( Photo Credit: NHL.com )

By: Mark Allred  |  Follow Me On Twitter @BlackAndGold277

Happy 45th Birthday To Former Boston Bruins Forward Shawn Bates!

Shawn was born on April 3rd, 1975, in Melrose, Massachusetts. He attended High School in Medford, Massachusetts and per the great folks at HockeyReference.com he played three seasons posting 105-130-235 numbers in 69 career games for the Mustangs. His best High School season came in the 1992-93 campaign when he contributed 49-46-95 numbers in 25 games. As an 18-year-old Bates would attend Boston University where he’d appear in 160 career games posting 73-71-144 numbers. As a 19-year-old right-shooting center he joined the IIHF World Junior Championships Team USA Under-20 team in the middle of his collegiate years where he appeared in seven games for his home nation posting 5-1-6 totals.

Bates was drafted by the Boston Bruins after completing his final year of High School at Medford going in the fourth-round (103 Overall) in the 1993 National Hockey League Entry Draft. After completing four years at Boston University the then 22-year-old forward signed an entry-level contract with Boston. Shawn would spend the next four seasons with the Bruins organization playing in 98 games for the B’s top minor-pro affiliate Providence Bruins contributing 45-48-93 totals. His time in the NHL with Boston he played in 135 games only posting 14-14-28 numbers in those four years.

After having five points in 45 games in Boston during the 2000-01 season, Shawn and the Bruins parted ways with the 26-year-old signing a free-agent deal with the New York Islanders. By looking at his stats with the NHL Islanders club, Bates seemingly had a better fit in their system playing in the organization for a better part of six years. In his time with the Islanders, he posted 58-112-170 totals finishing his NHL career after the 2007-08 campaign.

Bates would give International Hockey a try when he went overseas to play in Finland for the HIFK Helsinki team. As a 33-year-old in the SM-Liiga Finnish League, the Massachusetts native put up some decent numbers in 20 games contributing 5-16-20 totals in his first time playing for another country as a free agent. Bates would make another attempt at the North American professional league with another shot at the American Hockey league level this time in the 2009-10 season with the Manchester Monarchs signing as a free agent in early December of 2009. Shawn only managed to get into ten games for the top minor-pro affiliate of the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings where he contributed only one assist.

Shawn would retire from the game after the 2009-10 season posting career totals of 72-126-198 with his stops in Boston and New York in ten years of NHL service. In his time in the AHL, Bates would post career 48-49-97 totals.