Kelly Fairchild

Kelly Fairchild
Born (1973-04-09) April 9, 1973 (age 51)
Hibbing, Minnesota, U.S.
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 197 lb (89 kg; 14 st 1 lb)
Position Center
Shot Left
Played for Toronto Maple Leafs
Dallas Stars
Colorado Avalanche
Eisbären Berlin
Vienna Capitals
Nippon Paper Cranes
National team  United States
NHL draft 152nd overall, 1991
Los Angeles Kings
Playing career 1994–2009

Kelly G. Fairchild (born April 9, 1973) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche between 1996 and 2002. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1994 to 2009, was spent in various minor leagues, as well as time in Europe and Asia.

Playing career

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Fairchild was selected in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft by the Los Angeles Kings in the 7th round, 152nd overall. He attended Grand Rapids High School and was a standout play-maker before committing to a collegiate career with the University of Wisconsin in 1991. In 1993–94, his junior year with the Badgers, Kelly led the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in scoring with 64 points and was named to the WCHA's First All-Star Team and finished as a runner up in the Hobey Baker Award.[1]

Prior to his first professional season, Fairchild was traded by the Kings, along with Dixon Ward, Guy Leveque and Shayne Toporowski, to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Eric Lacroix, Chris Snell and fourth round pick (Eric Belanger) on October 3, 1994.[2] After two seasons with the Maple Leafs AHL affiliate, St. John's he made his NHL debut appearing in a single game and recording an assist in the 1995–96 season. Over the next couple of seasons, Kelly played in 22 further games with the Maple Leafs, but ultimately assigned to minor league affiliates.

On July 2, 1998, Fairchild signed a two-year contract with the Dallas Stars. Despite contributing largely to the offense of the Michigan K-Wings, he was only able to make a lone Star appearance in 1998–99. Looked upon as an established minor-league veteran, Fairchild was then signed by the Colorado Avalanche in 2000. Fairchild was assigned to AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, for the most part of two seasons but played in 10 Avalanche games and scoring his first 2, and only, goals in the 2001–02 season.

After totaling just 34 NHL games, Kelly left North America when he signed with Eisbären Berlin of the German DEL in 2002. After a prolific first season in the DEL with Berlin, Fairchild was unexpectedly chosen to the United States team to participate in the 2003 World Championships in Finland. As an understrength team, Fairchild scored in the upset loss to Denmark.[3] Fairchild finished with 5 goals in 6 games as Team USA finished a disappointing 13th out of 16 teams.[4] Fairchild was then a part of two championships with Berlin in 2005 and 2006 before leaving in 2007 to join the Vienna Capitals in the Austrian Hockey League.

In his last season of professional hockey, Fairchild won the Asia League Ice Hockey Championship with the Nippon Paper Cranes in 2009.[5]

Career statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1988–89 Hibbing/Chisholm High School HS-MN 22 9 8 17 24 — — — — —
1989–90 Grand Rapids High School HS-MN 28 12 17 29 73 — — — — —
1990–91 Grand Rapids High School HS-MN 28 28 45 73 25 — — — — —
1991–92 University of Wisconsin WCHA 41 11 10 21 45 — — — — —
1992–93 University of Wisconsin WCHA 42 25 29 54 54 — — — — —
1993–94 University of Wisconsin WCHA 42 20 44 64 81 — — — — —
1994–95 St. John's Maple Leafs AHL 53 27 23 50 51 4 0 2 2 4
1995–96 St. John's Maple Leafs AHL 78 29 49 78 85 2 0 1 1 4
1995–96 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 1 0 1 1 2 — — — — —
1996–97 St. John's Maple Leafs AHL 29 9 22 31 36 — — — — —
1996–97 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 22 0 2 2 2 — — — — —
1996–97 Orlando Solar Bears IHL 25 9 6 15 20 9 6 5 11 16
1997–98 Orlando Solar Bears IHL 22 2 6 8 20 — — — — —
1997–98 Milwaukee Admirals IHL 40 20 24 44 32 10 5 2 7 4
1997–98 St. John's Maple Leafs AHL 17 5 2 7 24 — — — — —
1998–99 Dallas Stars NHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
1998–99 Michigan K-Wings IHL 74 17 33 50 88 5 2 2 4 16
1999–00 Michigan K-Wings IHL 78 21 41 62 89 — — — — —
2000–01 Hershey Bears AHL 70 23 40 63 68 12 2 9 11 10
2001–02 Hershey Bears AHL 63 22 25 47 92 8 2 1 3 6
2001–02 Colorado Avalanche NHL 10 2 0 2 2 — — — — —
2002–03 Eisbären Berlin DEL 51 20 32 52 74 9 3 3 6 20
2003–04 Eisbären Berlin DEL 42 20 23 43 86 11 6 7 13 6
2004–05 Eisbären Berlin DEL 43 17 16 33 54 7 1 5 6 4
2005–06 Eisbären Berlin DEL 33 15 17 32 22 11 3 5 8 12
2006–07 Eisbären Berlin DEL 47 13 15 28 60 3 0 0 0 6
2007–08 Vienna Capitals EBEL 44 7 29 36 58 7 1 3 4 12
2008–09 Nippon Paper Cranes AL 20 9 14 23 52 — — — — —
AHL totals 310 112 164 276 356 26 4 13 17 24
NHL totals 34 2 3 5 6 — — — — —

International

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Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM
2003 United States WC 6 5 0 5 2
Senior totals 6 5 0 5 2

Awards and honors

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Award Year
All-WCHA First Team 1993–94

References

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  1. ^ "New Faces - Kelly Fairchild". baseportal.com. 2001-06-15. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  2. ^ "Kelly Fairchild". legendsofhockey. 2009-03-20. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  3. ^ "Americans thwarted by Denmark/ U.S. suffers huge upset at world". The Gazette (Colorado Springs). 2003-04-27. Retrieved 2010-05-02.[permanent dead link‍]
  4. ^ "Flashing back to the 2003 USA Hockey World Championships". Peter Ferraro. 2010-05-02. Archived from the original on 2010-05-05. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  5. ^ Bill Meltzer (2009-10-29). "To the East of the World- Asia Pro League". prohockeyresume. Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
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