Tom Barrasso

Tom Barrasso
Born March 31, 1965 (1965-03-31) (age 46)
Boston, MA, USA
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight 210 lb (95 kg; 15 st 0 lb)
Position Goaltender
Caught Right
Played for NHL
 Buffalo Sabres
 Pittsburgh Penguins
 Ottawa Senators
 Carolina Hurricanes
 Toronto Maple Leafs
 St. Louis Blues
AHL
 Rochester Americans
National team  United States
NHL Draft 5th overall, 1983
Buffalo Sabres
Playing career 1983–2003

Thomas Patrick Barrasso (born March 31, 1965) is a retired American professional ice hockey goaltender who played 18 seasons for the Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, and St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League, and the only goaltender to ever play in the NHL directly from high school, without having played major junior, college, or some other form of professional hockey first. The youngest winner of the league's Vezina Trophy for best goaltender, as an 18-year old rookie in 1984, he was inducted as a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009.

He won successive Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992 with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and is currently an assistant coach and in charge of goaltending development for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Contents

Playing career

Early career

Barrasso grew up in the town of Stow, Massachusetts, playing ice hockey on an outdoor rink. He started playing goaltender at the age of five years old and by the time he was a teenager, was playing in net for Acton-Boxborough with fellow NHL players Bob Sweeney and Jeff Norton, Barrasso was considered one of the most promising American goaltending prospects of all time. He was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres with the 5th overall pick in 1983. Skipping a college career, he went straight from high school to the NHL. At the time of his debut with the Sabres on October 5, 1983, less than six months after graduating from high school, Barrasso was the youngest goaltender to play and win a game in the NHL since Harry Lumley nearly forty years prior. He won the Calder Trophy and Vezina Trophy in his first season, becoming the third player to win both awards in the same year.

Pittsburgh Penguins

In 1988, the Sabres traded Barrasso to the Pittsburgh Penguins where he won two Stanley Cups, in 1991 and 1992. It was his play in these Cup runs that established him as a "money goalie". In the following years, Barrasso almost entirely missed two seasons, the 1994–95 NHL season and the 1996–97 NHL season with injuries but came back with good performances in the next years. In 1997, he became the first American goaltender to record 300 NHL wins. A fiercely proud competitor, in his later seasons in Pittsburgh he developed a strained relationship with the local media, whom he felt were disrespectful of him and his family.

Last years

In March 2000, he was traded to the Ottawa Senators for Ron Tugnutt and Janne Laukkanen. He spent the entire 2000–01 season out of hockey and returned with the Carolina Hurricanes in time for the 2001–02 season. He enjoyed some late international success, winning Silver at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

In his last few seasons he briefly played for several teams, the Ottawa Senators, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the St. Louis Blues until retiring from ice hockey in 2003. He signed a pro forma contract with Pittsburgh on the day he declared retirement so he could leave hockey as a Penguin.

International play

Medal record
Competitor for  United States
Men's ice hockey
Winter Olympics
Silver 2002 Salt Lake City Ice hockey

Barrasso won an Olympic silver medal as part of the U.S. national men's ice hockey team at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. He played in one game, an 8–1 victory over Belarus on February 18.

Barrasso had originally intended to play for the 1984 U.S. Olympic team in Sarajevo, but chose to begin his professional career instead and left the team in September 1983 to sign with the Sabres. He made his debut for Team USA at the 1984 Canada Cup, at the age of 19. He also played in the 1983 World Junior Championships, the 1986 World Ice Hockey Championships and the 1987 Canada Cup.

Retirement

Barrasso now serves as an assistant coach for the Hurricanes. He lives with his wife Megan, as well as his three daughters, Ashley, Kelsey, and Mallory. Barrasso founded the Ashley Barrasso Cancer Research Fund during the early 1990s after his daughter survived a bout with neuroblastoma cancer.

Awards and achievements

Records

Career statistics

Regular season

Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1981–82 Acton-Boxborough Colonials High-MA 23 — — — 1035 32 7 1.86 —
1982–83 Acton-Boxborough Colonials High-MA 23 22 0 1 1035 17 10 0.99 —
1983–84 Buffalo Sabres NHL 42 26 12 3 2475 117 2 2.84 .893
1984–85 Buffalo Sabres NHL 54 25 18 10 3248 144 5 2.66 .887
1984–85 Rochester Americans AHL 5 3 1 1 267 6 1 1.35 .936
1985–86 Buffalo Sabres NHL 60 29 24 5 3561 214 2 3.61 .880
1986–87 Buffalo Sabres NHL 46 17 23 2 2501 152 2 3.65 .874
1987–88 Buffalo Sabres NHL 54 25 18 8 3133 173 2 3.31 .896
1988–89 Buffalo Sabres NHL 10 2 7 0 545 45 0 4.95 .842
1988–89 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 44 18 5 7 2406 162 0 4.04 .888
1989–90 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 24 7 12 3 1294 101 0 4.68 .865
1990–91 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 48 27 16 3 2754 165 1 3.59 .896
1991–92 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 57 25 22 9 3329 196 1 3.53 .885
1992–93 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 67 43 14 5 3702 186 4 3.01 .901
1993–94 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 44 22 15 5 2482 139 2 3.36 .893
1994–95 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 2 0 1 1 125 8 0 3.84 .893
1995–96 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 49 29 16 2 2799 160 2 3.43 .902
1996–97 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 5 0 5 0 270 26 0 5.78 .860
1997–98 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 63 31 14 13 3542 122 7 2.07 .922
1998–99 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 43 19 16 3 2306 98 4 2.55 .901
1999–00 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 18 5 7 2 870 46 1 3.17 .881
1999–00 Ottawa Senators NHL 7 3 4 0 418 22 0 3.16 .879
2001–02 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 34 13 12 5 1908 83 2 2.61 .906
2001–02 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 4 2 2 0 219 10 0 2.50 .909
2002–03 St. Louis Blues NHL 6 1 4 0 293 16 1 3.28 .879
NHL totals 777 369 277 86 44,180 2385 38 3.24 .892

Playoffs

Season Team League GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1983–84 Buffalo Sabres NHL 3 0 2 139 8 0 3.45 .864
1984–85 Buffalo Sabres NHL 5 2 3 300 22 0 4.40 .854
1987–88 Buffalo Sabres NHL 4 1 3 224 16 0 4.29 .867
1988–89 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 11 7 4 641 40 0 3.80 .897
1990–91 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 20 12 7 1175 51 1 2.60 .919
1991–92 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 21 16 5 1233 58 1 2.82 .907
1992–93 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 12 7 5 722 35 2 2.91 .905
1993–94 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 6 2 4 356 17 0 2.87 .895
1994–95 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 2 0 1 80 8 0 6.00 .805
1995–96 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 10 4 5 558 26 1 2.80 .923
1997–98 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 6 2 4 376 17 0 2.71 .901
1998–99 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 13 6 7 787 35 1 2.67 .900
1999–00 Ottawa Senators NHL 6 2 4 372 16 0 2.58 .905
NHL totals 119 61 54 6953 349 6 3.01 .902

International

Year Team Event   GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA
1983 USA WJC 3 — — — 140 12 0 5.14
1984 USA Can-Cup 5 2 2 1 252 13 0 3.10
1986 USA WC 5 — — — 260 18 0 4.15
1987 USA Can-Cup 1 0 1 0 60 5 0 5.00
2002 USA Oly 1 1 0 0 60 1 0 1.00
Junior int'l totals 3 — — — 140 12 0 5.14
Senior int'l totals 12 — — — 632 37 0 3.51

See also

References

  1. ^ Puck Prospectus - In the Crease

External links