Guide Note

Canadian professional hockey player Ray Emery is a goaltender for the Ottawa Senators in the National Hockey League. Emery's on-ice aggression and history for starting fights caused fans and media to dub him "Sugar Ray Emery."

Fast Facts

1. Birth date: September 28, 1982
2. Birth place: Cayuga, Ontario, Canada
3. Position: Goaltender
4. Catches: Left
5. Nicknames: Sugar Ray Emery, Razor
6. 2007-2008 salary: $2.75 million
7. Jersey number: 1
8. Team Canada's starting goalie at the 2006 Winter Olympics

Emery was drafted by the Ottawa Senators during the 2001 NHL Entry Draft and spent the majority of the following three seasons with the Senators' American Hockey League affiliate, the Birmingham Senators. He joined Ottawa for the 2005-2006 season as the backup for Dominik Hasek and won the first nine games he played to set a new record for number of consecutive wins by a rookie goalie at the start of his career. Later that season, in March of 2006, he won twelve games to tie the record for most rookie goalie wins in a single month.

After acting as backup to Martin Gerber for the beginning of the 2006-2007 season, Emery took over the starting role in November. He led the Senators to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1992, but they lost the championship to the Anaheim Ducks. A free agent at the end of the season, Emery signed a $9.5 million contract to play another three years with the Senators.

A wrist injury combined with Emery's inconsistent performance during the early stages of the 2007-2008 season resulted in Emery being relegated to the backup role. For the rest of the season, Emery was involved in several altercations with fellow teammates and the Senators' management over his attitude and repeated habit of arriving late or missing practices. He was fined for his repeated tardiness and benched for much of the year. Ottawa management tried to trade Emery before the trade deadline to no avail and Senators' General Manager Brian Murray said in a post-season press conference that he was not planning on having Emery on his team for the next year.