Allowing five goals in two periods of play is not normally the sign of a promising new ice hockey goaltender, but although that was Kenneth “Ken” Broderick’s experience in the only game that he played during his first season with Toronto Marlboros of the Junior Ontario Hockey Association in 1958-1959, he went on to have a long and successful career in the sport. He left the Marlboros in 1961 to play one final season as a junior with the Metro Toronto Junior Hockey League’s Brampton 7-Ups prior to enrolling at the University of British Columbia and suiting up for one year with their hockey team, the Thunderbirds. In 1963 he decided instead to play with the Canadian men’s national ice hockey team, which had been founded that year, and accompanied them to the 1964 Winter Olympics. He minded the net for seven matches, but went home without a medal after the team lost to the Soviet Union in the final and the tiebreaking rules relegated them to fourth place. The rules for the World Championships were different, however, and Canada is credited with World Championship bronze that season. He played exclusively for Team Canada until 1968, with the exception of several games for the Vancouver Canucks of the Western Hockey League and the Hull Nationals of the Quebec Senior Hockey League, and collected bronze medals from the 1966 and 1967 World Championships, as well as the 1968 Winter Olympics. At the latter tournament he minded the net for five games and was named the best goaltender of the event.
The Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League picked up Broderick in 1967, but they sold him to the league’s Minnesota North Stars that year and, after some time with the Western Hockey League’s Phoenix Roadrunners and the Central Professional Hockey League from 1968 through 1970, he suited up for his first NHL games with the team during the 1969-1970 season. After only seven games, however, he was back in Canada with the Senior Ontario’s Hockey League’s Oakville Oaks and Galt Hornets. His next stop was two years with the San Diego Gulls of the Western Hockey League and, in 1973, he won the Leading Goaltender Award and the Leader Cup as league MVP. His success paved the way for a busy 1973-1974 season, as he played with the Gulls, the Boston Bruins of the NHL, and the Boston Braves of the American Hockey League. The following season was no less busy, split between the Bruins, the Rochester Americans of the AHL, and the Binghamton Dusters of the short-lived North American Hockey League. It would be his last stint in the NHL, as he spent the following year with the Americans and, from 1976 until his 1978 retirement, he was signed with the Edmonton Oilers and the Quebec Nordiques when they were part of the Western Hockey Association. Later Broderick spent his time volunteering for charitable organizations and remained athletically active by playing golf. His older brother Len was also a goaltender and played one game in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens.
Canada