Joel Gardner is a Canadian retired ice hockey center who was an All-American for Colgate.

Career

Gardner was recruited to

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

by assistant coach Brian Durocher and felt as home as soon as he walked on campus. He quickly became one of the top scorers for the Raiders but it was during his senior year that Gardner enshrined himself in Colgate lore. With stellar goaltending from

Dave Gagnon David Anthony Gagnon (born October 31, 1967) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey goaltender. Dave played 2 games in the National Hockey League with the Detroit Red Wings during the 1990–91 season, posting a record of 0–1–0 and goa ...

, Gardner led the team in scoring and got the Raiders their first ever ECAC regular season title. Colgate then marched through the ECAC Tournament to capture their first conference championship. Colgate won three close games in the NCAA Tournament, producing their first 30-win season, and reached the program's first championship game. In the final game the team was blinded by the spotlight, according to head coach Terry Slater, and the Raiders made several mistakes that led to goals by

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. Gardner did his best, scoring a goal and an assist in the match, but the Badgers were too much and skated away with a 7–3 win. After graduating Colgate University with a BA degree, Gardner began a long professional career which started with the Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL) in 1990. Originally drafted by the Boston Bruins in 1986, Gardner became a free agent in 1990 and signed a 3-year contract and played within the Penguin's organization in the IHL and ECHL Leagues. Gardner plied his trade in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

for most of the next four years. After returning home to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

in 1998 Gardner again started playing in the minor professional leagues for three years before retiring. After retiring as a professional player Gardner restarted his career in senior hockey, playing for the

Petrolia Squires The Petrolia Squires are a Canadian senior ice hockey team based in Petrolia, Ontario. They play in the Western Ontario Athletic Association Senior Hockey League and are two-time Allan Cup National Champions. History The Petrolia Chiefs were f ...

for parts of 6 seasons before hanging up his skates for good. Gardner was inducted into the Colgate Hall of Honor in 2017.

Statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Joel 1967 births Living people Ice hockey people from Ontario Canadian ice hockey centres Colgate Raiders men's ice hockey players AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans Muskegon Lumberjacks players Detroit Falcons (CoHL) players Knoxville Cherokees players Raleigh IceCaps players Chatham Wheels players ERC Selb players SC Herisau players Port Huron Border Cats players Saginaw Gears (UHL) players Madison Monsters players Mohawk Valley Prowlers players Muskegon Fury players