Thomas Edward Draper (born November 20, 1966) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) 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. In ice hockey, two o ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

. He was chosen in the eighth round, 165th overall, the 8th pick of the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, p ...

in the

1985 NHL Entry Draft The 1985 NHL Entry Draft was the 23rd NHL Entry Draft. It was the first draft outside Montreal. The event was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, and attended by 7,000 fans. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams sele ...

Playing career

Draper was born in

Outremont, Quebec Outremont is an affluent residential borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It consists entirely of the former city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec. The neighbourhood is inhabited largely by fra ...

. As a youth, he played in the 1978 and 1979

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament The Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament (french: Tournoi international de hockey pee-wee de Québec) is an annual minor ice hockey event in Quebec City. The tournament was founded in 1960 to coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, ...

with a

minor ice hockey Minor hockey is an umbrella term for amateur ice hockey which is played below the junior age level. Players are classified by age, with each age group playing in its own league. The rules, especially as it relates to body contact, vary from c ...

team from

Verdun, Quebec Verdun (; , ) is a borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, located in the southwestern part of the island. Long known as a working class neighbourhood, it has experienced significant gentrification and social change in the 21 ...

. Draper played collegiately at the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the United ...

and, after college, played one season in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

with

Tappara Tappara (; Finnish for "Battle axe") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga. They play at '' Tampere Deck Arena'' in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 18 Finnish league championships (1959, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979 ...

of the

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

. He made his North American professional debut with the AHL's

Moncton Hawks The Moncton Hawks were a professional ice hockey team based in Moncton, New Brunswick. They played in the American Hockey League between 1987 and 1994, operating as a minor league affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets. Home games were played at the ...

in the 1988–89 season, and also appeared in two

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

games with the

that same season. On February 28, 1991, the Jets traded Draper to the St. Louis Blues for future considerations, which on May 24, 1991 turned out to be for Jim Vesey; Draper was ultimately traded back to the Jets. On June 22, 1991 the Buffalo Sabres acquired him from the Jets for the seventh round draft pick in the 1992 entry draft. On September 30, 1993 the Sabres traded Draper to the New York Islanders for a seventh round draft pick, Steve Plouffe in the 1994 entry draft. He then became a free agent and the Winnipeg Jets picked him up again on December 14, 1995. In his NHL career, Draper played with the Jets,

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 Conf ...

, and

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 ( ...

. He ended up playing 53 professional games in the NHL. He also spent several seasons in both the AHL and the IHL. In the 1998–99 AHL season, with the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, ...

, Draper shared the Hap Holmes Memorial Award (lowest team

goals against average Goals against average (GAA) also known as "average goals against" or "AGA" is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on ...

) with teammate

Martin Biron Martin Gaston Biron (; born August 15, 1977) is a Canadian American former professional ice hockey goaltender. Drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the first round (16th overall) of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, he spent the first half of his 16-year ...

. Draper had a career goals against average of 3.70 and 19 wins in the NHL. After his NHL career Draper went back to Finland and became a top netminder playing for the

Espoo Blues The Espoo Blues were an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They played in Espoo, Finland, at the Espoo Metro Areena. The club went bankrupt at the end of the 2015–16 Liiga season. History The club was established in February 1984 as Kiekko-Espoo ...

and Lukko Rauma, gaining a record of 27-17-7.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards and honors

* Hap Holmes Memorial Award (lowest GAA in AHL): 1998–99 * In the 1985–86 and the 1986-87 seasons Draper was named to East Coast Athletic Conference All-Star First Team. * AHL Second All-Star Team, 1988-1989

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Draper, Tom 1966 births Living people Adirondack IceHawks players Anglophone Quebec people Augusta Lynx players Buffalo Sabres players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Finland Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Canadian ice hockey goaltenders Cleveland Lumberjacks players Espoo Blues players HIFK (ice hockey) players Ice hockey people from Montreal Long Beach Ice Dogs (IHL) players Lukko players Milwaukee Admirals (IHL) players Minnesota Moose players Moncton Hawks players New York Islanders players People from Outremont, Quebec Peoria Rivermen (IHL) players Quebec Rafales players Rochester Americans players Salt Lake Golden Eagles (IHL) players Tappara players Toledo Storm players Vermont Catamounts men's ice hockey players Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) draft picks Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) players