Story submitted by Chris Blackman, St. George’s School
Naeem Bardai played for the St. George’s School Saints’ hockey teams from Grades 7-12. That was long before we joined the CSSHL. He was the captain of the Senior Varsity team in his final year at the school. More than two decades later he is still involved with hockey at St. George’s.
After graduating from Saints, Naeem’s junior hockey career involved multiple stops in both British Columbia and Alberta, spending the majority of it with the Beaverlodge Blades based just outside of Grand Prairie, AB.
Naeem then made his way to the United Kingdom, where for three seasons (2013-16), he played and captained the Oxford University Blues in the British University Ice Hockey Association. Over a total of 36 games he scored 86 goals and had 52 assists with only 16 minutes spent in the penalty box!
Outside of hockey, Naeem is a former professional cricket player. Naeem played professionally in England and Australia for a total of six seasons. A dual-citizen, Naeem has 10 caps, having represented Uganda in the ICC World Cricket League and World Cup Qualifiers, before retiring in 2017.
Naeem was our first Assistant Coach, working alongside current Vancouver Canucks Assistant Coach Jaroslav ‘Yogi’ Svejkovski when we joined the CSSHL eight seasons ago and he hasn’t missed a season since. He has coached at all levels within our program and his passion for the game is contagious.
Paul Pulver, who’s son Eli Pulver ’21 played in our program and is now at Minnesota State University, has coached alongside Naeem and offered this comment; “Naeem has been a stalwart coach in the Saints’ Hockey Program since its inception. He has strong technical knowledge and ability, but what makes him special is the way he builds an exceptional rapport with the players, and that enables them to grow and flourish in a highly positive environment. Naeem has no “bad days”, even during his own return from an injury, and has always been extremely reliable despite balancing his coaching duties with a demanding legal career.”
Naeem Bardai ’10 is one of our many dedicated coaches who are all helping our student-athletes on their way to becoming fine young men.
