John (Dave) Kelso
Special to the Sun

Bodfish is not a town known for being a hotbed of hockey talent, but don't tell that to Brenden Kelso.

The Kern Valley resident is currently in his second season of Junior A hockey in Canada. Kelso spent last season playing for the Brock Bucks in the town of Beaverton Ontario.

Brenden Kelso, of Bodfish prepares to pass the puck in a recent game. Kelso is playing hockey for the Junior A, Brock Bucks in Ontario, Canada.

He was able to finish high school and then came home in order to graduate with his class.

During the off season Kelso was heavily recruited by coaches of the newly formed Bakersfield Junior Condors. The Junior Condors would be playing in the Western States Hockey League and were being coached by former Condor stars Paul Willet and Paul Rosebush, the chance to play for Willet and Rosebush as well as being close to home was all the reason Brenden needed to agree to play for Bakersfield.

The Junior Condors had a very young team made up of mostly local players with no experience playing at the junior level. The Junior Condors didn't win a lot of games but had the reputation of being one of the hardest working teams in the league.

While playing for Bakersfield, Kelso scored one goal and had eight assists.

His team from last season kept in touch and in December they asked Kelso if he would be willing to come back and help them make a run for the playoffs.

Kelso agreed and returned to Canada. In speaking with the owner he stated, “We brought in several Russian players this season they are fast, finesse players and are not used to the physical style of play here. We needed a tough defenseman that could protect our guys and score points. Brenden was our first choice.”

Kelso had an immediate impact as he scored the winning goal with 18 seconds left in overtime in only his third game back. The coach commented that he was impressed with Kelso’s ability to come in and skate with Russians as well as his poise and leadership. In the 11 games that he has played in Brenden has three goals and eight assists. His season totals are four goals and 16 assists in 42 games. The Bucks are currently preparing for the first round of playoffs and are looking forward to a run to the cup.

Kelso is living in the town of Bolsover (just outside of Lindsay), Ontario. He lives with a family and one of his teammates.

Kelso says that Bolsover is a really small town and that there isn't a whole lot to do. His day consists of doing his online course work, going to the gym and playing hockey.

Recently though Kelso had the chance to something that not all people get to do. Kelso along with a couple of teammates (Ivan Liska, Russia, Matius Duris, Slovakia and John Ambrose, Maine) made the drive to Ottawa, where they skated on the frozen canal that runs through the city.

Kelso said that it is about 8 km up and back and that they had good time just relaxing and having fun.

Kelso says that being able to live in Canada and play hockey has been an awesome experience. He has made friends from all over the world, such as Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, New Zealand and Japan.

He says that playing hockey has allowed him to travel to places and see things that most of us can only dream of.