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Ontario Hockey League Grad Returns To Japan
Filed under AsiaAug 28
Richard Rochefort as a member of the Augsburg Panther of Germany's DEL.
Hockey – It’s popular everywhere. Ontario Hockey League grad Richard Rochefort is one of a handful of Canadians that is bringing credibility to the Asia League Ice Hockey.
Rochefort played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1994-95 to 1996-97. His first two seasons were played with the Sudbury Wolves and his final season was split between the Wolves and the Sarnia Sting. Richard was a steady 20+ goal scorer in each of his three seasons and had seasons of 65, 65 and 70 points.
Rochefort was drafted in the seventh round of the 1995 NHL draft by the New Jersey Devils, 174th overall. He spent five seasons, from 1997-98 to 2001-02, with the Albany River Rats of the American Hockey League.
Starting in 2002-03, Richard became a world traveller, toting his hockey equipment from country to country. He has played in Finland, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, Germany and Japan. This past season, Rochefort played in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) with the Augsburg Panthers.
This upcoming season, 2010-11, Richard returns the ALIH with the Nikko Icebucks. The Icebucks have been less than marvelous over the past few seasons. They’re counting on Rochefort to help them into a top four position in the seven team league in order to move on to the post season.
Richard played previously in the ALIH for two seasons, 2007-08 and 2008-09. Both seasons were played with the Seibu Prince Rabbits which played out of Tokyo. The team is now defunct.
The ALIH official website is in English and can be found here.
The Nikko Icebucks website is only in Japanese and is not quite ready to go the for new season. The site can be found here.
Check out this previous post on the Asia League Ice Hockey.
Tagged as: asia ice hockey league, augsburger panther, new jersey devils, nikko icebucks, richard rochefort, sarnia sting, sudbury wolvesComments Off
