Thomas Patrick Barrasso (born March 31, 1965) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 18 seasons. He began his time in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres, who selected him fifth overall in the

1983 NHL Entry Draft The 1983 NHL Entry Draft was the 21st NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec, on June 8, 1983. The NHL Entry Draft is the primary means by which players arrive in the National Hockey League. The St. Louis Blues did ...

out of high school. He was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1988, where he would best be remembered and spend the majority of his career. He spent parts of 12 seasons with the Penguins, and was a

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

champion in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

and

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

. After being traded to the Ottawa Senators in March 2000 and sitting out the 2000–01 season, his final two seasons were split playing for the Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, and St. Louis Blues. He was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009. After retiring as a player, Barrasso served on the coaching staff of the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes. In 2012, Barrasso was hired by Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) as a member of its coaching staff. In 2016 he joined Asiago Hockey of the Alps Hockey League as their head coach, winning the 2017–18 league championship. In October 2018, Barrasso was hired as head coach of the

EIHL 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 Hocke ...

's Sheffield Steelers.

Playing career

Early career

Barrasso grew up in the town of Stow, Massachusetts, playing ice hockey on an outdoor rink. He started playing goaltender at the age of five years and by the time he was a teenager, was playing in net for Acton-Boxborough with fellow NHL players Bob Sweeney and Jeff Norton. Barrasso was considered one of the most promising American goaltending prospects of all time. He was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres with the 5th overall pick in 1983. Skipping a college career, he went straight from high school to the NHL. At the time of his debut with the Sabres on October 5, 1983, less than six months after graduating from high school, Barrasso was the youngest goaltender to play and win a game in the NHL since Harry Lumley nearly forty years prior. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy and Vezina Trophy in his first season, becoming the third player to win both awards in the same year.

Pittsburgh Penguins

On November 12, 1988, the Sabres traded Barrasso with a 3rd round draft pick in the 1990 draft (

Joe Dziedzic Joseph Walter Dziedzic (born December 18, 1971 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a retired American professional ice hockey left winger. Career Joe Dziedzic was drafted in 1990 while playing for Edison High School in Minneapolis and was named Minne ...

) to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Doug Bodger and Darrin Shannon. He won the

twice, in

and

. It was his play in these Cup runs that established him as a "money goalie". In the following years, Barrasso almost entirely missed two seasons, the

1994–95 NHL season The 1994–95 NHL season was the 78th regular season of the National Hockey League. The teams played a shortened season, due to a lockout of the players by the owners. In addition, the NHL All-Star Game, which had been scheduled to take place Ja ...

and the

1996–97 NHL season The 1996–97 NHL season was the 80th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup winners were the Detroit Red Wings, who swept the Philadelphia Flyers in four games and won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 42 years. T ...

with injuries but came back with good performances in the next years. In 1997, he became the first American goaltender to record 300 NHL wins. A fiercely proud competitor, in his later seasons in Pittsburgh he developed a strained relationship with the local media, who he felt were disrespectful of him and his family. This probably factors into why his #35 was not retired by the Penguins (current starting goaltender Tristan Jarry currently wears #35), as only Mario Lemieux's and Michel Brière's jerseys are retired, while Jaromír Jágr's number has been removed from circulation with intentions to retire it in the future.

Last years

In March 2000, he was traded to the Ottawa Senators for

Ron Tugnutt Ronald Frederick Bradley Tugnutt (born October 22, 1967) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. Tugnutt played several seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Quebec Nordiques, Edmonton Oilers, Mighty Ducks of Anahei ...

and

Janne Laukkanen Janne Laukkanen (born March 19, 1970) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player. He played in the National Hockey League for the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche franchise, the Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Tampa Bay ...

in a deal that was seen as a risk for both teams. He was uneven in Ottawa, going 3-4 in seven starts and losing the first two games of Ottawa's first round series with rivals Toronto before bouncing back and winning the next two games to even the series. After evening the series, he caused a furor during the CBC's broadcast when he said during an on-air interview that "I really couldn't give a shit what you people have to say". Barrasso would later apologize for using vulgar language, although he stood by his sentiments in the interview, stating the year had been very stressful for him. The Senators would go on to lose the next two games and the series to the Maple Leafs in six games. After his playoff run with Ottawa, Barrasso's contract ran out and he did not to re-sign with the Senators. He then spent the entire 2000–01 season out of hockey and returned with the Carolina Hurricanes in time for the 2001–02 season. He enjoyed some late international success, winning Silver at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

. In his last few seasons he briefly played for several teams, the Ottawa Senators, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the St. Louis Blues until retiring from ice hockey in 2003. He signed a '' pro forma'' contract with Pittsburgh on the day he declared retirement so he could leave hockey as a Penguin.

International play

Barrasso won an Olympic silver medal as part of the U.S. national men's ice hockey team at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. He played in one game, an 8–1 victory over Belarus on February 18. Barrasso had originally intended to play for the 1984 U.S. Olympic team in Sarajevo, but chose to begin his professional career instead and left the team in September 1983 to sign with the Sabres. He made his debut for Team USA at the

1984 Canada Cup The 1984 Labatt Canada Cup was a professional international ice hockey tournament played during the first three weeks of September 1984. The best-of-three final took place between Canada and Sweden, with Canada winning a two game sweep. Canadian ...

, at the age of 19. He also played in the 1983 World Junior Championships, the

1986 World Ice Hockey Championships The 1986 Ice Hockey World Championships took place in the Soviet Union from 12 to 28 April. The games were played at the Luzhniki Palace of Sports and the CSKA Ice Palace in Moscow, and eight teams took part. Each team played each other once, and ...

and the

1987 Canada Cup The 1987 Labatt Canada Cup was a professional international ice hockey tournament held from August 28 to September 15, 1987. The finals took place in Montreal on September 11 and Hamilton, on September 13 and September 15, and were won by Team C ...

Coaching career

Barrasso was goaltending coach (2007–09) and later assistant coach (2009–11) of the Carolina Hurricanes. In the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season he moved to KHL's Metallurg Magnitogorsk as assistant coach. During the Summer of 2015 Slovan Bratislava hired Barrasso as goaltending coach, but on October 31 he left the team and moved to Italy's Valpellice as head coach. The team won the '' Coppa Italia'', but refused to join the newly founded Alps Hockey League. Barrasso, however, did not leave Italy: he moved to Asiago as head coach. Barrasso was named as head coach of the Sheffield Steelers in the

in October 2018. On 26 June 2021, Barrasso was named as head coach of

HC Varese The Hockey Club Varese is an ice hockey team from Varese, Italy. It was created on 1977 under the name A.S. Mastini Varese Hockey. In 2005 (June) the club folded, but it continued to play in the Under 19 series under the name Hockey Club Varese, ...

in the IHL

Personal life

Barrasso and his wife Megan have three daughters, Ashley, Kelsey and Mallory. Barrasso founded the Ashley Barrasso Cancer Research Fund during the early 1990s after his oldest daughter survived a bout with neuroblastoma cancer.

Records

* Most NHL assists by a goaltender (career) – 48Puck Prospectus - In the Crease
* Most NHL points by a goaltender (career) – 48 * Shares record for most consecutive wins in one NHL regular season – 14 (March 9, 1993 to April 9, 1993) * Most consecutive NHL playoff wins – 14 (May 9, 1992 to April 22, 1993) * Shares record for most consecutive wins in one NHL playoff season – 11 in 1992 * Shares record for most wins in one NHL playoff season – 16 (1992) * Most playoff wins by an American goaltender – 61

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and achievements

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

– Calder Memorial Trophy (Top rookie in NHL) * 1984 – Vezina Trophy (Top goaltender in NHL) * 1984 –

NHL First All-Star Team The National Hockey League All-Star teams were first named at the end of the 1930–31 NHL season, to honor the best performers over the season at each position. Representatives of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association vote for the all-st ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

– NHL Second All-Star Team * 1985 – William M. Jennings Trophy (Team with fewest goals allowed – shared with Bob Sauve) *

– Played in NHL All-Star Game *

–

champion ( Pittsburgh Penguins) *

– Stanley Cup champion (Pittsburgh Penguins) *

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

– NHL Second All-Star Team * #17 all time in Wins in regular season with (369). * #9 all time in Saves with (22090) in regular season career. * #13 all time in

Playoff Wins The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

with (61). * #3 all time in NHL wins by a US born Goaltender (369

* 2002 – Ice hockey at the 2002 Winter Olympics, Olympic ice hockey silver medalist (Team USA) * 2007 – Inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame * 2009 – Inducted into the

U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame The United States Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1973 with the goal of preserving the history of ice hockey in the United States while recognizing the extraordinary contributions of select players, coaches, administrators, officials and ...

* 2015 – Coppa Italia champion ( Hockey Club Valpellice) * 2018 – Alps Hockey League champion ( Asiago Hockey AS) * 2003 – Member of the Pittsburgh Penguins Ring of Honor that formerly circled the Pittsburgh Civic Arena

References

External links

*
Tom Barrasso's profile at Hockeydraftcentral.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrasso, Tom 1965 births American men's ice hockey goaltenders Buffalo Sabres draft picks Buffalo Sabres players Calder Trophy winners Carolina Hurricanes coaches Carolina Hurricanes players Ice hockey players from Massachusetts Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Living people Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics National Hockey League All-Stars National Hockey League first-round draft picks Olympic silver medalists for the United States in ice hockey Ottawa Senators players People from Stow, Massachusetts Pittsburgh Penguins players Rochester Americans players Sportspeople from Middlesex County, Massachusetts St. Louis Blues players Stanley Cup champions Toronto Maple Leafs players United States Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Vezina Trophy winners William M. Jennings Trophy winners Ice hockey coaches from Massachusetts