33 jours avant la soirée d’ouverture : Kevin Bieksa (33e meilleur buteur de tous les temps)
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33 jours avant la soirée d’ouverture : Kevin Bieksa (33e meilleur buteur de tous les temps)
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33. Kevin Bieksa — 597GP | 56G | 185A | 241P | 2006-2015
Kevin “Juice” Bikesa was born on June 16th 1981 in Grimsby, Ontario. As a right-shot defenseman, Bieksa grew up playing for the local Grimsby minor hockey team. He had a small stint with the Burlington Junior A team before being selected by Don Cherry’s Mississauga Ice Dogs in the 17th round of the 1998 OHL Draft. Although Bieksa impressed and made the team out of camp, he opted to go the NCAA route in pursuit of an education and scholarship.
In 2000-01, Bieksa joined the Bowling Green Falcons. As a freshman, he had 13-points in 31-games. Bieksa played a part in getting Bowling Green to the CCHA semifinals that year. The Falcons lost 2-1 to Michigan State and Bieksa scored the lone goal for his team.
That summer, Bieksa was drafted 151st overall by General Manager Brian Burke of the Vancouver Canucks. As a 5th round pick, Bieksa was still a longshot to make the Canucks. He returned to Bowling Green to finish his college career. In 2002-03, Bieksa was a co-recipient of the best defensive player award on his team. In 2003-04 he took another step as the team’s best player which was determined by his head coach. He had 22-points in 38-games and was also an honourable mention for the All-CCHA team.
In March 2004, Bieksa signed an amateur tryout with the Canucks’ AHL affiliate Manitoba Moose. What followed was a unique story as to how Bieksa got an NHL contract. According to GM Brian Burke, Bieksa was involved in an off-ice incident with Fedor Federov. Supposedly, several Moose players had gone out for drinks at a bar when Bieksa accidentally spilled Federov’s beer. Bieksa had offered to buy him another beer, but Federov instead challenged him to a fight outside the establishment. Bieksa won the fight with a single punch. Once Burke had heard the story, he was adamant on signing Bieksa the following day.
Bieksa had a strong start to his professional career with the Moose. He had two assists in 4-games of the 2003-04 season. In his first full season, Bieksa had 12-goals and 39-points in 80-games. He was an AHL rookie of the month in March that year, and also made the All-Rookie team for the season. Bieksa received high praise from Assistant GM Steve Tambellini for his quick adjustment from college hockey to the pro’s. Bikesa also earned the nickname “Juice” that season from goaltender Alex Auld. According to Bieksa, it came from a funny story that’s blown up bigger than it should be as it was mostly about Bieksa drinking juice.
Bieksa had a shot to make the Canucks out of the 2005-06 training camp. Many had him slotted for the 6th defenseman spot on the team. Unfortunately, his Canucks debut would have to wait as Bieksa suffered a high-ankle sprain in training camp. He was assigned to the Manitoba Moose and missed 1.5-months. Although he was sidelined with an injury, Bieksa was named assistant captain of the Moose—who was captained by Mike Keane. Once Bieksa returned from injury, he had 16-points through 20-games with the Moose and earned his call-up to Vancouver.
Bieksa’s first career game with Vancouver was against the LA Kings on December 19th 2005. He was called for a roughing penalty 10-seconds into his first shift. Bikesa did well with the team, but was ultimately re-assigned to Manitobe in April to make room for Ed Jovanovski who was returning from injury. Bieksa had 6-points across 39-games while averaging 16-minutes per game. In the off-season, he was signed to a two-year one-way extension.
Bieksa scored his first NHL goal in 2006 against Vesa Toskola and the San Jose Sharks. While Bieksa went on to score bigger goals against the Sharks in his career, it was a moment that set Bieksa on a trajectory to assert himself as one of the team’s top defenseman. He finished the year with 42-points which led all defencemen on the team. He was recognized by fans as the team’s best defenseman and unsung hero at the end of the season. Bieksa had 55-minutes of ice-time in his first career playoff-game—a quadruple overtime *nail–biter* against the Dallas Stars. Bieksa later tore three stomach oblique muscles in the series against Dallas and missed the rest of the postseason.
Bieksa was rewarded in the off-season with a three-year extension. In the 2007-08 season, Bieksa suffered a severe calf laceration from battling with Vernon Fiddler in a game against the Nashville Predators. That wouldn’t be Bieksa’s only run-in with Fiddler as Fiddler definitely gave Bieksa and then coach Alain Vigneault the last laugh a few years later [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_5v3ztqsu4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_5v3ztqsu4)
Bieksa missed 47-games that season and finished with 12-points in 34-games. Injuries continued the following year in 2008-09. At first Bieksa played through a foot injury from blocking a shot, but it was later revealed he had a bone fracture in his left foot. Bieksa missed 10-games in total but set a career-high with 32-assists and 43-points—which led the team’s defenseman in scoring.
Damn, we’re getting juicely close now
JUICEEE
Why not use a pic of Henrik for 33?
What a beaut
I love the Fedor Fedorov story lol. Imagine going from AHL amateur tryout to a two way contract because you knocked out some clown 4 inches and 60 pounds heavier than you in one punch.
Maybe the funniest Canucks goal of all time
One of my favourite players of all time
Thanks for all the work you’re putting into this!
This is my favorite offseason content ever
One of my all time favorite Canucks. That 2008-2012 core had a LOT of personality on top of being the best squad assembled in team history.
Fantastic offseason content thanks so much for giving me canucks stuff to read!
The guy from TV played in the NHL?
One my favourite Bieksa moments when he pretended to be Kesler lol: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjOHQwbLBlo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjOHQwbLBlo)