Clifford H. Abrecht is a Canadian retired ice hockey

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

who was an All-American for

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

Career

Abrecht began attending

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in the fall of 1982. The Tigers weren't very good in those years but, despite the team's lack of success, Abrecht played well enough to get selected in the NHL Draft. He was a solid player for Princeton over his first three seasons but Abrecht had a tremendous finale. While serving as team captain, Abrecht set new program records for defensemen with 15 goals, 26 assists and 41 points. He also became the program's all-time leader for goals, assists and points by a defenseman (he was surpassed in assists in 2019). He did all of that in just 30 games and was named an All-American, the first for the program in 33 years. However, because the Tiger's finished 9th in the

ECAC Hockey ECAC Hockey is one of the six conferences that compete in NCAA Division I ice hockey. The conference used to be affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a consortium of over 300 colleges in the eastern United States. This relati ...

standings, they weren't even allowed to participate in the conference tournament. Abrecht signed with the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

after the season, playing 1 game for the

St. Catharines Saints The St. Catharines Saints was a minor league ice hockey team in St. Catharines, Ontario. It played in the American Hockey League from 1982 to 1986 as the farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs. History The Moncton-based New Brunswick Hawks had bee ...

. The next season, Abrecht moved to Newmarket along with the team and played the entire season in the AHL, posting modest numbers on a team that finished dead-last in the league. His second full professional season went much better though he ended up splitting time between AAA and AA hockey. Rather than continue his career, Abrecht retired after the 1988 season. Having earned a

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

, Abrecht received an MBA from

Babson College Babson College is a private business school in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Established in 1919, its central focus is on entrepreneurship education. It was founded by Roger W. Babson as an all-male business institute, but became coeducational i ...

in 1990 and began his second career. By the 21st century, Abrecht had risen to the position of Vice President in the Merck Millipore company and continues to work as an executive in the field as of 2021.

Personal life

Abrecht's daughter, Charlotte, played college hockey at Holy Cross, graduating in 2020.

Statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abrecht, Cliff 1963 births Living people Ice hockey people from Toronto Canadian ice hockey defencemen Princeton Tigers men's ice hockey players Toronto Maple Leafs draft picks St. Catharines Saints players Newmarket Saints players Baltimore Skipjacks players Milwaukee Admirals players AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans