Peter J. Ratchuk (born September 10, 1977) is an American 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 ...

defenseman 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 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

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Panthers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team initially played it ...

. Peter is the older brother of Mike Ratchuk, a defenseman who has played most of his career in American minor leagues.

Playing career

Ratchuk was drafted in the first round, 25th overall, by the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. The Avalanche compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Con ...

in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft. He grew up playing for the Cazenovia Chiefs. After his freshman year with

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a Public university, public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized progr ...

, Ratchuk moved to the

QMJHL The Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL; , LHJMQ), formerly the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). The league includes teams in Quebec ...

with

Hull Olympiques The Gatineau Olympiques are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Gatineau, Quebec, that plays in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Starting with the 2021–22 season, the Olympiques play home games at Centre Slush Pupp ...

before turning pro. Ratchuk was signed as a free agent by the

prior to the 1998–99 season. He played 32 games with the Panthers over two seasons, 1998–99 and 2000–01. He scored one goal and one assist. After that, he was picked up by his hometown team, the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Con ...

. During the 2002 preseason, he was sent down to that team's farm club, the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Rochester, New York. They are the American Hockey League affiliate of the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home g ...

, for the 2002–03 season, then left to play in Germany. This resulted in a rather amusing error in

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

's hockey recaps—in Sabres game recaps, Ratchuk's name would often be used mistakenly to refer to

Dmitri Kalinin Dmitri Vladimirovich Kalinin (; born July 22, 1980) is a Russian professional ice hockey defenceman. He most recently played for Traktor Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Playing career He was drafted by the Sabres 18th overall ...

, a then current Sabres defenseman. Both Ratchuk and Kalinin wore #45, and ESPN never dissociated Ratchuk from the Sabres in their database when he left the league, resulting in the error. After playing three seasons in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...

, Ratchuk returned to North America in 2006–07 signing with the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confer ...

on June 6, 2006. Ratchuk split the season between the American Hockey League's Houston Aeros and

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (sometimes known as the WBS Penguins) are a professional ice hockey team based in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Pengui ...

. Ratchuk then returned to the DEL with the DEG Metro Stars and after his second season with the Stars he was released on April 20, 2009. On June 21, 2009, Peter signed with fellow DEL team

Hamburg Freezers The Hamburg Freezers were a professional men's ice hockey club from Hamburg, Germany that played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The club announced its withdrawal from the DEL and ceased operations on 24 May 2016 when Anschutz Entertainment Group, ...

for the 2009–10. On April 29, 2010, after failing to make the playoffs with the Freezers, Ratchuk left for the

Austrian Hockey League The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League, ICEHL), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons, is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria. It c ...

's Klagenfurt AC. He played the majority of the 2010-11 season with Klagenfurt posting 19 points in 39 games before leaving for the Swiss

National League A The National League (NL) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league h ...

, to join

Rapperswil-Jona Lakers The SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers are a professional ice hockey club from Rapperswil, Switzerland, and are members of the National League. History The Lakers were founded in 1945 and were known as SC Rapperswil-Jona until 2005, when the club change ...

on January 30, 2011, to end the year. Following the conclusion of the season, Ratchuk retired and was announced as a scout for the newly revived

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The Jets compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The te ...

association of the NHL.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ratchuk, Peter 1977 births Adler Mannheim players American men's ice hockey defensemen Beast of New Haven players Bowling Green Falcons men's ice hockey players Colorado Avalanche draft picks Düsseldorfer EG players Florida Panthers players Frankfurt Lions players Hamburg Freezers players Houston Aeros (1994–2013) players Hull Olympiques players Ice hockey people from Buffalo, New York EC KAC players Living people Louisville Panthers players NHL first-round draft picks SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers players Rochester Americans players Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins players Winnipeg Jets scouts