Joe Burton (born ), is a retired

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

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, most notably for the Oklahoma City Blazers of the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

. He is not only the career leader in almost every major statistical category for the Blazers, but the all-time leading goals and points scorer in CHL history, and one of the leading goal scorers in minor league hockey history.

Career

Burton played college hockey for the

University of Michigan-Dearborn A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

Wolverines, a Division I

American Collegiate Hockey Association The American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) is a college ice hockey association. The ACHA's purpose is to be an organization of collegiate affiliated programs, which provides structure, regulates operations, and promotes quality in collegi ...

program below the level of major

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

collegiate hockey. After graduation, he played in 1992 with the Austrian national team, which finished 1st in the B Pool at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. Burton was named both the best defensive player of the B Pool tourney and to the pool's all-star squad. He signed with the Oklahoma City Blazers of the CHL for the 1992-93 season—the inaugural year for the revived CHL—and finished 4th in team scoring, while leading the team in goals and points in the playoffs, where the Blazers lost in the finals to their archrivals, the

Tulsa Oilers The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tulsa ...

. Burton played eleven seasons in all for Oklahoma City, leading them to nine division titles and championships in 1996 and 2001. He was named a First- or Second Team All-Star every season between 1998 and 2003, and won the Bill Levins Trophy as league Most Valuable Player in 1998 and 2001. Retiring in 2003, Burton sat out one season, and then signed with the

United Hockey League The United Hockey League (UHL), originally known as the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997 and last known as the International Hockey League from 2007 to 2010, was a low-level minor professional ice hockey league, with teams in the Unite ...

Motor City Mechanics The Motor City Mechanics were a minor professional ice hockey team in the United Hockey League. The Mechanics played two seasons from 2004 to 2006 at Great Lakes Sports City Superior Arena in Fraser, Michigan. History The team got a major boost ...

for the 2004-05 season. On a team featuring numerous

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 ...

veterans with the season's lockout --

Chris Chelios Christos Konstantinos Chelios (born January 25, 1962) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman. He was a three-time Stanley Cup champion: one with the Montreal Canadiens and two with the Detroit Red Wings. Chelios played for th ...

Bryan Smolinski Bryan Anthony Smolinski (born December 27, 1971) is an American former professional ice hockey center. The Boston Bruins drafted him 21st overall in 1990. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Islan ...

Derian Hatcher Derian John Hatcher (born June 4, 1972) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Minnesota North Stars, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, and Philadelphia Flyers. H ...

Mike Fountain Michael Fountain (born January 26, 1972) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Vancouver Canucks, Carolina Hurricanes, and Ottawa Senators. He also played several seasons ...

and

Sean Avery Sean Christopher Avery (born April 10, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. During his career in the National Hockey League (NHL), he played left wing for the Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers, and Dalla ...

—he nonetheless had twice as many goals as anyone else on the team. It proved to be his final action, and Burton retired for good after the 2005 season. Burton also played in

Roller Hockey International Roller Hockey International was a professional inline hockey league that operated in North America from 1993 to 1999. It was the first major professional league for inline hockey. History League president Dennis Murphy had been involved in ...

for the

Oklahoma Coyotes Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked state in the South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northeast, Arkansas to the east, New Mexico to the west, and Colo ...

in 1994 and 1995, leading the team in goals both seasons.

Legacy

Burton is the CHL's all-time leader in both goals (565) and points (985) scored; he had nearly two hundred more goals than the second-most leading goal scorer. He is also 5th in games played and 13th in penalty minutes. At the time of his retirement, he held or shared nineteen different league records. For the minor leagues as a whole, Burton is tied for 9th all time for goals with 601. He is 50th all time in points with 1049. The CHL eventually renamed its trophy for the season's leading scorer in Burton's honor, the

Joe Burton Award The Joe Burton Award was awarded annually to the Central Hockey League's (CHL) scoring champion. The award was named after the CHL's career point leader, Joe Burton Joe Burton (born ), is a retired Americans, American professional ice hockey pl ...

. (Ironically, Burton himself never led the league in scoring over a season.) He was also the first player inducted into the CHL's Hall of Fame, an honor he received in 2012. He retired to his hometown of

Garden City, Michigan Garden City is a city in Wayne County of the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Garden City is located roughly west of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 27,380. Garden City is notable as ...

, where he manages an ice rink.

Coaching

Burton spent a single season as player-assistant coach of the Blazers in 1999.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Joe 1967 births Living people American men's ice hockey centers Motor City Mechanics players Oklahoma City Blazers (1992–2009) players Oklahoma Coyotes players People from Garden City, Michigan Ice hockey people from Wayne County, Michigan University of Michigan–Dearborn alumni American inline hockey players 20th-century American sportsmen