Brian Leetch

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United StatesUnited States  Brian Leetch Ice hockey player
Hockey Hall of Fame , 2009
Brian Leetch
Date of birth March 3, 1968
place of birth Corpus Christi , Texas , USA
size 183 cm
Weight 84 kg
position defender
number # 2
Shot hand Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 1986 , 1st lap, 9th position
New York Rangers
Career stations
1986-1987 Boston College
1987-2004 New York Rangers
2004 Toronto Maple Leafs
2005-2006 Boston Bruins

Brian Joseph Leetch (born March 3, 1968 in Corpus Christi , Texas ) is a retired American ice hockey player . Between 1987 and 2006 he played over 1200 games in the National Hockey League , most of them for the New York Rangers , before ending his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins . With the Rangers he established himself as one of the best defenders of his generation, so he was honored twice with the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the best defender in the league and was also the seventh defender in NHL history to reach the mark of 1000 scorer points . He also won the Stanley Cup with the "Broadway Blueshirts" in the 1994 playoffs , becoming the first American to receive the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player . In addition, he led the Rangers in which the player's shirt number 2 blocked is, in the absence of Mark Messier as captain and holds it there until today a number of franchise records .

With the US national team , Leetch won the gold medal at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and the silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics . In 2008 he was in the United States Hockey Hall of Fame selected as 2009 in the Hockey Hall of Fame .

Career

Brian Leetch in the New York Rangers jersey

At the Junior World Championship in 1985, Leetch, who was then 16 years old, stepped into the spotlight for the first time. He was playing at Avon Old Farms at the time. In the 1985/86 season, the defender scored 84 points in just 28 games. In addition to participating in the Junior World Cup in 1986, this earned him the ninth place in the NHL Entry Draft in 1986 , when the New York Rangers secured the rights to the hopeful junior defender. Leetch went to college in Boston and played there with Boston College ( NCAA ), where his father Jack had also played. After a good season and another Junior World Championship, he prepared with the American team for the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary . After a disappointing 7th place, he played 17 games for the Rangers and made a good impression with 14 points.

He played his rookie season in 1988/89 and although the expectations were already very high, he was able to exceed them all. In only 68 games he got 71 points scorer. Together with Zarley Zalapski he formed the defense in the NHL All-Rookie Team and well ahead of Trevor Linden he won the Calder Memorial Trophy . His second season was not so successful and an elbow injury ended the season prematurely. He returned strongly in his third season and was the pre-eminent defender of the NHL in the 1991/92 season . 102 scorer points earned him the James Norris Trophy .

His greatest achievement was winning the Stanley Cup in the 1993/94 season . Together with Mark Messier and Mike Richter , he was one of the key players who brought the Cup back to Broadway after more than 50 years. As the best player in the playoffs, he was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy . In 1996 he won the World Cup of Hockey with Team USA . His achievements in the 1996/97 season were outstanding . Here he was able to win the James Norris Trophy again. In 1997 he also became the captain of the Rangers. At the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano , it was again only enough for 6th place.

The 1999/2000 season was overshadowed by injuries and Leetch only managed 26 points. However, he returned strongly in the coming season and reached 79 points again. Afterwards he could no longer build on the great achievements of the 1990s. At his third Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002 , he was a pillar of the team that could win the Olympic silver medal.

On March 3, 2004, Brian Leetch was transferred to the Toronto Maple Leafs . After the completely failed 2004/05 season , Brian Leetch signed with the Boston Bruins . On October 17, 2005, he broke the sound barrier of 1000 scorer points in the NHL as the 7th defender and 69th player at all.

After he could n't find a new team for the 2006/07 season , he spent the year as an unrestricted free agent before officially ending his career on May 24, 2007.

On January 24, 2008, the New York Rangers hung their jersey number 2 as a banner on the ceiling of Madison Square Garden , which will no longer be given to any player in the franchise . He also received the Lester Patrick Trophy on November 7, 2007 for his services to ice hockey in the USA.

In 2009 he was honored with the induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame .

Career statistics

Regular season Play-offs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1983/84 Cheshire high school High school 28 52 49 101 24 - - - - -
1984/85 Avon Old Farms High school 26th 30th 46 76 15th - - - - -
1985/86 Avon Old Farms High school 28 40 44 84 18th - - - - -
1986/87 Boston College Hockey East 37 9 38 47 10
1987/88 USA hockey International 50 13 61 74 38
1987/88 New York Rangers NHL 17th 2 12 14th 0 - - - - -
1988/89 New York Rangers NHL 68 23 48 71 50 4th 3 2 5 2
1989/90 New York Rangers NHL 72 11 45 56 26th - - - - -
1990/91 New York Rangers NHL 80 16 72 88 42 6th 1 3 4th 0
1991/92 New York Rangers NHL 80 22nd 80 102 26th 13 4th 11 15th 4th
1992/93 New York Rangers NHL 36 6th 30th 36 26th - - - - -
1993/94 New York Rangers NHL 84 23 56 79 27 23 11 23 34 6th
1994/95 New York Rangers NHL 48 9 32 41 18th 10 6th 8th 14th 8th
1995/96 New York Rangers NHL 82 15th 70 85 30th 11 1 6th 7th 4th
1996/97 New York Rangers NHL 82 20th 58 78 40 15th 2 8th 10 6th
1997/98 New York Rangers NHL 76 17th 33 50 32 - - - - -
1998/99 New York Rangers NHL 82 13 42 55 42 - - - - -
1999/00 New York Rangers NHL 50 7th 19th 26th 20th - - - - -
2000/01 New York Rangers NHL 82 21st 58 79 34 - - - - -
2001/02 New York Rangers NHL 82 10 45 55 28 - - - - -
2002/03 New York Rangers NHL 51 12 18th 30th 20th - - - - -
2003/04 New York Rangers NHL 57 13 23 36 24 - - - - -
2003/04 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 15th 2 13 15th 10 13 0 8th 8th 6th
2004/05 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL not played because of lockout
2005/06 Boston Bruins NHL 61 5 27 32 36 - - - - -
High school overall 80 122 139 261 57 - - - - -
NHL overall 1205 247 781 1028 571 95 28 69 97 36

International

Represented the USA at:

year team event result Sp T V Pt SM
1985 United States June World Cup 6th place 7th 0 0 0 2
1986 United States June World Cup 3rd place, bronze 7th 1 4th 5 2
1987 United States June World Cup 4th Place 7th 1 2 3 8th
1987 United States WM 7th place 10 4th 5 9 4th
1988 United States Olympia 7th place 6th 1 5 6th 4th
1989 United States WM 6th place 10 3 4th 7th 4th
1991 United States Canada Cup 2nd place 7th 1 3 4th 2
1996 United States World cup 1st place, gold 7th 0 7th 7th 4th
1998 United States Olympia 6th place 4th 1 1 2 0
2002 United States Olympia 2nd place, silver 6th 0 5 5 0
2004 United States World cup 4th Place 5 0 1 1 6th
Juniors overall 21st 2 6th 8th 12
Men overall 55 10 31 41 24

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; 1  play-downs / relegation )

Achievements and Awards

International

  • 1996 Best Assists of the World Cup of Hockey (together with Paul Coffey )
  • 2002 silver medal at the Olympic Winter Games
  • 2002 All-Star Team of the Winter Olympics

Web links

Commons : Brian Leetch  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Leetch, Brian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leetch, Brian Joseph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH Corpus Christi , Texas , United States