A lacrosse player in his youth, ice hockey forward Brendan Shanahan had two successful years as a junior in the Ontario Hockey League with the London Knights prior to being drafted by the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils in 1987 and spending four seasons with the squad. He also participated in the “Punch-up in Piestany” at the 1987 World Junior Championships, where Canada and the Soviet Union were disqualified after a twenty-minute bench-clearing brawl. He joined the NHL’s St. Louis Blues in 1991 and stayed with them until 1995, playing three games with Germany’s Dusseldorf EG during the 1994-1995 league lockout and capturing a gold medal at the 1994 World Championships. After only a year and two games with the NHL’s Hartford Whalers, he was traded to the league’s Detroit Red Wings, where he captured three Stanley Cup Championships (1997, 1998, 2002) and the King Clancy Memorial Trophy (2003) for his leadership qualities and humanitarian contributions. He also won one of Canada’s first Olympic ice hockey gold medals in a half century at the 2002 Winter Olympics, where he suited up for six matches, in addition to his non-podium finish at the 1998 Winter Olympics, where he scored two goals in six games. Upon joining the NHL’s New York Rangers in 2006 he was awarded the first monthly Mark Messier Leadership Award in November. After leaving the Rangers in 2008 he had a final year-long return to the New Jersey Devils prior to announcing his retirement in November 2009. In December 2009 he was named the NHL’s Vice President of Hockey and Business Development.
Canada