A softer touch: Worrell handles youngsters with kid gloves

Peter Worrell Brad Church
Peter Worrell (left) with Brad Church. All photos by Dan Hickling.

PORTLAND, Maine – Back in the day, Brad Church, coach of the Portland Junior Pirates, had himself a pretty good professional career.

A coupla games in the NHL (with Washington), a lengthy tour of the minors, following which he began his coaching path.

He had enough of a career to have known about feared enforcer Peter Worrell, and known enough not to even think about tangling with him.

Now, in a much different place and time, Church is plenty grateful that hockey games are still settled by play on the ice, not by fist-fights between the each team’s head coach.

β€œIt would be a forfeit,” said Church.

Now Church was tough enough and big enough to answer any bell when that rang.

But Worrell?

That would have been another matter.

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