Aaron Ward retires from NHL
Aaron Ward has retired from the NHL.
Ward was an excellent defenseman for Michigan from 1990-93 and was drafted 5th overall by the former Winnepeg Jets in 1991 but traded to Detroit in 1993 (for Paul Ysebaert, anyone remember him?). He won Cups with the Wings in '97 and '98, then was traded to Carolina in 2001, with whom he won a Cup in 2006. He then went on to play for the Rangers, Bruins, Hurricaines again, then Anaheim for a few games last season. He had a 44-107-151 line in 839 NHL games (Wikipedia). Ward was yet another of the many players Michigan sent to the NHL who enjoyed long, productive careers, and one of a few who went on to play for the Red Wings. Congratulations to him on a great career and his retirement--may it include many an alumni game appearance.
August 24th, 2010 at 9:59 PM ^
That dude was in my Geography class in the Foreign Languages building, nice guy, but quite the Canuck.
August 24th, 2010 at 10:53 PM ^
do you mean he could find Ontario but not Massachusetts?
August 24th, 2010 at 10:43 PM ^
Stanley Cup finals as the Wings have just won the Cup and they are going through the handshake line with the Hurricanes (whom Aaron Ward was playing for at the time). Seeing him skate by Scotty and those two talking in the handshake always makes me smile because you can see on his face clearly that "I've been there before" expression.
August 24th, 2010 at 11:38 PM ^
I remember that. The announcers were discussing whether or not Bowman had coached his last game and while they were doing that...........I remember hearing Bowman tell Aaron Ward that he had coached his last game.
August 24th, 2010 at 11:40 PM ^
Good guy, even remember his wicked hits in his UM glory days. Wish him all the best.
August 25th, 2010 at 12:02 AM ^
He destroyed!
August 25th, 2010 at 7:37 AM ^
Of course I remember Ysebaert. He was on a line with Yzerman and Sheppard, and they were unstoppable in the original Sega NHL game.
Congrats to Ward.
August 25th, 2010 at 11:52 AM ^
I tutored Ward in English when I was a senior and he a frosh ('90-'91). Prior to the '91 two-game season-ending series at the Joe, he told me to keep my eyes peeled Friday night at the end of one of the periods (I believe it was the first) -- there was some sort of pre-game pact made between the two teams that they would have an all-out brawl at the end of the period, so they could take their suspensions in the second game which was meaningless from a conference standings perspective.
Sure enough, huge brawl ensued. Ward was right in the thick of it, and IIRC he received a triple-game misconduct -- more than any other player. When I asked him why the following week, he said a ref had grabbed him from behind in the midst of the melee, and Ward instinctively turned around, picked him up and threw him. Yeah, that'll do it.
Anyways, congrats to him on growing from that immature, somewhat goonish freshman into a guy with enough discipline and savvy to have a long, productive and rewarding NHL career. I believe he is the last athlete from my days at UM to have played professional sports, which makes me feel pretty frickin old.