Leetch, Brian J.
Hockey
b. March 3, 1968, Corpus Christi, TX
Leetch grew up in Connecticut, where he averaged more than 3 points a game in prep school. He then spent a year at Boston College, where he scored 47 points in 37 games during the 1986-87 season and was named the Hockey East player of the year.
A defenseman, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Leetch played for the U. S. team in the 1988 Olympics and then entered the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers.
After appearing in 17 games at the end of the 1987-88 season, Leetch won the Calder Trophy as the league's rookie of the year the following season, when he set a record for a rookie defenseman by scoring 23 goals. He totalled 71 points in 68 games that season.
In 1991-92, Leetch scored 102 points on 22 goals and 80 assists and was awarded the James Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defensemen. He missed most of the 1992-93 season with a broken ankle, but came back to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the outstanding player in the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs. He was the first U. S.-born player to win the award. Leetch scored 34 points in 23 post-season, the second-highest total ever by a defenseman, to lead the Rangers to the NHL championship.
Leetch won the Norris Trophy for a second time after the 1996-97 season. He has played for three U. S. Olympic teams, in 1988, 1998, and 2002.