Bruce Douglas Driver (born April 29, 1962) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1983–84 until 1997–98.

Early life

When he was 12, Driver played in the 1975 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the MTHL's Shopsy's, a youth team affiliated with the Toronto Marlies. When he was 13, Driver was cut from his bantam team because evaluators thought he was too small. Undeterred, he continued to improve his game, and was later drafted by the

Oshawa Generals The Oshawa Generals are a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League. They are based in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The team is named for General Motors, an early sponsor (commercial), sponsor which has its Canadian headquarters in Oshawa. ...

, a major junior team in the Ontario Hockey League, but decided to play college hockey at the University of Wisconsin instead. In his 3 years with the Badgers, the team won 2 NCAA Championships. Driver was team captain by his second year and an NCAA All-Star. Before he began his NHL career, Driver also played for

Team Canada Canadian National Team or Team Canada may refer to: Canada at multi-sport events * Canada at the Olympics * Canada at the Paralympics * Canada at the Commonwealth Games * Canada at the Pan American Games Canada's national sport teams * Canada me ...

at the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки игр ...

in Sarajevo. Team Canada advanced to the medal round, but lost the next two games to the Soviet Union and Sweden, and did not make the podium. Driver was Team Canada's top-scoring defenceman.

Professional career

Driver was drafted in the sixth round (108th overall) by the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

(who became the Devils in 1982) in the

1981 NHL Entry Draft Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Fr ...

. He spent the first 11 years of his NHL career with the Devils, winning a

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

with them in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

. He was signed by the New York Rangers after the 1995 season. Driver was the Devils team captain during the 1991-92 season; fellow defenseman

Scott Stevens Ronald Scott Stevens (born April 1, 1964) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. As a defenseman, Stevens played 22 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Washington Capitals, St. Louis Blues and New Jersey ...

took over as captain the following year. From 1987 onwards, he was a regular on his teams' top power play lines. He left the Devils as the all-time leader in assists by a defenseman, with 317, a record later broken by Stevens. Between 1987 and the end of his career, over half of his goals came on the power play.

Personal life

Driver is a resident of Montville, New Jersey. He enjoys playing hockey as a goalie in an adult recreational leagues in New Jersey and coaches a girls' high-school hockey team at Morristown-Beard School that won a state championship in the 2019-20 season. He was also the girls' high-school Hockey Coach of the Year in New Jersey in 2006–07. Driver is currently a manager at Twin Oaks Ice Rink in Morristown, NJ.

Awards and honors

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Driver, Bruce 1962 births Canadian ice hockey defencemen Colorado Rockies (NHL) draft picks Ice hockey players at the 1984 Winter Olympics Living people Maine Mariners (AHL) players New Jersey Devils players New York Rangers players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Olympic ice hockey players for Canada Ice hockey people from Etobicoke Stanley Cup champions Wisconsin Badgers men's ice hockey players NCAA men's ice hockey national champions AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans