Anderson Patrick Bjork (born August 5, 1996) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, a ...

in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

(AHL) while under contract to the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). Bjork was selected 146th overall by the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

Playing career

Bjork played college hockey at Notre Dame in the

Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...

from 2014 to 2017. In 2016–17, Bjork was a finalist for the

Hobey Baker Award The Hobey Baker Award is an annual award given to the top National Collegiate Athletic Association men's ice hockey player. It has been awarded 41 times. It is named for Hall of Famer Hobey Baker, who played college hockey at Princeton University ...

, marking him as one of the ten best players in men's college hockey; he was also named a

First-Team All-Star, and was a co-winner of the Hockey East Three-Stars Award. At the completion of his junior season with the Fighting Irish, Bjork concluded his collegiate career in signing a three-year, entry-level contract with the Boston Bruins on May 30, 2017. Bjork's NHL career started with the 2017–18 Bruins season opener, a 4–3 home ice victory over the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

, when he scored an assist on fellow Bruins rookie

Jake DeBrusk Jake DeBrusk (born October 17, 1996) is a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger currently playing for the Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League (NHL) where he wears jersey number 74. He was drafted 14th overall by the Bruins in the 2 ...

's first-ever NHL goal, for his first point as an NHL player. Bjork's first NHL goal came in the fourth game of the season on the road against the

Arizona Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are a professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Coyotes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and currently play at the Mull ...

, as the final goal of a 6–2 road win for the Bruins. On January 30, 2018, during a home-ice game against the visiting

Anaheim Ducks The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Ducks compete in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division, and play their home games at Honda Center. ...

, Bjork suffered a season-ending left shoulder injury – he underwent a successful

arthroscopy Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted into the ...

and labral repair three weeks later, and was expected to take six months to fully heal from the surgical repair. In the pandemic delayed

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, Bjork collected 2 goals and 5 points through 30 regular season games before he was dealt by the Bruins on the eve of the trade deadline along with a

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

second-round draft pick to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for

Taylor Hall Taylor Hall (born November 14, 1991) is a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was the first overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft selected by the Edmonton Oilers. He has ...

and

Curtis Lazar Curtis Lazar (born February 2, 1995) is a Canadians, Canadian professional ice hockey player currently playing for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the first round (17th ...

on April 11, 2021.

Personal life

Before Notre Dame, Bjork went to high school at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, when he moved there to play for the

USA Hockey National Team Development Program The United States National Team Development Program (NTDP) was started in 1996 by USA Hockey as a way to identify elite ice hockey players under the age of 18, and centralize their training. There are two teams in the program: under-17 and under- ...

. Bjork's family includes several Notre Dame alumni. His parents, Kirt and Patricia, both of whom are of Swedish descent, his sisters Brinya and Keali, and cousin

Erik Condra Erik Paul Condra (born August 6, 1986) is an Americans, American former professional ice hockey Forward (ice hockey), forward who played in 372 National Hockey League (NHL) games with the Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Dallas Stars. He ...

all attended the school.

Kirt Bjork Kirt Bjork is an American retired ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), left wing who was an List of Division I AHCA All-American Teams, All-American for Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey, Notre Dame. Career Bjork was recruited to Notre Dame ...

also played hockey for Notre Dame. During college Anders was enrolled in the Mendoza College of Business. He has a younger brother, Brady, who has committed to play hockey at University of Notre Dame.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bjork, Anders 1996 births Living people AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans American people of Swedish descent American men's ice hockey left wingers Boston Bruins draft picks Boston Bruins players Buffalo Sabres players Ice hockey players from Wisconsin Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey players People from Mequon, Wisconsin Providence Bruins players Rochester Americans players USA Hockey National Team Development Program players