Christopher Bowie Therien (born December 14, 1971), affectionately known as Bundy, 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 h ...

defenceman 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 ...

who played 12

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 ...

(NHL) seasons for the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

and

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minne ...

. He was the lead analyst for Flyers Pregame Live and Flyers Postgame Live on

NBC Sports Philadelphia NBC Sports Philadelphia is an American regional sports network owned by the NBC Sports Group unit of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by locally based cable television provider Comcast (and owns a controlling 75% interest), and the Philadelp ...

. Prior to the 2018-19 NHL season he was a color commentator inside the glass for the Flyers on

. He was also previously the Flyers' radio color commentator on 97.5 The Fanatic. He is currently the lead commentator for Ice Wars International.

Playing career

After registering 35 goals and 37 assists in 31 games for Northwood School in 1989–90, Chris Therien was drafted by the

in the 3rd round, 47th overall of the

1990 NHL Entry Draft The 1990 NHL Entry Draft was the 28th NHL Entry Draft. It was hosted by the Vancouver Canucks at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 16, 1990. It is remembered as one of the deeper drafts in NHL history, with fourteen of the twenty- ...

. He attended Providence College for three years and joined the Canadian national team after graduating. He was a member of the Canadian team which won silver at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. He started his professional career in 1994 playing for the

Hershey Bears The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town located 14 miles east of the state capital of Harrisburg. The current Bears club has played in the American Hockey League since the 1938–39 season maki ...

of the AHL. Once the

NHL Lockout The NHL lockout may refer to any of the four labour actions in the history of the National Hockey League: * The 1992 NHL strike, which postponed 30 games of the 1991–92 season * The 1994–95 NHL lockout, which cancelled many of the games of ...

came to an end, he joined the Flyers and played every regular season and playoff game in the abbreviated season, earning a spot on the

NHL All-Rookie Team The NHL All-Rookie Team is chosen by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association from the best rookies in the National Hockey League at each position for the season just concluded based on their performance in that year. The team was first named a ...

. He enjoyed his best season in 1996–97 by recording a career high in points (24) and plus/minus (+27) in 71 games while helping lead the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Finals. After playing nine and a half seasons with the Flyers, he was traded to the

on March 8, 2004, for a 2004 8th round draft pick and a 2005 3rd round draft pick. He signed a one-year contract to return to the Flyers shortly after the 2004–05 NHL lockout came to an end, and ended up playing in 47 games before having his season cut short due to a head injury. Known primarily as a defensive defenceman, Therien was usually partnered with

Éric Desjardins Jean Noël Éric Desjardins (born June 14, 1969) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers. He won the Stanley Cup with M ...

over the years. He was also well known for elevating his game when matched up against star forward

Jaromír Jágr Jaromír Jágr (; born 15 February 1972) is a Czech professional ice hockey right winger for and the owner of Rytíři Kladno of the Czech Extraliga (ELH). He previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguin ...

. His teammates took to calling him Bundy after the character

Al Bundy Al Bundy is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television series '' Married... with Children''. Played by Ed O'Neill, Bundy is a misanthropic, working-class father of two who is portrayed as a somewhat tragicomedic fig ...

from '' Married... with Children''. Therien is unfortunately remembered for taking the slapshot that ended the career of

Trent McCleary Trent Kenneth McCleary (born September 8, 1972) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played for the Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, and Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). His career was ended in 2000 after h ...

in a game, which McCleary attempted to block. The shot ended up striking McCleary in the throat, which had enough force to damage his larynx. He was critically injured when hit in the throat by the shot which fractured his larynx and resulted in a collapsed lung. Therien and his family have been residents of the Marlton section of

Evesham Township, New Jersey Evesham Township is a township in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population was 46,826, an increase of 1,288 from the 2010 census count of 45,538, ...

.''Philadelphia Flyers 2014-15 Media Guide''
p. 43. Accessed November 30, 2017. "Therien resides in Marlton, New Jersey, with his wife, Diana, and their four children– daughters Isabella, Ava and Alexa and son Christopher." Daughters Isabella Therien, Ava Therien,and Alexa Therien are well known all-stars at Cherokee Highschool in the spot light for basketball. They all play Division 1 Basketball at Loyola University in Maryland. All three have excelled as athletes just like their father. They have been featured on ESPN for basketball honors and also on the TV show Tomboy.

Awards and honors

* 1993–94: Silver Medal ( XVII Olympic Winter Games) * 1994–95: All-Rookie Team (

NHL 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 ...

)

Records

* His 753 games played as a Philadelphia Flyer is first among defenseman in Flyers history.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

*
Philadelphia Flyers Hockey Legend Wins in Overtime, Behavioral Corner Podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Therien, Chris 1971 births Living people Canadian ice hockey defencemen Dallas Stars players Hershey Bears players Sportspeople from Ottawa Ice hockey players at the 1994 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players of Canada Olympic medalists in ice hockey Olympic silver medalists for Canada People from Evesham Township, New Jersey Philadelphia Flyers announcers Philadelphia Flyers draft picks Philadelphia Flyers players Philadelphia Phantoms players Providence Friars men's ice hockey players Ice hockey people from Ontario Children:Isabella Therien, Ava Therien, Alexa Therien, Christopher Therien JR