Adrian Van de Mosselaer

Early life

Adrian Van de Mosselaer was born in Terrace, British Columbia in 1990. He was diagnosed with asthma in 2006, and has since taken up the condition as a public cause. In the 2006-07 season he played for the Okanagan Rockets of the BC Hockey Major Midget League after being drafted by the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL in 2005, scoring 5 goals and 21 assists in 32 games, while racking up 102 penalty minutes. He was named to the BC Major Midget League All-Star team that season.

Junior Hockey

While Van de Mosselaer was originally drafted by the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL, he played no games with the team. His first game of junior hockey was played with the Edmonton Oil Kings, with whom he has played his entire junior career wearing the number 2. He scored his first goal in his first career game, playing against the Prince Albert Raiders at home on October 15, 2007. His first career assist came later that season in a game against the Brandon Wheat Kings, playing at home on January 20, 2008. His first career fight occurred in a game playing at home against the Calgary Hitmen on December 11, 2007 near the end of the first period against Hitmen forward Ian Schultz. Over his career with the WHL Van de Mosselaer would engage in 13 regular season fights and one postseason fight.

Van de Mosselaer played from 2007 to 2011 with the Edmonton Oil Kings. He completed the 2007-08 season with 2 additional assists for 4 points and a total of 39 penalty minutes over 53 games. The following season he would improve to 4 goals and 15 assists over 49 games, with 57 penalty minutes, despite suffering a broken leg in January that cut his season short. During the 2009-10 season, he scored 3 goals with 7 assists over 50 games with 92 penalty minutes, which again improved during the 2010-11 season with 7 goals and 15 assists over 66 games, with 137 penalty minutes. During the 2010-11 season, Van de Mosselaer's career games played for the Edmonton Oil Kings became the most in franchise history. Van de Mosselaer also led the team in goals by a defenceman and total penalty minutes during the season and served as assistant captain. He was also awarded the Humanitarian Player of the Year award by the franchise.

In the 2011 WHL playoffs, Van de Mosselaer had 1 assist in the final game of a 4-game sweep by the Red Deer Rebels in the first round. Van de Mosselaer also had 15 penalty minutes over the 4 games. He played more games than any other Oil King this season, but as Van de Mosselaer turned 21 during the offseason, he would not be able to return to the Oil Kings the following season due to the WHL's age restrictions.

Ontario Reign

On August 16, 2011 he signed his first professional contract with the Ontario Reign of the ECHL for the 2011-12 season. Upon his signing, former Reign Head Coach Karl Taylor said of Van de Mosselaer, "He's going to be a real solid stay-at-home guy ... He's not a guy who's going to fight every day, but he will when it's called for. He brings a lot to the table. With the strength and size he has, he'll be fine." During his rookie season with the Reign wearing the number 18, Van de Mosselaer scored 1 goal and had 9 assists for 10 points over 57 games, with 87 penalty minutes. His first professional goal came on January 31, 2012 playing at home against the Alaska Aces, the same team he had his first assist against playing away on December 17, 2011—one of three he had during the same game. During the 2012 ECHL playoffs, the Reign lost a five-game series in the fifth game against the Idaho Steelheads in the first round. Van de Mosselaer received 9 penalty minutes during the series, including a 5-minute penalty for fighting Steelhead Chris Hepp during the second period of the second game of the series.