Jamie McLennan
James Joseph McLennan (* June 30, 1971 in Edmonton, Alberta ) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the New York Islanders, St. Louis Blues, Minnesota Wild, Calgary Flames, New York Rangers and Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League active had. By the end of the season 2010/11 he worked as an assistant coach with the Calgary Flames.
Career
Jamie McLennan began with the Spokane Chiefs in the WHL Junior League 1988. 1989 he moved within the League to the Lethbridge Hurricanes. There he moved in 1990 and 1991 to the finals of the playoffs, his team was defeated there but twice. In 1991 he was honored as the best goalkeeper in the WHL. In the NHL Entry Draft in 1991, he was selected by the New York Islanders in the third round at position 48.
The seasons 1991/92 and 1992/93 he graduated at the Capital District Islanders in the American Hockey League and the Richmond Renegades of the ECHL in that both were farm teams of the New York Islanders. At the beginning of the 1993/94 season he played in the IHL farm team the Islanders before he came for the first time in the NHL in January for use. McLennan took over the role of the back-up goalie behind Ron Hextall.
In the following two years, he got number 2 of the Islanders several times the chance to present themselves in the NHL, but continued to play with the farm team. 1994/95 in the IHL for the Denver Grizzlies and 1995/ 96 in the IHL for the Utah Grizzlies, as well as in the AHL for the Worcester IceCats.
After the 1995/96 season was a few weeks at the end, he drove from Salt Lake City, Utah, in the direction of home to Edmonton, but with a stopover in Lethbridge to visit his family. During the visit on May 6, he complained that it did not go well and he felt sick. On the same day he was to hospitalize, since he now had problems to move. In the hospital, it turned out that he had been diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and course of the disease could be fatal. He spent the following weeks in the hospital.
The New York Islanders did not request to extend the contract on July 1. Thus McLennan was out of work due to illness and he had to learn to walk again.
The St. Louis Blues took him on July 15 under contract. And since McLennan recovered very well as he could already in 1996/97 make his comeback in the AHL with the Worcester IceCats. With good performances he was able to convince the Blues and arrived as back-up goalie in the NHL team. With 16 wins and two shutouts in 30 games of the season 1997/98 he was able to establish itself as number 2. In the following two years he brought solid performances. In 1998, Jamie McLennan awarded by the NHL for his quick comeback after serious illness, the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.
In the summer of 2000, the NHL was increased by two teams and thus the cadres of the two new teams are filled with players in the NHL Expansion Draft 2000 was held in which the new teams to a certain number of players to choose from the teams already existing itself. Jamie McLennan was selected by the Minnesota Wild and shared in the 2000 /01 season the post as goalkeeper with Manny Fernandez. But the season was miserable for him. In 38 games, he managed just five victories. The following season he played in the AHL with the Houston Aeros.
During the NHL Entry Draft 2002, he was transferred from Minnesota to the Calgary Flames, where he had the chance again to act as back-up goalie. In Calgary, he formed, as already 1999/2000 in St. Louis, the team along with goalkeeper Roman Turek as number 1 His first season in Calgary was not positive, and he won only twice in 22 games. But he stayed with the team and when Roman Turek injured early in the season 2003/ 04, Jamie McLennan to the goalkeeper number 1 After Turek 's return was assumed Miikka Kiprusoff the job as goalkeeper and Turek as the substitute. McLennan now had no chance of inserts for the team. In March 2004 he was transferred to the New York Rangers, where he completed four games.
In summer 2004, he signed a two-year contract with the Florida Panthers. However, the NHL season 2004/ 05 dropped out due to the lockout. McLennan was in February 2005 in the United Kingdom to Guildford Flames, but played only once for the team.
The NHL season 2005/ 06 took place again and McLennan started in his first year in Florida. But behind Roberto Luongo, he was only ten times to use.
On 6 July 2006 it was announced that he returns to the Calgary Flames, and he has signed a one-year contract. In the season 2006/ 07 he came as a substitute goalkeeper Miikka Kiprusoff only used nine times and took only three wins. In the first round of the playoffs against the Detroit Red Wings McLennan came off the bench in five games with the score at 1-5 three minutes and 17 seconds before the end. A few seconds after the Substitutes he hit Detroit's Johan Franzen, who blocked his view, with the bat in the legs, followed by a sentence was displayed. In the subsequent interruption McLennan finally lost his nerve and hit the passing current Franzén intentionally with the bat in the stomach. For a total of 18 -second application he received in addition to the two-minute penalty for the first slashing still a game misconduct and a match penalty. A day later, McLennan was suspended by the NHL for five games.
In the summer of 2007, his contract ran out at the Calgary Flames and he received at Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Russian Super League a sample contract, but could not recommend it for a place in the squad. In November 2007, it finally took the Nippon Paper Cranes of the Asia League Ice Hockey under contract. The Paper Cranes he moved into the playoffs to the finals, where they were beaten the Eagles Ōji documents.
After the season in Japan, he finished in the summer of 2008, his career and returned to North America. There he was hired by the Calgary Flames as a scout and surveyed as Director of Goalie Development the development of the goalkeeper in the organization of the Flames. For the season 2009/10 he was hired by the Flames as an assistant coach.
Awards and achievements
Others
His mask
Jamie McLennan is a big fan of the rock band KISS. For this reason, the four members of the band are shown on almost every mask he was wearing. On the mask from the 2003/04 season he was also still the Calgary skyline with the Ice Hockey Arena Pengrowth Saddledome in the foreground. He also had been painted on top of the mask a large inflamed C and its number 29 below the grid. The lettering of the band Nickelback also adorns the mask, as he is a fan of the band and also how he and the Calgary Flames come from the province of Alberta. McLennan has designed the mask itself.
His number
Jamie McLennan wore in his youth time in the WHL always the number 31, but the first time he had on them in his first NHL station, the New York Islanders without, since it was no longer awarded in honor of Billy Smith. He chose the number 29, which he also wore in St. Louis since Grant Fuhr the 31 already claimed for himself. He remained true to his line and carried the 29 also in Minnesota. In Calgary, he voluntarily renounced the 29 out of respect for the former Calgary goaltender Mike Vernon, as McLennan believed that Vernon was wearing them. But McLennan was wrong, which is why he wore in the following season, the 29 again. Was he wearing the number 29 initially forced in the NHL, it has become the number he wears on each team.