Patrick Marleau will become only the second player to have his jersey retired by the Seattle Thunderbirds junior hockey team during a ceremony Friday, Nov. 3 at the accesso ShoWare Center in Kent.
Marleau, 44, who wore number 12, will be honored as the T-Birds take on the Spokane Chiefs in a Western Hockey League (WHL) game at 7:05 p.m.
Before his lengthy NHL career, Marleau skated for two seasons with the Thunderbirds, scoring 83 goals and 199 points over the 1995-96 and 1996-97 regular seasons, helping Seattle reach the 1997 WHL Championship Series in the process by finishing third in league scoring in 1996-97 with 125 points (51 goals, 74 assists).
Glen Goodall, who wore number 10, is the only T-Birds player with his jersey hanging from the rafters. The high-scoring forward played with Seattle from 1986 to 1990.
Marleau was named to the WHL West Division First All-Star Team in 1997 and that summer, was the second-overall selection by San Jose in the 1997 NHL Draft. He began playing for the Sharks at age 18. He retired after the 2020-21 season, ending a 23-year career in the NHL.
Marleau, who is from Aneroid, Saskatchewan, is the NHL’s all-time leader in games played. He appeared in 1,779 regular season games with the San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins. The majority of Marleau’s career was spent in San Jose. He is the franchise leader in most major offensive categories including goals, power-play goals and points, according to the WHL Network. His number 12 was retired by the Sharks in February of this year.
During the WHL’s 50th anniversary season of 2015-16, Marleau was named one of the Top 50 WHL Players of All-Time.
The first 5,000 fans at the Nov. 3 game will get a Marleau Jersey Koozie. Players from the 1995-97 teams will be in attendance. The T-Birds will wear themed jerseys for warmups.
Neither Marleau nor Goodall played in Kent. The T-Birds moved to Kent in 2009 after playing in Seattle since the 1980s.
After a fast start, Seattle has lost three consecutive games. As of Oct. 30, the T-Birds were in fourth place in the U.S. Division with a 7-4-0-0 record for 14 points. The Wenatchee Wild sat in first place with 17 points followed by the Portland Winterhawks and Everett Silvertips. The Tri-City Americans were with with Seattle and Spokane just two points behind.
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