Donald Brashear 1972–

Hockey player

Signed with Montreal Canadiens

Involved in infamous Hit

Joined Philadelphia Flyers

Sources

Since his National Hockey League (NHL) debut in 1993 at the position of left wing with the Montreal Canadiens, Donald Brashear has gained a reputation as a player with a commanding physical presence on the ice. With the most penalty minutes in the NHL in his 1997-1998 season with the Vancouver Canucks, Brashear also earned nicknames such as “The Enforcer” and “The Basher” in recognition of his frequent battles with his opponents. During the final minutes of a February 2000 game between the Canucks and the Boston Bruins, however, Brashear was himself the victim of one of the most violent hits in NHL history when Marty McSorley, a frequent sparring partner of Brashear’s, hit the left winger from behind with his stick. The blow knocked Brashear unconscious and resulted in a concussion that kept him off the ice for several weeks. Traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2001, Brasher continued to live up to his reputation as a physical player but also began to demonstrate a more well rounded set of hockey skills that got him more ice time.

Signed with Montreal Canadiens

Donald Brashear was born on January 7, 1972, in the south-central Indiana town of Bedford. After his father started showing abusive behavior towards him, Brashear’s mother, who was originally from Quebec, sent him to live with a foster family in Quebec City. As hockey was the favorite pastime in Quebec, Brashear grew up on skates like everyone else and as a teenager played for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). He stayed in the QMJHL for three seasons and was an effective scorer for teams in Longueuil and Verdun, Quebec. Brashear also developed an intimidating physical presence on the ice. At six-feet, two-inches tall and about 225 pounds, Brashear’s opponents had a tough time pushing the rookie around.

After signing with the Montreal Canadiens on July 28, 1992, Brashear was sent to the team’s minor-league affiliate in Fredericton, New Brunswick, to start his professional career. In seventy-six games with the Fredericton Canadiens, Brashear scored eleven goals and racked up two-hundred-sixty-one penalty minutes, or an average of over 3.4 minutes per game. The amount of time he spent in the penalty box indicated that Brashear was being groomed to take the role of an on-ice enforcer with the Canadiens, to be called in to

At a Glance…

Born Donald Brashear on January 7, 1972, in Bedford, IN; married; children: Jordon, Jackson.

Career: Professional hockey player. Montreal Canadiens, 1993-97; Vancouver Canucks, 1997-01; Philadelphia Flyers, 2001-.

Address: Team: Philadelphia Flyers, 3601 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148; Phone: (215) 952-5210.

intimidate the team’s opponents and gain a psychological as well as physical advantage over them. After being called up to the NHL, Brashear made his first appearance with the Canadiens on November 15, 1993. In making it to the NHL, he became one of only about ten active players of African descent in the league. (By 2002 fifteen players of African descent were playing in the NHL.) He played fourteen games with the team in the 1993-1994 season, scoring two goals and accumulating thirty-four penalty minutes. Brashear split the next season between the Fredericton and Montreal Canadiens but in the 1995-1996 season played all of his sixty-seven games in Montreal. With two-hundred-twenty-three penalty minutes in the 1995-1996 season, Brashear was second on the Canadiens’ roster with time spent in the penalty box.

Brashear became increasingly unhappy with Mario Tremblay, the coach of the Canadiens, and his decision to use the left wing primarily as an enforcer but rarely during regular play. After a dispute between Brashear and Tremblay after one practice session, the Canadiens decided to trade Brashear to the Vancouver Canucks on November 13, 1996. Like the Canadiens, the Canucks used Brashear for his ability to physically intimidate the team’s opponents. In the 1997-1998 season Brashear led the entire NHL in penalty minutes, with three-hundred-seventy two. Hockey fans also came to watch match ups between the Canucks and the San Jose Sharks for potential fights between Brashear and the Sharks’ Marty McSorley, another player with a penchant for fighting. McSorley was later traded to the Boston Bruins and the two would have another major confrontation in 2000 that seriously injured Brashear and ended McSorley’s NHL career.

Involved in infamous Hit

In his five seasons with the Canucks, Brashear was once again frustrated that his coaches viewed him as an enforcer and little else. His valuable contributions to the American national team at the World Hockey Championships in 1997 and 1998 showed that Brashear could become an effective scorer if given enough ice time. As he noted in an article posted on the Slam! Sports website during the 1997 championships, “I didn’t want to come here and play two, three shifts a game like sometimes during the season. The American coaches said they’d give me a chance to play and I think I’m doing well.” Regarding his reputation as a fighter, he added, “I don’t retaliate because I know I’m not going to fight over here. I enjoy being on the second or third line, and playing there you need to get a goal every once in a while. Maybe they didn’t expect me to score that many goals. I don’t know. I do know that I was a good goal scorer in the minors when I was with Montreal.”

Brashear continued to rack up the penalty minutes and fines for his on-ice transgressions with the Canucks. At one point in the 1999-2000 season he was even suspended without pay for two games by the NHL for checking New York Islanders player Jamie Heward from behind. Brashear’s most publicized moment on the ice, however, occurred on February 21, 2000, in a game against the Boston Bruins. Brashear and his old sparring partner, Marty McSorley, had a major fight in the first period of the game, a bout that Brashear had won. McSorley spent much of the rest of the game trying to goad Brashear into another fight, but Brashear saw no reason to have another confrontation as his team held a three-goal lead going into the final minutes of the match. Brashear even taunted the Bruins’ bench by skating by the players and wringing his hands as if to say they were all washed up. McSorley, who was increasingly enraged by Brashear’s attitude, suddenly attacked him without warning with less than three seconds remaining in the game. Swinging his stick at Brashear with both hands, McSorley knocked Brashear’s helmet off and his head hit the ice with a sickening thud. Brashear was knocked unconscious and was later found to have suffered a concussion. He missed twenty games before being able to return to the ice.

As footage of McSorley’s attack on Brashear was replayed on television, commentators condemned the violent tactics that Brashear himself had often used. McSorley received a one-year suspension from the NHL, which effectively ended his career. He was also charged in a Vancouver court with assault. During McSorley’s trial a number of hockey personalities, including Wayne Gretzky, testified that violence was an accepted part of the game. The judge disagreed and found McSorley guilty of assault in October of 2000. He received a conditional discharge and did not have to serve any jail time. Brashear was not satisfied that the NHL had only seen fit to suspend McSorley. As he said in one interview posted on the ESPN website, “I could have died. I don’t think this guy should be playing in the league anymore. I mean, how bad does it have to get?” As for those who claimed that Brashear had brought the attack on himself, the left wing responded, “We had a few tilts and I think most of the time I got the best of him. There were a few other things. You try to make a team lose its focus, so I was in front of their bench bugging them. All these things probably built up, but I still don’t understand what happened or why he hit me like that.”

Joined Philadelphia Flyers

Brashear faced legal problems of his own after assaulting a man in the gym of his Vancouver apartment complex on November 27, 2000. The man had allegedly asked Brashear’s wife, who had one of their toddler sons with her, to leave the area, and Brashear responded by grabbing the man by the throat. Brashear pled guilty to the charge of common assault in a Vancouver court in October of 2001 and was put under six months of probation. Brashear was also considered to be a troublesome presence by some in the Canucks’ organization, especially for his repeated complaints about not getting enough ice time, which was perceived as bringing down the team’s morale.

On December 17, 2001, Brashear was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers, whose reputation for playing brutal hockey had earned its members the nickname “The Broad Street Bullies” in the team’s heyday of the 1970s. Brashear’s salary climbed to a reported $1.5 million for his first season with the Flyers and was estimated to be worth up to $2.3 million by the end of his contract. “I’m pretty happy,” Brashear told the CBS Sportsline website about the signing, “As a kid, that’s one of the teams I dreamed of playing for.” With off-season homes in Montreal and southern New Jersey, Brashear enjoyed riding his three horses. He was also the father of two sons, Jordon and Jackson.

Sources

Periodicals

Business Week, October 23, 2000.

Chicago Tribune, May 2, 1999.

Hockey Digest, January 2001.

Maclean’s, March 6, 2000; December 11, 2000.

Province (Vancouver, British Columbia), March 5, 2003.

San Francisco Chronicle, December 16, 1998.

Sporting News, March 6, 2000.

USA Today, July 22, 2002.

Vancouver Sun, February 1, 2003.

Washington Post, October 25, 1999.

On-line

“Brashear Becomes Unlikely Scorer for USA,” Slam! Sports, www.canoe.ca/97HockeyWorldChampionships/wc_apr30_brash.html (March 17, 2003).

“Donald Brashear,” National Hockey League Players’ Association, www.nhlpa.com/Content/THE_PLAYERS/player_biol.asp?ID=601 (March 17, 2003).

“Donald Brashear,” Philadelphia Flyers, www.philadelphiaflyers.com/team/roster/RosterDetail.asp?PlayerID=50&bPrintPage=Y (March 10, 2003).

“Donald Brashear,” TSN Network, www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/player_bio.asp?player_name=Donald+Brashear&hubName=PHI (March 17, 2003).

“Flyers Acquire Brashear, Send Hlavac to Canucks,” CBS Sportsline, http://cbs.sportsline.eom/u/ce/multi/0,1329,4706469_60,00.html (March 17, 2003).

“Suspension Not Enough, Brashear Says,” ESPN, http://espn.go.com/nhl/news/2000/0317/430884.html (March 17, 2003).

—Timothy Borden