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Angelo Esposito

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For the Italian rugby union player, see Angelo Esposito (rugby union).

Angelo Esposito
Esposito with the Texas Stars in 2012
Born (1989-02-20) February 20, 1989 (age 35)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for Chicago Wolves
San Antonio Rampage
Texas Stars
Lahti Pelicans
Milano Rossoblu
SG Cortina
České Budějovice Motor
NHL draft 20th overall, 2007
Pittsburgh Penguins
Playing career 2008–2017

Angelo Esposito (born February 20, 1989) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who last played for České Budějovice Motor of the 1st Czech Republic Hockey League. Esposito was drafted in the first round (20th overall) by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

Playing career

QMJHL

Esposito's Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) career started in controversy. He was considered a possible first overall draft choice in the QMJHL, but told all general managers that he intended to play college hockey in the NCAA. As a result, he was passed up by the first ten picks in the QMJHL Draft. Just minutes before the Val-d'Or Foreurs were slated to make their pick, at eleventh overall, the Quebec Remparts announced that they had traded several players and draft choices to get the Foreurs' drafting position and selected Esposito.

Esposito began his QMJHL rookie season, in 2005–06, centring the first line. Esposito scored in his first regular season game on his very first shift against the Rimouski Océanic. By mid-season, Esposito was selected QMJHL Rookie of the Month twice and the Offensive Player of the Week once. He finished his rookie campaign with 98 points, second among QMJHL's rookies, behind Claude Giroux, and was named the league rookie of the year. Along with wingers Mathieu Melanson (86 points) and Alexander Radulov (152 points), the Remparts' first line was the most productive scoring line in the entire league. Despite losing in the President's Cup final series 4–2 to the Moncton Wildcats, Esposito and the Remparts earned a berth in the 2006 Memorial Cup as runner up to the tournament hosts.

Impressing many in his major junior rookie season, Esposito was touted early as a possible first-overall pick for the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.[1] He had, in fact, already drawn comparisons to former Remparts star Guy Lafleur.[2] However, declining offensive production at the junior level – his points total fell from 98 to 79 – led to him eventually being picked twentieth overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

On February 26, 2008, the Penguins traded his NHL rights to the Atlanta Thrashers along with Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, and a 2008 first-round draft pick in a trade-deadline deal for Marián Hossa and Pascal Dupuis.[3]

Professional

At the conclusion of his 2007–08 season with the Remparts, he made his professional debut with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL).[4] In the off-season, he was traded in the QMJHL by the Remparts to the Montreal Juniors on June 7, 2008. After a strong start with the Montreal Juniors, Esposito was named to Team Canada and competed in the U20 World Championships, scoring the game-winning goal against Sweden in the gold medal game.[5] After returning from the World Juniors, Esposito tore his ACL in his right knee, causing him to miss the rest of the season. After only 12 games in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Chicago wolves in 2009, Esposito re-tore his ACL causing him to require a second knee surgery.

On July 8, 2011, he was traded to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Kenndal McArdle. On January 13, 2012, he was traded to the Dallas Stars for Ondřej Roman. After the 2011–2012 season was over Esposito became an unrestricted free agent.[6]

On July 26, 2012, he signed a one-year contract with Finnish hockey club Pelicans from Lahti. After producing 7 points in 29 games in the 2012–13 season with the Pelicans, Esposito was mutually released from the remainder of his contract and immediately moved to play in Italy with Hockey Milano Rossoblu from Milan on January 17, 2013.

On July 21, 2014, Esposito returned to North America and signed a one-year contract in the ECHL with the Fort Wayne Komets. After the season opening game of the 2014–15 season with the Komets, Esposito decided to take a hiatus from hockey and Fort Wayne waived and released him from his contract.

After taking a years hiatus from professional hockey, Esposito returned to Italy signing a one-year contract with SG Cortina of the AlpsHL on September 5, 2015.[7] He finished the season with 38 points in 31 games.[8] During the 2016-17 season, Esposito had a 9-game stint with České Budějovice Motor of the Czech 2nd league before he suffered a concussion while playing with the team. He only scored 1 goal in the 9 games he played with the team and at the end of the season Esposito retired from professional hockey.

International play

Medal record
Representing  Canada
Ice hockey
World Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2009 Canada
Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament
Gold medal – first place 2006 Czech Republic
World U17 Hockey Challenge
Gold medal – first place 2006 Canada

Esposito competed for Team Quebec as captain during his QMJHL rookie season in the 2006 World U-17 Hockey Challenge, capturing gold. Later that year, he also captained Team Canada's under-18 squad at the 2006 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament and won another gold medal. After three years of being cut from Team Canada's World Junior Championships selection camp, he eventually made the team for the 2009 World Junior Championships in Ottawa.[9] He scored 4 points in 6 games, including the game-winning goal in the gold medal game, helping Team Canada to its record-tying fifth straight gold medal.[10]

Post–playing career

Real estate investor

Esposito currently works in the Quebec area as a real estate investor and landlord. He first bought property in 2015, but continued to buy more soon after. Esposito currently owns about 40 properties.[11]

Politics

2019 federal election

Esposito with Andrew Scheer in 2019.

Esposito was the candidate for the Conservative Party in the riding of Alfred-Pellan for the 2019 Canadian federal election.[12] In the 2019 election, Esposito got 5,917 votes, which gave him 10.90% of the vote.[13]

Electoral result

2019 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Angelo Iacono 26,015 47.90 +3.39
Bloc Québécois Michel Lachance 15,549 28.63 +10.80
Conservative Angelo Esposito 5,917 10.90 -0.45
New Democratic Andriana Kocini 4,109 7.57 -16.41
Green Marguerite Howells 1,958 3.61 +1.63
People's Mathieu Couture 471 0.87
Pour l'Indépendance du Québec Julius Buté 177 0.33
Independent Dwayne Cappelletti 113 0.21
Total valid votes/Expense limit 54,309 98.24
Total rejected ballots 973 1.76 +0.54
Turnout 55,282 69.90 +2.59
Eligible voters 79,083
Liberal hold Swing -3.71
Source: Elections Canada[13]

Personal life

Born in Montreal and raised in Mount Royal, Quebec, Esposito grew up figure skating before beginning to play organized hockey at the age of six. At ten-years-old, he made the decision between the two sports to focus on hockey.[14] He attended high school first at Selwyn House School then Shattuck-Saint Mary's in Faribault, Minnesota, following in the footsteps of such NHL stars as Sidney Crosby, Zach Parise and Jonathan Toews.[14]

Despite his last name, famous in hockey circles, Esposito is not related to Hockey Hall of Famers Phil and Tony Esposito. He does, however, have uncles named Phil and Tony,[2] in addition to sharing Phil Esposito's jersey number 7 and February 20 birth date.[14]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2004–05 Shattuck-Saint Mary's Midget AAA 68 31 35 66 47 — — — — —
2005–06 Quebec Remparts QMJHL 57 39 59 98 45 23 6 5 11 4
2006–07 Quebec Remparts QMJHL 60 27 52 79 63 5 4 3 7 2
2007–08 Quebec Remparts QMJHL 56 30 39 69 69 11 4 6 10 6
2007–08 Chicago Wolves AHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2008–09 Montreal Juniors QMJHL 35 24 18 42 25 — — — — —
2009–10 Chicago Wolves AHL 12 0 4 4 2 — — — — —
2010–11 Chicago Wolves AHL 57 3 10 13 35 — — — — —
2011–12 San Antonio Rampage AHL 16 2 3 5 8 — — — — —
2011–12 Cincinnati Cyclones ECHL 3 0 1 1 0 — — — — —
2011–12 Texas Stars AHL 38 5 11 16 19 — — — — —
2012–13 Lahti Pelicans SM-l 29 3 4 7 10 — — — — —
2012–13 Milano Rossoblu ITA 5 1 3 4 2 — — — — —
2013–14 HC Bolzano EBEL 35 1 7 8 14 13 0 0 0 0
2014–15 Fort Wayne Komets ECHL 1 0 0 0 2 — — — — —
2015–16 SG Cortina ITA 31 15 23 38 26 4 0 1 1 4
2016–17 Motor České Budějovice CZE.2 9 1 0 1 8 — — — — —
AHL totals 124 10 28 38 64 — — — — —

International

Year Team Event Result   GP G A Pts PIM
2006 Canada Quebec WHC17 1st place, gold medalist(s) 6 3 1 4 0
2007 Canada WJC18 1st place, gold medalist(s) 6 3 3 6 0
2009 Canada WJC 1st place, gold medalist(s) 6 3 1 4 4
Junior totals 18 9 5 14 4

Awards

QMJHL

  • Named Player of the Week for September 26 – October 2, 2005.
  • Named Rookie of the Month for October and November 2005.
  • Awarded the Michel Bergeron Trophy (offensive rookie of the year) in 2006
  • Named to the QMJHL All-Rookie Team in 2006.

References

  1. ^ "Rating top NHL prospects goes down to the wire". USA Today. 2007-03-27. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
  2. ^ a b "Humble Esposito flattered by praise". Regina Leader Post. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
  3. ^ "Penguins get Hossa, hoping he's the missing piece to their Cup". ESPN. 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
  4. ^ "Angelo Esposito Official Player Page". atlantathrashers.com. Archived from the original on 2008-12-05. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
  5. ^ "Canada on top of the world | the Star".
  6. ^ "Dallas Stars Extend Qualifying Offers to Six Players". Dallas Cowboys site. 2012-06-18. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
  7. ^ "Cortina announce new additions to squad for season 2016" (in Italian). SG Cortina. 2015-09-05. Retrieved 2015-09-15.
  8. ^ "Angelo Esposito". Elite Prospects.
  9. ^ "Canadian world junior squad named". CBC. 2008-12-15. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
  10. ^ "Canada Defeats Sweden to Win Fifth Straight WJHC Gold". TSN. 2009-01-05. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-06.
  11. ^ "Angelo Esposito's new lease on life". Sporting News. 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
  12. ^ The Canadian Press (April 11, 2019). "Former junior hockey star Angelo Esposito to run for Conservatives in Laval riding". Retrieved August 5, 2019 – via CTV News Montreal.
  13. ^ a b "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  14. ^ a b c "Esposito focuses on NHL dream". The Gazette. 2008-10-31. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Pittsburgh Penguins first round draft pick
2007 		Succeeded by
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