Jim Vesey

Born	October 29, 1965 (age 59); Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight	205 lb (93 kg; 14 st 9 lb)
Position	Center
Shot	Right
Played for	Merrimack College; St. Louis Blues; Boston Bruins
NHL draft	155th overall, 1984; St. Louis Blues
Playing career	1988–1995

James Edward Vesey, Sr. (born October 29, 1965) is an American former ice hockey player, who currently works as a scout for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was a Division II-III Hobey Baker award winner at Merrimack in 1988. He played 15 games in the National Hockey League with the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins between 1988 and 1991. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1988 to 1995, was spent in the minor leagues. His son, Jimmy, is currently playing in the NHL with the New York Rangers.

Biography

Vesey was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in the Charlestown neighborhood.^{[citation needed]} As a youth, he played in the 1978 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Boston.^[1] He would attended Christopher Columbus high school in Boston Massachusetts.

He attended Merrimack college in 1984 and played there for 4 years. His freshman year he would score 19 goals and have 11 assists. During his sophomore year he would play in 33 games. Becoming an all American for the first time after having a 61 point season. During his junior year he would help Merrimack win their first ECAC east championship. Having a 58 point season with 22 goals and 36 assists. Once again being named an all American. His senior year at Merrimack Vesey was named team captain. He would play in all 40 games helping lead the warriors to another ECAC east title as well as their first ever appearance in the NCAA Division 1 tournament in 1988. They went on to pull off a huge upset over Northeastern in the first round. Before ultimately losing to eventual national champions Lake Superior in the quarterfinals. At the conclusion of the season Vesey was once again named an all American for a 3rd time.^[2] He would also be named the 1988 Division II-III Hobey Baker Award winner^[3] after having a 95 point season with 40 goals and 55 assists. This is the program record for most points in a season (as of 2025). Vesey left Merrimack as the program leader in both assists and points he still holds both records to this day.^[4] He is regarded as one of if not the best player in program history.

Drafted 155th overall by the St. Louis Blues in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft, he went to play eleven games for the Blues, scoring a goal and two assists. He would also have 3 stints with in the Blues IHL team the Peoria Rivermen. In his first stint during his he 1988–89 season Vesey would have a 93 point season scoring 47 goals on top of 46 assists. Then the following year during the 1989–90 season he would score 47 goals for the second year in a row on top of 44 assists. During the 1990–91 IHL season he would have a 73 point season. As the Rivermen would make the IHL playoffs. Vesey would play in 19 playoff games scoring 4 goals and tallying 14 assists. As he and the Rivermen would win the Turner Cup. This would turn out to be his last year with the Rivermen. He would finish his time in Peoria with 263 points.^[5]

He signed with the Boston Bruins in 1991 and played four games for them, scoring no points.^{[citation needed]}

He would play 2 seasons for the Bruins AHL affiliate. In his first he would only appear in 10 games. During the 1992-93 season Vesey would appear in 71 games for the Providence Bruins having a 77 point season with 38 goals and 39 assists. He would end his two years in the AHL with 100 points.

The following year he would sign with go back to the IHL signing with the Phoenix Roadrunners. Scoring 30 goals and putting up 40 assists during this period. Vesey would retire after the 1994-95 season. Ending his IHL career with 156 goals and 171 assists.

In 2003, Vesey was inducted into the Merrimack College Athletics Hall of Fame.^[6]

His elder son, Jimmy Vesey, is an NHL player and was selected 66th overall by the Nashville Predators in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft and currently plays for the New York Rangers. A younger son, Nolan, plays for the University of Maine and was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2014.^{[citation needed]}

In 2015 Vesey would join the Toronto Maple Leafs organization as a scout where he still works (as of 2025).

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

			Regular season					Playoffs
Season	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1982–83	Christopher Columbus High School	HS-MA	—	29	36	65	—	—	—	—	—	—
1983–84	Christopher Columbus High School	HS-MA	21	39	48	87	—	—	—	—	—	—
1984–85	Merrimack College	ECAC 2	33	19	11	30	28	—	—	—	—	—
1985–86	Merrimack College	ECAC 2	32	29	32	61	67	—	—	—	—	—
1986–87	Merrimack College	ECAC 2	35	22	36	58	57	—	—	—	—	—
1987–88	Merrimack College	ECAC 2	40	40	55	95	95	—	—	—	—	—
1988–89	St. Louis Blues	NHL	5	1	1	2	7	—	—	—	—	—
1988–89	Peoria Rivermen	IHL	76	47	46	93	137	4	1	2	3	6
1989–90	St. Louis Blues	NHL	6	0	1	1	0	—	—	—	—	—
1989–90	Peoria Rivermen	IHL	60	47	44	91	75	5	1	3	4	21
1990–91	Peoria Rivermen	IHL	58	32	41	73	69	19	4	14	18	26
1991–92	Boston Bruins	NHL	4	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—
1991–92	Maine Mariners	AHL	10	6	7	13	13	—	—	—	—	—
1992–93	Providence Bruins	AHL	71	38	39	77	42	6	2	5	7	4
1993–94	Phoenix Roadrunners	IHL	60	20	30	50	75	—	—	—	—	—
1994–95	Phoenix Roadrunners	IHL	41	10	10	20	62	—	—	—	—	—
IHL totals			295	156	171	327	418	28	6	19	25	53
NHL totals			15	1	2	3	7	—	—	—	—	—

Awards and honors

Award	Year
College
Merrimack Rookie of the year ^[7]	1984-85
ACHA All American	1985-86
Merrimack team MVP	1985-86
ECAC east Champion	1986-87
ACHA All American	1986-87
ECAC east champion	1987-88
ACHA All American	1987-88
Merrimack Co team MVP	1987-88
New England hockey all star	1987-88
Division II-III Hobey Baker award	1987-88
Merrimack athletics hall of fame	2003
IHL
Turner Cup champion	1990-91

Records

Merrimack College

All time points leader (244)
All time assists leader (134)
Most points in a season (95) 1987-88

References

^ "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2019. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
^ Merrimack college All Americans https://merrimackathletics.com/sports/2017/7/12/All-Americans
^ Merrimack hockey history https://www.themackreport.com/p/merrimack-hockey-history
^ Merrimack hockey record book https://merrimackathletics.com/documents/2021/7/12/Men_s_Ice_Hockey_Record_Book_without_YBY.pdf
^ Jim Vesey hockey DB page https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=5571
^ Merrimack hall o fame https://merrimackathletics.com/sports/2017/7/12/HOF-index.aspx
^ Merrimack hockey yearly awards https://merrimackathletics.com/documents/2021/7/12/Men_s_Ice_Hockey_Record_Book_without_YBY.pdf

External links

Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database

This Massachusetts-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This biographical article relating to an American ice hockey center is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2019. Retrieved January 14, 2019.

[2] Merrimack college All Americans https://merrimackathletics.com/sports/2017/7/12/All-Americans

[3] Merrimack hockey history https://www.themackreport.com/p/merrimack-hockey-history

[4] Merrimack hockey record book https://merrimackathletics.com/documents/2021/7/12/Men_s_Ice_Hockey_Record_Book_without_YBY.pdf

[5] Jim Vesey hockey DB page https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=5571

[6] Merrimack hall o fame https://merrimackathletics.com/sports/2017/7/12/HOF-index.aspx

[7] Merrimack hockey yearly awards https://merrimackathletics.com/documents/2021/7/12/Men_s_Ice_Hockey_Record_Book_without_YBY.pdf

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v t e Merrimack Warriors men's ice hockey
Playing venues	J. Thom Lawler Rink (1972–present)
Head coaches	Jim Reynolds (1956–1964) Ron Ryan (1964–1965) J. Thom Lawler (1965–1978) Bruce Parker (1978–1983) Ron Anderson (1983–1998) Chris Serino (1998–2005) Mark Dennehy (2005–2018) Scott Borek (2018–)
Seasons	1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Conference affiliations	ECAC (1961–1964) ECAC 2 (1964–1984) ECAC East (1984–1989) Hockey East (1989–present)
All-time leaders	Jim Vesey (244 Points) Mike Reynolds (113 Goals) Jim Hrivnak (88 Wins) Joe Cannata Hockey east era (59 Wins)
National championships	DII: 1978
Frozen Four appearances	DII: 1978 1980 1982 1984
NCAA Tournament appearances	DII: 1978 1980 1982 1984 DI:1988 2011 2023
Conference Tournament titles	ECAC 2: 1967 1968 1977 1980 ECAC East: 1987 1988 1989
Conference regular season titles	ECAC 2: 1968 1969 1975 1976 1977 ECAC East: 1987 1988 1989
Hobey Baker winners	Jim Vesey 1988 Division II-III
Merrimack College North Andover, MA