Sports stats



ECHL ECHL

Ryder Named MeiGray Group Alumnus Of The Month

January 24, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - Former Mississippi and Tallahassee and current Montreal Canadiens right wing Michael Ryder is the MeiGray Group ECHL Alumnus of the Month for December.

The 26-year-old scored 12 points (4g-8a) in 14 games in December and is third on the Canadiens with 15 goals and eight power-play goals and fourth with 18 assists and 33 points in 49 games. He had a season-high three points and a season-tying high two assists on Dec. 16 against Pittsburgh and scored his first career shorthand point with a shorthand goal on Dec. 23 against Boston.

In his third season with Montreal, Ryder has 151 points (70g-81a) in 211 career regular season games and eight points (3g-5a) in 17 career Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Selected in the eighth round (216th overall) by Montreal in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, Ryder began his professional career in 2000-01 scoring nine points (4g-5a) in five games with Tallahassee and 15 points (6g-9a) in 61 games with Quebec of the American Hockey League. He returned to the ECHL in 2001-02 and scored 27 points (14g-13a) in 20 games with Mississippi and was voted to the 2002 ECHL All-Star Game. He was not able to play in the game, however, after being called up to Quebec where he had 28 points (11g-17a) in 50 regular season games and one point (0g-1a) in three playoff games.

In 2005-06, Ryder led the Canadiens with a career-high 30 goals, including 18 on the power play, and 55 points in 81 games. He also led the team with six game-winning goals and 243 shots.

In 2003-04, he was named NHL Rookie of the Year by The Sporting News and finished runner-up in the voting for the Calder Trophy after leading league rookies with 38 assists and 63 points and tying for the rookie lead with 25 goals. He was named to the 2004 NHL All-Rookie Team and played in the 2004 NHL YoungStars Game where he had an assist.

The ECHL is the top developmental league for both the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League. It has affiliations with 25 of the 30 teams in the NHL, marking the 10th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL, and with 24 of the 27 teams in the AHL. There have been 314 former ECHL players who have played in the NHL after playing in the ECHL. There were a record 47 former ECHL players who made their NHL debut in 2005-06, including five goaltenders who played a game in both leagues. Since 2000-01 there have been 169 players who have played in the NHL after the ECHL and in 2005-06 there were 112 former ECHL players who played in the NHL and all 30 teams had a former ECHL player take the ice.

The leading distributor of game-worn hockey jerseys and "Official Game-Worn Jersey Source of the ECHL," MeiGray has sold nearly 3,500 game-worn ECHL jerseys since the program began in 2002-03, including almost 1,000 each of the past three seasons.

Check out the ECHL Statistics

• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...

ECHL Stories from January 24, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central