Ray Emery
Raymond Robert Emery was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who was a goaltender in the National Hockey League for eleven seasons, between 2003 and 2015. Emery was chosen 99th overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. During the 2006–07 season, he gained the starting job and backstopped his team to the Stanley Cup Finals, the first appearance in the finals for the modern Senators' franchise. However in the subsequent season, he lost his place as the team's starting goaltender due to an injury. He won a Stanley Cup championship with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013.
In 2013, Emery won the William M. Jennings Trophy along with teammate Corey Crawford, awarded to the goaltender or goaltenders who give up the fewest goals in the season. Emery was a two-time Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy finalist for his dedication and perseverance. His teammates and fans often referred to him as "Razor" or "Sugar Ray" for his aggressive playing style.
Early life
Emery was born Raymond Robert Nichols on September 28, 1982, in Hamilton, Ontario. His mother, Sharlene worked as an overhead crane operator at a Dofasco steel mill when she became pregnant at 20. His biological father had no interest in raising a child, and abandoned them. In 1984, Sharlene met Paul Emery whom she married in 1986. He was adopted by Paul and took his surname shortly afterward. Emery had two younger brothers, Andrew and Nicholas. The family lived in a century-old farmhouse near the town of Cayuga.Emery excelled in school, and was offered a scholarship. He played many sports other than ice hockey, including golf, baseball, and soccer. In hockey, he originally played as a defenceman, but switched to goaltender at nine years old due to a shortage of goaltenders in his league.
Playing career
Pre-NHL
Emery committed to hockey on the advice of his mother, after a potential scholarship during his pursuit for higher education pushed him to take advantage of his athletic ability. At 16 years old, Emery landed with the Ontario Junior Hockey League Junior C Dunnville Terriers after unsuccessfully trying out for eight different junior teams. Emery was named the league's Rookie of the Year.The Ontario Hockey League 's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds drafted Emery in the fifth round of the 1999 OHL Draft. Emery split the 1999–2000 season between the Welland Cougars of the OHA and the Greyhounds in the OHL. In 2000–01, he played with the Greyhounds. During his last season in junior hockey, 2001–02, Emery gained notoriety for his fighting ability. He was named the OHL's Goaltender of the Year, setting a record of 33 wins and a GAA of 2.73.
Emery was selected in the fourth round, 99th overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. In 2002–03, Emery joined the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League and immediately assumed the position of starting goaltender for his first professional season with the team. He was named to the AHL All-Star team, made the league's all-rookie team and became Binghamton's.
Emery was suspended twice for on-ice incidents in the same season, once for bumping a referee which resulted in a three-game suspension; the second time for an altercation with Denis Hamel of the Rochester Americans who admitted uttering a racial slur. Emery retaliated and was suspended for three games. Emery and Hamel later became teammates in Binghamton, and Hamel apologized "for not thinking about what was saying, in the heat of a game".
Ottawa Senators (2005–2008)
Emery began his NHL career with the Ottawa Senators in 2005–06. He set a record for wins to start an NHL goaltending career, winning his first nine games, moving ahead of Bob Froese who had won his first eight games in the 1982–83 season. In March of the same season, Emery won twelve games, tying Bernie Parent's 1974 record for the most wins in a month.At the beginning of the 2005–06 season, Emery had won nine straight games during the regular season as the back-up to Dominik Hašek. When Hašek injured his groin during the 2006 Winter Olympics, Emery became Ottawa's de facto starter, with Mike Morrison, claimed off of waivers from the Edmonton Oilers, as Emery's backup. Emery was the starting goaltender for the rest of the season, leading the Senators to the second round of the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs.
After the 2005–06 season, the Senators opted not to bring back Hašek, instead acquiring Martin Gerber to compete with Emery for the starter position. Gerber was the starter at the beginning of the season, but due to his poor play, Emery replaced him in mid-November. On February 10, 2007, Emery was suspended for three games from the NHL for striking Montreal Canadiens forward Maxim Lapierre in the face with his stick after Lapierre crashed into Emery's net.
Twelve days later, after his suspension had ended, Emery was involved in a fight between the Senators and the Buffalo Sabres. He and Sabres goaltender Martin Biron left their creases to fight each other. After this was finished, Sabres enforcer Andrew Peters grabbed Emery and connected with ten hard punches to the head; Emery did not directly punch Peters. Both goaltenders received game misconducts, and Emery had the rare feat of receiving two five-minute majors for fighting in the same incident. In total, Emery received 22 penalty minutes for this altercation. After the altercation, fans and media dubbed him "Sugar Ray" in reference to retired boxer Sugar Ray Robinson and Emery's reputation as a fighter. Then-teammate Brian McGrattan opined that if Emery were a position player and not a goalie, he would likely rank among the top five fighters in the NHL.
Prior to the 2007 playoffs, Emery and the Senators won 5–2 against Montreal on March 30, 2007, which was his 100th NHL game. Emery's strong play in the season continued in the playoffs, as the Senators defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres each in five-game series in the first three rounds en route to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance since the team was founded in 1992, where the Senators ultimately lost to the Anaheim Ducks in five games. He became a restricted free agent after the end of the season and filed for salary arbitration, later agreeing to a three-year deal with the Senators worth million before the hearings were held.
By the pre-season of the 2007–08 campaign, Emery had suffered a wrist injury that limited him to just 40 minutes of the pre-season and forced him to miss several games early in the Senators' season. On April 18, 2008, Murray announced to the media in an end-of-season press conference that Emery would not return to the Senators for the 2008–09 season. On June 20, 2008, Emery was waived by the Senators; he cleared waivers three days later and became a free agent as a result.
Atlant Moscow (2008–2009)
Emery signed a one-year, $2 million contract with Atlant Moscow Oblast of the newly formed Kontinental Hockey League on July 9, 2008. After giving up five goals during a game, he chased a trainer who attempted to put a sponsored cap on Emery's head. As a foreign goaltender, Emery was allowed to play in only 65% of his team's 56 regular season games due to rules that encourage the development of Russian goaltenders. He split duties for the season with former Colorado Avalanche goaltender Vitaly Kolesnik and completed the season as a top goaltender in the KHL with a.926 save percentage and a 1.86 GAA.Philadelphia Flyers (2009–2010)
On June 10, 2009, the Philadelphia Flyers announced that they had agreed to terms with Emery on a one-year contract worth $1.5 million. On December 8, Emery was placed on injured reserve to have surgery on a torn muscle in his abdomen. Originally expected to miss about six weeks, the prognosis changed when it was discovered that he had avascular necrosis of the hip. In March 2010, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren announced that Emery would be out for the remainder of the season due to the diagnosis and that a bone graft would be carried out.File:Caps-Flyers - 12.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Emery facing Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin during a shootout in January 2010 as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers
Doctors were able to catch the disease before it spread, unlike the case of baseball and American football player Bo Jackson. As a result, in April, doctors announced a successful surgery. Jackson spoke out about Emery, speculating that they were the only two athletes to come back after the disease. Jackson added, "I take my hat off . I want him to know I am in his corner. It's a lot of hard work. To come back and play, it takes a very, very special and driven person. He's got a different makeup to want to do all the little things he needs to compete on a professional level." Unlike Jackson, who required numerous hip replacements, Emery had the benefit of advancements in modern medicine, undergoing a very specialized and complex procedure that involved removing 13 centimetres from his right fibula, and then grafting it to the femur to re-introduce a proper blood supply to the area. Holmgren said that while the surgery went better than expected, he did not know exactly how long Emery's recovery would take.
On July 1, Emery became an unrestricted free agent as his injury deemed him unable to play until he recuperated. In August, he was given the go-ahead to begin the grueling and tedious workout and rehabilitation process. In November 2010, TSN visited Emery during an on-ice workout and were surprised to see him get down into the butterfly position and play for the first time since surgery. Emery stated that he did not "care if walk in seven years", and he "just to play". To the surprise of his doctors and trainers, Emery recovered faster than expected. In January 2011, Emery began skating with an OHL team, taking shots and training with Eric Lindros, and working with personal trainer Matt Nichol and goalie coach Eli Wilson. According to Wilson, Emery was "as sharp and ready now as he was the summer before Ottawa's Stanley Cup Final run".
In March 2011, Emery's injury and undefeated return to the NHL with the Anaheim Ducks garnered much media attention and fascination, with a special segment featured on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada. Emery had 13 centimetres of bone missing from his leg. This later garnered him a nomination for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.