P. J. Stock

P. J. Stock
Born	(1975-05-26) May 26, 1975 Montreal, PQ, CAN
Height	5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight	183 lb (83 kg; 13 st 1 lb)
Position	Left Wing
Played for	New York Rangers Montreal Canadiens Philadelphia Flyers Boston Bruins
Playing career	1997–2004

Phillip Joseph Stock (born May 26, 1975 in Montreal, Quebec) is a retired Canadian ice hockey player.

Playing career

Stock played two years with the Victoriaville Tigres of QMJHL where he was a junior teammate of Alexandre Daigle. Upon graduating junior, Stock entered St. Francis Xavier University in 1996. Prior to this, PJ attended Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School in Pierrefonds, Quebec.

Some people who attended PCHS would argue it is a great place to learn the art of bare knuckle fighting.

He was not drafted by an NHL team and signed as a free agent with the New York Rangers in 1997. He spent the next three seasons playing for both the Rangers and their Hartford farm team. Prior to 2000-01, Stock signed a free agent contract with the legendary Montreal Canadiens. He played 20 games that year with the Canadiens before being traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for Gino Odjick. After a brief return to New York in the following offseason, Stock was claimed by the Boston Bruins in the annual waiver draft.

It was in Boston where he had the most success. He became a fan favorite for his hard nosed play and his constant scrapping fights. Despite being relatively undersized for an NHL pugilist, Stock's reputation grew to one of the popular underdog who took on the big swingers from other clubs and fought them mightily.

Though fighters are traditionally beloved by hometown fans in the NHL, Stock grew especially notable for two reasons. First, Boston had a history of being fight-oriented, from the "Big Bad Bruins" persona of the 70s to "Terrible" Terry O'Reilly to Cam Neely to even local boy "Knuckles" Chris Nilan. Secondly, the Bruins had, at the time of Stock's arrival, fallen far out of favor in local eyes. The teams were seen as listless, boring, and without personality, and much was blamed on both stingy owner Jeremy Jacobs and the colorless FleetCenter, which had replaced the beloved Boston Garden as the home of the Bruins (and also the Celtics). Stock's popularity was akin to the phenomenon of the "single candle in the dark": it was one of the few lights Bruins fans could latch onto and pour emotion into.

After two full seasons in Boston, Stock was briefly sent to their Providence farm team before being loaned to the Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL. Stock totaled five goals, 26 points and 523 penalty minutes in 235 NHL games before being forced to retire.

Broadcasting career

P.J. currently has his own show on Montreal radio called the Stock exchange on Team 990. He presents sports on Montreal News at 6 on CBMT (CBC) television on a segment named "Stock Talk" and he has some sporadic segments in a french show on TQS show called 110 %. He was also a game and studio analyst for The NHL On OLN in its first season.

References

• P.J. Stock at HockeyDB
• P.J. Stock at Legends of Hockey

Personal Information

P.J. is married with three children.