Donald Brashear

Donald Brashear (born January 7, 1972) is an American professional hockey player currently playing for Jonquière Marquis in the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey (LNAH).

He previous played for five organizations in the National Hockey League (NHL) over a 23 year pro career, in which he played the role of an enforcer.

He played in the 1984, 1985 and 1986 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with three separate minor ice hockey teams from Quebec City.

Brashear was signed as a free agent by the Montreal Canadiens in 1992.

He spent parts of three seasons with their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Fredericton Canadiens, before becoming a regular with Montreal at the NHL level.

During the 1993–94 AHL season, he registered professional career highs of 38 goals and 66 points, along with 250 Penalty Minutes (PIMs) in 62 games.

His 38 goals tied him for the team lead and the 250 PIMs led Fredericton.

Brashear made his NHL debut on November 15, 1993, against the Ottawa Senators.

He registered an assist in the contest, his first career NHL point.

Two days later, he scored his first NHL goal in a game against the Edmonton Oilers.

After playing parts of four seasons with the Canadiens, his time in Montreal ended following a heated verbal exchange with Head Coach Mario Tremblay during a team practice on November 9, 1996.

Four days later, Brashear was traded to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Jassen Cullimore.

Brashear finished the year with 13 points and 245 PIMs, seventh-highest in the NHL.

He remains the Vancouver Canucks' all-time single season leader in penalty minutes, which he set in the 1997–98 season.

The following season, 1997–98, Brashear led the NHL in penalty minutes and set a Canucks franchise record with 372 PIMs, while adding 18 points.

During the season, he also received a four-game suspension for delivering a blind-side punch to Ian Laperrière.

Brashear stated that he hit Laperrière in retaliation to Laperrière punching Brashear's teammate Gino Odjick from behind.

The 1998–99 season marked the only time in his career which he played in all 82 games, again leading the Canucks in penalty minutes and finishing eighth in the NHL.

He was involved in one of the most publicized incidents of on-ice violence in NHL history during the 1999–2000 season, when he was slashed in the head by Marty McSorley.

Brashear was born in Bedford, Indiana, but moved to Val-Bélair, Quebec, his mother's ancestral village, as a child.

Brashear is the youngest of three children born to an American father, Johnny Brashear, and Nicole Gauthier, who was mainly of French-Canadian descent, in Bedford, Indiana.

His father was an alcoholic who relentlessly abused his family, including slashing Donald with belts and electrical cords.

On one occasion, when Donald was only six months old, he picked him up and hurled him through a window.

Nicole, afraid that Johnny might kill her, left the family and returned to Canada.

Later, she came back to take the children, but left Donald to live with his father for another four years, until Donald's paternal grandmother sent him to Canada.

Donald's mother later stated that she left him behind because her future husband was prejudiced and wanted to avoid having another mixed-race child in the house.

Brashear eventually moved in with his mother and stepfather in Lorretteville, Quebec.

Because of his stepfather's racist attitude, he suffered further abuse in his new surroundings; for instance, he was forced to sleep with a garbage bag tied around his waist to keep him from wetting the bed, and was verbally berated for not being able to tie his shoes.

His mother finally decided to give him up to foster care, due in part because of what she called "mental problems" from the abuse he had suffered, and because he did not accept her as his mother.

Brashear lived in two different foster homes that sent him away since the families believed he was a "little too much to handle."

At the age of eight, Brashear moved to Val-Bélair, Quebec, and settled into a new foster home.

Once there, he began playing hockey with his new siblings.

To help pay for hockey, Brashear sold baked bread and garbage bags door-to-door, and later became a paper boy.

In the 1999–2000 season, Brashear set a career-high in goals with 11, but the season was marred by one of the most published incidents of excessive violence in the modern era of hockey.

During a February 21, 2000 Canucks home game against the Boston Bruins, Brashear was involved in a fight with Marty McSorley.

Brashear handily won the fight and, on his way to the penalty box, taunted the Bruins' bench.

Later in the game, Brashear collided with Bruins goaltender Byron Dafoe, who had to be taken off on a stretcher with a knee injury.

For the rest of the game, McSorley was eager for a rematch with Brashear, who refused to fight again.

With 4.6 seconds left in the game, a frustrated McSorley finally swung his stick toward Brashear's head from behind and struck him with a two-handed slash to the right temple.

He was among the NHL leaders in penalty minutes for six seasons, while finishing his career 15th all-time in penalty minutes.