11 75 - - - - -
1999-00 Hershey Bears AHL 17 2 2 4 61 - - - - -
1999-00 Pensacola Ice Pilots ECHL 29 7 13 20 83 3 0 2 2 8
2000-01 Hershey Bears AHL 4 0 1 1 4 - - - - -
2000-01 Louisiana IceGators ECHL 22 10 21 31 83 - - - - -
2000-01 Manitoba Moose IHL 51 8 9 17 131 12 0 2 2 26
2001-02 Cincinnati Mighty Ducks AHL 57 5 12 17 113 3 1 1 2 4
2002-03 Louisiana IceGators ECHL 40 19 42 61 131 - - - - -
2002-03 Milwaukee Admirals AHL 4 3 0 3 2 - - - - -
2002-03 Hershey Bears AHL 33 4 4 8 60 5 1 0 1 4
2003-04 Hershey Bears AHL 51 2 3 5 89 - - - - -
2003-04 Louisiana IceGators ECHL 7 1 5 6 18 9 4 5 9 11
2004-05 Danbury Trashers UHL 76 25 62 87 138 11 2 6 8 12
2005-06 Iserlohn Roosters DEL 27 0 10 10 24 - - - - -
2006-07 Fort Wayne Komets UHL 57 15 32 47 135 10 0 4 4 4
2007-08 Wichita Thunder CHL 62 16 41 57 88 - - - - -
2008-09 Nottingham Panthers EIHL 54 12 46 58 119 4 2 0 2 6
2009-10 Nottingham Panthers EIHL 51 14 28 52 107 3 1 3 4 4
2010-11 Braehead Clan EIHL 54 15 40 55 112 2 1 0 1 4

References

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  1. ^ Bruce Richardson Profile, Braehead Clan Monthly Programme, November 2010
  2. ^ "Komets Sign Bruce Richardson". Tailing the Komets. 2006-08-07.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "Bruce Richardson Will Be Back!". Nottingham Panthers. Archived from the original on 2011-12-22.
  4. ^ "Bruce In Frame For National Award". Nottingham Panthers. Archived from the original on 2012-04-26.
  5. ^ "Newcomers Braehead Clan appoint Richardson as new coach". Daily Record. 2010-05-06.
  6. ^ "Aladdin 20/20 Cup". Elite Ice Hockey League. 2011-03-12. Archived from the original on 2012-07-28.
  7. ^ "Bruce Almighty!". Braehead Clan. 2011-03-18. Archived from the original on 2012-04-01.
  8. ^ "Coach Bruce Richardson leaves Braehead Clan". BBC. 2011-06-29.
  9. ^ "BRUCE RICHARDSON SAYS A FINAL FAREWELL TO FANS". Braehead Clan. 2011-07-13. Archived from the original on 2012-04-30.
  10. ^ "Panthers' favourite Bruce Richardson is new Clan boss". thisisnottingham. 2010-05-05. Archived from the original on 2013-05-05.
  11. ^ "Box Score". Midget AAA Hockey Website. 2011-08-17.
  12. ^ "Chateauguay Results Page". Midget AAA Hockey Website. 2011-11-15. Archived from the original on 2012-04-03. Retrieved 2011-11-15.
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