( Photo Credit: GEORGE BRIDGES/KRT )
By: Mark Allred | Follow Me On Twitter @BlackAndGold277
Happy 51st Birthday To Former Boston Bruins Forward Ted Donato!
“Teddy” Donato was born on April 28th, 1969, In Boston, Massachusetts, and played a majority of his youth hockey for the Hyde Park Eagles before moving onto four seasons of high school hockey for the always powerful Catholic Memorial School program. Per the EliteProspects.com website, Donato posted 29-34-63 numbers in his Senior year in 22 games 1986-87 and was selected by the Boston Bruins in the fifth round of the 1987 National Hockey League Entry Draft out of high school.
In 1987-88 Ted went onto play for Harvard University Crimson for four seasons captaining his senior year. In 106 career NCAA games for the Crimson hockey club, he posted 50-94-144 numbers. At Harvard, He won an NCAA Tournament Championship n 1989, two NCAA Tournament Frozen Four’s in 1987 & 1989, three straight NCAA Tournament appearances, and three straight Conference regular season Championships. After a stellar career with the Crimson, he would join his childhood Boston Bruins team for his first action in the top league in the world but would only spend 10 games dressed in Black N’ Gold as he’d chase an even bigger childhood dream.
After a small cup of coffee with Boston during the 1991-92 season, the Bruins team assigned him to participate for the United States National team who would go onto play a 52 games schedule before appearing in the 1992 Winter Olympics as a 22-year-old. In those 52 “preliminary” traveling scheduled games for Team USA, he posted 11-22-33 numbers and in eight games again with Team USA this time for the 1992 Winter games in France posted 4-3-7 where the United States finished fourth and out of medal contention.
Donato would return to the Boston Bruins team in the 1992-93 campaign and would officially kick off his professional hockey career playing in full seasons. As a 23-year-old rookie that year he posted 15-20-35 numbers including three power-play goals, two shorthanded goals, and five game-winner. Teddy would go onto play the next six full seasons with his hometown Bruins club but after 14 games with the B’s in the 1998-99 season before he was traded to the New York Islanders in November for Ken Belanger. Before his departure from Boston via trade, Ted posted 113-142-255 numbers in 465 games with his first NHL club.
After the trade to the Islanders, ted would spend the next several seasons signing as a free agent on one-year deals to later be waived and claimed by others in seemingly a revolving door scenario. While away from Boston he would see time with the Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings, and New York Rangers appearing in 268 cames contributing 31-50-81 numbers. Donato would make his final appearance in the NHL when the Bruins gave him another chance in the 2003-04 season where he played in 63 games contributing 6-5-11 numbers.
Ted would retire after the 2003-04 season and immediately got into coaching as the bench boss of his Alma Mata Harvard University. In 796 career NHL games, he posted 150-197-347 numbers as a local New England hockey player. His son Ryan who was also a Boston Bruins draft pick and spent a little time with the Bruins organization also was a Crimson alumnus and coached by his father Teddy. Ryan now plays in the Minnesota Wild organization.
Check out the new Black N’ Gold Hockey Podcast episode 176 that we recorded below on 4-27-20! You can find our show on many worldwide platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Spotify, SoundCloud, and Stitcher.
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