Brady Keeper (born June 5, 1996) is a Canadian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

for the

Abbotsford Canucks The Abbotsford Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Abbotsford, British Columbia, and members of the American Hockey League (AHL). The team began play in the 2021–22 season with home games at Abbotsford Centre as the AHL affilia ...

in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

(AHL) while under contract to the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce B ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL).

Playing career

Keeper played junior hockey with the

OCN Blizzard The Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) Blizzard are a junior "A" ice hockey team from The Pas, Manitoba, Canada. They are members of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, a part of the Canadian Junior Hockey League and Hockey Canada. The team is owned b ...

of the

Manitoba Junior Hockey League The Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) is a Junior 'A' ice hockey league operating in the Canadian province of Manitoba and one of nine member leagues of the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). The MJHL consists of thirteen teams all based ...

(MJHL) from 2013 to 2017 and was named the league's Most Valuable Player for the 2016–17 season. He earned a scholarship to the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...

and played two seasons for the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

Maine Black Bears The Maine Black Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of Maine. A member of the America East Conference, the University of Maine sponsors teams in eight men's and nine women's NCAA sanctioned sports. The men's and women's ice ...

, accumulating 57 points in 73 games. Having gone

undrafted In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

into NHL, Keeper left the University of Maine to sign an entry-level contract with the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

on March 21, 2019. He made his NHL debut on March 28 against the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

. As a restricted free agent from the Panthers following the Return to Play qualifying series, Keeper was re-signed to a one-year, two-way contract on August 31, 2020. As a free agent from the Panthers after completing his third season within the organization, Keeper was signed to a two-year, $1.525 million contract with the

on July 28, 2021.

Personal life

Keeper was born and raised in

Cross Lake Cross Lake is a lake on the border of Cayuga and Onondaga Counties in New York, United States. The lake lies within the boundaries of the traditional Onondaga Indian Nation, and is reputed in local tradition to be the boyhood home of Hiawatha, ...

in northern

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

and is the first person from

Cross Lake First Nation Cross Lake First Nation ( cr, ᐱᒥᒋᑲᒫᐠ ᓃᐦᐃᖬᐑ, pimicikamâk nîhithawî, lit=Cree of the Lake that lies Athwart or ' 'Otter People') is a band of Cree First Nations people in Canada governed under the Indian Act. Its membersR.S ...

to play in the NHL.

Career statistics

Awards and honours

References

External links