Jason Spezza

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Position	Centre
Shoots	Right
Nickname	Spetz.
Height Weight	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 213 lb (97 kg)
NHL Team	Ottawa Senators
Nationality	Canada
Born	June 13, 1983, Mississauga, ON CAN
NHL Draft	2nd overall, 2001 Ottawa Senators
Pro Career	2002 – present

Jason Anthony Rocco Spezza (born June 13, 1983 in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) is an Italian Canadian ice hockey player, currently playing centre for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League.

Contents 1 Playing career 1.1 Pre-NHL career 1.2 Recent NHL years 2 Other Facts/Trivia 3 Career statistics 4 International play 5 Awards 6 Notes 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Pre-NHL career

Previous to turning pro, in 1999 Spezza joined the elite company of Wayne Gretzky and Eric Lindros as being only the 3rd player to represent Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships as a 16-year old. This feat was also accomplished the same year by Jay Bouwmeester, and was repeated by Sidney Crosby in 2004.

Spezza played in the Ontario Hockey League for the Brampton Battalion in the team's opening season 1998-1999, despite being a year too young to enter the draft normally, as he was already living in the city. He was drafted 2nd overall in 2001 after Ilya Kovalchuk. This pick had originally belonged to the New York Islanders, but had been traded to Ottawa along with Zdeno Chara and Bill Muckalt for Alexei Yashin.

Spezza was a highly regarded prospect, but took some time to move to the NHL, playing with the Senators AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators, in Binghamton, New York. He was called up on a few occasions. During one stint with Ottawa he helped the team win critical games in the 2003 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He played a full season with the Senators in 2003-2004, and had a solid year.

During the NHL lockout, Spezza returned to the AHL and, with 117 points, was the highest scorer in the league by a considerable margin, and the first to record so many points in several years. He was awarded the Les Cunningham Award as the league's Most Valuable Player. With centres Radek Bonk and Todd White traded during the off season, Spezza began the 2005 season as Ottawa's first line centre, playing between Dany Heatley and rookie Brandon Bochenski, Spezza's linemate in Binghamton. After Bochenski was sent down to the AHL, Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson took his place beside Spezza and Heatley. Other players who play on a line with Spezza and Heatley are Chris Kelly, and occasionally Antoine Vermette.

[edit] Recent NHL years

On October 27, 2005, he scored one of the most skilled goals of the year.^[1] He was a major leader in points per game and actually led the league in scoring for a short period of time until he was crippled by many different injuries, including a pulled back muscle. Spezza was a reserve for Team Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, but did not actually play. During the 2006 summer, he had a successful back surgery and was on pace for about 100 points in the 2006/07 season, before getting struck with an injury.

[edit] Other Facts/Trivia

• Jason's parents are Rino and Donna Spezza. He also has twin siblings, sister Michelle, and brother Matthew, who is a goaltender working his way up to the professional level.
• While playing for the Windsor Spitfires, he attended Holy Names High School and then St.Michael's College School. In school, he hated math, and his favourite subject was English because he liked being creative and putting his thoughts down on paper.
• Currently Jason lives in a townhouse in Kanata about 10 minutes from the Scotiabank Place.
• His favourite cities to visit while on the road are New York and Los Angeles.
• He is best friends with Ray Emery, who is also a member of the Ottawa Senators. They were actually roommates back when they played for the Binghamton Senators (Ottawa's AHL affiliate).
• Jason's hobbies include watching movies and playing video games on his huge flat screen TV that sits in his living room at his Kanata home.
• His favourite movies are "The Usual Suspects" and "Slapshot".
• When he was 5, he appeared in a Minute Maid commercial.

[1]

• His favourite sport other than hockey is Lacrosse.
• His closest friend in the NHL is Ray Emery.
• He loves sushi.
• He is one of a select few players that use Sherwood (wooden) sticks in the NHL.
• His favourite player growing up was Mario Lemieux.
• His favourite vacation spot is Cancun, Mexico.[2]
• Bryan Smolinski was his roommate in the 2005-06 season.
• One of the three players to score 3 goals in 1:16 to set a franchise record for the Ottawa Senators on March 15, 2007

[edit] Career statistics

				Regular Season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1998-99	Brampton Battalion	OHL		67	22	49	71	18		--	--	--	--	--
1999-2000	Mississauga Ice Dogs	OHL		52	24	37	61	33		--	--	--	--	--
2000-01	Mississauga Ice Dogs	OHL		15	7	23	30	11		--	--	--	--	--
2000-01	Windsor Spitfires	OHL		41	36	50	86	32		9	4	5	9	10
2001-02	Windsor Spitfires	OHL		27	19	26	45	16		--	--	--	--	--
2001-02	Belleville Bulls	OHL		26	23	37	60	26		11	5	6	11	18
2001-02	Grand Rapids Griffins	AHL		--	--	--	--	--		3	1	0	1	2
2002-03	Binghamton Senators	AHL		43	22	32	54	71		2	1	2	3	4
2002-03	Ottawa Senators	NHL		33	7	14	21	8		3	1	1	2	0
2003-04	Ottawa Senators	NHL		78	22	33	55	71		3	0	0	0	2
2004-05	Binghamton Senators	AHL		80	32	85	117	50		6	1	3	4	6
2005-06	Ottawa Senators	NHL		68	19	71	90	33		10	5	9	14	2
NHL Totals				179	48	118	166	112		16	6	10	16	4

[edit] International play

• Bronze medal at 2000 Under-20 World Championships
• Bronze medal at 2001 Under-20 World Championships
• Silver medal at 2002 Under-20 World Championships

Year	Team	Event	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2000	Canada	U20	7	0	2	2	2
2001	Canada	U20	7	3	3	6	2
2002	Canada	U20	7	0	4	4	8
International Totals			21	3	9	12	12

[edit] Awards

• 1998-99: OHL First All-Star Team
• 2000-01: CHL Top Draft Prospect
• 2000-01: OHL Third All-Star Team
• 2001-02: OHL Third All-Star Team
• 2002-03: AHL All-Rookie Team
• 2004-05: AHL Les Cunningham Award (MVP)
• 2004-05: AHL First All-Star Team
• 2004-05: AHL John B. Sollenberger Trophy (Leading scorer)

Preceded by Jason LaBarbera	Les Cunningham Award Winner 2005	Succeeded by Donald MacLean
Preceded by Pavel Rosa	John B. Sollenberger Trophy Winner 2005	Succeeded by Kirby Law

[edit] Notes

[edit] See also

• List of NHL players
• List of NHL seasons

[edit] External links

• "Finish the Sentence...with Jason Spezza" at Ottawa Senators.com
• NHL player profile
• Hockey DB profile
• Spezza-Fan.com- A Jason Spezza fansite