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All You Ever Wanted to Know About New Canucks Raffi Torres

Posted on October 4th, 2010 by Nucks IceMan

Raffi Torres congratulated by Cody Hodgson

Written by: Larry “The Nucks IceMan” Johnson

I thought it would be interesting to take a look at Raffi Torres, who has a bit in common with another player in the Canucks organization, Cody Hodgson.

Both Hodgson and Torres played for the Brampton Battalion of the OHL, were chosen all stars of that league and were first round draft choices in the NHL Entry Draft.

Torres  was the fifth pick by the New York Islanders in 2000 and Hodgson number ten in 2008.

They both represented Canada at the Junior World Championship with Torres’ team winning bronze and Hodgson’s gold. That’s a lot of similarities for two players born in Toronto, Ontario but nine years apart.

I’m not going to go into all the stats that both have compiled in the OHL, suffice to say that they both excelled with their respective teams.

But this is where all the sameness ends.

Torres’ Mexican father Juan came to Canada in the 1970’s from Mexico City. Like many new immigrants Juan worked at various jobs to support his family such as construction, newspaper delivery (Toronto Sun) and for one of Ontario’s main industry leaders at that time, General Motors, in the car inspection and assembly departments.

Raffi’s mother Anna, is from Lima, Peru and counts in her nationality makeup Italian, Greek and Serbian. She was a stay-at-home mother with Raffi and his two brothers who were a handful to look after, as all young boys tend to be.

Anna went on to become a personal trainer as the boys needed less attention, to help the family’s income needs, which became a matter of importance during the time that Raffi’s father became unemployed.

At one point in order to continue support for Raffi’s hockey career, the family approached the Toronto Maple Leafs Foundation for financial support.

Growing up as an ethnic minority had its dark side also, such as the time Raffi was prevented from playing in a high profile tournament in Quebec at the age of 13, because parents of the other players would not provide financial support if Torres remained on the team.

His hockey career has seen him in a number of locations since the 2001/02 season started, with the likes of Bridgeport, Hamilton and Edmonton of the AHL and New York, Edmonton, Columbus, Buffalo and now Vancouver of the NHL.

Torres’ stats during those NHL years, compiled over 432 games:   98G, 84A, and 312PIM.

Since 2003/04 Raffi has had his fair share of injuries, with only three of those seasons having been completed without a serious injury which did not sideline him. That may be due to his hard nose, shutdown style of play, which tends to take a toll on anyone’s body.

For most of his career he has been used in a checking role but when healthy has shown the form that allowed him to ring up 27 goals and 14 assists as a top six forward.

Torres will be 29 years of age on October 8th of this year and really is in the prime of his playing career. This player can add a lot of qualities to this Canucks team that management was determined to add, whether it is on the second or third line.

Will this be the year as he plays with some very talented players, that he turns back the clock to those more productive years?

Stay tuned as we follow him and the Canucks as they celebrate their 40th year in the NHL starting this Saturday.

As always you can find me at http://twitter.com/nucksiceman and on alternate days at the Vancouver Sun at http://communities.canada.com/VANCOUVERSUN/blogs/iceman/archive/2010/10/02/vancouver-canucks-2010-11-and-now-for-the-final-cuts.aspx_1655″ align=”alignleft” width=”300″ caption=”Raffi Torres congratulated by Cody Hodgson”][/caption]

Written by: Larry “The Nucks IceMan” Johnson

I thought it would be interesting to take a look at Raffi Torres, who has a bit in common with another player in the Canucks organization, Cody Hodgson.

Both Hodgson and Torres played for the Brampton Battalion of the OHL, were chosen all stars of that league and were first round draft choices in the NHL Entry Draft.

Torres  was the fifth pick by the New York Islanders in 2000 and Hodgson number ten in 2008.

They both represented Canada at the Junior World Championship with Torres’ team winning bronze and Hodgson’s gold. That’s a lot of similarities for two players born in Toronto, Ontario but nine years apart.

I’m not going to go into all the stats that both have compiled in the OHL, suffice to say that they both excelled with their respective teams.

But this is where all the sameness ends.

Torres’ Mexican father Juan came to Canada in the 1970’s from Mexico City. Like many new immigrants Juan worked at various jobs to support his family such as construction, newspaper delivery (Toronto Sun) and for one of Ontario’s main industry leaders at that time, General Motors, in the car inspection and assembly departments.

Raffi’s mother Anna, is from Lima, Peru and counts in her nationality makeup Italian, Greek and Serbian. She was a stay-at-home mother with Raffi and his two brothers who were a handful to look after, as all young boys tend to be.

Anna went on to become a personal trainer as the boys needed less attention, to help the family’s income needs, which became a matter of importance during the time that Raffi’s father became unemployed.

At one point in order to continue support for Raffi’s hockey career, the family approached the Toronto Maple Leafs Foundation for financial support.

Growing up as an ethnic minority had its dark side also, such as the time Raffi was prevented from playing in a high profile tournament in Quebec at the age of 13, because parents of the other players would not provide financial support if Torres remained on the team.

His hockey career has seen him in a number of locations since the 2001/02 season started, with the likes of Bridgeport, Hamilton and Edmonton of the AHL and New York, Edmonton, Columbus, Buffalo and now Vancouver of the NHL.

Torres’ stats during those NHL years, compiled over 432 games:   98G, 84A, and 312PIM.

Since 2003/04 Raffi has had his fair share of injuries, with only three of those seasons having been completed without a serious injury which did not sideline him. That may be due to his hard nose, shutdown style of play, which tends to take a toll on anyone’s body.

For most of his career he has been used in a checking role but when healthy has shown the form that allowed him to ring up 27 goals and 14 assists as a top six forward.

Torres will be 29 years of age on October 8th of this year and really is in the prime of his playing career. This player can add a lot of qualities to this Canucks team that management was determined to add, whether it is on the second or third line.

Will this be the year as he plays with some very talented players, that he turns back the clock to those more productive years?

Stay tuned as we follow him and the Canucks as they celebrate their 40th year in the NHL starting this Saturday.

As always you can find me at http://twitter.com/nucksiceman and on alternate days at the Vancouver Sun at http://communities.canada.com/VANCOUVERSUN/blogs/iceman/archive/2010/10/02/vancouver-canucks-2010-11-and-now-for-the-final-cuts.aspx

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