Former NHL winger Brett MacLean to speak at Hanover Minor Hockey Banquet
Submitted By s.fitzsimmons on Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Hanover Minor Hockey is delighted to announce former NHL winger Brett MacLean as our guest speaker for the banquet being held on Sunday, April 21st.
Mr. MacLean is a native of Port Elgin, Ontario and has been a scoring star his whole career, starting with the Grey-Bruce Highlanders, which led him to being drafted in the 1st round of the Ontario Hockey League Draft by the Erie Otters. He played for both the Otters and Oshawa Generals in the Ontario Hockey League. In his best OHL season, he registered 61 goals and 119 points in 61 games with the Oshawa Generals in 2007-08.
He led the OHL in goals and was second in the OHL in points, outscoring his high profile line-mate, current NHL star John Tavares. He also had a very impressive 32 game points streak that season.
Mr. MacLean had two 100 point seasons in the OHL, was an OHL All-star twice and was a 2nd team CHL All-Star as one of the best junior hockey players in Canada in 07-08.
Drafted in the second round of the NHL Draft by the Phoenix Coyotes in 2007, Maclean played 4 seasons in the American Hockey League from 2008-09 to 2011-12, registering 21, 30, 23 and 25 goals and was an AHL All-Star in 2009.
He also had the opportunity to play in 18 NHL games with the Phoenix Coyotes and Winnipeg Jets, registering 2 goals and 5 points and was on the brink of becoming a full-time NHL player at 23 years of age.
MacLean was playing summer pick-up hockey with friends in Owen Sound on July 3rd 2012, when he suffered a cardiac emergency. He was revived using cardiopulmonary resuscitation and a defibrillator and the quick action of his friends. He has a defibrillator implanted in his chest and has been forced to retire from competitive hockey at 24 years old. He has been actively campaigning for CPR Awareness with the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Mr. MacLean is a great role model with a very interesting story about his hockey journey to share and we look forward to hearing his message. He will also sign autographs for our players at the banquet.