Jim Agnew (born March 21, 1966) 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

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

. A stay-at-home, physical defender, Agnew was also an excellent fighter. He was drafted by 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 ...

in the eighth round (157th overall) in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft. After a stellar career in the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hocke ...

with the

Brandon Wheat Kings The Brandon Wheat Kings are a Canadians, Canadian major junior ice hockey team based in Brandon, Manitoba. Founded in 1936, the team was for three decades a successful junior team playing principally in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. The Whe ...

and

Portland Winter Hawks The Portland Winterhawks are a junior ice hockey team based in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1950 as the Edmonton Oil Kings, the team relocated to Portland in 1976 and was known as the Winter Hawks until 2009. The team plays in the U.S. Divisio ...

, Agnew turned pro and signed with the Canucks in 1986.

Playing career

Agnew spent most of the 1986–87 in the AHL, although he did receive a four-game call-up to the Canucks. He would spend four full seasons in Vancouver's minor-league system while seeing occasional action in Vancouver - he played 10 games for the team in the 1987–88 and recorded his only career point, and was called up again for 7 games in 1989–90. While playing for the Canucks in March 1990, Agnew seriously injured his left knee and required surgery. This would be the start of a chronic knee problem - injuries to his left knee caused him to miss significant action 6 times over the next four seasons, and required three separate surgeries. Unfortunately, his knee problems struck just as he made the NHL on a full-time basis. He spent virtually the entire 1990–91 and 1991–92 seasons on the Canuck roster as a utility player seeing action at both forward and defence, but was limited to just 44 games over that stretch due to injury and failed to record a point. He was released by the Canucks in 1992 and signed as a free agent with the

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its 25-year existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1 ...

. Again, however, he was limited to only 16 games by an injury to his left knee. After injuring his knee again during the Whalers' 1993 training camp, he decided to retire. Agnew appeared in 81 NHL games over parts of six seasons, recording 1 assist and 257 penalty minutes. After his playing days were over, Agnew moved to

Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers in western Montana and at the convergence of five ...

, became a United States citizen, and found work as a law enforcement officer.

Career statistics

Awards

* WHL West First All-Star Team – 1986

References

External links

*
Profile at hockeydraftcentral.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agnew, Jim 1966 births Brandon Wheat Kings players Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian ice hockey defencemen Fredericton Express players Hartford Whalers players 20th-century Canadian sportsmen Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Ice hockey people from Manitoba Living people Milwaukee Admirals (IHL) players People from Deloraine, Manitoba Sportspeople from Missoula, Montana Portland Winterhawks players Springfield Indians players Vancouver Canucks draft picks Vancouver Canucks players American police officers Law enforcement officials from Montana