Justin Vaive (born July 8, 1989) is an

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. He is currently playing 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 ...

in the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

. His father is former

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 ...

All-Star right-winger

Rick Vaive Richard Claude Vaive (; born May 14, 1959) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played in the final season of the World Hockey Association (WHA) and played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to 1992. While with the T ...

. Vaive was selected by the

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

in the 4th round (92nd overall) of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

Playing career

Vaive attended Ohio's

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

, where he played four seasons (2007–2011) of NCAA college hockey with the

Miami RedHawks men's ice hockey The Miami RedHawks men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I college ice hockey program that represents Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio. The RedHawks are a member of the National Col ...

team. On August 24, 2011, the

San Antonio Rampage The San Antonio Rampage were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League based in San Antonio, Texas. The Rampage was primarily owned by Spurs Sports & Entertainment throughout the team's existence. In 2020, the franchise was so ...

of 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 ...

signed Vaive to a contract. On July 24, 2014, Vaive re-signed to a one-year ECHL contract with the Greenville Road Warriors. Before the 2014–15 season on September 3, he was signed to return with Road Warriors AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, on a one-year deal. On July 2, 2015, Vaive agreed to his first NHL contract as a free agent, signing a one-year, two-way contract with the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (N ...

. Vaive was unable to claim a roster spot with the Islanders and was reassigned to AHL affiliate, the

Bridgeport Sound Tigers The Bridgeport Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League's New York Islanders, who own the franchise. The team started in 200 ...

for the duration of the 2015–16 season. With his rights not retained by the Islanders, Vaive went unsigned over the summer as a free agent before agreeing to return to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL on October 14, 2016. After appearing in the season opener, he accepted a professional try-out offer to return to the AHL with the Rochester Americans the following day. Having captained the Cyclones for the previous two seasons, Vaive agreed to a contract extension in approaching his seventh year within the ECHL with the Cyclones for the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season. However, the Cyclones opted to commence a hiatus due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and he was immediately released as a free agent. On January 6, 2021, Vaive signed a contract to continue in the ECHL with the

Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team, which currently plays in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In all of North American professional hockey, only the Orig ...

. Adding experience to the Komets forward group, Vaive added 18 points through 48 regular season games and 6 points in 13 playoff contests to help the Komets claim their first

Kelly Cup The Patrick J. Kelly Cup goes to the playoff champion of the ECHL. The Kelly Cup has been awarded to teams since 1997. Prior to 1997, the playoff winner was awarded the Riley Cup, named after former American Hockey League president Jack Riley. Th ...

in franchise history. With the Cyclones returning to play for the 2021–22 season, Vaive returned to the club, agreeing to a one-year contract on July 14, 2021. In 2024, he continues to play, and remains as team captain.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaive, Justin 1989 births 21st-century American sportsmen American men's ice hockey left wingers Anaheim Ducks draft picks Belleville Senators players Bridgeport Sound Tigers players Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL) players Fort Wayne Komets players Greenville Road Warriors players Hartford Wolf Pack players Living people Miami RedHawks men's ice hockey players Rochester Americans players San Antonio Rampage players