Tom Barrasso

Tom Barrasso
Born	March 31, 1965 (1965-03-31) 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.

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

• 1984 - Calder Trophy (Top rookie in NHL)
• 1984 - Vezina Trophy (Top goaltender in NHL)
• 1984 - NHL First All-Star Team
• 1985 - NHL Second All-Star Team
• 1985 - William M. Jennings Trophy (Team with fewest goals allowed - shared with Bob Sauve)
• 1985 - Played in NHL All-Star Game
• 1991 - Stanley Cup champion (Pittsburgh Penguins)
• 1992 - Stanley Cup champion (Pittsburgh Penguins)
• 1993 - NHL Second All-Star Team
• 2002 - Olympic ice hockey silver medalist (Team USA)
• 2007 - Inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame
• 2009 - Inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

Records

• Second most NHL wins by a U.S.-born goaltender - 369
• Most NHL assists by a goaltender - 48
• Most NHL points by a goaltender - 48
• Most consecutive NHL playoff wins - 14 (May 9, 1992 to April 22, 1993)
• Tied for most consecutive wins in one NHL playoff season - 11 in 1992
• Tied for most wins in one NHL playoff season - 16 (1992)

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

• Goaltender

External links

• Tom Barrasso's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Tom Barrasso's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Tom Barrasso's profile at Hockeydraftcentral.com