Brent Gretzky

Brent Gretzky (born February 20, 1972) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player, and the brother of Wayne and Keith Gretzky. He briefly played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Brent Gretzky
Born (1972-02-20) February 20, 1972
Brantford, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st 2 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for Tampa Bay Lightning
Pensacola Ice Pilots
Las Vegas Thunder
Atlanta Knights
Quebec Rafales
EC Graz
Asheville Smoke
Hershey Bears
St. John's Maple Leafs
Chicago Wolves
Port Huron Border Cats
Fort Wayne Komets
Port Huron Beacons
Danbury Trashers
Motor City Mechanics
NHL Draft 49th overall, 1992
Tampa Bay Lightning
Playing career 19922008

Playing career

Gretzky was taught the game by his father Walter. As a youth, he played in the 1985 and 1986 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with a minor ice hockey team from Brantford.[1]

Brent grew up playing minor hockey in Brantford, Ontario for the Brantford Classics of the OMHA. In 1988–89, he played Jr. B hockey for the Brantford Classics of the Mid-Western Junior B Hockey League. He was selected in the 1st round (6th overall) of the 1989 OHL Priority Selection by the Belleville Bulls where he spent three years With the Bulls, he was a linemate of future NHL player Darren McCarty. Gretzky was drafted by the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft, but did not find the same success as his brother Wayne.

During Brent's 13-game tenure with Tampa Bay, he played once against Wayne: "We must have faced off 15 times and I won one. I remember chasing him behind the net. I knew what he was going to do and I still found myself looking for my jock. The hardest part was after the game, going and watching ESPN. It was older Gretzky shows young Gretzky how to play hockey."

Together, Wayne and Brent hold the NHL record for most combined points by two brothers - 2,857 for Wayne and 4 for Brent,[2] and are second overall in points scored by any number of brothers (behind the six brothers of the Sutter family who combined for 2,934 NHL points - 73 more than Wayne and Brent), although the Gretzkys' combined totals are greater than any five of the six Sutters.

Gretzky's selection by an expansion team in an era when established teams were only obliged to leave the bottom echelon of their players unprotected in expansion drafts has led to speculation that he might have never made it onto an NHL roster if he had been drafted by an established team. Other than his brief stint in Tampa Bay, Gretzky was a career minor leaguer, floating between the International Hockey League, the American Hockey League, and the United Hockey League. He played for EC Graz Austria in 1997-98. On June 6, 2006, the Elmira Jackals announced they had acquired his rights from the Motor City Mechanics, but he never played with Elmira; his season with the Mechanics was his last as a professional. He and four other former Danbury Trashers players were served with subpoenas by the FBI in its investigation into owner James Galante's business dealings.[3]

In 2008, Gretzky played six games for his hometown Brantford Blast team in the senior league Major League Hockey, which went on to win the 2008 Allan Cup, after which Gretzky retired from organized competition.[4]

Brent now serves as a police officer with the Ontario Provincial Police.[5]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GPGAPtsPIM GPGAPtsPIM
1987–88 Brantford Classics AAA Midget 404970119
1987–88 Brantford Classics MWJHL 14411152
1988–89 Brantford Classics MWJHL 4029477657
1989–90 Belleville Bulls OHL 6615324730 110002
1990–91 Belleville Bulls OHL 6626568225 63362
1991–92 Belleville Bulls OHL 62437812137
1992–93 Atlanta Knights IHL 7720345484 93258
1993–94 Atlanta Knights IHL 5417234030 141122
1993–94 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 101232
1994–95 Atlanta Knights IHL 6719325142 54154
1994–95 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 30110
1995–96 St. John's Maple Leafs AHL 6813284140 40660
1996–97 Pensacola Ice Pilots ECHL 22915244 1258134
1996–97 Las Vegas Thunder IHL 40512178
1996–97 Quebec Rafales IHL 10000
1997–98 EC Graz AL 166243028 32350
1997–98 EC Graz AUT 181116278
1998–99 Hershey Bears AHL 62242
1998–99 Chicago Wolves IHL 399192815 30110
1998–99 Asheville Smoke UHL 3228427029
1999–00 Chicago Wolves IHL 20000
1999–00 Asheville Smoke UHL 74369212868 21230
2000–01 Port Huron Border Cats UHL 908818
2000–01 Fort Wayne Komets UHL 6116587422 75382
2001–02 Fort Wayne Komets UHL 7321557635
2002–03 Port Huron Beacons UHL 4531296012 33032
2003–04 Port Huron Beacons UHL 6143388110 94131726
2004–05 Danbury Trashers UHL 371325388
2005–06 Motor City Mechanics UHL 6615658012 41120
2005–06 Belleville Macs EOSHL 2311152625 422418
2006–07 Marmora Lakers EOSHL 18723308 54482
2007–08 Brantford Blast MLH 20002 41014
2007–08 Marmora Lakers EOSHL 10000
2007–08 Brantford Blast AC 51452
IHL totals 28070120190179 31851314
UHL totals 458203412615214 2514193330
NHL totals 131342

See also

References

  1. "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  2. "Brothers: Keith and Brent Gretzky". Greatest Hockey Legends.com. 2009-07-25. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
  3. Langlois, Mark (March 17, 2006). "Feds investigate Trashers' finances". Danbury. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  4. Brent Gretzky's stats for Brantford
  5. O'Leary, Ed (February 23, 2011). "Younger Gretzky happy as OPP officer". Paris Star Newspaper. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
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