Jonathan Cheechoo
Encyclopedia : J : JO : JON : Jonathan Cheechoo
-->Jonathan Earl Cheechoo, known as the Cheechoo Train, (born July 15, 1980 in Moose Factory, Ontario) is a professional ice hockey right winger who currently plays for the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League. Cheechoo is the first member of the Moose Cree First Nation to play in the NHL.
Playing career
Junior career
Drafted by the Belleville Bulls of the OHL in the 1997 OHL priority selection, Cheechoo had a reasonably strong rookie year in 1997-1998 with 76 points (31 goals + 45 assists) in 64 games, good for third place on his team. In the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, San Jose sent the 2nd overall pick (David Legwand) to Nashville for the third overall pick (Brad Stuart) and the 29th overall pick, which they used to draft Cheechoo. Most had predicted that Cheechoo would be a later-round pick, and San Jose was criticized for picking a lackluster forward who "skated slower forwards than most players skated backwards" instead of the highly-touted Legwand. Presumably, since Cheechoo started playing hockey at a late age, his skating skills took longer to develop.Fresh off being drafted, Cheechoo had a terrible training camp, where his skating problems were all too evident. Cheechoo joined the Bulls for the 1998-1999 season and finished with 82 points (35 + 47) in 63 games. Taking off in the playoffs, Cheechoo scored 30 points (15 + 15) in 21 games. Although he was now eligible for AHL assignment, San Jose chose to leave him unsigned. While other clubs rushed their prospects, San Jose was patient with Cheechoo, knowing he still had room to improve in the OHL. In the following season, Cheechoo had his best year, tallying a team-high 91 points (45 + 46) in 66 games. Cheechoo added 17 points (5 + 12) in sixteen games during the playoffs. His high goal total hinted at his sniping capabilities, and his statistical improvement mirrored his development. Notably, Cheechoo never played a full season while in juniors because of minor injuries he gained from his crash-and-bang style of play. During San Jose's offseason (2000) training camp, Cheechoo had a particularly poor showing, giving support to the belief that he would never be an NHLer. For development, Cheechoo joined San Jose's affiliate, the Kentucky Thoroughblades, in the 2000-2001 season.
Pro career
Cheechoo had an exceptionally strong rookie season in the AHL with 66 points (32 + 34) in 75 games. After going scoreless in the playoffs (in which he was a healthy scratch for two games), Cheechoo rebounded with 46 points (21 + 25) in 53 games (he missed games due to a leg injury).In 2002-2003, after scoring seven points (3 + 4) in nine games with the Cleveland Barons (the relocated Kentucky Thoroughblades franchise), Cheechoo was recalled to San Jose to help revitalize the struggling team. Playing mostly on the third and fourth lines, Cheechoo had a modest 16 points (9 + 7) in 66 games. During the 2003 offseason, Cheechoo put himself on a power-skating regime and reduced his body fat to single digits, doing everything from weight work to sprinting exercises to increase his skating strength[].
His hard work paid off, as Cheechoo had 47 points (a whopping 28 goals and 19 assists) in 81 games in 2003-2004. Playing alongside Mike Ricci and Scott Thornton, Cheechoo had two great mentors who taught Cheechoo how to be defensively responsible. Also, Cheechoo became one of San Jose's best grinders; his new upper-body strength allowed him to win many battles along the boards. In the 2004 playoffs, Cheechoo had 10 Points (4 + 6) in 17 games, proving that he was a player who elevated his play during the postseason[]. He scored one of the most exciting Sharks goals ever in a 4-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche on April 24, 2004. Sharks defenseman Brad Stuart carried the puck into the Colorado zone, all the way past the blue line. Stuart then slid a pass to Cheechoo, but the puck was behind him, making for an almost impossible shot. Cheechoo improvised; he let the puck go between his legs, stuck his stick between his legs and shot back at the goal, past Colorado goalie David Aebischer. Despite beating Colorado, San Jose was eliminated by Calgary. During the NHL lockout, Cheechoo played with HV71 of the Swedish Elitserien and had 5 goals in 20 games.
In the 2005-06 season, Cheechoo took off, netting a franchise record 56 goals and 93 points. Much of Cheechoo's success can be attributed to the Sharks acquisition of superstar Joe Thornton. Before the trade, Cheechoo had 15 points (7 goals, 8 assists) in 24 games. In the 57 games since the trade, Cheechoo had 78 points (49 goals, 29 assists).
Cheechoo is the first Shark to win the Rocket Richard Trophy, awarded to the player in the NHL with the most goals in a season.
He has recorded five career hat tricks, and not surprisingly, all have been since the trade that brought Joe Thornton to San Jose. His first was recorded on December 20, 2005 during a 4-2 victory against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. The second was recorded on January 5, 2006 in a 6-3 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets. His third occurred on February 1, 2006, once again against the Mighty Ducks. His fourth occurred on March 13, 2006 against the Los Angeles Kings. His fifth hat trick came on April 15, 2006, once again against the Mighty Ducks. The hat trick also gave him 56 goals for the season and the NHL lead in goals, which he would hold for good.
In 2006, Cheechoo signed a 5-year contract extension worth US$15 million (2.62 million cap hit). The deal will pay him US$2.5 million the first two years, three million the third year, and US$3.5 million the last two years.
Records
- San Jose Sharks' franchise record for goals in a season (56)
- San Jose Sharks' franchise record for power play goals in a season (24)
- San Jose Sharks' franchise record for points in a season (93)1
- San Jose Sharks' franchise record for hat tricks in a season (5)
- 1 Joe Thornton scored 125 points in 2005-06, but only 92 points were with San Jose
Awards
- 2006: Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy (NHL)
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1997-98 | Belleville Bulls | OHL | 64 | 31 | 45 | 76 | 62 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 10 | ||
| 1998-99 | Belleville Bulls | OHL | 63 | 35 | 47 | 82 | 74 | 21 | 15 | 15 | 30 | 27 | ||
| 1999-2000 | Belleville Bulls | OHL | 66 | 45 | 46 | 91 | 102 | 16 | 5 | 12 | 17 | 16 | ||
| 2000-01 | Kentucky Thoroughblades | AHL | 75 | 32 | 34 | 66 | 63 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2001-02 | Cleveland Barons | AHL | 53 | 21 | 25 | 46 | 54 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2002-03 | Cleveland Barons | AHL | 9 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 16 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2002-03 | San Jose Sharks | NHL | 66 | 9 | 7 | 16 | 39 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2003-04 | San Jose Sharks | NHL | 81 | 28 | 19 | 47 | 33 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 10 | ||
| 2004-05 | HV71 | SEL | 20 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 10 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2005-06 | San Jose Sharks | NHL | 82 | 56 | 37 | 93 | 58 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 8 | ||
| OHL Totals | 193 | 111 | 138 | 249 | 238 | 47 | 24 | 29 | 53 | 53 | ||||
| AHL Totals | 137 | 56 | 63 | 119 | 133 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| SEL Totals | 20 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 10 | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| NHL Totals | 229 | 93 | 63 | 156 | 130 | 28 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 18 | ||||
Trivia
- According to Cheechoo in an interview with Adam Carolla, his playing with the Sharks was apparently pre-destined when he wrote an essay in grade 4 about how he wanted to play for San Jose in the future. Cheechoo received a C+ on the essay. [link][link]
- He is an Oakland Athletics fan. He threw out the first pitch in the May 3rd 2006 game where Oakland hosted the Cleveland Indians.
External links
|- style="text-align: center;"
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.