Mike "Whopper" Lenarduzzi (born September 14, 1972) is a Canadian 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 ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

. He played four games 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 ...

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 ...

during the 1992–93 and 1993–94 seasons. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1992 to 2000, was spent in various minor leagues.

Playing career

Born in

London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

, Lenarduzzi played junior hockey for the

Oshawa Generals The Oshawa Generals are a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League. They are based in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The team is named for General Motors, an early sponsor (commercial), sponsor which has its Canadian headquarters in Oshawa. ...

, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds,

Ottawa 67s The Ottawa 67's are a major junior ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that plays in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Established during Canada's Canadian Centennial, centennial year of 1967 and named in honour of this, the 67's ...

and

Sudbury Wolves The Sudbury Wolves are an Ontario Hockey League (OHL) ice hockey team based in Greater Sudbury, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Sudbury has had various hockey teams competing at the Junior ice hockey, junior and senior ice hockey levels of the game k ...

of 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 ...

before turning professional in 1992 with the

Springfield Indians The Springfield Indians were two separate minor professional ice hockey franchises, originally based in West Springfield, Massachusetts and later Springfield, Massachusetts. The original Indians were founding members of the American Hockey Leagu ...

, 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 ...

(AHL) affiliate of the Hartford Whalers. He had been drafted in the third round of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft by the Hartford Whalers. He would be in the Hartford system until 1994 - his most notable action with the system being his first regular season game for Springfield, in which he allowed eight goals on the first eleven shots he faced before being pulled - and played four games in the NHL. After 1994, he played for a number of minor league teams including the AHL Hershey Bears in 1996–97. He played one season in the Italian Hockey League for Milan in 1998–99, before finishing his career with one season with the

Baton Rouge Kingfish The Baton Rouge Kingfish were a minor professional ice hockey team in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as a member of the East Coast Hockey League. The franchise arrived in Baton Rouge in 1996 after relocating from Erie, Pennsylvania, where they had playe ...

of 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 ...

in 1999–00.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

External links

* 1972 births Living people Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Canadian sportspeople of Italian descent Amarillo Rattlers players Baton Rouge Kingfish players Canadian ice hockey goaltenders Hartford Whalers draft picks Hartford Whalers players 20th-century Canadian sportsmen Hershey Bears players Mobile Mysticks players Ottawa 67's players Oshawa Generals players Saginaw Wheels players Salt Lake Golden Eagles (IHL) players Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds players Ice hockey people from London, Ontario Springfield Indians players Sudbury Wolves players {{canada-icehockey-goaltender-stub