Mike Bullard (ice hockey)
Michael Brian Bullard ( born March 10, 1961 in Ottawa, Ontario ) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player who was active in the National Hockey League, the National League A and the German Ice Hockey League. His position was center forward. Since end of his career he has worked as a coach.
- 2.1 International
Career
As a player
Bullard began his career in 1978 in the Canadian Junior Football League Ontario Hockey League with the Brantford Alexanders. Having already achieved 99 points scorer in his first season as a player of the Alexanders and one year later with 150 points was one of the best strikers in the OHL, the talent scouts of the National Hockey League have been aware of the left-handed shooters. During the NHL Entry Draft in 1980, it was the management of the Pittsburgh Penguins, which selected him in the first round as the ninth overall player. He stayed another season in the OHL before he joined the NHL in 1981 with the Penguins.
There he graduated from in the season 1980/81 his first 23 games in the North American League. Bullard then played a good rookie season. He was able to score in 85 games 67 times. In the following years, he quickly took a leadership role and was 1984-1987 Team Captain. As he was able to increase its services and in 1986 was one of the best attackers point of the NHL, the former Canadian national team coach nominated him for the Canadian National Ice Hockey team with which he participated in the 1986 World Cup. In the end, he reached the third place with Canada.
On November 12, 1986 it exchanged those responsible for the Penguins against Dan Quinn and Bullard moved to Calgary at the local Flames. With his new club, he was, however, only two -year contract. In his last season 1987/88 he could put up with 103 points in 79 games his Karrierebestwert in the NHL. Nevertheless it the Calgary Flames early September 1988 were trading along with Craig Coxe and Tim Corkery to the St. Louis Blues, who received in return, Mark Hunter, Doug Gilmour, Steve Bozek and Michael Dark. Also he left the Blues after a short time and was discharged from his club on 29 November 1988, after only three months, for Peter Zezel to the Philadelphia Flyers. In Philadelphia Bullard was able to convince again in spite of everything and ended there, the season 1988 / 89th Subsequently, he was active for another year at the Flyers before he moved to the Swiss National League A for HC Ambri -Piotta in the summer of 1990 to Europe.
There followed a successful season in Switzerland, which drew the interest of some NHL clubs on him. Bullard was a total of 79 points in 41 games before the Swiss NLA Peter Jaks most successful scorer of his team. Finally he went to the year at HC Ambri -Piotta again to North America for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but was unable to repeat his previous performance there and returned to the 1992/93 season back in Switzerland and signed a one-year contract at that time in the National League B playing SC Rapperswil Jona. There he was again the best striker of his team and received in the summer of 1993, lucrative offers from other, higher class acting teams from Switzerland and other European countries. Bullard ultimately chose for the EV Landshut and moved into the then highest German league, the Bundesliga.
The Canadian became the top scorer and top scorer of the Bundesliga in 1994. Additionally, he was awarded Player of the Year. Despite these personal successes, he left with the EV Landshut in the playoff quarterfinals against the Kölner EC. In a close series the team lost with 3:4 defeats. The following summer, 1994, the German Ice Hockey League was founded and Bullard moved to the EVL in the final game of the playoffs for the German championship one. This was how lost the quarter-finals, against the Cologne Sharks in the previous year. Bullard was after 1994, for the second consecutive year the most successful main lap scorer in the German top flight. In the playoffs, he had 27 points in 18 games even topscorer. He had a great share in the catchment in the playoff finals.
In the 1995/96 season he reached with the country Moravians the semifinals of the playoffs and was eliminated there against the Cologne Sharks. The EVL thus failed in three years, three times in the playoffs to the sharks from Cologne. The Canadian was again one of the best scorers in the league and scored 50 main round matches 69 points. This was followed by a further six goals and eleven assists in the playoffs. He remained until 1998 in Landshut and then moved to the then highly indebted Polar bears Berlin. In 1997, he was still wearing the jersey of the EV Landshut, the most successful submission of donor DEL Main Round and 1998 he was nominated by fans and journalists for the first DEL All-Star Game in Frankfurt. There he was part of the DEL All-Star team, but failed to reach a point scorer.
When the polar bear Berlin Bullard services stagnated for the first time in his career. Although he scored in his first season in polar bears jersey 50 points scorer, but this dropped to 46 the following year. Nevertheless, he was with his countryman Marc Fortier the most important foreign players in the team and reached the club in 1999 ranked second in the IIHF Continental Cup. After he helped the Polar Bears in the season 1999 /00 for relegation, he signed a contract with the former league rivals Schwenningen Wild Wings. Schwenninger kept the attacker two years in their team and had to be drawn to the 2nd Bundesliga him in 2002 to Heilbronner EC.
There Bullard wanted to end his career after the end of the season 2002/ 03. When the Schwenningen Wild Wings fell during the DEL 2002/ 03 placed on the last place in the standings and the league in the highest German league in danger, he decided to strengthen his old club. So he went for the Wild Wings in the last ten main round matches on the ice, and in the subsequent playdowns against the Frankfurt Lions. This could in a " Best-of -Seven " series with 4-2 games and defeated the relegation are thus secured. Schwenninger rose still from the 2nd Bundesliga since the DEL license was revoked due to an ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. Mike Bullard then ended his hockey career at the age of 42 years.
In the DEL, he completed a total of 460 games in which he gained 521 points scorer scored (218 Tore/303 assists) and 602 penalty minutes. This placed it before the 2009/10 season in 2nd place of eternal scorer standings and No. 1 on the scoresheet. He is also the eighth best assist provider of DEL recent history. Mike Bullard was thus one of the most influential and successful player who has ever been active in the German Ice Hockey League in 1994 the newly founded. In addition, he completed a total of 727 NHL games and reached it 674 points scorer (329 goals, 345 assists).
As a coach
After the end of his playing career, he took over for the season 2003/ 04, at Schwenningen ERC, the Office of the trainer. With the SERC he twice reached the playoff quarterfinals. In November 2005 he was released from his duties as head coach and replaced by Marcel Breil. In the summer of 2006, he went to Austria and trained there the Graz 99ers. There, however, he was only a few months and active end of October 2006 was already released. There was a commitment to the ESV Kaufbeuren in the 2nd Bundesliga, which he took up on February 8, 2007. Bullard was hired as interim coach for the rest of the season 2006/ 07 and should secure it with the ESV in the league. This sporty objective could not be reached and the ESV increased after 4-3 Niederlagegen in the playdowns against the ETC Crimmitschau in the Oberliga from.
After a planned exposure to the mosquitoes eating failed for financial reasons, he signed on 15 May 2008 for the 2008/ 09 season with his former club, the Landshut Cannibals a contract as head coach. There he was on leave after the 1:4 defeat against Freiburg Wolves on 14 February 2009.