James Desmarais (born May 4, 1979) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 ...

player. Desmarais was selected by the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

in the 9th round (270th overall) of the

1999 NHL Entry Draft The 1999 NHL Entry Draft was the 37th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 26 at the FleetCenter in Boston. According to ''Sports Illustrated'' and other sports news agencies, at the time the 1999 draft was considered one of the deepest in tale ...

. Though he never played in 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 ...

, he played for several teams in the minor leagues such as 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 ...

and the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

as well as for teams in Italy, Austria, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In Switzerland, he played for

HC Ajoie HC Ajoie is a Swiss professional ice hockey team that competes in the National League (NL), the highest league in Switzerland. The team was founded in 1973 and plays in the Raiffeisen Arena in Porrentruy, Switzerland. HC Ajoie has won three Swis ...

from 2006 to 2013. In 2015, he signed for the

Belfast Giants The Belfast Giants (known officially as the Stena Line Belfast Giants due to sponsorship) are a professional ice hockey team based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They compete in the UK's Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) and are the current cham ...

in the

Elite Ice Hockey League The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey ...

and remained until 2017.

Career statistics

References

External links

* 1979 births Living people Adirondack IceHawks players Arkansas RiverBlades players B.C. Icemen players Belfast Giants players Dayton Bombers players EHC Biel players EHC Black Wings Linz players Greensboro Generals players HC Ajoie players HC Alleghe players Innsbrucker EV players Laval Titan Collège Français players Les Pétroliers du Nord players Peoria Rivermen (AHL) players Reading Royals players Rouyn-Noranda Huskies players SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers players Ice hockey people from Montreal Springfield Falcons players St. Louis Blues draft picks Verdun Dragons players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Northern Ireland Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Austria Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Italy Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Canadian ice hockey centres {{canada-icehockey-centre-1970s-stub