Antoine Vermette

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Position Centre
Shoots Left
Nickname(s) Vermy
Height
Weight		 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
199 lb (90 kg/14 st 3 lb)
NHL Team Ottawa Senators
Nationality Flag of Canada Canada
Born July 20, 1982 (1982-07-20) (age 25),
St-Agapit, QC, CAN
NHL Draft 55th Overall, 2000
Ottawa Senators
Pro career 2003 – present

Antoine Vermette (born July 20, 1982) is a National Hockey League player from St-Agapit, Quebec currently playing for the Ottawa Senators as a centre. He is known for his speed, penalty kill ability and faceoff success.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

[edit] QMJHL

At the 2000 NHL Entry Draft Antoine was selected 55th Overall to the Ottawa Senators.

2000–01 was Vermette's best year.

In 2001–02 Vermette played just four games at the end of the season. Vermette returned for a strong playoff campaign. In 22 games he scored 10 goals and 16 assists. In the 2008 season, Antoine Vermette was awarded the Derek Dettwiller Trophy for being one of the most notable forwards in the game.

[edit] AHL

Vermette played his 2002–03 season with Ottawa Senators AHL affiliate the Binghamton Senators, in 74 games Vermette scored 18 goals and 20 assists and won a place on the AHL All-Rookie Team.

[edit] NHL career

2003–04 was the season when Vermette played his first game in the NHL for the Ottawa Senators, he played 57 games with the Sens and scored 14 points, 7 goals and 7 assists.

During the lockout Vermette continued to play with Binghamton, the shootout was introduced for the first time since the 1986–87 AHL season and Vermette proved to be a top selection when the B-Sens advanced to the shootout. Vermette scored a 28 goal, 45 assist season second only to Senators star Jason Spezza on the B-Sens roster.

2005–06 was Vermette's breakout year where he proved he could play hockey and be a valuable part of the Ottawa lineup. Playing well as a penalty killer, he recorded 6 shorthanded goals, second in the league. Vermette had a career high 21 goals. The team was considered Cup contenders by many, however they only reached the second round to the Buffalo Sabres in a five-game series.

On July 18, two days before turning 24 he signed a two year contract worth approximately $2 million.

That previous season saw Vermette amassing 39 points, a career high, but failed to surpass his 21 goals in the previous season, only notching 19. Vermette spent the majority of the season on a checking line with fellow penalty-killer Chris Kelly. The duo were rarely apart. During the playoffs Vermette recorded 5 points in 20 games and helped the Senators to winning the Eastern Conference champions trophy, the Prince of Wales before losing in the Stanley Cup final round to the Anaheim Ducks in another five games.

His number 20 has been used throughout his career with the exception of back in the 2002–03 pre-season when he wore number 48 due to Magnus Arvedson in the 20 sweater. Arvedson went to Vancouver the following season.

[edit] Between the legs

Vermette is famous for a goal he scored on December 2 2006 where he managed to score a goal from behind the net through his legs on the short side of Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Johan Holmqvist. This goal was named TSN's Best Goal of 2006–07 and was Number 2 on the Top 10 plays of the season.

[edit] Skills competition

Vermette is a standout during the Senators annual skills competition. In 2006, he won the fastest skater event and scored an amazing goal after hitting the puck off his skate and dragging it behind goaltender Ray Emery.

In the 2007 event, Vermette hit all four targets in four shots in the accuracy shooting competition and was a standout in the breakaway challenge, attempting near impossible goals. One of the highlight times was when scored on one where he turned backwards and five-holed the Senators goalie Martin Gerber. He failed to repeat his fastest skater awards when he fell over before the finish on his run. The eventual winner of that contest would be Dean McAmmond. He reclaimed the title of fastest skater in the 2008 competition.

[edit] Career statistics

    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1998–99 Quebec Remparts QMJHL 57 9 17 26 32 13 0 0 0 2
1999–2000 Victoriaville Tigres QMJHL 71 30 41 71 87 6 0 1 1 6
2000–01 Victoriaville Tigres QMJHL 71 57 62 119 102 9 4 6 10 14
2001–02 Victoriaville Tigres QMJHL 4 0 2 2 6 22 10 16 26 10
2002–03 Binghamton Senators AHL 74 18 20 38 54 18 2 2 4 16
2003–04 Ottawa Senators NHL 57 7 7 14 16 4 0 1 1 4
2003–04 Binghamton Senators AHL 3 0 0 0 6 -- -- -- -- --
2004–05 Binghamton Senators AHL 78 28 45 73 36 6 1 4 5 10
2005–06 Ottawa Senators NHL 82 21 12 33 44 10 2 0 2 4
2006–07 Ottawa Senators NHL 77 19 20 39 52 20 2 3 5 6
2007–08 Ottawa Senators NHL 81 24 29 53 51 4 0 0 0 4
NHL Totals 297 71 68 139 163 38 4 4 8 18
QMJHL Totals 203 96 122 218 227 50 14 23 37 32
AHL Totals 161 62 73 135 99 20 3 13 16 20

[edit] Awards

  • 1999–2000: QMJHL Mike Bossy Trophy (Top Draft Prospect)
  • 2002–2003: AHL All-Rookie Team

[edit] Other

Vermette enjoys playing golf in his spare time, he listens to Linkin Park and Metallica among others, and he likes spending time in home town St-Agapit with his family.

[edit] Equipment

Like many other NHL players, Vermette has a sponsorship deal with hockey manufacturer Sherwood and uses both sticks and gloves from this brand. Vermette currently wears a Bauer Vapor XXX skate but has worn the Nike Bauer Vapor XXXX for the majority of the 2006–07 NHL season. Vermette is known that he likes to wear a Nike Bauer cap at most events. Vermette tucks his shirt in on the right side and wears his shin guards over the front tongue of his skates and leaves the back exposed, this is a trend that some of the faster NHL skaters use.

[edit] First Career Fight

Vermette's first career fight was on March 1 2008. He was facing Maxime Talbot of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The fight was called a draw because it was mostly just a wrestling match. The Sens went on to win that match 5–4. Vermette got 1 goal in that game.

[edit] First Career Hat Trick

Vermette's first career hat trick happened on Thursday, April 3, 2008. The Senators were facing their rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs. He scored those 3 goals against Vesa Toskala. His first goal was on the powerplay. It was assisted by Christoph Schubert and Wade Redden. His second goal was assisted by Cory Stillman and Shean Donovan. The last and final goal came shorthanded and was assisted by Brian Lee (ice hockey) and Cody Bass. That was Brian Lee (ice hockey)'s first career NHL point. The Sens went on to win the game 8–2.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links