Website For Jonathan Cheechoo
Jonathan Cheechoo - Ice Hockey Star
This website is dedicated to the Canadian ice hockey player Jonathan Earl
Cheechoo. He was born on 15 July 1980 and has enjoyed an outstanding career as a
fantastic right winger for various professional teams. One of the few native
Americans to play at a professional level, Cheechoo is a member of the Cree
people of Moose Factory, Ontario. He used to play with San Jose Sharks in the
National Hockey League (NHL) and during that time he won the Maurice Richard
Trophy, as well as scoring 56 goals in the 2005-6 season. This was a record for
the Sharks.
Swimming With The Sharks
Cheechoo's performance when he joined the San Jose Sharks in 2002 was fairly
modest. He got sixteen points out of sixty six games in that first season. But
he then underwent a program of intensive training to add strength and reduce
body fat, making himself an extremely strong skater. This certainly appeared to
make a difference, as in the next season he got forty seven points from 81
games.
In 2005 The Sharks took on another great player, Joe Thornton, and the
combination of Joe and Jonathan was to prove very effective. With Thornton's
ability to put the puck in front of Cheechoo at the right time, Cheechoo's
ability to score enabled him to set a record of fifty six goals and ninety three
points in that season.
Video showing all of Cheechoo's 56 goals in the 2005-06 season
Much seems to have depended on that exceptional partnership with Thornton, but his subsequent performance has never quite equalled that 2005-6 season. In the following season the relationship was slightly upset by the introduction of new forward Mark Bell, who never really gelled with Cheechoo or Thornton. Things improved a little when Bell was moved on and Cheechoo finished that year with sixty nine points from seventy six games, which is still pretty good. However, his goal scoring reduced to twenty three in 2007-8 and only twelve the next season.
Leaving The Sharks
In 2009 The Sharks did a swap with the Ottawan Senators giving them Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek and getting Dany Heatley, who had recently fallen out with his new team management. The Senators put Cheechoo on waivers in early 2010, meaning his contract could be picked up by another team, but then he was almost immediately placed with the Binghampton Senators. Later the same year he was put on waivers once more. At the end of June that year the Ottawan Senators bought out the final year of the five year contract he had with the Sharks, meaning he was free to go anywhere.
Cheechoo then did a try out with the Dallas Stars in September, and though the Stars Head Coach thought he performed well, they were looking for someone who stood out as clearly stronger than their current team. They let Cheechoo go and he returned to the Sharks organization in October 2010 on a professional try out arrangement.
He was initially with the Sharks American Hockey League affiliate team the Worcester Sharks. Here he worked again with Roy Sommer, who was the first coach he had when he turned professional. He had originally worked with Roy at the Kentucky Thoroughblades. The following summer he signed up with the St Louis Blues for a one year deal.
