Photo by Erin Nelson.
Brady Taylor, a freshman at Homewood High School, takes the puck down the ice guarded by Maddox Braswell during practice with the Birmingham Bulls Bantam AA 14U team at the Pelham Civic Center ice rink on Saturday, March 19, 2022.
The Birmingham Bulls U14 hockey team was the first in its program to compete in a national tournament from March 31 to April 4 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Brady Taylor, a Homewood High School freshman and captain of the team, went along for the ride.
“It’s amazing. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Taylor said. “We’re fortunate because the way to make it to nationals is by winning state. If we lived somewhere like Minnesota, it would be more difficult because they have more players.”
Eight years ago, he watched a hockey game with his parents and immediately fell in love with the game, he said. Soon after, his parents were looking for a team for him to play for while he was getting more familiar with how to play hockey, Taylor said.
After a long time of searching, his parents stumbled upon the Birmingham Bulls youth hockey program, Taylor said.
He has played with the Bulls ever since he started playing hockey, starting on the team’s recreational team, and was selected for the competitive teams two years later, he said.
He compares playing hockey to football. Taylor said the game requires the same physicality as football and gives every player equal opportunities to score.
“If you’re playing football and you want to play in a position where you get big hits, you’re going to do that, but you’re not going to score as much, where as if you’re a wide receiver or something, you’re not going to get as many hits, but you’re going to score a lot,” Taylor said. “It’s (hockey) almost like combining the two. You’re going to get a lot of physical plays, and you’re going to get a lot of goals.”
Players have to try out for a spot on a Birmingham Bulls team for their age group every season, Taylor said.
Jay Taylor, Brady’s dad, said he was honored when his son was selected to be captain of the team by head coach Alexander Taulien.
“There are lots of kids on the team that are great leaders and great players, so the coach has a lot of players that he could’ve chosen that would’ve been great captains,” Jay said. “When he made the choice to pick Brady, we were both honored and humbled by it.”
“The teams are made up of two different age groups,” Jay said. “Brady was born in 2007, so the team is made up of ‘07s and ‘08s. Last year it was ‘06s and ‘07s. Next year, when he plays on a U16 team, he’ll be one of the younger players because the team will be made up of ‘06s and ‘07s again. So chances are, the coach of his team next year will pick an ‘06 to be a captain. So next year, it’ll be less likely for him to be a captain.”
Taulien, a former professional hockey player and former player for the Birmingham Bulls, led the team this season.
“It was a great experience,” Taulien said. “I appreciate my coaches, Tim Mitchell and JD Yeaton, and all the kids for working hard. I’m very grateful for that.”
Taulien said he reminded the team that the national tournament was about having fun, first and foremost.
“I just told them to remember we’re here to have fun,” Taulien said. “The game is about fun first, and we’ve worked this hard, and we’re lucky to have the opportunity that they have. I wanted to hammer home what it meant for them to be there. We’re the first team from our program to ever go and play in nationals, and that in itself is a privilege. At 14, it’s sometimes hard to see that. We just told them, ‘Always remember how big this opportunity is. You’re representing the state of Alabama; you’re representing your hometown; you’re representing your families,’ and just told them to remember to work hard.”
Taulien said the team progressed gradually each game during the tournament, adjusting to the higher speed and skill that other teams had. There might have been some nerves during the first game, but the Bulls got more comfortable as the tournament went on, he said.
“The first game got out of hand a little, and I think there was a little bit of a wider margin, but by the last game, I think we were down 5-1 at one point, and we ended up coming back, making it 5-4 and pulling in our goalie and almost tying up the game to come out on top, but we just couldn’t pull through,” Taulien said.
Even though the team didn’t come home with a trophy, there are still lessons future teams can learn from their experience, Taulien said. Future teams would need to keep in mind that they’re competing against some of the best teams in the country, he said.
“I noticed a lot of them (teams) would go back and watch these other games, watch these other divisions because there are three divisions,” Taulien. “We’re in the division with the smaller number of kids in our state, but then you’ve got states like Illinois, the Midwest and out East that have five, 10 hockey teams within 20 minutes of each other. They get to see the high level of some of these bigger-name teams, and I think what they can take away and learn is that when they go to these tournaments, it’s going to be the very best, and they’re going to have to go against the very best every shift.”
Taylor said he’d love to play hockey after high school if given the opportunity. At press time, Taylor said he had plans to go to a hockey camp in Columbus, Georgia, a week after the national tournament, which is a popular step taken by aspiring hockey players to get noticed by hockey teams around the country.