Ray Emery

**Ray Emery** (born Raymond Robert Emery on September 28, 1982 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for eleven seasons with the Ottawa Senators, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks.

## Playing Career

### Pre-NHL

Emery committed to hockey on the advice of his mother after a potential scholarship during his pursuit for higher education pushed him to take advantage of his natural ability.

When he was 16 years old, he landed with the Ontario Junior Hockey League Junior C Dunnville Terriers after unsuccessfully trying out for eight different junior teams. Emery was named the league's Rookie of the Year.

The Ontario Hockey League's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds drafted Emery in the fifth round of the 1999 OHL Draft. He split the 1999–2000 season between the Welland Cougars of the OHA and the Greyhounds in the OHL.

In the 2000–01 season, he played with the Greyhounds. During his last season in junior hockey (in 2001–02), he gained notoriety for his fighting ability. He was named the OHL's Goaltender of the Year, setting a record of 33 wins and a GAA of 2.73.

Emery was selected in the fourth round, 99th overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.

In the 2002–03 season, he joined the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League (AHL) and immediately assumed the position of starting goaltender for his first professional season with the team. He was named to the AHL All-Star team, made the league's all-rookie team and became Binghamton's MVP.

Emery was suspended twice for on-ice incidents the same season, once for bumping a referee which resulted in a three-game suspension; the second time for an altercation with Denis Hamel of the Rochester Americans who admitted to uttering a racial slur. Emery retaliated and was suspended for three games.

Emery and Hamel later became teammates in Binghamton, and Hamel apologized "for not thinking about what [he] was saying, in the heat of a game."

### Ottawa Senators

With the Ottawa Senators, Emery began his NHL career in the 2005–06 by season setting a record for wins to start a career, winning his first 9 games, moving ahead of Bob Froese, who started the 1982–83 season with eight wins while playing for the Philadelphia Flyers.

In March of the same season, Emery won 12 games, tying Bernie Parent's 1974 record for the most wins in a month.

At the beginning of the 2005–06 season, Emery had won nine straight games during the regular season as the back-up to Dominik Hašek.

When Hašek injured his groin during the 2006 Winter Olympics, Emery became Ottawa's de facto starter, with Mike Morrison, claimed off of waivers from the Edmonton Oilers, as his backup. He was the starting goaltender for the rest of the season, leading the Senators to the second round of the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs.

After the 2005–06 season, the Senators opted not to bring back Hašek, instead acquiring Martin Gerber to compete with Emery for the starter position. Gerber was the starter at the beginning of the season, but due to his poor play, he replaced him in mid-November.

On February 10, 2007, Emery was suspended for three games from the NHL for striking Montreal Canadiens forward Maxim Lapierre in the face with his stick after Lapierre crashed into Emery's net.

Twelve days later, after his suspension had ended, Emery was involved in a mêlée between the Senators and the Buffalo Sabres. He and Sabres goaltender Martin Biron left their creases to fight each other. After the first fight was finished, Sabres enforcer Andrew Peters grabbed him and a second fight ensued

Both goaltenders received game misconducts, and Emery had the rare feat (for a goaltender) of receiving two five-minute majors for fighting in the same incident. In total, he received 22 penalty minutes (two five-minute majors for fighting, a two-minute minor for leaving the crease and the 10-minute game misconduct) for this altercation.

After the altercation, fans and media dubbed Emery "Sugar Ray" in reference to retired boxer Sugar Ray Robinson and Emery's reputation as a fighter. His then-teammate Brian McGrattan opined that if Emery were a position player and not a goalie, he would likely rank among the top five fighters in the NHL.

Prior to the 2007 playoffs, Emery and the Senators won 5–2 against Montreal on March 30, 2007, which was his 100th NHL game. His strong play in the season continued in the playoffs, as the Senators defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres each in five-game series en route to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since the team was founded in 1992, where the Senators ultimately lost to the Anaheim Ducks in five games.

Emery became a restricted free agent after the end of the season and filed for salary arbitration, later agreeing to a three-year deal with the Senators worth $9.5 million before the hearings were held.

By the pre-season of the 2007–08 campaign, Emery had suffered a wrist injury that limited him to just 40 minutes of the pre-season and forced him to miss several games early in the Senators' season.

On April 18, 2008, Murray announced to the media in an end-of-season press conference that Emery would not return to the Senators for the 2008–09 season.

On June 20, 2008, Emery was waived by the Senators; he cleared waivers three days later and became a free agent as a result.

### Atlant Moscow

On July 9, 2008, Emery signed a one-year, $2 million contract with Atlant Moscow Oblast of the newly formed Kontinental Hockey League. After giving up five goals during a game, he chased a trainer who attempted to put a sponsored cap on his head.

As a foreign goaltender, he was only allowed to play in 65% of his team's 56 regular season games due to rules that encourage the development of Russian goaltenders.

Emery split duties for the season with former Colorado Avalanche goaltender Vitaly Kolesnik and completed the season as a top goaltender in the KHL with a .926 save percentage & 1.86 GAA.

### Philadelphia Flyers

On June 10, 2009, the Philadelphia Flyers announced that they had agreed to terms with Emery on a one-year contract worth $1.5 million.

On December 8, 2009, he was placed on injured reserve to have surgery on a torn muscle in his abdomen. Originally expected to miss about six weeks, the prognosis changed when it was discovered that he had avascular necrosis.

In March of 2010, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren announced that Emery would be out for the remainder of the season due to the diagnosis and that a bone graft would be done to alleviate his hip issues.

Doctors were able to catch the disease early on before it spread, unlike the case of baseball and American football player Bo Jackson. As a result, in April, doctors announced an extremely successful surgery.

Jackson spoke out about Emery, speculating that they were the only two athletes to come back after the disease. Jackson added, *"I take my hat off [to him]. I want him to know I am in his corner. It's a lot of hard work. To come back and play, it takes a very, very special and driven person. He's got a different makeup to want to do all the little things he needs to compete on a professional level."*

Unlike Jackson, who required numerous hip replacements, Emery had the benefit of advancements in modern medicine, undergoing a very specialized and complex procedure that involved removing 13 centimetres from his right fibula, and then grafting it to the femur to re-introduce a proper blood supply to the area.

Holmgren said that while the surgery went better than expected, he did not know exactly how long Emery's recovery would take.

On July 1, 2010, Emery became an unrestricted free agent as his injury deemed him unable to play until he recuperated. In August, he was given the go-ahead to begin the grueling and tedious workout and rehabilitation process.

In November of 2010, TSN visited Emery during an on-ice workout and were surprised to see him get down into the butterfly position and play for the first time since surgery. Emery stated that he did not *"care if [he could] walk in seven years"* and he *"just [wanted] to play.*" To the surprise of his doctors and trainers, Emery has been doing better than expected.

In January of 2011, he began skating with an OHL team, taking shots and training with Eric Lindros and working with personal trainer Matt Nichol and goalie coach Eli Wilson. According to Wilson, Emery was *"as sharp and ready now as he was the summer before Ottawa's Stanley Cup Final run."*

In March 2011, Emery's injury and undefeated return to the NHL with the Anaheim Ducks garnered much media attention and fascination, with a special segment featured on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada. He had 13 centimetres of bone missing from his leg; this later garnered him a nomination for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.

### Anaheim Ducks

On February 7, 2011, four NHL teams showed interest in signing Emery before he signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Anaheim Ducks. He was then assigned to the Syracuse Crunch to begin the standard two-week conditioning AHL stint where he went on to play a total of five games for the Crunch in their 2010–11 season, posting a 4–1–0 record, 1.98 GAA and .943 save percentage.

On February 23, 2011, upon completion of his conditioning stint, Emery was called up to the Ducks. He made his Ducks debut on March 11, 2011, to a standing ovation against the Phoenix Coyotes when he replaced goaltender Dan Ellis, making it his first NHL appearance since he last played in March 2010 with the Flyers.

He went on to win six straight starts to open his Anaheim career, falling one shy of matching the Ducks record for consecutive wins by a goaltender, held by Guy Hebert.

In the week of March 14, Emery was honoured with the NHL's Second Star of the Week after going 2–0–0 with a 0.99 GAA and .968 save percentage.

He led the Ducks into the playoffs, finishing tied for fourth in the league and posting a 7–2–0 record with 2.28 GAA and .926 save percentage in 10 regular season NHL appearances.

In April, his comeback was recognized when the Anaheim chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association (PHWA) named him as their nominee for the 2011 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

The NHL also nominated Emery for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, making him one of three finalists.

### Chicago Blackhawks

On October 3, 2011, Emery signed a one-year contract for the 2011–12 season with the Chicago Blackhawks after a successful try-out.

By the end of the season, Emery compiled a 15–9–4 record and 2.81 GAA in 34 regular-season appearances, posting a 10–0–3 record and 2.15 GAA in 16 appearances at Chicago's United Center. He was again nominated, this time by the Blackhawks, for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, honouring dedication and perseverance

In April 2012, the Blackhawks signed Emery to a one-year extension worth $1.15 million to keep him with the team into the 2012–13 season.

Emery made NHL history in March of 2013 by becoming the first goaltender to ever start a season with 10 straight wins, going 10–0–0.

He improved his NHL record to 11 straight wins against the Colorado Avalanche on March 18. He went to 12–0–0 in a shutout win against the Calgary Flames in his 200th NHL start.

On April 10, 2013, Emery made franchise history by recording his third shutout in five games, helping him to be third in the NHL with a 1.90 GAA and seventh in save percentage at .924 with a 15–1–0 record. He proved his previous injuries were no longer a concern, posting career highs.

In April of 2013, Emery and his teammate Corey Crawford won the award for the NHL's best combined GAA, the 2013 William M. Jennings Trophy, awarded to the goaltender who gives up the fewest goals in the season.

He finished the season with a 1.94 GAA, .922 save percentage, and 17 wins. He won his first Stanley Cup when the Blackhawks defeated the Boston Bruins in the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals.

### Return to Philadelphia

On July 5, 2013, Emery signed a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Flyers worth $1.65 million. With the Flyers, he served as the backup to regular goaltender Steve Mason.

On November 1, 2013, Emery participated in a brawl against the Capitals, fighting opposing goaltender Braden Holtby, who was uninterested in fighting. For the season, he was 9–12–2 with a 2.96 GAA in 28 appearances.

On July 1, 2014, Emery re-signed for another year in the same role for $1 million. In 31 appearances with the Flyers in the 2014–15 season, he had a 10–11–7 record and 3.06 GAA and his save percentage was under .900.

### 2015–2016

On September 8, 2015, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that Emery would be attending training camp on a PTO (professional tryout). During the preseason, he was released from this PTO on September 27.

In October and November of 2015, he trained with the Ontario Reign of the AHL, affiliate to the Los Angeles Kings.

It was announced on December 18, 2015, that Emery had signed a professional tryout agreement with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.

Emery was praised for his leadership and mentoring abilities; on January 24, 2016, upon Crawford recording his league-leading seventh shutout of the season with the Blackhawks after a win against the Blues, he credited Emery for turning around his work habits.

Crawford stated that Emery's work habits led him to increase his focus and preparation before a game and during practice.

*"As a goalie, I've never seen a guy be so focused and ready for a game"*, Crawford said. *"I was kind of doing the opposite – being nonchalant and doing other stuff and not having a routine. You get in that physical routine that just makes you ready mentally. You trick yourself into knowing that it's game time and time to play."*

Kyle Dubas, assistant GM of the Marlies, cited Emery for his mentorship towards the team.

On February 5, 2016, Emery signed with Adler Mannheim of the German elite league Deutsche Eishockey Liga for the remainder of the season, thus ending his professional tryout with the Marlies.

On March 29, 2017, he signed a tryout contract with the Flyers. On April 1, the team announced that they had signed Emery for the remainder of the season. At the end of the season, he retired from the NHL.

## Death

On July 14, 2018, Emery was helping raise money, along with other former and current pro hockey players for Hamilton charity Food4Kids.

On July 15, 2018, he went swimming with friends at the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club in Hamilton, Ontario. He jumped off a boat and friends called emergency services at approximately 6:00 AM when he did not resurface.

Emery's body was found at about 2:50 PM that same day, about 20 yards from where he went into the water, according to Hamilton Police, who referred to the incident as a "case of misadventure".

The search for Emery took longer than anticipated due to unspecified safety concerns for the dive team before they could enter the water. Police stated that although foul play was not suspected, the exact circumstances surrounding his death were still under investigation.

On July 16, 2018, Emery's fiancee, Keisha Chanté penned an emotional tribute to Emery stating that she was "heartbroken" and that he was "a Superhero" who was *"loving, affectionate, intelligent, hilarious, giving."* She also stated that they *"may have had differences" but they "forgave each other and continued to love each other right to the very end."*

On October 15, 2018, prior to a game versus the Dallas Stars, the Senators presented a tribute for Emery. Among those present were his close friend Jason Spezza, who was playing for the Stars, and Chanté, who sung the national anthems.

## Personal Life

Emery was born to Sharlene and Paul Emery. He was the eldest of three sons.

He was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and grew up in small town Cayuga, Ontario, in a century-old farmhouse. He excelled in school, and was offered a scholarship.

Emery played many sports other than ice hockey, including golf, baseball, and soccer. In hockey, he originally played defense, but he switched to goaltender when he was nine years old due to a shortage of goaltenders in his league.

He was a fan-favorite and celebrated fighter in the NHL, a sport that allows fighting, because it was rare for a goaltender to engage.

Emery was a boxing fan and had images of Joe Frazier, Bernard Hopkins, Mike Tyson and the fictional Rocky Balboa on his helmets.

Emery had alleged off-ice incidents publicized and was subject to much speculation by the press during his tenure with the Ottawa Senators in 2007–2009.

Allegations included anger management, vehicular incidents, and speculated recreational drug use.

Press members publicized a missed flight during the playoffs, Emery being late for practice, fights with teammates in practice, including a physical altercation with teammate Brian McGrattan, and a stick-smashing incident at practice because Emery was not receiving as much ice time as Martin Gerber, as coach John Paddock claimed.

Paddock told the press that Emery was displaying erratic behaviour, was sent home (missing most of training camp) and threw a mini tantrum at the end of a morning skate. The media speculated that Emery was involved with a bad crowd and recreational drugs.

When asked by ESPN, Emery stated, *"I'm not a saint and I'm not in jail, either."* Paddock later expressed regret on how Emery was handled and was partially responsible for signing Emery to the Flyers, where they worked together, during 2013–2016.

A viral video surfaced of Emery trying to punch and chasing a team trainer while the trainer was attempting to place a hat on his head in January of 2009. He said that he took anger management classes in the minor leagues and underwent eight weeks of behavioural counselling.

In June of 2010, Emery began dating Canadian singer Keshia Chanté, and starred as the love interest in Chanté's music video for "Test Drive".

On June 16, 2016, Emery proposed to Chanté on her birthday in Nassau, Bahamas. Emery and Chanté were set to wed in June 2017. However, simultaneously with the release of her cover on Today's Bride, Chanté announced via her Instagram account that she had called off the wedding.

On September 18, 2017, Emery was arrested for uttering threats and assault with a weapon towards Chanté, after she went to police seeking a restraining order. She required him to attend anger management in exchange for charges being absolved, which Emery agreed to and successfully completed.

In March of 2007, Emery was charged in a minor crash heading to the airport, forcing him to miss a team chartered flight to a road game.

In September of 2007, he had a much-publicized road rage incident with a 65-year-old man he was accused of threatening to kill and cutting off on the highway. No charges were filed against him.

In February of 2008, Ottawa police pulled over Emery, who allegedly cut off a police cruiser with his Hummer. They said he was aggressive with officers.

In March of 2009, he was charged for stunt driving for having gone 50 km/h or more over the posted speed limit. Police impounded his Hummer.

He appeared on TSN's "Off the Record with Michael Landsberg", saying that, at the time, his Hummer was pulled over at least 30 times in the previous years.