Canadian ice hockey player (born 1980)
Ice hockey player
Michael Henrich
(born March 4, 1980) is a Canadian former professional
ice hockey
player. An NHL first-round draft pick of the
Edmonton Oilers
in
1998
, Henrich played several years of professional hockey in North America before moving to professional hockey in Europe. Henrich is the first Jewish player to be selected in the first round of the
NHL Entry Draft
,
[1]
and the only player taken in the first round of the
1998 NHL Entry Draft
who did not play a regular season game in the
National Hockey League
.
[2]
Henrich's younger brother
Adam Henrich
was also a former professional hockey player for the
Coventry Blaze
.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Henrich, who is Jewish,
[3]
is from
Thornhill, Ontario
.
[4]
Playing career
[
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]
Junior
[
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]
Michael Henrich had a standout junior career with the
Barrie Colts
from 1996 to 2000 in the
Ontario Hockey League
. Barrie drafted him 5th overall in the 1996
Ontario Hockey League
priority selection draft out of the Metro Toronto Hockey Leagues Midget
Wexford Raiders
.
In 1997 he was selected to the
Ontario Hockey League
all-star game, was voted MVP for Team Orr at the
CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game
and was voted by the
Ontario Hockey League
eastern conference coaches poll as best shot, hardest shot and most dangerous in the goal area.
In 1999?2000 he was an assistant captain of the
Ontario Hockey League
champion
Barrie Colts
. Barrie competed in the 2000
Memorial Cup
in
Halifax
finishing runner-up.
1998 NHL Draft and North American Hockey
[
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]
Prior to the
1998 NHL Entry Draft
in
Buffalo, New York
, Henrich was rated high by the
NHL's Central Scouting Service
who ranked him 3rd in their initial rankings amongst North American skaters, and by many sportswriters, including
USA Today's
Phil Colvin, who had him ranked as the third best prospect in the draft behind
David Legwand
and
Vincent Lecavalier
.
[5]
[6]
Henrich was ultimately selected 13th overall by the
Edmonton Oilers
. He was selected ahead of eight future NHL All-Stars including
Simon Gagne
(22nd overall),
Scott Gomez
(27th overall),
Brad Richards
(64th overall), and
Pavel Datsyuk
(171st overall). As a result of Henrich not playing a regular season NHL game, coupled with the large number of NHL all-stars drafted after him, many sportswriters and networks cite him as an example of a
draft bust
,
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
with
NHL.com
columnist and hockey author John Kreiser even listing Henrich as one of Edmonton's all-time biggest draft disappointments alongside
Jason Bonsignore
and
Scott Allison
.
[14]
His professional career in North America lasted four seasons in which he played a total of 9 preseason games for the
Edmonton Oilers
scoring 1 goal and 1 assist. He also played 219 games for the
Hamilton Bulldogs
,
Toronto Roadrunners
and
Hershey Bears
of the
American Hockey League
and 6 games with the
Tallahassee Tiger Sharks
of the
ECHL
.
International
[
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]
In 1996?97 Henrich competed for Team Ontario at the
World U-17 Hockey Challenge
in Red Deer, Alberta where Team Ontario won the gold medal. He was selected to the
Canada men's national junior ice hockey team
selection camp in 1998 and 1999. He represented
Canada men's national ice hockey team
at the
Deutschland Cup
in
Hannover
,
Germany
in 2002 where
Canada
finished as champion. In 2003, he represented
Canada men's national ice hockey team
at the
Sweden Hockey Games
in
Stockholm
,
Sweden
, where
Canada
placed third.
Henrich played hockey for Team Canada at the age of 17 at the
1997 Maccabiah Games
in
Israel
where the team won a gold medal.
[15]
[16]
[17]
Europe
[
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]
Henrich played in the
HockeyAllsvenskan
for
Mora IK
in 2002. He spent the
2004?05 NHL lockout
with the
Austrian National League
team
EK Zell am See
and won the league championship. In 2005, he played for the
Fuchse Duisburg
of the
DEL
. In 2006, he played for the
Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg
of the
2nd Bundesliga
and won the league championship. In 2008 he signed with
Lega Italiana Hockey Ghiaccio
club
HC Asiago
and won the league championship. He was a member of
Dornbirner EC
of the
Erste Bank Eishockey Liga
in 2012 and finished his career in 2014 with the
Coventry Blaze
of the
Elite Ice Hockey League
.
Career statistics
[
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]
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
"A special brotherly connection: Henrichs on short list of Jewish players in pro hockey"
. Times Leader. March 15, 2009. Archived from
the original
on March 20, 2009
. Retrieved
November 15,
2011
.
- ^
"1998 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com"
.
www.hockeydb.com
.
- ^
"Professional Hockey Review: 2010?11; European Hockey League".
Jewish Sports Review
.
8
(87): 8?9. September?October 2011.
- ^
"Michael Henrich at eliteprospects.com"
.
www.eliteprospects.com
.
- ^
"1998 NHL Scouting Service Rankings"
. Sports Illustrated. June 23, 1998
. Retrieved
November 15,
2011
.
- ^
"Top 10 prospects for the 1998 NHL Draft"
. Usatoday.com
. Retrieved
November 15,
2011
.
- ^
"Winnipeg Free Press The top bargains and busts from the past 20 years of the NHL draft"
.
- ^
"EDMONTON OILERS: 2008-09 TOP 12 PROSPECTS"
. Tsn.ca
. Retrieved
November 15,
2011
.
- ^
"NHL Draft 2011: Who's Next? the Biggest First Round Busts from 1975-2000"
. Bleacherreport.com. June 21, 2011
. Retrieved
November 15,
2011
.
- ^
Zona, Derek (November 7, 2009).
"Scouting Europeans From a Beach in Mexico"
. Coppernblue.com
. Retrieved
November 15,
2011
.
- ^
"Lightning Top 20 prospects"
. Hockeysfuture.com. April 7, 2005
. Retrieved
November 15,
2011
.
- ^
"1998 NHL Entry Draft"
. Hockeydb.com
. Retrieved
November 15,
2011
.
- ^
Jes Golbez (June 16, 2008).
"A Look Back at the 1998 Entry Draft"
. Aolnews.com. Archived from
the original
on July 20, 2012
. Retrieved
November 15,
2011
.
- ^
"Hits and misses at the Draft by Northwest Division teams"
. Nhl.com. June 21, 2011
. Retrieved
November 15,
2011
.
- ^
"Maccabi announces its 'Team Canada'
"
.
The Canadian Jewish News
. November 13, 2012.
- ^
Paul Lungen (December 7, 2012).
"Maccabi Team Canada"
.
Jewish Independent
.
- ^
Gellar, Raphael.
"Peres hosts Maccabiah's Olympian athletes"
.
Times of Israel
.
External links
[
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]