Blair Betts (born February 16, 1980) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

former 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 ...

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

who played nine seasons in 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) for the

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

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...

, and

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...

. Betts was born in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, but grew up in

Sherwood Park Sherwood Park is a large hamlet in Alberta, Canada within Strathcona County that is recognized as an urban service area. It is adjacent to the City of Edmonton's eastern boundary. While long confined to generally south of Highway 16 ( Ye ...

Playing career

Betts was drafted by the

in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft in the second round, 33rd overall. During the 2006–07 season, Betts found success on the Rangers checking fourth line. He was mostly paired with

Colton Orr Colton Douglas Orr (born March 3, 1982) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Having played nearly 500 games in the NHL, Orr was known as an enforcer (ice hockey), enforcer for his physical style of play and for regularly Fighting ...

and Ryan Hollweg. Betts was also a key factor on the

penalty kill Short-handed is a term used in ice hockey and several related sports, including water polo, and refers to having fewer players on the ice during play, as a result of a penalty. The player removed from play serves the penalty in the penalty box f ...

. He was one of the Rangers most consistent

faceoff A face-off is the method used to begin and restart play after goals in some sports using sticks, primarily ice hockey, bandy, floorball, broomball, rinkball, and lacrosse. During a face-off, two teams line up in opposition to each other, and the ...

men with 52.3 percent of faceoffs won. He was first on the team with 1,186 faceoffs taken. He was also sixth on the team, first among forwards, with 98 blocked shots and led the team with 276 minutes and 42 seconds of short-handed time on the ice. In the 2008–09 season, Betts served as one of the Rangers'

alternate captain In ice hockey, the captain is the player designated by a team as the only person authorized to speak with the game officials regarding rule interpretations when the captain is on the ice. At most levels of play each team must designate one captai ...

s while

Scott Gomez Scott Carlos Gomez (born December 23, 1979) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player. He was the assistant coach for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). Gomez had previously played in the NHL with t ...

was injured. TSN hockey analyst

Pierre McGuire Regis Pierre McGuire (born August 8, 1961) is an American-Canadian ice hockey executive who currently works for Sportsnet; he last served as senior vice-president of player development for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL ...

declared Betts "the most underrated player in the league". After becoming a free agent, Betts was invited to the 2009

training camp. The Flyers signed him to a one-year contract on October 1, 2009. The Flyers later signed Betts to a two-year contract extension on February 12, 2010. On October 5, 2011, The

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

picked Betts up off waivers from the Flyers. However, on October 9, 2011, the Montreal Canadiens cancelled the waiver claim on Betts and returned him to the Philadelphia Flyers, as he had failed his physical. Betts missed the entire season and subsequently retired after the season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Betts, Blair 1980 births Living people Calgary Flames draft picks Calgary Flames players Canadian ice hockey centres Hartford Wolf Pack players Ice hockey people from Edmonton Sportspeople from Sherwood Park New York Rangers players Philadelphia Flyers players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Prince George Cougars players Saint John Flames players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen