Byron Ritchie

Byron Ritchie
Born April 24, 1977 (1977-04-24) (age 34)
Burnaby, BC, CAN
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight 201 lb (91 kg; 14 st 5 lb)
Position Centre
Shoots Left
NLA team
Former teams
SC Bern
Carolina Hurricanes
Florida Panthers
Calgary Flames
Vancouver Canucks
Modo Hockey
NHL Draft 165th overall, 1995
Hartford Whalers
Playing career 1996–present

Byron Ritchie (born April 24, 1977) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward playing for SC Bern of the Swiss National League A.

Contents

Playing career

Ritchie was drafted in the 7th round (165th overall) by the Hartford Whalers in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft. His rights transferred to the Carolina Hurricanes when the Whalers franchise relocated in 1997. On December 21, 1998, Ritchie made his NHL debut with the Hurricanes against the Buffalo Sabres. On January 16, 2002, he was traded to the Florida Panthers with Sandis Ozolinsh for Bret Hedican, Tomas Malec, Kevyn Adams and a conditional 2nd round selection in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. On July 4, 2004, he was signed as an unrestricted free agent by the Calgary Flames. On July 2, 2007, Ritchie signed with the Vancouver Canucks, where he played for one season.

After the Canucks chose not to re-sign him, he signed as a free agent to play in Europe for Geneve-Servette HC of the NLA and signed a one-year contract. After a very good season in Switzerland during which he earned 60 points and took the 5th place of the overall top-scorer rankings, Ritchie, again a free agent, decided to sign with the Dinamo Minsk of the Russian KHL. In the 2009–10 season, Bryon was hampered by injury and played in just 12 games posting 3 goals for Minsk.

On June 14, 2010, Ritchie remained in Europe and signed a one-year contract to return to Sweden with Modo of the SEL.[1]

Byron is now playing in the Elite League in Berne, Switzerland.(2011)

Awards

Records

Controversial remarks

On Tuesday May 13, 1997 after a game in the Memorial Cup refereed by a Francophone from Quebec he was caught by an RDS (the French version of TSN) camera yelling: "Fuck you, you fucking Frogs! Fuck them all!"" He apologized the next day at practice stating "Whether the camera was on me or not doesn't make it right."[2] For the remainder of the tournament, he was booed mercilessly by the fans in Hull, Quebec, where the tournament was taking place.

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1993–94 Lethbridge Hurricanes WHL 44 4 11 15 44 6 0 0 0 14
1994–95 Lethbridge Hurricanes WHL 58 22 28 50 132
1995–96 Lethbridge Hurricanes WHL 66 55 51 106 163 4 0 2 2 4
1995–96 Springfield Falcons AHL 6 2 1 3 4 8 0 3 3 0
1996–97 Lethbridge Hurricanes WHL 63 50 76 126 115 18 16 12 28 28
1997–98 New-Haven Beast AHL 65 13 18 31 97
1998–99 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 3 0 0 0 0
1998–99 New-Haven Beast AHL 66 24 33 57 139
1999–00 Cincinnati Cyclones IHL 34 8 13 21 81 10 1 6 7 32
1999–00 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 26 0 2 2 17
2000–01 Cincinnati Cyclones IHL 77 31 35 66 166 5 3 2 5 10
2001–02 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 4 0 0 0 2
2001–02 Lowell Lock Monsters AHL 43 25 30 55 38
2001–02 Florida Panthers NHL 31 5 6 11 34
2002–03 San Antonio Rampage AHL 26 3 14 17 68 3 1 0 1 0
2002–03 Florida Panthers NHL 30 0 3 3 19
2003–04 Florida Panthers NHL 50 5 6 11 84
2004–05 Rögle BK Swe-1 30 17 16 33 111
2005–06 Calgary Flames NHL 45 4 2 6 69 7 0 0 0 0
2006–07 Calgary Flames NHL 64 8 6 14 68 1 0 0 0 10
2007–08 Vancouver Canucks NHL 71 3 8 11 80
2008–09 Geneve-Servette HC NLA 45 22 38 60 64
2009–10 Dinamo Minsk KHL 12 3 2 5 8
2010–11 Modo Hockey SEL 53 23 21 44 72
NHL totals 324 25 33 58 373 8 0 0 0 10

References

External links