Jeffrey Heerema (; born January 17, 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 ...

winger. He last played for the

Nottingham Panthers The Nottingham Panthers are a British professional ice hockey club based in Nottingham, England. They are members of the Elite Ice Hockey League. RHPS are the Panthers' major sponsor for 2024–25. The Nottingham Panthers have won four league ...

of the

EIHL The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to internationally as the British Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey Superleague, it is the highest level ...

. He was drafted in the first round, 11th overall, by the

Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Hurricanes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Con ...

in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. Prior to signing for the

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

club he most recently played for

KHL Medveščak Zagreb KHL Medveščak Admiral (), also known as KHL Medveščak Zagreb, is a Croatian professional ice hockey team based in Zagreb, established in 1961. The team's name derives from the location of its original arena in the Medveščak area in centra ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Playing career

After playing three full seasons in the

Ontario Hockey League The Ontario Hockey League (OHL; ) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League, alongside the Western Hockey League and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. The league is for players ag ...

with the

Sarnia Sting The Sarnia Sting are a junior ice hockey team based in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. They are one of the 20 teams that make up the Ontario Hockey League. They play out of the Progressive Auto Sales Arena (formerly the Sarnia Sports and Entertainment ...

, Heerema made his professional debut with the

Cincinnati Cyclones The Cincinnati Cyclones are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The team is a member of the ECHL. Originally established in 1990, the team first played their games in the Cincinnati Gardens and now play at Heri ...

of the International Hockey League in the 2000–01 season. He made his

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 ...

debut in the 2002–03 season with the Hurricanes, appearing in ten games and scoring three goals. He moved on to the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. Th ...

for the 2003–04 season after being claimed in the NHL Waiver Draft, and appeared in 22 games, scoring one goal. Heerema spent the entire 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons with the

Binghamton Senators The Binghamton Senators were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that played from 2002 to 2017. Nicknamed the B-Sens, they played in Binghamton, New York, at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena. The B-Sens w ...

of the AHL, tallying 141 points in 155 games. He signed in the 2007 off-season with

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

team the

Frankfurt Lions The Frankfurt Lions were a German professional men's ice hockey club from Frankfurt, Germany that played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The club ceased operations in 2010 due to financial difficulty. History * The hockey team was founded as a ...

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 ...

. After scoring 20 goals in 2007–08 with the Lions, Heerema was given a one-year extension to remain in Frankfurt. A free agent to start the 2009–10 season, Heerema signed with Croatian-based

of the

Austrian Hockey League The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League, ICEHL), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons, is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria. It c ...

on 23 November 2009. Heerema established himself with the Bears scoring 24 points in 28 games before managing to score only 2 goals as KHL reached to semi-finals in the playoffs. On 13 August 2010, it was announced that Heerema was not offered a new contract to remain in Croatia. On 29 November 2010, it was announced that Heerema had signed for the Nottingham Panthers of the UK's Elite League. Heerema finished his first season with the Panther with 18 goals and 34 points in 28 games. Heerema returned for a second season with the Nottingham Panthers. He suffered a concussion and broken nose following a collision with teammate Matt Francis in Dundee where Panthers won the game 4-1. Due to his injury, he missed the most of October. During the first leg of the Challenge Cup Semi Final in Braehead, Heerema suffered another broken nose and concussion on February 22, 2012. A week later, he returned to Canada to rest and rehabilitate.

Personal

Heerema is the cousin of

Eric The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-N ...

Marc Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

and

Jared Staal Jared John Staal (born August 21, 1990) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is the head coach for the Savannah Ghost Pirates of the ECHL. He formerly served as an assistant coach for the Charlotte Checkers of the Am ...

, all of whom have played professional hockey, and are of

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

descent.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heerema, Jeff 1980 births Binghamton Senators players Canadian ice hockey right wingers Carolina Hurricanes draft picks Carolina Hurricanes players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Cincinnati Cyclones (IHL) players Frankfurt Lions players Hartford Wolf Pack players KHL Medveščak Zagreb players Living people Lowell Lock Monsters players Manitoba Moose players NHL first-round draft picks Nottingham Panthers players St. Louis Blues players Sarnia Sting players Ice hockey people from Thunder Bay Worcester IceCats players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen