Brad Thiessen

Brad Thiessen ( born March 19, 1986 in Aldergrove, British Columbia) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender, who plays for HIFK in Helsinki since July 2013.

Career

Brad Thiessen was active during his junior first time from 2003 to 2006 in the British Columbia Hockey League for the Penticton Panthers, Prince George Spruce Kings and Merritt Centennials. He then began studying at Northeastern University and played hockey for the team, the Northeastern Huskies in the Hockey East, one of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division. Already in his debut season in the Hockey East succeeded the Canadian breakthrough in the University League, as Thiessen parried his case more than 92 percent of the shots. He was also in the following two seasons, the undisputed first-choice goalkeeper of the Huskies and completed a successful season 2008/ 09, with several individual awards, including Most Valuable Player of Hockey East, ended the links catcher. His 41 appearances in 2008/ 09 were also the second- most in the NCAA, only Alex Stalock with 42 inserts for the University of Minnesota Duluth was successful. In addition, he was nominated as one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, won the defender Matt Gilroy.

Thiessen, who was never drafted, signed in April 2009 as a free agent contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League. From the season 2009/10 he formed together with John Curry, a Torwartduo in the farm team for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the American Hockey League. In the same season the Canadians also came to twelve inserts for the Wheeling Nailers in the ECHL. The final breakthrough in the AHL managed Thiessen in the season 2010/11. After an excellent regular season with 35 wins and seven shutouts, both new franchise records of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, impressed the goalkeeper with a capture rate of 94 percent and a Gegentorschnitt of 1.67 in twelve games of the playoffs. However, the team failed in the second playoff round against the Charlotte Checkers. At season's end, the goalkeeper has been honored for his achievements with several individual awards.

In January 2011, he was nominated for the AHL All- Star Classic, but missed the event due to injury.

Awards and achievements

  • 2009 NCAA Hockey East First All-Star Team
  • 2009 NCAA Hockey East Player of the Year
  • 2009 NCAA New England D1 All-Stars
  • 2009 NCAA New England Most Valuable Player
  • 2011 AHL All-Star Classic ( injury-related cancellation )
  • 2011 Aldege " Baz " Bastien Award
  • 2011 Harry " Hap " Holmes Memorial Award (jointly with John Curry )
  • 2011 AHL First All -Star Team
  • 2013 Harry " Hap " Holmes Memorial Award (shared with Jeff Zatkoff )
2009–10 AHL season John Curry (ice hockey) Farmteam 2010–11 AHL season Charlotte Checkers (2010–) Mikko Jokela Corey Elkins Rico Fata Iiro Pakarinen Ville Peltonen Juuso Puustinen Eero Somervuori Raimo Summanen Jan Lundell
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