Steve Downie

**Steve Downie** (born on April 3, 1987 in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played in the NHL for the Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Colorado Avalanche, Pittsburgh Penguins and the Arizona Coyotes.

Downie was drafted by the Flyers in the 1st round (29th overall) in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.

## Playing Career

### Early Playing Career

Steve played minor ice hockey for the York-Simcoe Express AAA organization of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA), and competed in the 2001 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with them.

In April of 2002, he led his Express Bantam team to the All-Ontario AAA Championship. He was drafted in the first round (16th overall) by the Windsor Spitfires in the 2003 OHL Priority Selection.

### Junior

Steve was selected in the first round, 29th overall) in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers. Not long after being drafted, he was suspended for five games early in the 2005–06 OHL season for an on-ice altercation with teammate Akim Aliu.

During a practice on September 28, 2005, Downie cross-checked Aliu in the face without warning, knocking out three of his teeth, and then proceeded to fight his younger teammate. The incident stemmed from 16-year-old Aliu's refusal to take part in a hazing incident, where he would have been forced to stand naked in a cramped bus bathroom with other rookies.

The team suspended Steve for five games and Aliu for one game; he was told to undergo professional counseling. Spitfires Head Coach Moe Mantha Jr. was suspended by the OHL and later fired by the team, and the team was fined $35,000 by the OHL.

Steve left the team, requesting a trade, and was eventually traded to the Peterborough Petes in exchange for Peter Aston.

In 2020, Aliu would reflect on the incident in an opinion piece entitled "Hockey Is Not For Everyone." Aliu stated he viewed the attack as being racially motivated, referring to Steve as a "racist sociopath" and further remarking: "He looked at me and saw a black boy with a weird accent — and didn’t like me because of it. I was attacked because of the color of my skin."

Brent Sutter named Steve to the Canadian junior team for the 2006 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Vancouver. He made a name for himself at the tournament, contributing to Canada's gold medal-winning effort by scoring two goals and four assists in six games while also being named to the all-tournament team.

On May 30, 2006, the Philadelphia Flyers announced that they had signed Steve to a three-year, entry-level contract; however, after attending the Flyers' training camp in the Fall and playing in several pre-season games, the club returned him to Peterborough.

Steve returned to the international stage yet again in December 2006, participating in the 2007 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Leksand and Mora, Sweden.

On January 5, 2007, Canada won the gold medal for the first time on European ice since 1997 with a 4–2 victory over Russia.

On January 8, 2007, Steve was traded to the Kitchener Rangers in exchange for Yves Bastien, the Rangers' second-round picks in the 2007 and 2008 OHL Priority Selections, as well as the 2007 second-round pick of the Brampton Battalion.

### Professional

In Steve's first full professional season in 2007–08, his professional career got off to an inauspicious start during a pre-season game against the Ottawa Senators on September 25, 2007. He was involved in an incident in which he checked unsuspecting left winger Dean McAmmond into the boards, while his feet were off the ice.

Due to the extent of McAmmond's injury and having left his skates during the hit, Steve was suspended by the NHL for 20 games three days later for deliberate injury to McAmmond, as the NHL were cracking down on any play resulting in a head injury. To date, it is the fifth-longest suspension given by the NHL.

One day after the NHL suspension was announced, the Flyers announced they had sent Steve down to the team's AHL, the Philadelphia Phantoms. Per AHL by-laws, he was considered automatically ineligible to play pending a review by the AHL (as the AHL honours NHL suspensions).

AHL President David Andrews suspended him for the first month of the AHL season as a result of the injuries to McAmmond.

After serving his suspension in the AHL, Steve made his long-awaited NHL regular season debut with the Flyers on December 5, 2007 against the Minnesota Wild. He scored his first career NHL goal over one month later on January 5, 2008, against Andrew Raycroft of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

During the game, he got into a scuffle with Maple Leafs forward Jason Blake. While the linesmen were attempting to keep them apart, Downie got his left arm loose and sucker-punched Blake in the left eye while Blake's arms and hands were still tied up by the other linesman.

During a game against the New York Rangers on February 9, 2008, Steve was hip-checked by Rangers defenceman Fedor Tyutin, and his skate hit linesman Pat Dapuzzo in the face. Dapuzzo required 60 stitches to reattach his nose, suffered ten facial fractures and was forced to retire as a result.

During the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs, in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals on May 13, 2008, Steve hit Petr Sykora as the play ended on Ryan Malone's goal that gave the Pittsburgh Penguins a 3–1 lead. Sýkora did not have the puck when Downie hit him.

In the 2008–09 season, Steve initially made the Flyers' opening night roster before being later demoted to Phantoms. On November 7, 2008, he was traded by the Flyers to the Tampa Bay Lightning (along with Steve Eminger) in exchange for defenceman Matt Carle.

He was immediately assigned to Tampa Bay's AHL affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals, before he was recalled and made his Lightning debut in a 4–2 defeat against the Minnesota Wild on November 28, 2008.

Steve continued to split the season between Norfolk and Tampa Bay, and his reputation for unnecessary aggressive behaviour was further developed on February 28, 2009 after slashing a linesman, Mike Hamilton in the shin following a controversial empty-net goal in a game against the Hershey Bears, receiving a game misconduct for physical abuse of an official.

Under AHL rules, the penalty carried an automatic 20-game suspension, which was his second lengthy suspension. He would later make his return in the NHL regular season finale game for the Lightning.

In the 2009–10 season (with the intention to curb his on-ice aggression positively, whilst under the influence of former agitator and then-Lightning Head Coach Rick Tocchet) Steve played his first full season in the NHL and recorded a career-high 22 goals and 46 points.

He also became the first player since Theoren Fleury in 2002 to score 20 goals and record over 200 penalty minutes in a single season.

In March 2010, Steve was fined for a hit on the Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby. Downie stated that Colin Campbell, League disciplinarian, told him it was a "dangerous play."

He finished his first full season with 46 points in 79 games. After a successful NHL season, he was then selected to participate in the 2010 World Championships for Team Canada.

Prior to the commencement of the 2010–11 season, on August 25, 2010, he re-signed with the Lightning on a two-year contract worth $3.7 million. Having established himself offensively with Tampa, his versatility and checking game helped provide 32 points in 57 games, whilst finishing with 171 penalty minutes to place tenth in the NHL.

In contributing to the Lightning's return to the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2011, Steve led the team in plus-minus rating and finished fourth in team scoring with 14 points, as the Lightning ultimately reached the Eastern Conference Finals, falling to the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Boston Bruins.

At the beginning of the 2011–12 season, Steve appeared in his 200th career NHL game against the Washington Capitals on October 10, 2011. He later set a Lightning franchise record for two quickest goals by an individual when he scored twice within the span of 11 seconds against Pittsburgh on February 12, 2012.

Whilst in the final year of his contract, and with the Lightning under-performing, he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for defenceman Kyle Quincey (who was himself traded later that same day to the Detroit Red Wings) on February 21, 2012. The next day, he made his Avalanche debut in a 4–1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

Immediately placed on the Avalanche's top line alongside Ryan O'Reilly and Gabriel Landeskog, Steve provided instant success and coincidentally became the first Avalanche player since Theoren Fleury in 1999 to score seven points in his first four games with the club.

Steve continued to score 13 points in 20 games whilst hampered by a lingering shoulder injury as the Avalanche failed to qualify for the 2012 playoffs. He achieved a career-high combined 27 assists for the season before he was shut down to endure off-season surgery to repair a separated shoulder.

On June 29, 2012, the Avalanche re-signed Steve to a two-year, $5.3 million contract. Having used the NHL lock-out to recuperate from off-season surgery, he entered the shortened 2012–13 season in full health, only to suffer a season-ending knee injury in just his second game of the campaign; he was injured trying to hit Davis Drewiske of the Los Angeles Kings, requiring surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee.

On October 31, 2013, after producing seven points in 11 games with the Avalanche to start the 2013–14 season, he was traded back to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Maxime Talbot.

On July 2, 2014, Steve was signed as a free agent by the Pittsburgh Penguins to a one-year, $1 million contract. He established himself amongst the Penguins' lower checking lines, and proved good value for his contract in the 2014–15 season. He contributed with 14 goals and 28 points as he led the league in penalty minutes with 238.

At the conclusion of his contract, he opted to part ways with the Penguins and sign as a free agent to a one-year contract with the Arizona Coyotes on July 1, 2015.

## Career Statistics

### International

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## Personal Life

Steve is the son of Anne and the late John Downie (who died in a car accident in 1996 while driving Steve to hockey practice).

He has one sibling, a brother, Greg. He grew up in Holland Landing, Ontario, Canada and attended Sacred Heart High School in Newmarket. He later attended St. Joseph's Catholic High School in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in 2004.

Steve is deaf in his right ear & wears a hearing aid due to a hearing disorder called otosclerosis.