On May 4, 1989, James van Riemsdyk was born in Middletown. A 6-3 left wing, Van Riemsdyk attended Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft before moving to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his junior year to play for the USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. Prior to that, he played from Mite to his first year of Midgets for the Brick Hockey Club in Brick. Van Riemsdyk also played for the Eagles in Wall. He attended the University of New Hampshire for two years. He was drafted with the second pick in the first round of the National Hockey League Draft on June 22, 2007, by the Philadelphia Flyers. He played for the Flyers for three seasons before joining the Toronto Maple Leafs via trade, where he played six seasons before returning to Philadelphia as a free agent. For his career, he has played in 719 regular season games, scoring 240 goals and 224 assists and 59 playoff games (18g/11a). In 2016-17, playing for Toronto, he had his best season as a pro, scoring 29 goals and 33 assists for a career-high 62 points. At the beginning of the 2016–17 season, van Riemsdyk was announced as one of the 100 greatest Toronto Maple Leafs players of all-time. On December 19, 2017, Van Riemsdyk scored the 20,000th goal in Toronto Maple Leafs history on the 100th anniversary of the first pro hockey game in Toronto. He has been a member of numerous teams representing the United States in the Olympics and other international competition. James’s younger brother Trevor is also a professional hockey player in the NHL, currently with the Washington Capitals of the NHL, and his other younger brother Brendan plays professionally for the Reading Royals of the ECHL, a mid-level minor league.
Sources:
https://www.hockey-reference.com/
http://www.hockeydb.com/
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