Tom Barrasso

Tom Barrasso
Position	Goaltender
Caught	Right
Height Weight	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 210 lb (95 kg)
Teams	NHL ;Pittsburgh Penguins
Nationality	USA
Born	(1965-03-31)March 31, 1965, Boston, MA, U.S.
NHL Draft	5th overall, 1983 Buffalo Sabres
Pro Career	1983 – 2003

Thomas Patrick Barrasso (born March 31, 1965 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a retired American professional goaltender who played all 18 seasons for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League, and the only goalie to ever play in the NHL directly from high school, without having played major junior or college hockey first. He is considered the best goaltender in Penguins franchise history due to the length of his career and his critical role in backstopping the team to successive Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992. He currently serves as the goaltending coach and director of goaltending development for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Playing career

Tom Barrasso grew up in Massachusetts, playing ice hockey on an outdoor rink. He started playing goalie when he was only 5 years old and by the time he was a teenager, playing in net for Acton-Boxborough high school 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, the highest goaltender to be selected in the NHL Entry Draft until 1997, when Roberto Luongo was taken 4th overall. Skipping a college career, he went straight from high school to the NHL where he exceeded all expectations. 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.

In 1988, the Sabres traded Barrasso to the Pittsburgh Penguins where he won two Stanley Cups, in 1991 and 1992. It was his outstanding play in these Cup runs that established him as a "money goalie", someone who could deliver wins when it counted the most. In the following years, Barrasso missed most of 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.

In March 2000, he was traded to the Ottawa Senators for Ron Tugnutt and Janne Laukkanen. He spent the 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.

Barrasso now serves as the goaltender coach of the Carolina 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 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

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

Numbers in bold indicate league leader; italics indicate a tie for the lead

				Regular season										Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	W	L	T	MIN	GA	SO	GAA	SV%		GP	W	L	MIN	GA	SO	GAA	SV%
1981–82	Acton-Boxborough Regional High School	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		3	0	2	139	8	0	3.45	.864
1984–85	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		54	25	18	10	3248	144	5	2.66	.887		5	2	3	300	22	0	4.40	.854
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		4	1	3	224	16	0	4.29	.867
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		11	7	4	641	40	0	3.80	.897
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		20	12	7	1175	51	1	2.60	.919
1991–92	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		57	25	22	9	3329	196	1	3.53	.885		21	16	5	1233	58	1	2.82	.907
1992–93	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		67	43	14	5	3702	186	4	3.01	.901		12	7	5	722	35	2	2.91	.905
1993–94	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		44	22	15	5	2482	139	2	3.36	.893		6	2	4	356	17	0	2.87	.895
1994–95	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		2	0	1	1	125	8	0	3.84	.893		2	0	1	80	8	0	6.00	.805
1995–96	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		49	29	16	2	2799	160	2	3.43	.902		10	4	5	558	26	1	2.80	.923
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		6	2	4	376	17	0	2.71	.901
1998–99	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		43	19	16	3	2306	98	4	2.55	.901		13	6	7	787	35	1	2.67	.900
1999–00	Pttsburgh Penguins	NHL		18	5	7	2	870	46	1	3.17	.881		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2000–01	Did not play
2001–02	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		34	13	12	5	1908	83	2	2.61	.906		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2001–02	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		4	2	2	0	219	10	0	2.74	.909		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2002–03	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		6	1	4	0	293	16	1	3.28	.879		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
NHL Totals				777	369	277	86	44180	2385	38	3.24	.892		119	61	54	6953	349	6	3.01	.902

International play

Barrasso won an Olympic silver medal as part of the U.S. national men's ice hockey team at the 2002 Olympics 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 at the 1986 World Ice Hockey Championships and the 1987 Canada Cup.

External links

• Tom Barrasso's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database

• Tom Barrasso's profile at Hockeydraftcentral.com