Peter J. Ratchuk (born September 10, 1977) is an American 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 ...

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 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 ...

with the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

. Peter is the older brother of Mike Ratchuk, a defenseman who has played most of his career in American minor leagues.

Playing career

Ratchuk was drafted in the first round, 25th overall, by the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

in the

1996 NHL Entry Draft The 1996 NHL Entry Draft was the 34th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 22, 1996. The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was Zdeno Chára, who retired after the 2021–22 season. ...

. He grew up playing for the Cazenovia Chiefs. After his freshman year with

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...

, Ratchuk moved to the

QMJHL The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (french: Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec; abbreviated ''QMJHL'' in English, ''LHJMQ'' in French) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The l ...

with

Hull Olympiques The Gatineau Olympiques are a major junior ice hockey team based in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, that plays in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Starting with the 2021–22 season, the Olympiques play home games at Centre Slush Puppie, ...

before turning pro. Ratchuk was signed as a free agent by the

prior to the 1998–99 season. He played 32 games with the Panthers over two seasons, 1998–99 and 2000–01. He scored one goal and one assist. After that, he was picked up by his hometown team, the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

. During the 2002 preseason, he was sent down to that team's farm club, the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, a ...

, for the 2002–03 season, then left to play in Germany. This resulted in a rather amusing error in

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's hockey recaps—in Sabres game recaps, Ratchuk's name would often be used mistakenly to refer to

Dmitri Kalinin Dmitri Vladimirovich Kalinin (russian: Дмитрий Владимирович Калинин; born July 22, 1980) is a Russian professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played for Traktor Che ...

, a then current Sabres defenseman. Both Ratchuk and Kalinin wore #45, and ESPN never dissociated Ratchuk from the Sabres in their database when he left the league, resulting in the error. After playing three seasons in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes th ...

, Ratchuk returned to North America in 2006–07 signing with the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

on June 6, 2006. Ratchuk split the season between the American Hockey League's Houston Aeros and

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League, and are the AHL affiliates of the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins. They play at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre ...

. Ratchuk then returned to the DEL with the DEG Metro Stars and after his second season with the Stars he was released on April 20, 2009. On June 21, 2009 Peter signed with fellow DEL team

Hamburg Freezers The Hamburg Freezers were a German professional men's ice hockey club from Hamburg, Germany that played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The club announced its withdrawal from the DEL and ceased operations on 24 May 2016 when Anschutz Entertainment ...

for the 2009–10. On April 29, 2010, after failing to make the playoffs with the Freezers, Ratchuk left for the

Austrian Hockey League The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons, is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria, it currently f ...

Klagenfurt AC Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

. He played the majority of the 2010-11 season with Klagenfurt posting 19 points in 39 games before leaving for the Swiss

National League A The National League (NL) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland and is the top tier of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league ha ...

, to join

Rapperswil-Jona Lakers The SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers are a professional ice hockey club from Rapperswil, Switzerland and are members of the National League. History The Lakers were founded in 1945 and were known as SC Rapperswil-Jona until 2005, when the club changed ...

on January 30, 2011, to end the year. Following the conclusion of the season, Ratchuk retired and was announced as a scout for the newly revived

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...

association of the NHL.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ratchuk, Peter 1977 births Adler Mannheim players American men's ice hockey defensemen Beast of New Haven players Bowling Green Falcons men's ice hockey players Colorado Avalanche draft picks DEG Metro Stars players Florida Panthers players Frankfurt Lions players Hamburg Freezers players Houston Aeros (1994–2013) players Hull Olympiques players Ice hockey people from Buffalo, New York EC KAC players Living people Louisville Panthers players National Hockey League first-round draft picks SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers players Rochester Americans players Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins players Winnipeg Jets scouts