Michael Steven Rathje (born May 11, 1974) 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 ...

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 ...

who played 13 seasons 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 ...

(NHL) for the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. The Sharks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Con ...

and

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...

. Rathje was born in

Mannville, Alberta Mannville is a village in central Alberta, Canada. It is located at the intersection of the Yellowhead Highway and Highway 881, approximately west of Vermilion, Alberta, Vermilion and east of Edmonton. Its primary industry is agriculture. His ...

, but grew up in

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, R ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Playing career

Rathje was selected by the

3rd overall in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft and made his NHL debut during the 1993–94 season. After holding out for nearly half of the 2001–02 season, Rathje responded with a career year in the 2002–03 season as he played in all 82 games scoring career highs with 7 goals and 22 assists for 29 points. After spending his first eleven seasons with the Sharks, Rathje signed a five-year contract with the

following the NHL lockout. Shortly into his second season with the Flyers, Rathje was placed on Long Term Injured Reserve (LTI) due to chronic back and hip problems. Rathje attempted to return to the Flyers lineup prior to the 2007–08 season, but was placed on LTI after training camp.

Awards

* 1991–92: East Second All-Star Team ( WHL) * 1992–93: East Second All-Star Team (WHL)

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rathje, Mike 1974 births Canadian ice hockey defencemen Kansas City Blades players Living people Medicine Hat Tigers players NHL first-round draft picks Philadelphia Flyers players San Jose Sharks draft picks San Jose Sharks players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Sherwood Park Crusaders players Ice hockey people from Medicine Hat