Brock Boeser

Brock Boeser (born February 25, 1997) is an American professional ice hockey player currently playing for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Boeser was selected in the 1st round (23rd overall) of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

Amateur
Boeser played for the Waterloo Black Hawks during the 2014-15 season. In his rookie season with the Black Hawks, Boeser appeared in 57 regular season games, scoring 35 goals and 33 assists for 68 points, leading the league in goals and being named to the All-Rookie Team and the First All-Star Team as a top prospect for the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

Boeser left the United States Hockey League and played hockey at the University of North Dakota the following 2015-16 season. He led the league's first division with both goals and points. He appeared in 42 regular season games and scored 27 goals and 33 assists for 60 points. Boeser helped lead North Dakota to the NCAA Division 1 National Championship.

In 2016-17, Boeser's last season at the University of North Dakota he played in 32 games, scoring 16 goals and 18 assists. He missed two months of the season because of a wrist injury.

Professional
On March 25, 2017, Boeser signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Vancouver Canucks and made his NHL debut later in the day in a 4-2 Canucks' win against the Minnesota Wild, with Boeser scoring his first career goal in his first game.

Boeser played his first full NHL season in 2017-18. On November 4, 2017 he scored his first career hat trick in a 4-2 Canucks' win against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Boeser made history as the first Canucks player age 20 or younger to score a hat trick since Trevor Linden on December 20, 1990.

Boeser was named the league's rookie of the month for both November and December. In November, he scored 11 goals in 15 games, leading all players in the league. In December, Boeser scored 8 goals and 5 assists for 13 points in 13 games. On January 10, 2018 Boeser was named to 2018 NHL All Star Game, his first All-Star appearance as a member of the Pacific Division's roster. At the event, Boeser won the shooting accuracy contest and in each of the 2 games he played in he had 2 goals and 1 assist, being named the All-Star game's Most Valuable Player.

On March 5, 2018 Boeser was injured after a collision with New York Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck. It was announced that Boeser would miss the remainder of the 2017-18 season and would take 4-6 weeks to recover from the back injury he suffered.

International play
Boeser has excelled in international competition with the United States national junior team. He represented the team at the 2014 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, playing in 5 games and adding 6 goals and 2 assists, with the team winning a bronze medal. Boeser also participated in the International Ice Hockey Federation's (IIHF) 2016 World Junior Championships tournament. He played in 7 games and scored 3 points, 1 goal and 2 assists with the team winning bronze.

Personal life
Boeser was born to Duke and Laurie Boeser. He is the youngest of three children. He has a brother, Paul and a sister, Jessica. Boeser's father, Duke, was diagnosed with parkinson's disease in 2010 and a few years later he would suffer from a serious brain injury from a car accident, forcing him to stop working. To support the family, Boeser's mother Laurie worked three jobs. He grew up in Burnsville, Minnesota, where he was born.