Yutaka Fukufuji
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Date of birth | 17th September 1982 |
place of birth | Kushiro , Japan |
size | 183 cm |
Weight | 90 kg |
position | goalkeeper |
number | # 44 |
Catch hand | Left |
Draft | |
NHL Entry Draft |
2004 , 8th round, 238th position Los Angeles Kings |
Career stations | |
until 2002 | Kokudo Ice Hockey Club |
2002-2003 | Cincinnati Cyclones |
2003-2004 | Kokudo |
2004-2005 | Bakersfield Condors |
2005-2007 | Reading Royals |
2007-2009 | Bakersfield Condors |
2009-2010 | Destil Trappers Tilburg |
2010-2014 | Nikko Ice Bucks |
2014-2015 | Esbjerg Energy |
since 2015 | Nikko Ice Bucks |
Yutaka Fukufuji ( Japanese 福 藤 豊 Fukufuji Yutaka ; born September 17, 1982 in Kushiro , Hokkaidō ) is a Japanese ice hockey goalkeeper who has been under contract with the Nikkō Ice Bucks in the Asia League Ice Hockey since 2015 .
Career
Yutaka Fukufuji made his debut for the Kokudo Ice Hockey Club in the Japan Ice Hockey League in the 2001/02 season and was instant Japanese champions with his team. In the summer of 2002 he moved to North America to the Cincinnati Cyclones in the East Coast Hockey League . For this he completed nine games in the 2002/03 season before returning to his homeland for the following season, where he also stood between the posts nine times for his ex-club Kokudo in the newly founded multinational Asia League Ice Hockey , in the he was runner-up with his team. In addition, he and his team won the Japanese national championship again in the same year. He was then selected in the eighth round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft at position 238 by the Los Angeles Kings , making him the first Asian-born and trained player to make the leap into the American professional league. For a short time, Taro Tsujimoto was believed to be the first Japanese to be drawn by the Buffalo Sabers in the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft . This is what the former General Manager of the Buffalo Sabers and avowed draft opponent Punch Imlach claimed . However, the claim turned out to be a joke by Imlach. Such a player never existed. He was sent to the ECHL farm team , the Bakersfield Condors , for the 2004/05 season , where he took over the position of regular goalkeeper. With 27 wins in 44 games, as well as an average of 2.48 conceded goals and a catch rate of 91.9 percent, he was able to convince.
In August 2005 he received an entry-level contract with the Los Angeles Kings, but has not yet been taken into the NHL squad. For the 2005/06 season , the Kings had a new farm team in the ECHL with the Reading Royals , where Fukufuji was the back-up goalkeeper. For two games he also moved to the Kings AHL farm team, the Manchester Monarchs . In the 2006/07 season , the Los Angeles Kings were followed by injury bad luck with their goalkeepers. Both regular goalkeepers Mathieu Garon and Dan Cloutier were injured at the same time and Fukufuji was called up for the first time in the Kings NHL roster. Barry Brust of the Manchester Monarchs took up the post of regular goalkeeper for the Kings in early December 2006 and Fukufuji moved up to the Monarchs squad and was finally brought into the NHL for the first time in mid-December because he played a game as a back-up goalie should sit on the bench. He was then sent to the Long Beach Ice Dogs in the ECHL, before joining the Manchester Monarchs on the AHL farm team a few days later. In January 2007 he was ordered back to the NHL squad. On January 13, 2007, Fukufuji was used as the first Japanese in an NHL game. At the beginning of the third third of the game against the St. Louis Blues , he was substituted on at 4-5. After a little more than seven minutes he conceded the 4-6, the Kings came up to one goal, but lost in the end with 5-6. Fukufuji only got five shots on goal and blocked four of them. Overall, Fukufuji was on the ice in four games for the Kings.
After the end of the season, however, he received no new contract from the Los Angeles Kings and went back to the ECHL, where he was regularly on the ice for his former team Bakersfield Condors for another two years. The Japanese international spent the 2009/10 season with the Destil Trappers Tilburg in the Dutch Eredivisie . He led this as a regular goalkeeper to the runner-up. For the 2010/11 season he signed a contract in his home country with the Nikkō Ice Bucks from the Asia League Ice Hockey, where he spent the next four years. In the 2011/12 and 2012/13 seasons he achieved the best catch quota of all goalkeepers in the Asia League. After a detour to Esbjerg Energy , with which he became Danish runner-up in 2015, he returned to the Ice Bucks.
International
For Japan , Fukufuji took part in the junior division of the U18 Junior B World Championship in 2000 , the U20 Junior C World Championship in 2000 and the U20 World Championship of Division II in 2001 and 2002 . In the senior division, he was in his country's squad at the World Championships in the top division in 2001 , 2002 and 2004 and the World Championships in Division I in 2010 , 2013 , 2014 , 2015 , 2016 and 2017 . In 2010, 2014 and 2017 he was named the best goalkeeper of the tournament, and in 2014 he was also elected the best player in his team, which only narrowly missed promotion to the top division. In addition, he represented Japan at the Winter Asian Games in 2011 , where he and his team the silver medal behind Kazakhstan won, and in 2017 when the team from the land of the rising sun behind Kazakhstan and South Korea took bronze. He was also named the tournament's best goalkeeper in 2011. Also at the qualifying tournaments for the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018 .
Achievements and Awards
- 2002 Japanese champion with the Kokudo Ice Hockey Club
- 2004 runner-up in the Asia League Ice Hockey with the Kokudo Ice Hockey Club
- 2010 Dutch runner-up with the Destil Trappers Tilburg
- 2012 Best catch quota in the Asia League Ice Hockey
- 2013 Best catch quota in the Asia League Ice Hockey
International
- 2002 Promotion to Division I at the U20 Junior World Championship of Division II
- 2010 Best Goalkeeper of the World Cup Division I, Group A
- 2011 silver medal at the Asian Winter Games
- 2011 Best Goalkeeper of the Asian Winter Games
- 2014 Best Goalkeeper of the World Cup Division I, Group A.
- 2017 bronze medal at the Winter Asian Games
- 2017 Best Goalkeeper of the World Cup Division I, Group B
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fukufuji becomes first Japanese player in NHL. In: nhl.com. Retrieved November 23, 2018 .
- ↑ oddpicks.com, The Fake NHL Draft Pick - Things You Might Not Know
Web links
- Yutaka Fukufuji at hockeydb.com (English)
- Yutaka Fukufuji at legendsofhockey.net (English)
- Yutaka Fukufuji at eliteprospects.com (English)
- Yutaka Fukufuji at hockeygoalies.org
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Fukufuji, Yutaka |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 福 藤 豊 (Japanese) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Japanese ice hockey goalkeeper |
DATE OF BIRTH | 17th September 1982 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Kushiro-shi , Japan |