Neil Sheehy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Neil Sheehy | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Sheehy in 1986 card | |||
| Born |
February 9, 1960 Fort Frances, Ontario, Canada | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) | ||
| Weight | 215 lb (98 kg; 15 st 5 lb) | ||
| Position | Defence | ||
| Shot | Right | ||
| Played for |
Calgary Flames Hartford Whalers Washington Capitals Olimpija Hertz Ljubljana | ||
| NHL draft | Undrafted | ||
| Playing career | 1983–1994 | ||
Neil Kane Sheehy (born February 9, 1960) is a Canadian-born American former professional ice hockey player with dual citizenship. He grew up in International Falls, Minnesota.
A defenceman and Harvard University graduate, Sheehy signed as a free agent in 1983 by the Calgary Flames. His tough defensive play would help guide the Flames to their first finals appearance in 1986. He has also played for the Hartford Whalers and Washington Capitals.
Sheehy is one of two NHL players who wore the number 0, the other was Paul Bibeault. After NHL statisticians discovered a bug in their new stat-tracking software, the league restricted jersey numbers to whole numbers between 1 and 99 (later limited to numbers between 1 and 98 after the league-wide retirement of number 99 for Wayne Gretzky). This gives Sheehy the distinction of being the last player in NHL history to wear the number 0, with the Hartford Whalers in 1988.
His older brother is former NHL and USA Olympic team member Timothy Sheehy.
In May 1990, while playing for the Capitals, Sheehy was accused of raping a 17-year-old girl outside a bar, alongside teammates Dino Ciccarelli, Scott Stevens, and Geoff Courtnall.[1] The court case fell apart, though a spokesperson for the Metropolitan police at the time stated (without any supporting evidence available for use at trial,) that the police “have sufficient grounds to believe that a criminal offense did occur.”[2]
