Akito Hirose (born April 9, 1999) is a Canadian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player for the

Abbotsford Canucks The Abbotsford Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Abbotsford, British Columbia. The team began play in the 2021–22 season with home games at Abbotsford Centre as the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hocke ...

in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

(AHL) while under contract to the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. The Canucks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conferenc ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL). He played

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the go ...

at Minnesota State.

Playing career

Junior

On September 7, 2019, Hirose was named captain of the

Salmon Arm Silverbacks The Salmon Arm Silverbacks are a junior ice hockey team from Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada. They are a part of the British Columbia Hockey League. The Silverbacks returned a BCHL team to Shuswap/Salmon Arm 12 years after the previous tea ...

for the 2019–20 season. During his senior season with the Arm Silverbacks, he recorded nine goals and 42 assists in 57 games. He led the league in defenceman scoring and ranked third among all BCHL players with 42 assists. Following the season he was awarded the BCHL Defensive Player of the Year award. He finished his career with 20 goals and 103 assists in 208 regular season games. On September 11, 2018, Hirose committed to play for Minnesota State.

College

Hirose began his collegiate career for Minnesota State during the 2020–21 season. During his freshman year, he recorded one goal and 14 assists in 28 games, ranking tied for second in the country among all freshmen defenceman. Following the season he was named to the All-WCHA Rookie Team and All-WCHA Third Team and was named the WCHA Rookie of the Year. During the 2021–22 season, in his sophomore year, he recorded two goals and 24 assists in 38 games. During March and April, he recorded five points in eight games to average .625 points per game. He was subsequently named the CCHA Defenseman of the Month. He helped the Mavericks win the 2022 CCHA men's ice hockey tournament, their first CCHA tournament championship in program history, and received an automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament. During the NCAA tournament, the Mavericks advanced to their first championship game in program history, where they lost to

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

1–5. During the 2022–23 season, in his junior year, he recorded four goals and 23 assists in 38 games. Following the season he was named to the All-CCHA Second Team. He finished his career at Minnesota State with seven goals, 61 assists, and a plus-53 rating in 104 games. During his time with the Mavericks, the team went 85–24–2, won three

MacNaughton Cup The MacNaughton Cup is a trophy awarded annually to the regular season conference champion of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). The trophy is named after James MacNaughton of Calumet, Michigan, who was a supporter of amateur ice h ...

s, two Mason Cups, qualified for three NCAA tournaments, two Frozen Fours, and advanced to the national championship game once.

Professional

On March 29, 2023, Hirose signed a one-year, entry-level contract with the

. He made his NHL debut on April 2, in a game against the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...

. During the 2023 prospect development camp, the Canucks signed Hirose to an additional two-year contract.

Personal life

Hirose's brother,

Taro Taro (; ''Colocasia esculenta'') is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and Petiole (botany), petioles. Taro corms are a ...

, is also a professional ice hockey player for

EHC Red Bull München Eishockeyclub Red Bull München (or EHC Red Bull München; English: ''Munich Red Bulls Ice Hockey Club'') is a professional ice hockey team based in Munich, Germany. The club is a member of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), the highest level of p ...

of the

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...

Career statistics

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirose, Akito 1999 births Living people Abbotsford Canucks players Canadian ice hockey defencemen Canadian sportspeople of Japanese descent Ice hockey people from Calgary Minnesota State Mavericks men's ice hockey players Salmon Arm Silverbacks players Undrafted National Hockey League players Vancouver Canucks players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen