Jim Dowd (ice hockey)

Early life, high school and college

Dowd helped Brick Township High School win the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association ice hockey title for the 1985–1986 season. In his senior year, he broke the national scholastic scoring record, finishing with a four-year tally of 375 points: 189 Goals, 186 Assists. Dowd was an 8th round pick (149th overall) of the New Jersey Devils in the NHL Entry Draft. He went to Lake Superior State University in the fall of 1987. In his four years with the Lake Superior Lakers (in the CCHA), Dowd was a prolific scorer, earning selections to the NCAA West Second All-American and CCHA Second All-Star Teams in 1990 and the NCAA West First All-American and CCHA First All-Star Teams in 1991. He was also named the CCHA's "Player of the Year" in 1991. He was a member of the Lake Superior State Lakers 1988 NCAA Championship men's ice hockey team.

New Jersey Devils and the Stanley Cup

After college, Dowd joined the now-defunct Utica Devils (New Jersey's minor league affiliate) of the American Hockey League (AHL). He became the first New Jersey native to play for the New Jersey Devils when he made his NHL debut during the 1991–92 season. He spent the 1991–92 and the 1992–93 seasons in the AHL, with single-game NHL appearances in both seasons. As a top scorer with the AHL's Albany River Rats (the Devils affiliate at the time) in the 1993–94 season, Dowd made impressive appearances with the Devils, collecting 5 goals and 10 assists in 15 regular season games, and 2 goals and 6 assists in 19 games during their playoff run. The labor dispute shortened the 1994–95 season, which was further shortened for Dowd when a shoulder injury and surgery caused him to miss 35 games. However, the highlight of Dowd's career with the Devils came in Game Two of the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals. With 1:24 left in regulation, he notched the game-winning goal, giving the Devils a 2–0 series lead over the Detroit Red Wings to take back home to New Jersey. The Devils completed the sweep at home for their first Stanley Cup Championship. Dowd became the first New Jersey native to both play and win the Stanley Cup for the Devils franchise.

Late 1990s

Less than six months after helping the Devils capture the Cup, Dowd was traded with a 1997 2nd-round draft pick to the Hartford Whalers on December 19, 1995, for Jocelyn Lemieux and a 1998 2nd-round draft pick. Later that same day, Hartford traded Dowd with Frantisek Kucera and the 1997 2nd-round draft pick to the Vancouver Canucks for Jeff Brown and a 1998 5th-round draft pick. Dowd would only play 38 regular season games and one playoff game for the Canucks. On September 30, 1996, the New York Islanders claimed Dowd in the NHL Waiver Draft. He only played in three games for New York, spending the rest of the 1996–97 season with the International Hockey League's (IHL) Utah Grizzlies and AHL's Saint John Flames. Dowd signed with the Calgary Flames on July 10, 1997, as a free agent. In the 1997–98 season, he played in 48 games in Calgary and another 35 regular season (and 19 playoff) games with the AHL Flames.

On June 27, 1998, Dowd was traded by Calgary to the expansion Nashville Predators for future considerations. For the second time in his career, he was traded before playing a single game, this time to the Edmonton Oilers with Mikhail Shtalenkov on October 1, 1998, for Eric Fichaud, Drake Berehowsky, and Greg de Vries. Dowd appeared in one game with the Oilers during the 1998–99 season, spending the rest of the season with their AHL affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs. As a group two free agent, he re-signed with Edmonton on September 7, 1999, and played the 1999–2000 season with the Oilers appearing in an NHL career high 69 games.

2000s

The next chapter in Dowd's career began on June 23, 2000, when the Minnesota Wild selected him during the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft. A couple of weeks later, Dowd's wife Lisa gave birth to their first child. After nearly four seasons with the Minnesota Wild, Dowd was traded to the Montreal Canadiens on March 4, 2004 for a 2004 4th-round draft pick. After the season, Dowd became an unrestricted free agent and signed with Germany's Hamburg Freezers during the 2004–05 NHL lockout. Following the lockout, Dowd signed with the Chicago Blackhawks on August 5, 2005.

On March 9, 2006, Dowd was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a 2006 4th-round draft pick. His brief tenure with the Avalanche ended after the 2005–06 season, with Dowd again becoming a free agent.

On November 2, 2006, after left winger Dan LaCouture cleared waivers, the Devils signed Dowd to a one-year contract. The contract paid Dowd the NHL minimum of $450,000. "It's great. You should see the smile on my face," Dowd said via phone. "I've tried to come back every time I became a free agent. I'd call New Jersey, but the timing was never right." [1] When Dowd returned to the Devils, he was forced to wear jersey #12, as John Madden wore #11. He went on to score 4 goals as well as have his first career multi-goal game, which came against the Florida Panthers.

After the season ended with a loss to the Senators in the second round of the playoffs, questions arose about the futures of such Devil's veterans as Dowd, who was scratched several times in favor of Rod Pelley. On September 11, Dowd announced that GM Lou Lamoriello and the Devils were uninterested in offering him a contract and instead attended Philadelphia Flyers training camp on a try-out contract. He made the team and became a solid PK and defensive center for the Flyers during the 2007–08, scoring his first goal with the Flyers against the Devils. Dowd was invited to the Flyers training camp on a tryout basis again in 2008, but he was released after the last game of the Flyers' 2008-09 preseason, along with Bryan Berard, to allow rookie development, notably Danny Syvret and Darroll Powe. Dowd announced his retirement on April 7, 2009.

Off the ice

Jim Dowd's Shoot for the Stars Foundation held its 11th Annual Shore High School All-Star Hockey Game on August 9, 2008 at the Red Bank Armory. The Monmouth All-Stars defeated the Ocean County, New Jersey All-Stars 6–5 in Overtime, with proceeds benefiting Jeremy Zalinsky, a 6-year-old Brick Township resident afflicted with pontine glioma, a cancerous tumor of the brain stem. The Ocean County All-Stars took a 2–1 series advantage, having won 5–1 two years ago. Monmouth County won last year's event 5–2. The All-Star Games and other events hosted by Shoot for the Stars have raised thousands of dollars for local families in need due to catastrophic illnesses. He also coaches ice hockey for the Red Bank Generals, a travel organization in his home state of New Jersey.

In September 2011, Dowd appeared at Mother Teresa Regional School in Atlantic Highlands, as part of a fundraiser benefiting the American Red Cross. He spoke to students and players from the school, as well as shooting around with them before signing autographs.