Ray Ferraro

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Position Centre
Shoots Left
Nickname(s) The Little Ball of Hate
Chicken Parm
Height
Weight
5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
192 lb (87 kg/13 st 10 lb)
Pro clubs Hartford Whalers
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Los Angeles Kings
Atlanta Thrashers
St. Louis Blues
Nationality Flag of Canada Canada
Born August 23, 1964 (1964-08-23) (age 43),
Trail, BC, CAN
NHL Draft 88th overall, 1982
Hartford Whalers
Pro career 1984 – 2002

Ray Ferraro aka "Chicken Parm"(born August 23, 1964 in Trail, British Columbia, Canada) is a retired professional hockey player for the NHL. He played for the Hartford Whalers (1984–1991), New York Islanders (1991–1995), New York Rangers (1995–1996), Los Angeles Kings (1996–1999), Atlanta Thrashers (1999–2002) and St. Louis Blues (2002). His nickname was the "Big Ball of Hate", coined by Rangers teammate Glenn Healy.[1] He is currently a broadcaster for TEAM 1040 Radio and Rogers Sportsnet in Canada.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

Ferraro was a prolific scorer in Junior Hockey, including a 108–goal and 192–point season for the Brandon Wheat Kings in 1983–84.

In his NHL career, he scored 408 goals and 490 assists, for a total of 898 points in 1258 games in 18 seasons. He was named to the NHL all-star game in 1992. He had two 40 goal seasons.

He had a memorable playoff run for the New York Islanders in 1993, scoring two overtime goals against the Washington Capitals as the Islanders defeated both the Capitals and the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Ferraro assisted on David Volek's game- and series-winning goal during overtime of Game 7 against the Penguins. The goal advanced the Islanders to the Wales Conference Finals, which they lost to the eventual champion Montreal Canadiens. Ferraro finished that playoff season with team-leading totals in goals (13) and points (20).

[edit] Broadcasting

Ferraro retired on August 2, 2002. He has done work for ESPN hockey broadcasts, including work on NHL 2Night with John Buccigross and Barry Melrose. On that show Ferraro was often referred to as "Chicken Parm" by Buccigross after an accident with chicken parmesan moments before going on the air. Ferraro is a main studio analyst during broadcasts of The NHL on NBC where he's often paired with Bill Clement. The same combo also worked as in-studio commentator's for the 2006 Winter Olympics for NBC, covering men's hockey. The duo, along with Brett Hull, also host "NHL on NBC Faceoff" on NBCSports.com a half-hour before each game. Ferraro also works regularly for the Edmonton Oilers, providing colour commentary of Oilers games on Rogers Sportsnet West, and, during the NHL season, has a daily "Hockey Hour" segment on Vancouver radio station TEAM 1040, introduced to the strains of "The Brass Bonanza", theme song of the Hartford Whalers (present-day Carolina Hurricanes). He is also a regular analyst for the Vancouver Canucks on Canucks TV. He also works on Sportsnet's hockey programs.

[edit] Personal life

His second wife is former U.S. women's ice hockey team captain Cammi Granato, who also worked as a women's hockey analyst during NBC's 2006 Winter Olympics coverage, and they have one son Riley who was born in December 2006. He has two sons from a previous marriage; Matt, 18, and Landon, 15. Landon, a centre man, was drafted 2nd overall by the Red Deer Rebels in the 2006 WHL Bantam Draft; Matt, a goalie, currently playing for the Alpena IceDiggers of the NAHL, was drafted in 2003 by the Prince George Cougars, but has expressed a desire in pursuing a career in college hockey.

Following the Swedish women's team upset of the U.S. at the Torino games, Ferraro publicly criticized US Women's coach Ben Smith for failing to bring the best US players to the games, which lead to their downfall. His comments were broadcast on MSNBC on February 19, during the intermission of a men's game. This appeared to be directly related to his wife being cut in August 2005, along with other veterans in favor of younger, faster players. Some critics and fans also questioned Granato's cut from the team and cited it as a factor in the US team's disappointing performance.

Ferraro currently splits time between his residences in Vancouver, British Columbia and Brookville, New York.

[edit] Transactions

  • March 18, 2002— Traded by the Atlanta Thrashers to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for St. Louis' 2002 4th round draft choice.

[edit] Career statistics

    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1980–81 Trail Smoke Eaters BCJHL 1 0 1 1 0 -- -- -- -- --
1981–82 Penticton Knights BCJHL -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
1982–83 Portland Winter Hawks WHL 50 41 49 90 39 14 14 10 24 13
1983–84 Brandon Wheat Kings WHL 72 108 84 192 84 11 13 15 28 20
1984–85 Binghamton Whalers AHL 37 20 13 33 29 -- -- -- -- --
1984–85 Hartford Whalers NHL 44 11 17 28 40 -- -- -- -- --
1985–86 Hartford Whalers NHL 76 30 47 77 57 10 3 6 9 4
1986–87 Hartford Whalers NHL 80 27 32 59 42 6 1 1 2 8
1987–88 Hartford Whalers NHL 68 21 29 50 81 6 1 1 2 6
1988–89 Hartford Whalers NHL 80 41 35 76 86 4 2 0 2 4
1989–90 Hartford Whalers NHL 79 25 29 54 109 7 0 3 3 2
1990–91 Hartford Whalers NHL 15 2 5 7 18 -- -- -- -- --
1990–91 New York Islanders NHL 61 19 16 35 52 -- -- -- -- --
1991–92 New York Islanders NHL 80 40 40 80 92 -- -- -- -- --
1992–93 Capital District Islanders AHL 1 0 2 2 2 -- -- -- -- --
1992–93 New York Islanders NHL 46 14 13 27 40 18 13 7 20 18
1993–94 New York Islanders NHL 82 21 32 53 83 4 1 0 1 6
1994–95 New York Islanders NHL 47 22 21 43 30 -- -- -- -- --
1995–96 New York Rangers NHL 65 25 29 54 82 -- -- -- -- --
1995–96 Los Angeles Kings NHL 11 4 2 6 10 -- -- -- -- --
1996–97 Los Angeles Kings NHL 81 25 21 46 112 -- -- -- -- --
1997–98 Los Angeles Kings NHL 40 6 9 15 42 3 0 1 1 2
1998–99 Los Angeles Kings NHL 65 13 18 31 59 -- -- -- -- --
1999–00 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 81 19 25 44 88 -- -- -- -- --
2000–01 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 81 29 47 76 91 -- -- -- -- --
2001–02 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 61 8 19 27 66 -- -- -- -- --
2001–02 St. Louis Blues NHL 15 6 4 10 8 10 0 3 3 4
NHL Totals 1258 408 490 898 1288 68 21 22 43 54

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Buccigross, John. "Da Vinci knew all about the Stanley Cup", ESPN.com, ESPN Internet Ventures, 2003-04-06. Retrieved on 2007-09-19. 

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Steve Staios
Atlanta Thrashers captains
2001–02
Succeeded by
Shawn McEachern


Persondata
NAME Ferraro, Ray
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
DATE OF BIRTH 1964–8–23
PLACE OF BIRTH Trail, BC, CAN
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH