Sports: Richards' family glad he's big catch

Richards' family glad he's big catch

Dad encouraged Brad to think beyond fishing business.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES -- The way Brad Richards remembers it, every time his father woke him at 4 a.m. to man the family's lobster boat, it was either cold, windy, raining or snowing.

Glen Richards laughed from his home in Murray Harbor on Prince Edward Island and pleaded innocent. He said he only occasionally needed Brad's help, but if his son recalled the excursions onto the Atlantic Ocean as harsh, so much the better.

Glen is a fourth-generation fisherman. He does not mind that Brad, who plays center for the Lightning, is not a fifth.

"A lot of the kids around here quit school and get into the family business," Glen said. "If he chose to do it, all right, but I wanted to push him a little bit that there were other opportunities out there, whether it be hockey or other things.

"We would be on the water and I'm sure he thought I was giving him a little extra boost. "Are you sure this is what you want to do?' I think it made him appreciate going to school and working hard."

"Not that it's a bad living but my dad didn't want me to have to do it like he did," Brad said. "That was part of my motivation growing up. It was definitely in my head I have to do good at school. I never dreamt the NHL would be something, but I had to go make sure I went to high school and got some kind of degree."

His success is no fish story.

Brad was runner-up for rookie of the year last season and set Tampa Bay rookie records for points, goals and assists. Tonight he plays in the YoungStars Game at the Staples Center.

The first major event of All-Star Weekend, the four-on-four game of three running-time periods is a showcase for the NHL's best and brightest who are 25 or younger and in their entry-level contracts.

Glen will be in the stands.

"He's going to be in the stands for whatever I do," said Brad, 21. "He got me here by pushing me in the right way not the wrong way. Anything I do that will be fun, I'll make sure he's there because he's like a big kid when he gets around this."

"It will be unbelievable," Glen said. "A lot of emotions and a lot of things go through your mind. All he did and all he sacrificed, it makes you very proud."

Brad is proud of his maritime heritage even though that heritage and its customs helped end his father's hockey career. A goaltender who played juniors and seniors, Glen left the game at 21 to take over the family business.

"There's a lot of tradition living in a small village," Glen said. "The young ones took over when the fathers retired. Brad always had it in his mind to break the tradition of a lot of the people around here. It kind of pushed him harder to make it at hockey and at school."

The Richards' boat is a 45-footer named the Brad & Paige in honor of the family's children. Paige, 18, attends the University of Prince Edward Island. In a normal May-June season, the boat hauls in up to 25,000 pounds of lobster.

Herring, tuna and scallops also are caught, but lobster provides the main income. The family operation includes Brad's mother, Delite, who helps clean the 300 traps. Each weighs about 130 pounds. Pulleys bring them to the ocean surface, then they are lifted by hand.

It is back-breaking, and that is only the beginning.

"The pain is cleaning them, getting the bait," Brad said. "There's always little sea creatures in there you have to clean out. They can poke you and give you little splinters, and the lobsters bite you. It's not glamorous."

Brad began accompanying his father when he was 8. At 11, he helped haul traps. Three years later, he was off to Athol Murray College of Notre Dame, a hockey prep school in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, where he met and roomed with future Lightning teammate Vinny Lecavalier.

Brad still gets back on the boat when he returns home during the spring. In fact, last year was the first in a while in which he did not help his father lay the traps at the beginning of the season.

His excuse: He was playing for Canada at the World Championships.

"I don't think he was too disappointed," Glen said.

Not true, Brad said.

"I miss the ocean at home. It's fun to go out there and work a couple of days. It's home. You have a special feeling when you are out there."

Whether it is good or bad depends entirely on the weather.