Rob Ricci (born December 12, 1984) 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 ...

retired 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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

who most recently played for the

South Carolina Stingrays The South Carolina Stingrays are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in North Charleston, South Carolina. The Stingrays play in the South Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference. They play their home games at the North Charleston ...

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 ...

Playing career

Ricci started his junior career with the

Georgetown Raiders The Georgetown Raiders are a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Georgetown, Ontario, Canada. They are a part of the Ontario Junior A Hockey League. The team began play in the Central Ontario Jr. B league and was known as the "Georgetown Gemini" u ...

of the Ontario Provincial A Junior Hockey League, playing one game in the 2001–02 season with no points or penalty minutes. For the 2002–03 season, Ricci moved to the

Milton Merchants The Brantford 99ers were a Junior A ice hockey team in the Ontario Junior Hockey League based in Brantford, Ontario. The 99ers have previously been known as the Milton Icehawks, Milton Merchants, Milton Flyers, and Milton Steamers as Milton h ...

(also of the OPJHL), where he put up an impressive 76 points in combined goals and assists and 10 penalty minutes over 49 games. Ricci skated with the

Cedar Rapids RoughRiders The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders are a Tier I junior ice hockey team playing in the United States Hockey League (USHL). Before moving to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1999, the team was based in Mason City, where they were known as the North Iowa Huski ...

of the

United States Hockey League The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the Midwestern United States and Great Plains, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. Th ...

from 2003 to 2005, earning 99 points in regular season play and 8 points in the post-season. Ricci finished the 2004–05 season with a plus/minus of +20. The RoughRiders won both the regular season points championship (Anderson Cup) and the post-season Clark Cup that year. From 2005 to 2009, Ricci attended

Merrimack College Merrimack College is a Private university, private Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian university in North Andover, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1947 by the Order of St. Augustine with an initial goal to educate World War II veterans. It en ...

, where he played all but his sophomore year due to an "unspecified violation of team rules and school policy." Ricci led the Warriors in scoring during his freshman year, and in points (34), assists (21), and power play goals (6) his junior season. He served as assistant captain his junior year and was named a co-captain for his senior season. Ricci was named team MVP for all three seasons he played at Merrimack. At the end of the 2008–09 season, Ricci signed with the

Las Vegas Wranglers The Las Vegas Wranglers were a professional ice hockey team based in Las Vegas Valley. The Wranglers were members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League). The Wranglers were founded a ...

of the

and launched his pro career. He played 4 regular season games with the Wranglers in which he earned 2 assists and 4 penalty minutes. Ricci moved to the

for the post-season, scoring one goal in what became a league-record third successful run for the

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 ...

. Ricci returned to the Stingrays for the 2009–10 season, earning 50 points in combined goals (25) and assists (25) in regular season play, as well as scoring one goal in the Stingrays' first-round playoff elimination. Ricci earned his first professional

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mechan ...

against 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 March of that year. Ricci re-signed with the Stingrays for the 2010–11 season. Ricci tallied his second professional hat trick against the

Gwinnett Gladiators Gwinnett County ( ) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It forms part of the Atlanta metropolitan area, being located about northeast of Atlanta city limits. In 2020, the population was 957,062, making it the ...

in a 4–1 victory in January 2011. In July 2011, Ricci signed with the

Odense Bulldogs The Odense Bulldogs are a professional ice hockey team based in Odense, Denmark. They currently play in Ret&Råd Fyn Arena in the Bolbro area, as a part of the best Danish league Metal Ligaen, and they are furthermore the only hockey team from F ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

AL-Bank Ligaen The Superisligaen, known as the Metal Ligaen for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level ice hockey league in Denmark. The league consists of 9 professional teams. Teams from the Superisligaen can participate in the International Ice Hockey F ...

. He had a successful season with the team, scoring 44 points in 37 regular season games and 19 points in 15 playoff games, as Odense finished as runners-up of the 2011–12 season. His efforts earned him a spot on the Danish League All Star Team and in March of that season he was named the league's player of the month. For the 2012–13 season, Ricci began the season playing with

Mora IK Mora IK (or Mora Ishockeyklubb) is a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Mora in northern Dalarna. After failing the 2019 SHL qualifiers, Mora has been relegated for play in the second-tier league, HockeyAllsvenskan. Mora has previously p ...

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

, the Tier 2 league in Sweden. However, after playing 8 games with the team and 2 games with its J20 squad, Ricci returned to Denmark and spent the rest of the season with the

Herning Blue Fox Herning Blue Fox is a Denmark, Danish professional ice hockey team based in Herning, Denmark, playing in the Metal Ligaen, the top tier of Danish ice hockey. The club was founded in 1947 and play their home games in the KVIK Hockey Arena which has ...

where he chipped in 15 goals and 25 assist, for 40 points, in 28 games. For the 2013–14 season, Ricci completed another tour with the Bulldogs, contributing 28 points in 40 games. The 2014–15 season will bring Ricci to Glasgow, Scotland, on a one-year contract with the Dundee Stars of the EIHL. After 15 games, Ricci felt uneasy about continuing and left Dundee. Once the ECHL's

Brampton Beast The Brampton Beast were a professional ice hockey team based in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. The team originally played in the Central Hockey League for one year during the 2013–14 season prior to the league's folding before joining the ECHL ...

invited him, the prospect of being a part of his hometown team, "playing at home in front of my family and my friends was something that I thought I’d enjoyed.” After a struggling beginning, with just 4 goals in 24 games, Ricci was considering retirement. Once the Stingrays, now coached by a former teammate of Ricci's,

Spencer Carbery Spencer Carbery (born November 9, 1981) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player who is the head coach for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). Playing career Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Carbe ...

, offered to bring Ricci to their squad, Ricci felt he should give a chance to his first professional team and an old friend. The Stingrays traded defensemen Guy Leboeuf for Ricci, who helped the team reach a record winning streak of 18 games.

Playing career

Personal life

Career statistics

Awards and honors

References

External links