NHL DID YOU KNOW? JAMIE BENN EDITION #nhl #dallas #dallasstars #captain #nhl24 #stars #minnesota
Jamie Randolph Benn[1] (born July 18, 1989) is a Canadian professional ice hockey winger and captain of the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League (NHL).
In the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, Benn was drafted by the Dallas Stars 129th overall. He played his junior hockey career with the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League (WHL). He represented Canada at the 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, where he helped capture a gold medal. With Team Canada, he won a gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. In the 2014–15 NHL season, Benn was awarded the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leader in points. The Stars went to the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals under his leadership.
Playing career
Junior
Benn grew up playing hockey for the Peninsula Eagles minor hockey association and attended Stelly’s Secondary School as a teenager. He played for the Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League (VIJHL), a local Junior B team located in North Saanich, British Columbia, during the 2005–06 season. Following this, he played for the Victoria Grizzlies of the Junior A British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) for parts of three seasons from 2006-2008.
Kelowna Rockets
Benn was drafted by the Dallas Stars 129th overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft from the Victoria Grizzlies. Following his draft, Benn began his major junior career with the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL. He scored 65 points in his rookie season in 2007–08, then improved to a team-high 46 goals along with 36 assists for 82 points in 56 games in the 2008–09 WHL season. After being named to the WHL West first All-Star team, Benn paced the Rockets with a playoff-leading 33 points en route to the 2009 Ed Chynoweth Cup title. In the subsequent 2009 Memorial Cup tournament, held in Rimouski, Quebec, Benn notched a four-goal game and added an assist in the second round-robin match against the Drummondville Voltigeurs, a 6–4 win, to secure the Rockets a berth in the tournament final. Although the Rockets lost to the Windsor Spitfires 4–1 in the Final, Benn was named to the Tournament All-Star team, along with teammate Tyler Myers.[2]
Dallas Stars (2009–present)
Early seasons in Dallas (2009–2013)
Benn with the Stars in October 2009. The 2009–10 season was his rookie season in the NHL.
Benn made the Dallas Stars’ roster for the 2009–10 season and made his NHL debut in the season opener on October 3, 2009 in a 3–2 shootout loss to the Nashville Predators.[3] Benn and scored his first NHL goal in his fourth NHL game on October 11 against Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks. Benn tied the score 3–3 late in the game, but the Stars lost 4–3 later in the shootout.[4]
After playing all 82 games for the Stars in 2009–10, his rookie season, he was sent down to the Stars’ AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, for the 2010 Calder Cup playoffs. He scored 14 goals, 12 assists and had 26 points in 24 playoffs games as Texas fell to the Hershey Bears in the Calder Cup Finals. Benn later spoke of the experience, “I had a fun summer here…it was a big part of my hockey career and helped me develop my game. I definitely loved playing here.”[5]
Following the absence of teammate Brad Richards due to a concussion, Benn took a leading role with the Stars in February 2011. During the All Star Game’s SuperSkills Competition, Benn participated in the Accuracy Shooting contest and won his leg against Tampa Bay Lightning star forward Steven Stamkos then the finals against Philadelphia Flyers rookie Matt Read with times of 13.583 and 10.204 seconds respectively. [citation needed]
With the 2012–13 NHL season delayed due to the labour lock-out, Benn signed a contract for the duration of the dispute with the Hamburg Freezers of the German DEL on October 2, 2012.[6] Unable to initially agree to a contract with the Stars, Benn missed the first four games of the shortened NHL season before re-signing to a five-year, $26.25 million contract on January 24, 2013. On March 18, Benn recorded his 100th NHL assist on a Loui Eriksson goal in a 4–3 win over the Calgary Flames.[7]