I spent my formative years in Nepean (now part of Ottawa) with my relatives and we lived next door to Fred Brathwaite‘s family. By the time I moved to Nepean, Fred was already an OHL player, so I only saw him occasionally during the summers. Even though I’d followed the NHL back then, it didn’t quite register with me that my next door neighbour was an NHL player by the time I graduated high school. He was such a laid back and easy going guy, just a nice neighbour with a beemer 🙂 that I didn’t even think about asking for autographs (I’m not an autograph type anyways). His hockey career has taken him all over, from the OHL, to Edmonton and other NHL teams and their AHL and IHL affliates, to Russia, and now to Germany. Great to hear that he’s doing well, leading the DEL in save percentage, awesome! 😀 (My cousin claims to have raised Fred’s skill level through their road hockey days 😛 )
Hockey Night in Europe: Fred Brathwaite, at Home Abroad
That’s where we pick up Brathwaite’s story again, standing between the Mannheim pipes when the second-place Düsseldorf MetroStars come to town:
Then came the 2004-05 N.H.L. lockout, and Brathwaite made his way to Ak Bars Kazan in what was then the Russian Superliga. But unlike most N.H.L.’ers, Brathwaite stayed on after the lockout ended, and in 2006 he manned the nets for 11 playoff games as Ak Bars won the Russian championship. After stints with the Chicago Wolves in the A.H.L. and Avangard Omsk in Russia, he moved to the German DEL this year to play for one of its most prominent teams, Adler Mannheim.
Fred Brathwaite spent 11 years in the N.H.L. as a backup goalie in Edmonton, Calgary, St. Louis and even Columbus, with a fair chunk of time in the minor leagues as well. In all that time, he played just three playoff games.Adler Mannheim 4-0 DEG Metro Stars. A 47-save shutout by Fred Brathwaite blunts the Metros’ drive for first. It’s the fifth shutout of the season for the 35-year-old Ottawan, who leads the DEL with a .936 save percentage. Summary
Japan, Hockey, Baseball, etc. 