Jason John Pominville (born November 30, 1982) 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 ...

- 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 h ...

right winger. He played for 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 ...

and 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 ...

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 ...

(NHL).

Playing career

Amateur

As a youth, Pominville played in the 1995 and 1996 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with minor ice hockey teams from

Repentigny, Quebec Repentigny () is an off-island suburb of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located north of the city on the lower end of the L'Assomption River, and on the Saint Lawrence River. Repentigny and Charlemagne were the first towns off the eastern tip ...

and Rive-Nord. Pominville played

junior hockey Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

for the

Shawinigan Cataractes The Shawinigan Cataractes (french: Cataractes de Shawinigan) are a junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The team is based in Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada. The Cataractes have been previously known as the Shawinigan Bruin ...

of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). In his fourth and final year with Shawinigan, 2001–02, he amassed 121 points in 66 games – seventh in league scoring – and was awarded the Frank J. Selke Memorial Trophy as the league's most gentlemanly player.

Professional

Buffalo Sabres

Pominville was drafted 55th overall in the second round by the

in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. He played for the Sabres' minor league affiliate, 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, ...

of 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 developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL), until the 2005–06 season, when he earned a roster spot with Buffalo. To begin the 2005–06 campaign, Pominville had initially been waived by the Sabres. Clearing waivers, he continued to play in the minors until he was called up a few months into the season. He scored his first NHL goal on November 27, 2005 – a powerplay goal against

Olaf Kölzig Olaf Kölzig (born 6 April 1970) is a South African-born German former professional ice hockey goaltender and current goaltender coach and player development coach for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). With the excepti ...

in a 3–2 win against the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

. Pominville quickly became an integral part of the Sabres line-up and finished the rest of the season with the Sabres with 18 goals in 57 games. In the 2006 playoffs, he recorded a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in Game 2 of the first round against the Philadelphia Flyers. Later in the Sabres' playoff run, he scored the series-clinching goal in the second round against the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

– a shorthanded effort in

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

of Game 5. It marked the first time in NHL history that a playoff series was decided by an overtime shorthanded goal. Buffalo announcer

Rick Jeanneret John Richard Jeanneret (born July 23, 1942)Pergament, Alan (October 5, 2014)‘I feel like an American,’ Jeanneret says, as he gets cancer treatment here ''The Buffalo News''. Retrieved October 5, 2014. “Jeanneret received his first radiatio ...

marked this occasion with a call that is now famous in Buffalo hockey lore: "Oh, now do you believe? Now do you believe? These guys are good, scary good!" The Sabres had qualified as the fourth seed in the playoffs after failing to qualify the previous three seasons. Jason Pominville Sabres 2012-02-19

After improving to 68 points the following season, Pominville made a name for himself in 2007–08. He scored at nearly a point-per-game with 80 points in 82 games. In the absence of departed co-captains

Chris Drury Christopher Ellis Drury (born August 20, 1976) is an American professional ice hockey executive and former player. He has served as the president and general manager for the New York Rangers since May 5, 2021. He previously served as the genera ...

and Daniel Brière from the previous season, the Sabres utilized a rotating captaincy during the 2007–08 season; Pominville was named captain for the months of March and April. At the end of the season, he was nominated for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the league's most sportsmanlike player, along with Pavel Datsyuk and Martin St. Louis; the honour was awarded to Datsyuk. On September 18, 2008, the Sabres acknowledged Pominville's rise to prominence and signed him to a five-year, $26.5 million contract extension (taking effect in 2009–10). His existing contract saw him make just over $1 million per season. On October 13, 2010, his consecutive start streak of 335 games was broken because of the concussion he had received from

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

defensemen Niklas Hjalmarsson (who was suspended two games for the illegal hit) in the previous game on October 11, 2010, when he was checked into the boards head first and then removed from the ice in a stretcher. On October 6, 2011, in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, Pominville was named permanent Sabres captain. He became the 16th full-time captain in Sabres team history. While captain of the Sabres, he filmed a video for the You Can Play campaign, which aims to reduce homophobia in sport. With the lockout postponing the beginning of 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, Pominville signed his first European contract on a temporary basis with German club Adler Mannheim of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga on November 30, 2012. Pominville produced 12 points in just seven games for the Eagles before returning to prepare for the Sabres' season opener.

Minnesota Wild

With the Sabres enduring a largely unsuccessful season and with the intentions to revamp the roster, Pominville, along with a

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fourth-round pick, were traded to the

in exchange for Johan Larsson, Matt Hackett, a

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first-round pick and 2014 second-round pick on April 3, 2013. With the Wild, Pominville recorded nine points in ten regular season games. During the 2013–14 season, he scored 30 goals and 30 assists for 60 points to lead the Wild in scoring.

Return to Buffalo

On June 30, 2017, Pominville returned to the Sabres in a trade that sent him, Marco Scandella and a

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

fourth-round pick to Buffalo in exchange for Tyler Ennis, Marcus Foligno and a 2018 third-round pick. On November 1, 2018, Pominville played in his 1,000 career NHL game. He recorded a goal in a 4–2 loss to the

. The next game, following a pregame ceremony by the Sabres to commemorate his milestone, Pominville recorded two goals and an assist in a 9–2 win over the Senators. The Sabres did not renew Pominville's contract during the 2019 offseason. He spent the year in Buffalo, playing in

beer league ''Artie Lange's Beer League'' (also known simply as ''Beer League'') is a 2006 American comedy film written and produced by, and starring, Artie Lange. It was released in select theaters on September 15, 2006 in the New Jersey, New York, Cleveland ...

s. In a June 2020 interview, it was stated that Pominville's playing career had ended.

Personal life

Pominville is a dual citizen of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. His father, Jean-Marie, is a native of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

and his mother, Deborah, is a native of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Pominville and his wife Kim have two children together. The family resides in East Amherst, New York. They previously resided in Edina, Minnesota during his stint with the Wild.

International play

Because Pominville has dual citizenship, he was eligible to play for either the

in international tournaments, and opted to play for Team USA. Making his international debut, he chose to represent the United States at the 2008 World Championships and scored five points in seven games.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pominville, Jason 1982 births Living people Adler Mannheim players Anglophone Quebec people Canadian emigrants to the United States Buffalo Sabres captains Buffalo Sabres players Buffalo Sabres draft picks Ice hockey people from Quebec Minnesota Wild players National Hockey League All-Stars People from Repentigny, Quebec Rochester Americans players Shawinigan Cataractes players Canadian ice hockey right wingers