Philip Beaulieu (born September 2, 1995) is an American 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 h ...
defenseman
Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...
currently under contract with
Asiago HC in the
ICE 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 ...
(ICEHL). He was an
All-American for
Northern Michigan
Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan (known colloquially to residents of more southerly parts of the state and summer residents from cities such as Detroit as " Up North"), is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. A popul ...
.
Playing career
After graduating from
East High School in 2014, Beaulieu played another two years at the junior level before he got the opportunity to play college hockey. In his freshman season with
Northern Michigan
Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan (known colloquially to residents of more southerly parts of the state and summer residents from cities such as Detroit as " Up North"), is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. A popul ...
both Beaulieu and the Wildcats were a bit flat but all that changed in the offseason. a new head coach,
Grant Potulny
Grant Martin Potulny (born March 4, 1980) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He is currently the head coach of the Northern Michigan Wildcats men's ice hockey team. Potulny was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the 5th round ...
, was brought in and the team's fortunes appeared to change overnight. NMU won nearly twice as many games and advanced in the postseason for the first time in eight years, reaching the
WCHA championship game.
Beaulieu, meanwhile, saw his offensive numbers balloon and he led the nation in scoring from the blueline. Beaulieu's offensive production declined the following year but it didn't stop him from being named
team captain
In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...
as a senior. Unfortunately, he was unable to get Northern Michigan to improve its record and the team was knocked out in the
conference quarterfinals.
The start to Beaulieu's professional career was delayed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
but he did finally receive a contract with the
Allen Americans
The Allen Americans are a professional ice hockey team headquartered at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas, which currently plays in the ECHL. The team was founded in 2009 in the Central Hockey League (CHL) where they played f ...
for the 20–21 season. He played well in his rookie year, averaging just over a point every other game and helped the Americans reach the
ECHL semifinals. His performance was good enough for the team to bring him back for a second campaign.
On June 13, 2022, after two seasons with the Americans, Beaulieu was traded to the
Worcester Railers
The Worcester Railers (also called Worcester Railers HC) are a professional ice hockey team based in Worcester, Massachusetts. The team began play in the 2017–18 ECHL season, and is a member of the North Division of the Eastern Conference of t ...
, completing a previous future considerations trade.
Following a lone season with the Railers in
2022–23
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
, having been hampered by injury in adding 17 assists through 39 games, Beaulieu's rights were again traded in completing a future considerations trade to the
Wheeling Nailers
The Wheeling Nailers are a professional ECHL ice hockey team based in Wheeling, West Virginia. They are the ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey Lea ...
on June 20, 2023.
Beaulieu opted to return to Europe before signing a contract with the Nailers, agreeing to a one-year deal with Italian club, Asiago Hockey 1935 of the ICEHL on October 11, 2023.
Career statistics
Awards and honors
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beaulieu, Philip
1995 births
Living people
American men's ice hockey defensemen
AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans
Allen Americans players
Asiago Hockey 1935 players
Fargo Force players
Iowa Wild players
Madison Capitols players
Ice hockey people from Minnesota
People from Duluth, Minnesota
Northern Michigan Wildcats men's ice hockey players
Waterloo Black Hawks players
Worcester Railers players