Prab Rai

Prab Rai

Rai playing for the Kalamazoo Wings in 2012
Born (1989-11-22) November 22, 1989
Surrey, BC, CAN
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for Kalamazoo Wings
Stockton Thunder
Evansville Icemen
NHL Draft 131st overall, 2008
Vancouver Canucks
Playing career 2011–2015

Prabhraj "Prab" Rai (born November 22, 1989) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in 2008 as a fast-skating prospect and signed a three-year entry-level contract. Rai played in the minor leagues but never made it to the National Hockey League in part due to injury from a car accident.[1]

Early life

Rai is a Canadian of Sikh descent. He was born in Surrey, British Columbia in 1989, five years after his father, Harbhajan Rai (Bubby) represented Canada at the 1984 Summer Olympics in field hockey.[1]

Rai began playing in the Surrey Minor Hockey Association at age 6[2] although he had never skated on ice before and had to use second-hand skates from his 10 year older cousin that were much larger than his feet.[3] He developed and later tallied 96 points in bantam.[4] His hockey hero was Pavel Bure, the 'Russian Rocket' and Rai's nickname was the 'Chocolate Rocket.'[2] At age 13, Rai spent a year with the famed Notre Dame Hounds in Saskatchewan before returning to British Columbia to play alongside his brother Jas with the Junior B team Ridge Meadows Flames.[2] Rai graduated from North Surrey Secondary School

Playing career

After the WHL draft, Rai began his junior career with the Prince George Cougars in the 2005-06 season. After a season and a half with the Cougars, Rai requested a trade to garner more ice-time and was dealt mid-season to the Seattle Thunderbirds.[5]

He played three and a half seasons with the Thunderbirds. He recorded 199 points in the 200 games after the first season.[3] As a 20-year-old overage player, Rai recorded his best season in juniors in 2009-10, recording 69 points (41 goals, 28 assists) in 67 games. Rai finished the season as the Thunderbirds leading-scorer, the seventh-highest scorer in the league, and was named to the WHL West Second All-Star team. [6]

The unranked Rai was the third selection by Vancouver Canucks General Manager Mike Gillis in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. The Canucks' first-round pick was Cody Hodgson while they didn’t have third or fourth round picks due to complicated compensation for the signing of Manitoba Moose head coach Randy Carlyle by the Anaheim Ducks and a trade for Brent Sopel of the Los Angeles Kings.[7]

A sportswriter with 'The Province' newspaper suggested Rai may be nicknamed the 'Surrey Sizzle' due to his speed.[4] The selection of Rai raised hopes for 230,000 members of British Columbia's South Asian community that he may be the third South Asian (after former and future Canucks Robin Bawa and Manny Malhotra) to play in the NHL.[2][4][8] He did claim to have heard racist 'trash talk' at times.[9]

Rai signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Canucks in March 2010.[5] Three months afterwards, Rai and his mother were rear-ended while driving a new Mercedes-Benz CLS 500 across the Port Mann Bridge resulting in a back injury that prevented Rai from playing in the 2010-11 season.[1]

Until reinvoking his injury, he was able to appear competitive with professionals and "a standout" at the 2010 Young Stars Tournament.[10]

In 2010, Rai was diagnosed with colitis, an autoimmune disease.[11] Rai returned to the sport in 2011-12 season, beginning his professional career in the ECHL with the Kalamazoo Wings which finished first in the North Division and advanced to the Eastern Conference Final.[5] After another season in hiatus in 2013-14, Rai signed a standard player contract in the ECHL with the Stockton Thunder on November 4, 2014.[12] Rai was later traded to Evansville and released after just three games. Rai played a total of 38 games for the Kalamazoo Wings, the Stockton Thunder, and the Evansville Icemen in the ECHL in three seasons.[11]

After quitting hockey he ran a clothing company called Joseph Chanan.[3]

Awards and achievements

WHL West Second All-Star Team (2009–10)

References

  1. 1 2 3 Walker, Ian (Sep 25, 2010). "Canucks' Surrey prospect Prab Rai driven to succeed". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 News Desk (Jan 29, 2014). "Prab Rai making the cut". Darpan Magazine. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 Rawji, Omar. "Prab Rai: Unguarded: the beginning (part 1)". vancitybuzz.com. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 "Canucks draft speedy Surrey forward". The Province. June 22, 2008. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 "Prospects - Prab Rai". hockeyfutures.com. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Prab Rai Profile". echl.com. East Coast Hockey League. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  7. ↑ Wagner, Daniel (June 12, 2013). "Five years later evaluating the Canucks 2008 draft". Pass it to Bulis. Vancouver Sun. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  8. ↑ Sekeris, Matthew (Sep 15, 2010). "Canucks prospect embraces role-model status". Globe and Mail. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  9. ↑ Rawji, Omar. "Prab Rai - Unguarded: the injured (part 2)". vancitybuzz.com. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  10. ↑ Jory, Derek (Sep 14, 2011). "The Goods: Rai-lief for Prab". Vancouver Canucks. nhl.com. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  11. 1 2 Rawji, Omar. "Prab Rai - Unguarded: the life after hockey (part 3)". vancitybuzz.com. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  12. ↑ "Thunder add Spacek and Rai to roster". Stockton Thunder. 2014-11-04. Retrieved 2014-11-04.
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