Steven Rice

Steven Rice (born May 26, 1971) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger who played eight seasons in the National Hockey League in the 1990s. Rice was born in Kitchener, Ontario.

Rice was drafted 20th overall by the New York Rangers in the 1989 NHL entry draft. Following his outstanding performance at the 1991 World Junior Hockey Championships, in which he captained Canada to the gold medal, he was considered one of the top young power forward prospects in the game. In the summer of 1991, he was sent to the Edmonton Oilers as one of the centerpieces going the other way in the trade of superstar centre Mark Messier.

His results in Edmonton would be mixed - he spent most of his first two seasons there with their AHL affiliate, but established himself as a full-time NHL player in 1993–94 scoring 17 goals. Following that season, he signed free-agent offer sheet with the Hartford Whalers, and joined the Whalers the following season when Edmonton declined to match the offer. In his three years in Hartford, he established himself as a quality role player, scoring a career high 21 goals in 1996–97. However, a nightmare campaign in 1997–98 following the franchise's move to Carolina, in which he scored just 2 goals, effectively ended his NHL career. He retired at the premature age of 27.

Rice came out of retirement in 2002, playing in the Ontario Hockey Association's Major League Hockey, for the Cambridge Hornets until 2006, and then briefly for the Brantford Blast in the same league before retiring for good in 2006.

He played 329 career NHL games, scoring 64 goals and 61 assists for 125 points.

Career statistics Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1986–87 Waterloo Siskins MWJHL 7 4 1 5 10 — — — — — 1987–88 Kitchener Rangers OHL 59 11 14 25 43 4 0 1 1 0 1988–89 Kitchener Rangers OHL 64 36 31 67 42 5 2 1 3 8 1989–90 Kitchener Rangers OHL 58 39 37 76 102 16 4 8 12 24 1990–91 Kitchener Rangers OHL 29 30 30 60 43 6 5 6 11 2 1990–91 New York Rangers NHL 11 1 1 2 4 2 2 1 3 6 1990–91 Binghamton Rangers AHL 8 4 1 5 12 5 2 0 2 2 1991–92 Edmonton Oilers NHL 3 0 0 0 2 — — — — — 1991–92 Cape Breton Oilers AHL 45 32 20 52 38 5 4 4 8 10 1992–93 Edmonton Oilers NHL 28 2 5 7 28 — — — — — 1992–93 Cape Breton Oilers AHL 51 34 28 62 63 14 4 6 10 22 1993–94 Edmonton Oilers NHL 63 17 15 32 36 — — — — — 1994–95 Hartford Whalers NHL 40 11 10 21 61 — — — — — 1995–96 Hartford Whalers NHL 59 10 12 22 47 — — — — — 1996–97 Hartford Whalers NHL 78 21 14 35 59 — — — — — 1997–98 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 47 2 4 6 38 — — — — — 2002–03 Cambridge Hornets OHA-Sr. 23 17 20 37 15 6 3 2 5 10 2003–04 Cambridge Hornets OHA-Sr. 24 18 23 41 24 — — — — — 2004–05 Cambridge Hornets OHA-Sr. 29 24 18 42 12 — — — — — 2005–06 Cambridge Hornets MLH 24 22 13 35 41 — — — — — 2006–07 Brantford Blast MLH 2 2 2 4 12 10 6 7 13 16 2007–08 Brantford Blast MLH 10 3 6 9 10 10 9 7 16 8 2007–08 Brantford Blast AC — — — — — 5 3 6 9 12 NHL totals 329 64 61 125 275 2 2 1 3 6