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 (NHL) 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 also an NHL player.

Playing career As a youth, he played in the 1978 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Boston.

He began attending Merrimack College in 1984 and played there for four years. He had an instant impact with the Merrimack Warriors, scoring 19 goals and 11 assists in his freshman year. During his sophomore year Vesey played 33 games and scored 29 goals and 33 assists, and was named an All-American for the first time, and he was also the first sophomore in program history to receive the honor. During his junior year he helped Merrimack win their first ECAC East championship, with a 58 point season with 22 goals and 36 assists, and Vesey was again named an All-American. During his senior year at Merrimack, Vesey was named team captain and played in all 40 games, helping lead the Warriors to another ECAC East title, as well as their first 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 third consecutive time.Merrimack college All Americans https://merrimackathletics.com/sports/2017/7/12/All-Americans He was also be named the 1988 Division II-III Hobey Baker Award winnerMerrimack hockey history https://www.themackreport.com/p/merrimack-hockey-history after having a 95 point season with 40 goals and 55 assists. This is still the program record for most points in a season as of 2025. Vesey left Merrimack as the program leader in both assists and point.Merrimack hockey record book https://merrimackathletics.com/documents/2021/7/12/Men_s_Ice_Hockey_Record_Book_without_YBY.pdf

Drafted 155th overall by the St. Louis Blues in the 1984 NHL entry draft, Vesey went to play 11 games for the Blues, scoring a goal and two assists. He had three stints with in the Blues' International Hockey League (IHL) team the Peoria Rivermen. In the 1988–89 season, Vesey was one of the leagues top players, scoring 93 points (47 goals 46 assists), and was named to the IHL First All Star team, while also being named Peoria's team MVP. In 1989–90 Vesey scored 47 goals for the second year in a row, on top of 44 assists, and during the 1990–91 IHL season he recorded 73 points. Vesey played in 19 playoff games for Peoria that season, scoring 4 goals and 14 assists, and the Rivermen won the Turner Cup. Vesey finished with 263 points for Peoria over three seasons.Jim Vesey hockey DB page https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=5571

Vesey was then traded to the Winnipeg Jets to complete a February 28, 1991, trade in which Winnipeg had sent Tom Draper to St. Louis in exchange for future considerations. Vesey was sent to Winnipeg on May 24, 1991. Less than one month later, Winnipeg traded Vesey to the Boston Bruins in exchange for future considerations on June 20, 1991. He signed with Boston in 1991 and played four games for them, scoring no points.

Vesey played two seasons for the Bruins' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Providence Bruins, in his first season only appearing in 10 games. During the 1992–93 season Vesey played 71 games for Providence, achieving a 77 point season with 38 goals and 39 assists. He would end his two years in the AHL with 100 points. Vesey scored the first goal in Providence Bruins history at 4:06 of first period on October 6, 1992.

The following year Vesey returned to the IHL, signing with the Phoenix Roadrunners, scoring 30 goals and putting up 40 assists. Vesey retired after the 1994–95 season, ending his IHL career with 156 goals and 171 assists.

Post-playing career After retirement Vesey became a youth hockey coach in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Vesey is a cancer survivor.

Vesey was inducted into the Peoria Rivermen Hall of Fame in 2002.

In 2003, Vesey was inducted into the Merrimack College Athletics Hall of Fame.Merrimack hall o fame https://merrimackathletics.com/sports/2017/7/12/HOF-index.aspx

In 2015 Vesey joined the Toronto Maple Leafs organization as a scout.

Personal life Vesey was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in the Charlestown neighborhood, and attended Christopher Columbus High School. During is time at Merrimack he majored in sociology.

His elder son, Jimmy Vesey, was selected 66th overall by the Nashville Predators in the 2012 NHL entry draft and has played in the NHL for 11 seasons. A younger son, Nolan, played for the University of Maine and was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2014.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs 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 AwardYearCollegeMerrimack Rookie of the year Merrimack hockey yearly awards https://merrimackathletics.com/documents/2021/7/12/Men_s_Ice_Hockey_Record_Book_without_YBY.pdf1984–85Merrimack MVP (2x)1985-86, 1987-88ECAC East Champion (2x)1986-87, 1987-88AHCA First Team All American (2x)1985-86, 1987-88AHCA Second Team All American 1986-87New England Hockey All Star first team (3x)1985-86, 1986-87, 1987-88ECAC East All-Star First Team (3x)1985-86, 1986-87, 1987-88Division II-III Hobey Baker award1987–88Merrimack athletics hall of fame2003IHL IHL All-Star First Team1988-89Peoria Rivermen MVP1988-89Turner Cup champion 1990–91Peoria Rivermen Hall of Fame 2002

Records

Merrimack College

All time points leader (244) All time assists leader (134) Most points in a season (95) 1987–88 Most assists in a season (55) 1987–88 most career power-play goals (34, shares record) Source

References

External links