Ben Eaves

Benjamin Coel Eaves (born March 27, 1982) is an American former professional ice hockey center. He is currently the strength and conditioning coach for the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League (AHL) - where his father and former National Hockey League (NHL) player Mike Eaves is head coach. His brother Patrick played over 600 games in the NHL.

For the British basketball player, see Ben Eaves (basketball). For the pioneer doctor, see Benjamin Franklin Eaves.
Ben Eaves
Born (1982-03-27) March 27, 1982
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Height 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Weight 179 lb (81 kg; 12 st 11 lb)
Position Center
Played for WBS Penguins
Espoo Blues
Milwaukee Admirals
Jokerit
NHL Draft 131st overall, 2001
Pittsburgh Penguins
Playing career 2004–2013

Playing career

Eaves went to high school at Shattuck-St. Mary's school in Faribault, Minnesota. Eaves was drafted 131st overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. He spent four seasons at Boston College before turning pro in 2004. He signed an entry-level contract with the Penguins, but with the 2004–05 NHL season locked out and eventually cancelled, he split the season with the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers. He missed majority of 2005–06 season and entire 2006–07 season recovering from knee injuries.

In November 2007 he signed for the Espoo Blues in SM-liiga where he played rest of the season, although missing majority of it due to several injuries. He continued in the team for the following season. On 13 December 2008 he took a break due to injury, he made his comeback on 28 January 2009.

During the SM-liiga playoffs 2009 Ben Eaves broke the record of Kari Jalonen (season 1980/81) and Hannes Hyvönen (2007/08) for the most points scored during the playoffs (21 points). Eaves managed to score 24 points (4 goals and 20 assists) in 13 games with the Espoo Blues.

On July 21, 2009, Eaves signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Nashville Predators.[1] On November 2, 2009, Eaves left the Predators' AHL affiliate Milwaukee Admirals and announced his retirement from hockey due to a lingering knee injury.[2]

In the following season, however, he came out of retirement and joined Jokerit of Finnish SM-liiga in August 2010. In his return to Finland, Eaves successfully established himself amongst Jokerit's scoring forwards. He was selected as the MVP of the European trophy tournament of the 2011–12 season. In his third season with Jokerit, Eaves was again plagued by injury, suffering a concussion before briefly returning for the playoffs.

In preparation for the 2013–14 season with Jokerit, Eaves suffered a relapse of concussion symptoms and on August 16, 2013, announced his retirement from professional hockey for a second time, moving on to be assistant director of Hockey and U18 Coach for the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets in Columbus, Ohio.[3]

In 2019, he joined the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League (AHL) - where his father is the head coach - as the strength and conditioning coach.[4]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs
Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1999–2000 Shattuck–Saint Mary's HS Prep 57 47 71 118 — — — — —
2000–01 Boston College HE 41 13 26 39 12 — — — — —
2001–02 Boston College HE 23 13 26 39 12 — — — — —
2002–03 Boston College HE 36 18 39 57 18 — — — — —
2003–04 Boston College HE 26 9 25 34 4 — — — — —
2004–05 Wilkes–Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 43 4 6 10 12 7 0 0 0 0
2004–05 Wheeling Nailers ECHL 2 1 0 1 0 — — — — —
2005–06 Wilkes–Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 5 1 2 3 0 — — — — —
2007–08 Blues SM-liiga 10 3 4 7 4 13 7 5 12 8
2008–09 Blues SM-liiga 22 3 15 18 18 14 4 20 24 6
2009–10 Milwaukee Admirals AHL 7 1 2 3 4 — — — — —
2010–11 Jokerit SM-liiga 44 9 17 26 30 7 1 5 6 10
2011–12 Jokerit SM-liiga 44 13 21 34 22 7 0 3 3 2
2012–13 Jokerit SM-liiga 9 2 1 3 4 1 1 0 1 2
AHL totals 55 6 10 16 16 7 0 0 0 0
SM-liiga totals 130 30 58 88 78 42 13 33 46 28

International
Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM
2000 United States WJC18 61340
2002 United States WJC 61452
Junior totals 12 2 7 9 2

Awards and honors
Award Year
All-Hockey East Rookie Team 2000–01
All-Hockey East Second Team 2001–02
AHCA East Second-Team All-American 2001–02
All-Hockey East First Team 2002–03
AHCA East First-Team All-American 2002–03

References
  1. "Preds ink Free Agent forward Ben Eaves". Nashville Predators. 2009-07-20. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
  2. "Ben Eaves Retires". sportsbubbler.com. 2009-11-02. Retrieved 2010-11-02.
  3. "Ben Eaves to end his career as a player". Jokerit. 2013-08-16. Archived from the original on 2019-12-14. Retrieved 2013-08-16.
  4. Hockey staff - Cleveland Monsters.com
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