Normand Rochefort

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CanadaCanada  Normand Rochefort Ice hockey player
Date of birth January 28, 1961
place of birth Québec City , Québec , Canada
size 188 cm
Weight 100 kg
position defender
number # 5
Shot hand Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 1980 , 2nd lap, 24th position
Nordiques de Québec
Career stations
1977-1979 Draveurs de Trois-Rivières
1979-1980 Remparts de Quebec
1980-1988 Nordiques de Québec
1988-1992 New York Rangers
1992-1993 Polar bears Berlin
1993-1994 Atlanta Knights
1994-1995 Denver Grizzlies
1995-1996 San Francisco Spiders
1996-1998 Kansas City Blades
2002-2003 Muskegon Fury
Promutuel de Rivière-du-Loup
2003-2004 Garaga de Saint-Georges
2004-2005 Jacksonville Barracudas

Normand "Norm" Rochefort (born January 28, 1961 in Québec City , Québec ) is a former Canadian ice hockey player who played 667 games for the Nordiques de Québec , New York Rangers between 1977 and 1998 and 2002 and 2004, among other things and Tampa Bay Lightning played in the National Hockey League (NHL) on the position of defender . Rochefort, who was considered one of the best and most versatile defenders in the NHL in the mid-1980s, celebrated his greatest career success in the jersey of the Canadian national team when he won the Canada Cup in 1987 . His uncle Léon Rochefort was also a professional ice hockey player in the NHL.

Career

Rochefort spent his junior years between 1977 and 1980 in the Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec (LHJMQ). There the defender initially played two extremely successful years with the Draveurs de Trois-Rivières , with whom he won the Coupe du Président , the league's championship trophy , in both seasons . Thus, the team was also represented in the prestigious Memorial Cup in both years . Rochefort already knew how to convince in his rookie year and scored 46 points , which earned him the Recrue de l'année award , the best newcomer in the league. He shared this title with Denis Savard . After another good season, in which he had increased to 74 points, he went on the ice in his third year, initially as a player in the draveurs. However, he was transferred to the Remparts de Québec within the league in November 1979 , where he ended the 1979/80 season. As compensation, the Remparts had given two players and a first-round draft pick to Trois-Rivières. To the surprise of many, Rochefort was finally selected in the NHL Entry Draft 1980 in the second round in 24th position by the Nordiques de Québec from the National Hockey League (NHL), who thus secured the services of the local talent.

At the beginning of the 1980/81 season, the defender was still in the Remparts squad before he was finally ordered to the Nordiques in the NHL in early November 1980 after nine missions. There it quickly became apparent that Québec had succeeded in the previous draft, because Rochefort developed - after the usual initial problems of a rookie defender - into a solid player on the defensive, who from his second year in the league always a positive plus / Minus balance. In addition, the versatile defensive player also always contributed a certain amount on the offensive and achieved - if largely injury-free - around 25 points per season. Nevertheless, longer downtimes were always part of Rochefort's vita. Among other things, he missed large parts of the 1985/86 and 1987/88 seasons due to problems in his right knee. The persistent injury turned out to be particularly bitter from the beginning of the game year 1987/88 after he finally received national recognition for his achievements as a result of his appearances at the Canada Cup 1987 . His susceptibility to injury and differences with the management of the Nordiques finally led in August 1988 to the fact that he was transferred to the New York Rangers together with Jason Lafrenière . The Rangers gave Bruce Bell , Jari Grönstrand and Walt Poddubny three players and a four-round vote in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft as compensation.

In the service of the New York Rangers, the French-Canadian could not put his injury problems aside. In the early stages of the 1988/89 season he injured himself three times on his already damaged right knee and only made eleven appearances this season. This misery continued the following year, requiring extensive right knee repair surgery. Further injuries ultimately meant that the defender played only 122 games for the Broadway Blueshirts over a period of four seasons up to spring 1992, including the playoffs . After the 1991/92 season , his contract was not extended by the Rangers and Rochefort did not find a new employer in the NHL.

He therefore moved to the Eisbären Berlin from the ice hockey Bundesliga for the 1992/93 season . The Bundesliga promoted from East Berlin had thus achieved a real transfer coup. The defensive player completed 17 games for the polar bears during the season and scored six times before returning to North America. There he had the beginning of September 1993 set up a sample contract with the expansion - Franchise Tampa Bay Lightning obtained from the NHL. At the end of the month he was finally signed on. However, after six appearances at the start of the season, it quickly became apparent that he no longer had a future in the NHL. Therefore, the defender was transferred to the Atlanta Knights farm team in the International Hockey League (IHL), with which he was able to celebrate winning the Turner Cup at the end of the season. He repeated this success in the following game year with his new team Denver Grizzlies . In the following years Rochefort remained in the IHL and played there in the 1995/96 season for the San Francisco Spiders , then two years until the summer of 1998 for the Kansas City Blades , before he ended his active career at the age of 37 .

After a four-year break, the Canadian returned from retirement for the 2002/03 season - now at the age of 41. He then went on the ice for some matches for the Muskegon Fury in the United Hockey League (UHL) and mainly the Promutuel de Rivière-du-Loup in the Ligue de hockey semi-professionnelle du Québec (LHSPQ). The 2003/04 season he spent with their league rivals Garaga de Saint-Georges-de-Beauce in the now Ligue de hockey senior majeur du Québec (LHSMQ) named league. Finally, he ended his career in the 2004/05 season with the Jacksonville Barracudas in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL), where he played for a few games together with his son.

International

At the international level, Rochefort was used in two competitions. On the one hand, he represented the National Hockey League as part of the so-called Rendez-vous '87 against the national team of the USSR and a few months later he played in the jersey of the Canadian national team at the Canada Cup 1987 .

As part of the Rendez-vous '87, Rochefort was used in one of the two games in the series. At the Canada Cup he was a regular player and played nine games. He scored his only goal in the meantime 1-0 in the second final game against the USSR. In addition, he prepared two more goals in the course of the tournament and won the gold medal with the Canadians at the end of the tournament, which was also the greatest success of his career.

Achievements and Awards

International

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1977/78 Draveurs de Trois-Rivières LHJMQ 72 9 37 46 36 13 3 8th 11 36
1978 Draveurs de Trois-Rivières Memorial Cup - - - - - 3 0 1 1 2
1978/79 Draveurs de Trois-Rivières LHJMQ 72 17th 57 74 30th 13 3 11 14th 17th
1979 Draveurs de Trois-Rivières Memorial Cup - - - - - 4th 0 2 2 6th
1979/80 Draveurs de Trois-Rivières LHJMQ 20th 5 25th 30th 22nd - - - - -
1979/80 Remparts de Quebec LHJMQ 52 8th 39 47 68 5 1 3 4th 8th
1980/81 Remparts de Quebec LHJMQ 9 2 6th 8th 14th - - - - -
1980/81 Nordiques de Québec NHL 56 3 7th 10 51 5 0 0 0 4th
1981/82 Nordiques de Québec NHL 72 4th 14th 18th 115 16 0 2 2 10
1982/83 Nordiques de Québec NHL 62 6th 17th 23 40 1 0 0 0 2
1983/84 Nordiques de Québec NHL 75 2 22nd 24 47 6th 1 0 1 6th
1984/85 Nordiques de Québec NHL 73 3 21st 24 74 18th 2 1 3 8th
1985/86 Nordiques de Québec NHL 26th 5 4th 9 30th - - - - -
1986/87 Nordiques de Québec NHL 70 6th 9 15th 46 13 2 1 3 26th
1987/88 Nordiques de Québec NHL 46 3 10 13 49 - - - - -
1988/89 New York Rangers NHL 11 1 5 6th 18th - - - - -
1989/90 New York Rangers NHL 31 3 1 4th 24 10 2 1 3 26th
1989/90 Flint Spirits IHL 7th 3 2 5 4th - - - - -
1990/91 New York Rangers NHL 44 3 7th 10 35 - - - - -
1991/92 New York Rangers NHL 26th 0 2 2 31 - - - - -
1992/93 Polar bears Berlin Bundesliga 17th 4th 2 6th 21st - - - - -
1993/94 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 6th 0 0 0 10 - - - - -
1993/94 Atlanta Knights IHL 65 5 7th 12 43 13 0 2 2 6th
1994/95 Denver Grizzlies IHL 77 4th 13 17th 46 17th 1 4th 5 12
1995/96 San Francisco Spiders IHL 77 3 12 15th 45 4th 0 0 0 2
1996/97 Kansas City Blades IHL 77 7th 14th 21st 28 3 1 0 1 2
1997/98 Kansas City Blades IHL 52 1 3 4th 48 11 1 2 3 8th
1998/99 without a contract not played after resignation
1999/00 without a contract not played after resignation
2000/01 without a contract not played after resignation
2001/02 without a contract not played after resignation
2002/03 Muskegon Fury UHL 7th 0 0 0 16 8th 0 0 0 2
2002/03 Promutuel de Rivière-du-Loup LHSPQ 52 3 12 15th 32 4th 0 0 0 8th
2003/04 Garaga de Saint-Georges-de-Beauce LHSMQ 50 4th 9 13 46 20th 2 3 5 12
2004/05 Jacksonville Barracudas SPHL 15th 1 4th 5 28 - - - - -
LHJMQ total 225 41 164 205 215 28 6th 19th 25th 61
IHL total 355 23 51 74 214 48 3 8th 11 30th
NHL overall 598 39 119 158 570 69 7th 5 12 82
LHSPQ / LHSMQ total 102 7th 21st 28 78 24 2 3 5 20th

International

Represented the National Hockey League at:

Represented Canada to:

year team event result Sp T V Pt SM
1987 NHL All-Stars Date - 1 0 0 0 0
1987 Canada Canada Cup 1st place, gold 9 1 2 3 8th
Men overall 10 1 2 3 8th

( 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 )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joe Pelletier: Greatest Hockey Legends.com: Normand Rochefort. greatesthockeylegends.com, October 2007, accessed March 14, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Rochefort, Normand
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rochefort, Norm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Québec City , Québec , Canada