Mark Ardelan (born March 16, 1983) 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 ...

former 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 ...

defenceman 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 ...

. He played most notably 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) and the

Deutsche Eishockey Liga The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called "PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga") (; English: ''German Ice Hockey League'') or DEL, is a German professional ice hockey league and the highest division in German ice hockey. Founded in ...

(DEL).

Playing career

Born in Regina,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

, Ardelan began playing ice hockey at five years old. He began his junior career in 1999 at the age of 16 with the Brandon Wheat Kings in the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

WHL. After two years he moved to the Vancouver Giants, where he was the point of best defenders. The 2003-04 season spent Ardelan at the Prince Albert Raiders, where he could show his offensive potential and also the second best scorer of the team was. Although Ardelan over five years in the WHL was one of the best defensive players, he was taken into account by any team 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 ...

Entry Draft. The Canadians, however, received after his junior years in 2004 an invitation to training camp of the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainm ...

, could there not prevail. Ardelan first professional team was finally the

South Carolina Stingrays The South Carolina Stingrays are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in North Charleston, South Carolina. The Stingrays play in the South Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference. They play their home games at the North Charleston Co ...

of the ECHL, where he was a rookie point right away the best defender in the league and also his first game in the

played at the

Portland Pirates The Portland Pirates were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). Their home arena was the Cross Insurance Arena in downtown Portland, Maine. The franchise was previously known as the Baltimore Skipjacks fr ...

partners. For the 2005-06 season opener against managed the final step in the AHL playing for the

Manchester Monarchs Manchester Monarchs may refer to: *Manchester Monarchs (AHL) (2001–2015) *Manchester Monarchs (ECHL) The Manchester Monarchs were a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL which began play in the 2015–16 season. Based in Manchester, New ...

on, however, he left after a year towards the Iowa Stars. The 2007-08 season was the most successful season so far for Ardelan because he could qualify with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins was the first of the East Division for the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, and finally in the final series with the

Calder Cup The Calder Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the playoff champions of the American Hockey League. It was first presented in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars. The cup is made of sterling silver mounted on a base of Brazilian mahogany. In its curr ...

moved. Here, however, the team was defeated by the

Chicago Wolves The Chicago Wolves are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League and are the top minor-league affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. The Wolves play home games at the Allstate Arena in the C ...

. For the 2008-09 season Ardelan moved to Europe where he first went to

Lukko Rauma Rauman Lukko (Finnish for "lock") is a Finnish sports club based in Rauma, Finland, best known for its men’s professional ice hockey team. The club was founded as Rauma Woodin Lukko in 1936. The representative team currently plays in the Fin ...

in the Finnish SM-liiga to the ice. For problems due to the short preparation time for the new season, but left the Canadians Finland on 19 November 2008 and was committed two days later by the

Iserlohn Roosters The Iserlohn Roosters are a professional ice hockey team based in Iserlohn, North Rhine-Westphalia. They are members of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) since 2000 and play their home games at the Eissporthalle Iserlohn which is also known as '' ...

of the

, which was after the departure of Brendan Buckley looking for a defender. There Ardelan signed an annual contract and met here on his former teammate

Marty Wilford Marty Wilford (born April 17, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 6th round (149th overall) of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft. In August 2011 Wilford began his coaching career ...

, had already played with the 2005 to 2007 in the AHL. The Canadians could after his commitment, especially in the offensive set the tone for the season and extended his contract for another year. For the play-off qualification at season's end it was enough, since the performance of the team above all in January were no longer sufficient. After the season Ardelan extended his contract by two years.

Career statistics

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ardelan, Mark 1983 births Brandon Wheat Kings players Canadian ice hockey defencemen Canadian people of Iranian descent Iowa Stars players Iserlohn Roosters players Living people Lukko players Manchester Monarchs (AHL) players Portland Pirates players Prince Albert Raiders players South Carolina Stingrays players Ice hockey people from Regina, Saskatchewan Sportspeople of Iranian descent Vancouver Giants players Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins players