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Dennis Vial
Dennisvial
Position Defence
Shoots Left
Height
Weight
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
200 lb (91 kg)
Teams Flint Spirits
Binghamton Rangers
New York Rangers
Detroit Red Wings
Adirondack Red Wings
Ottawa Senators
Chicago Wolves
Sheffield Steelers
Columbia Inferno
Verdun Dragons
Missouri River Otters
Richmond Riverdogs
Nationality Flag of Canada Canadian
Born (1969-04-10)April 10, 1969,
Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada
NHL Draft 110 overall, 1988
New York Rangers
Pro Career 1989 – 2005

Dennis Vial (born April 10, 1969 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada) is a retired professional hockey player who played in NHL with the New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, and Ottawa Senators. He played defence and shot left-handed.

Career[]

After playing with the Hamilton Steelhawks in the OHL for 3 years, Vial was drafted by the New York Rangers in the 6th round, 110th overall in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft. That year he went back to the OHL and played with the Niagara Falls Thunder, followed by a year with the Flint Spirits in the IHL for the 1989–1990 season, scoring 35 points in 79 games and registering 351 penalty minutes. Throughout this time Vial established himself as a hard hitting enforcer and defenceman and got the call up midway through the 1990–1991 season to join the Rangers. He played in 21 games before being traded to the Detroit Red Wings that same season, appearing in another 9 games. Vial then split the next two seasons between the Red Wings and the Adirondack Red Wings of the AHL.

Prior to the 1993–1994 season Vial was traded from the Red Wings to the Tampa Bay Lightning. He was left unprotected in the 1993 NHL Expansion Draft and was picked up by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim a few weeks later. Finally, in Phase II of the Expansion draft Vial was picked up by the Ottawa Senators, with whom he made his greatest NHL impact. With a Senators' lineup not deep in talent, Vial was able to make the team and play full time, and in 1993-94 he was given the team's Frank Finnigan Award as its most improved player. He led the Senators in penalty minutes, major penalties, and fighting majors. Known as a fearless combatant, Vial's time in Ottawa was highlighted by a long, intense, and often bloody feud with Rob Ray of the divisional rival Buffalo Sabres.

Unfortunately, Vial's aggressive and all-out playing style resulted in many injuries throughout his career and he played in at least half of the games in a season only twice. His last season in the NHL was the 1997–1998 season.

For the next 7 seasons Vial played with a number of minor league teams including two years in England in the BISL. He retired following the 2004–2005 season where he played in the UHL with the Missouri River Otters and Richmond Riverdogs.

British Ice Hockey League Brawl/Suspension[]

In 2001, while a member of the British Ice Hockey League's Sheffield Steelers, Vial incited a much publicized brawl against the Nottingham Panthers which resulted in the league handing out several suspensions totaling 28 games and fines worth 8,400 pounds ($18,750) Vial was suspended for six games and fined 750 pounds ($1,675 Cdn) for offences including instigating the brawl by cross-checking Nottingham's Greg Hadden, and squirting water at fans in the stands.

Britain's Press Association described the event, which escalated into a 36 man bench clearing brawl, as "one of the worst scenes of violence ever seen at a British ice hockey rink."

Career statistics[]

    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1985–86 Hamilton Steelhawks OHL 31 1 1 2 66 -- -- -- -- --
1986–87 Hamilton Steelhawks OHL 53 1 8 9 194 8 0 0 0 8
1987–88 Hamilton Steelhawks OHL 52 3 17 20 229 13 2 2 4 49
1988–89 Niagara Falls Thunder OHL 50 10 27 37 230 15 1 7 8 44
1989–90 Flint Spirits IHL 79 6 29 35 351 4 0 0 0 10
1990–91 Binghamton Rangers AHL 40 2 7 9 250 -- -- -- -- --
1990–91 New York Rangers NHL 21 0 0 0 61 -- -- -- -- --
1990–91 Detroit Red Wings NHL 9 0 0 0 16 -- -- -- -- --
1991–92 Adirondack Red Wings AHL 20 2 4 6 107 17 1 3 4 43
1991–92 Detroit Red Wings NHL 27 1 0 1 72 -- -- -- -- --
1992–93 Adirondack Red Wings AHL 30 2 11 13 177 11 1 1 2 14
1992–93 Detroit Red Wings NHL 9 0 1 1 20 -- -- -- -- --
1993–94 Ottawa Senators NHL 55 2 5 7 214 -- -- -- -- --
1994–95 Ottawa Senators NHL 27 0 4 4 65 -- -- -- -- --
1995–96 Ottawa Senators NHL 64 1 4 5 276 -- -- -- -- --
1996–97 Ottawa Senators NHL 11 0 1 1 25 -- -- -- -- --
1997–98 Chicago Wolves IHL 24 1 3 4 86 1 0 0 0 2
1997–98 Ottawa Senators NHL 19 0 0 0 45 -- -- -- -- --
1998–99 Chicago Wolves IHL 55 1 4 5 213 -- -- -- -- --
1999–00 Sheffield Steelers BISL 26 2 5 7 82 7 0 1 1 10
2000–01 Sheffield Steelers BISL 42 3 7 10 171 8 0 2 2 20
2001–02 Columbia Inferno ECHL 68 8 11 19 137 5 0 0 0 4
2002–03 Columbia Inferno ECHL 69 3 15 18 158 17 0 1 1 27
2002–03 Verdun Dragons QSPHL 2 1 0 1 7 -- -- -- -- --
2003–04 Columbia Inferno ECHL 54 5 15 20 101 4 0 0 0 20
2004–05 Missouri River Otters UHL 46 0 4 4 66 -- -- -- -- --
2004–05 Richmond Riverdogs UHL 29 1 7 8 19 -- -- -- -- --
NHL Totals 242 4 15 19 794 -- -- -- -- --


External links[]



This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Dennis Vial. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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