NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Brady Fleurent is back on the ice. After missing the final two games of December with a lower body ailment, Fleurent is leading the Admirals once again, making his return last Friday.
"It was good," the veteran said of his recovery. "Got to heal up, had Christmas with family. I think that helped with the mind. Sometimes when you're hurt, it's just mental, too."
Fleurent wasted no time getting back into the swing of things. He tallied a goal and four assists during Norfolk's two wins over Reading at Scope and hit the 100 career assist milestone in the process. He doesn't pay too much attention to those numbers, pointing out he didn't know of his achievement until it was announced, but it's quite a career accomplishment.
"I just kind of go play and don't really think about it, but it's definitely cool to look back on to see from day one when I was young 20's to now, I'm 31, to kind of just see that all put together," Fleurent said.
"He's always gotten points," head coach Jeff Carr added. "Now he's pretty healthy and what does he do when he's healthy? It's five points on the weekend, so he's right back to being the Brady Fleurent we know and we need him to be really good the rest of the way."
As the team navigates through the season, hockey is not Fleurent's only priority. His life took a turn for the best in February of 2024, when he and his wife welcomed their firstborn son, Beau. All of a sudden, he was a father in addition to being a forward.
"It's life-changing for sure," he smiled. "It's the best thing ever. Juggling the two can be tough at times, for sure, especially when we're on longer road trips."
Fleurent also credits his wife, whom he calls a rock, and says that he wouldn't change a thing, despite the occasional sleepless night.
The past two years have seen the veteran scoring threat find a balance between fatherhood and hockey. Having Beau in his life has given him a different outlook on many things, including the game he loves, knowing that his son is watching him.
"You just realize that it's more than hockey and it's just a game," Fleurent remarked. "When you play that way, I play more free knowing that. I play better, knowing that I play my hardest every shift because he's watching."
"Having his first son really spring-boarded him into a banner year, obviously the best year of his life," Carr said. "I'm sure he wants to make his family proud."
While he's learning to balance everything on his plate, he's also used hockey to help him as a dad.
"Just trying to be a role model out there, doing the right things at the right time," he noted. "Then you try to do the right things in front of your kids as well. They learn from you and they watch you."
Now Fleurent hopes to lead the Admirals in a climb up the standings. Norfolk enters the week near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, but with more than half the schedule still ahead, there's plenty of time to skate to the top.
"We're two, three good weekends away from right back, it's not even in the hunt," Carr pointed out. "Then you can start chasing people down mentality and then you really control your own destiny by playing a lot of the in-division teams."
"We're playing until April," said Fleurent. "There's a lot of games, a lot of hockey to be played where you can catch up pretty easily."
The Admirals are back in action Friday at Adirondack, with faceoff set for 7 p.m.
