Bradley William Ference (born April 2, 1979) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

former 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 ...

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

who played 250 games in the

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

(NHL).

Playing career

Born in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

, Alberta, Ference played

junior hockey Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

with the

Spokane Chiefs The Spokane Chiefs are a major junior ice hockey team that plays in the Western Hockey League based out of Spokane, Washington. The team plays its home games at the Spokane Arena. Their uniforms are similar to those of the NHL's Montreal Cana ...

, and

Tri-City Americans The Tri-City Americans are a major junior ice hockey team of the Western Hockey League, based in Kennewick, Washington. The team plays its home games at Toyota Center. Every game is broadcast locally on the Tri-City Americans' flagship radio s ...

of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior ...

. Ference was drafted in the first round, 10th overall, of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft by 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 ...

. Before ever playing a game for the Canucks, Ference was traded on January 17, 1999 along with

Pavel Bure Pavel Vladimirovich Bure (russian: Па́вел Влади́мирович Буре́, ; born March 31, 1971) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player who played the right wing position. Nicknamed "the Russian Rocket" for his speed, Bu ...

, Bret Hedican and third-round selection in the

2000 NHL Entry Draft The 2000 NHL Entry Draft was the 38th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 24 and 25, 2000 at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, following the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft on June 23 for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild. T ...

(Robert Fried) to 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 in the Eastern Conference, and initially played their home g ...

for

Dave Gagner David Rene Gagner (born December 11, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and current Director of Player Development for the Orr Hockey Group player agency. Playing career Dave Gagner spent two full seasons with the OHL's B ...

Ed Jovanovski Edward Jovanovski (born June 26, 1976) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He was born in Windsor, Ontario, and is of Macedonian descent. Jovanovski played major junior ice hockey for two seasons with the Windsor Spitfi ...

, Mike Brown,

Kevin Weekes Kevin Weekes (born April 4, 1975) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played 348 games in the National Hockey League (NHL). He is now a studio analyst for NHL Networks' ''On the Fly'', '' NHL Tonight'', and ESPN's The Po ...

and a first-round selection in the

( Nathan Smith). Ference spent nearly four years in the Panthers organization before being traded to the

Phoenix Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are a professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Coyotes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and currently play at the Mull ...

on March 8, 2003 for

Darcy Hordichuk Darcy Hordichuk (born August 10, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger. He has previously played for the Vancouver Canucks, Nashville Predators, Atlanta Thrashers, Phoenix Coyotes, Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers. Playin ...

and a second-round selection in the

2003 NHL Entry Draft The 2003 NHL Entry Draft was the 41st NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee on June 21 and 22, 2003. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was selected first overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins. This wa ...

. After a year and half with the Coyotes, and the lock-out year of 2004–2005 spent in France, Ference was traded to the New Jersey Devils on November 25, 2005 for

Pascal Rheaume Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to: People and fictional characters * Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name * Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Blaise Pascal, Frenc ...

Ray Schultz Ray Schultz (born November 14, 1976) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played 45 games for the New York Islanders in the National Hockey League; recording four assists and 155 penalty minutes. Schultz was an eighth- ...

and Steven Spencer. He was on the move again at the end of the season, signing a one-year contract as an unrestricted free agent on July 26, 2006 with the

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are the third major professional ice hockey te ...

. After Ference's contract with the Flames ended he was signed by the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference, and are ...

and spent a year with their AHL affiliate, the

Grand Rapids Griffins The Grand Rapids Griffins are a professional hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and play home games at Van Andel Arena. They are the AHL affiliate to the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey Leag ...

. Ference was offered a 1-year deal from

Anyang Halla HL Anyang () is a professional ice hockey team based in Anyang in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. It is one of the founding and current members of the Asia League Ice Hockey (ALIH). Formed in 1994, it is the oldest professional ice hockey team in Sout ...

Asia League Ice Hockey Asia League Ice Hockey ( ja, アジアリーグアイスホッケー; ko, 아시아리그 아이스하키) or ALIH (AL) is an association which operates a professional ice hockey league based in East Asia, with teams from Japan, South Korea, and ...

in summer of 2008, but did not sign as his wife was pregnant. Ference retired from professional hockey in 2008, returned to Calgary, and began a new career as a

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions als ...

in 2009.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

*
Player profile at The Hockey News
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ference, Brad 1979 births Living people Ice hockey people from Alberta Albany River Rats players Calgary Flames players Sportspeople from Calgary Canadian ice hockey defencemen Florida Panthers players Grand Rapids Griffins players Louisville Panthers players HC Morzine-Avoriaz players National Hockey League first-round draft picks Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights players Phoenix Coyotes players San Antonio Rampage players Spokane Chiefs players Tri-City Americans players Vancouver Canucks draft picks Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in France