Byron Ritchie

Byron Ritchie (born April 24, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward. He was born in Burnaby, British Columbia, and grew up in North Delta, British Columbia.[1] Ritchie saw action in a total of 332 games in the NHL[2] and also played in Sweden, Switzerland and Belarus.

This article is about the ice hockey player. For the U.S. Representative from Ohio, see Byron F. Ritchie.
Byron Ritchie
Born (1977-04-24) April 24, 1977
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for Carolina Hurricanes
Florida Panthers
Calgary Flames
Vancouver Canucks
Genève-Servette HC
HC Dinamo Minsk
Modo Hockey
SC Bern
NHL Draft 165th overall, 1995
Hartford Whalers
Playing career 1996–2017

Playing career

As a youth, Ritchie played in the 1990 and 1991 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with a minor ice hockey team from North Delta.[3]

Ritchie was drafted in the 7th round (165th overall) by the Hartford Whalers in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, from the Lethbridge Hurricanes. He was named to the Western Hockey League East Second All-Star Team in 1996 and 1997. On May 13, 1997, after a major junior 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."[4] For the remainder of the tournament, he was booed mercilessly by the fans in Hull, Quebec, where the tournament was taking place.

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 October 26, 2001, he set a Lowell Lock Monsters franchise record for points in a game with six (2 goals, 4 assists). He was named the American Hockey League Player of the Week on October 29, 2001. 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 fifth 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.[5] After a single season in Sweden, Ritchie signed to return to the Swiss NLA with SC Bern for the 2011–12 season. He won the Swiss championship with Bern in 2013.

After four seasons with Bern, finished the 2014–15 season as team captain, Ritchie left the NLA and signed for a second spell with Modo Hockey of the SHL on May 10, 2015.[6] He announced his retirement in March 2017.[7]

Medal record
Ice hockey
Representing  Canada
Spengler Cup
2012 Davos

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 Allsv 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 Genève-Servette HC NLA 45 22 38 60 62 3 0 0 0 14
2009–10 Dinamo Minsk KHL 12 3 2 5 8 — — — — —
2010–11 Modo Hockey SEL 53 23 21 44 72 — — — — —
2011–12 SC Bern NLA 47 22 21 43 50 17 2 12 14 18
2012–13 SC Bern NLA 46 19 30 49 36 20 7 15 22 20
2013–14 SC Bern NLA 43 11 16 27 84 — — — — —
2014–15 SC Bern NLA 50 14 29 43 38 11 1 1 2 6
2015–16 Modo Hockey SHL 16 3 2 5 2 — — — — —
2016–17 Modo Hockey Allsv 35 4 15 19 51 — — — — —
NHL totals 324 25 33 58 373 8 0 0 0 10

References
  1. "You're right Byron Ritcheis mom you know your boy best". The Province. 2013-01-04. Archived from the original on 2013-01-06. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
  2. "Byron Ritchie Stats and News". NHL.com. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  3. "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Retrieved 2019-01-31.
  4. "Memorial Cu". Canadian Hockey League. 2005-03-01. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  5. "Canadian Bryon Ritchie to Modo Hockey" (in Swedish). Modo Hockey. 2010-06-14. Archived from the original on 2010-09-03. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  6. "Byron Ritchie returns to Modo Hockey" (in Swedish). Modo Hockey. 2015-05-25. Retrieved 2015-05-25.
  7. "Byron Ritchie avslutar sin karriär". Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 2017-03-16.
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