Brandon Fehd has seen a bit of everything in his hockey career, and succeeded despite adversity to carve out a five year professional run thus far.
The defenseman (and sometimes forward) has fought his way from a Division III school (Northland College) to the FHL, then the SPHL, and finally has spent the past several seasons in the ECHL.
All of that before you even consider that he’s the rare professional hockey player who is an Arizona native and has a sometimes debilitating case of obsessive compulsive disorder. Through it all, he’s persevered and found his own path through the sport he loves.
In an illuminating interview with Mark Binetti of the Rapid City Rush, Fehd went into just how intense and constricting his OCD can be on his day-to-day life.
“It’s constant. I have compulsions that I go through every day,” Fehd explained. “I set three alarms every day. I’ll wake up at 6:02, to make 62. When I wake up, I’ll pray to God and meditate with Him, then go back into a minor sleep. Then I’ll set one for 7:03, for 73. That’s when I visualize my day. I treat that as a ‘snooze’ of sorts. Then it’s another alarm at 8:01, for 81. After that, I’ll get up, go through my compulsions, or twitches. When I get dressed, I put certain parts of my clothes on a certain amount of times to get to a certain number that relieves my anxiety. But if it doesn’t feel right, it has to jump to another number, which isn’t always the same.”
This numbers based repetition and anxiety translates into everything he does from brushing his teeth to tying his skates.
Brandon Fehd shown wearing this sweater in a photo attached to a game preview on social media. The burn mark on the right collarbone is clearly visible in the photo.
Despite all of that, Fehder had found himself a recurring member of the Rapid City Rush the past three seasons until 2020-2021.
Fehd was released by the Rush shortly after the beginning of the 2020-2021 season and was picked up by the Indy Fuel. After just four games in Indianapolis, the defender was let go and then signed by the Utah Grizzlies on February 19th, 2021.
From there, Fehd played in 33 games while racking up 0 goals and 5 assists and 47 penalty minutes. He wore this black “retro” jersey thoughout the 2020-2021 campaign for the Grizzlies.
These retro black Utah Grizzlies gamers are pretty slick looking. Fehd’s has decent wear for a solid black sweater.
The most notable is on the right collarbone where two large burn marks are visible. These marks have been matched to one of the few photos I was able to dig up of Brandon Fehd with the Grizzlies.
The right sleeve has multiple burns in the elbow area and below towards the wrist. There is also a one inch repair in that area. The left sleeve has a few stick marks and burns as well as a fairly large repair just below the elbow.
The front of the sweater features a retro IHL 1996 Turner Cup Championship patch and has very little visible wear. The back of the sweater is signed by Fehd and has signs of a nameplate being removed (Tanner Jago’s, which came loose with the sweater) around Fehd’s own nameplate.
The claw mark numbers on the sleeves and back are sewn down, however the claw marks and layers are all sublimated into that one layer of twill. The name is also sublimated onto the nameplate and sewn down.
Below the back numbers, the Utah Grizzlies 25th Anniversary patch is attached.
Brandon Fehd wearing this sweater for the Utah Grizzlies in another photo from the 2020-2021 season.
Fehd’s game worn jersey is one of my favorite additions to my Arizona born and/or trained players collection.
His story and pathway to the pros is unique and inspiring, as is his everyday battle with his own mental health.
Beyond that, there’s a personal connection for me.
Brandon Fehd has spent time in the offseason back home here in Arizona helping out and coaching with the same local youth hockey programs that have birthed many of these players in my collection. Fehd has even coached my own son a couple of times on skating and defensive skills, so my son is also pretty excited I got my hands on this one.
While you’d never peg him as a point producer, Fehd has carved out an existence as a gritty player who coaches rely on both defensively and occasionally as bottom six forward.
I have no clue where he’ll be in 2021-2022, but wherever he’s going to be he will be a heck of an addition.