Ray Ferraro

Infobox Ice Hockey Player
played_for = Hartford Whalers
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Los Angeles Kings
Atlanta Thrashers
St. Louis Blues
position = Centre
shoots = Left
height_ft = 5
height_in = 10
weight_lb = 192
nickname = The Big Ball of Hate
Chicken Parm
nationality = CAN
birth_date = Birth date and age|1964|8|23|mf=y
birth_place = Trail, BC, CAN
draft = 88th overall
draft_year = 1982
draft_team = Hartford Whalers
career_start = 1984
career_end = 2002

Ray Ferraro aka "Chicken Parm"(born August 23, 1964 in Trail, British Columbia, Canada) is a retired professional hockey player for the NHL. He played for the Hartford Whalers (1984–1991), New York Islanders (1991–1995), New York Rangers (1995–1996), Los Angeles Kings (1996–1999), Atlanta Thrashers (1999–2002) and St. Louis Blues (2002). His nickname was the "Big Ball of Hate", coined by Rangers teammate Glenn Healy.cite news | first=John | last=Buccigross| title=Da Vinci knew all about the Stanley Cup | date=2003-04-06 | publisher=ESPN Internet Ventures | url =http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2003/story?id=1534879 | work =ESPN.com | accessdate = 2007-09-19] He is currently a broadcaster for TEAM 1040 Radio and TSN in Canada.

Playing career

Ferraro was a prolific scorer in Junior Hockey, including a 108–goal and 192–point season for the Brandon Wheat Kings in 1983–84.

In his NHL career, he scored 408 goals and 490 assists, for a total of 898 points in 1258 games in 18 seasons. He was named to the NHL all-star game in 1992. He had two 40 goal seasons.

He had a memorable playoff run for the New York Islanders in 1993, scoring two overtime goals against the Washington Capitals as the Islanders defeated both the Capitals and the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Ferraro assisted on David Volek's game- and series-winning goal during overtime of Game 7 against the Penguins. The goal advanced the Islanders to the Wales Conference Finals, which they lost to the eventual champion Montreal Canadiens. Ferraro finished that playoff season with team-leading totals in goals (13) and points (20).

Broadcasting

Ferraro retired on August 2, 2002. He has done work for ESPN hockey broadcasts, including work on "NHL 2Night" with John Buccigross and Barry Melrose. On that show Ferraro was often referred to as "Chicken Parm" by Buccigross after an accident with chicken parmesan moments before going on the air. Ferraro is a main studio analyst during broadcasts of "The NHL on NBC" where he's often paired with Bill Clement. The same combo also worked as in-studio commentator's for the 2006 Winter Olympics for NBC, covering men's hockey. The duo, along with Brett Hull, also host "NHL on NBC Faceoff" on NBCSports.com a half-hour before each game. Ferraro also works regularly for the Edmonton Oilers, providing colour commentary of Oilers games on Rogers Sportsnet West, and, during the NHL season, has a daily "Hockey Hour" segment on Vancouver radio station TEAM 1040, introduced to the strains of "The Brass Bonanza", theme song of the Hartford Whalers (present-day Carolina Hurricanes). He is also a regular analyst for the Vancouver Canucks on Canucks TV. He also works on Sportsnet's hockey programs.

Personal life

His second wife is former U.S. women's ice hockey team captain Cammi Granato, who also worked as a women's hockey analyst during NBC's 2006 Winter Olympics coverage, and they have one son Riley who was born in December 2006. He has two sons from a previous marriage; Matt, 18, and Landon, 15. Landon, a center, was drafted 2nd overall by the Red Deer Rebels in the 2006 WHL Bantam Draft; Matt, a goalie, currently playing for the Alpena IceDiggers of the NAHL, was drafted in 2003 by the Prince George Cougars, but has expressed a desire in pursuing a career in college hockey.

Following the Swedish women's team upset of the U.S. at the Torino games, Ferraro publicly criticized US Women's coach Ben Smith for failing to bring the best US players to the games, which lead to their downfall. His comments were broadcast on MSNBC during the intermission of a men's game. This appeared to be directly related to his wife being cut in August 2005, along with other veterans in favor of younger, faster players. Some critics and fans also questioned Granato's cut from the team and cited it as a factor in the US team's disappointing performance.

Ferraro currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

On Thursday April 7th 2008 Ray Ferraro returned to ESPN to call his first ever "Frozen Four" and as the replacement For Barry Melrose, who at the time was still working for ESPN but now is the new coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning. With Ferraro switching from NBC to ESPN, there have been rumors that Bill Clement and Gary Thorne might re-partner up at ESPN as well.

Transactions

*November 13, 1990— Traded by the Hartford Whalers to the New York Islanders in exchange for Doug Crossman

*August 9, 1995— Signed as a free agent with the New York Rangers.

*March 14, 1996— Traded by the New York Rangers, along with Ian Laperriere, Nathan LaFayette, Mattias Norstrom and New York's 1997 4th round draft choice, to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Jari Kurri, Marty McSorley and Shane Churla.

*August 9, 1999– Signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Thrashers.

*March 18, 2002— Traded by the Atlanta Thrashers to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for St. Louis' 2002 4th round draft choice.

Career statistics

ee also

*Captain (ice hockey)
*List of NHL players
*List of NHL seasons
*List of NHL players with 1000 games played

References

External links

*hockeydb|1657

Persondata
NAME= Ferraro, Ray
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=
DATE OF BIRTH= 1964–8–23
PLACE OF BIRTH= Trail, BC, CAN
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=