Known for his rugged and fearless on-ice style and his candid and outspoken manner off the ice, Jeremy ‘J.R.’ Roenick enjoyed a long and very successful hockey career.

Jeremy Roenick was born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA on January 17, 1970, and four years later, began playing hockey in and around the north-eastern United States. In 1982, he played in the famous Quebec PeeWee tournament for Middlesex County, Connecticut and then a year later, returned and was playing with the Washington Capitals’ PeeWee team.

As a Bantam, Roenick and his New Jersey Rockets team won back-to-back championships in 1984 and 1985, with J.R. collecting 300 points in 75 games in his final season with the Rockets. In 1986 and 1987, he played for the Thayer Academy High School team, collecting 149 points during his two seasons. He was named to the USA Under-17 team and the Under-20 teams in 1988.

That summer, Roenick was drafted by the Hull Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), but he was also drafted in the 1st round, 8th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1988.

Jeremy started the 1988-89 season with the Chicago Blackhawks but was sent back to the Hull Olympiques during the season and finished the campaign by being named to the QMJHL’s Second All-Star Team. He returned to the Blackhawks for the playoffs and remained in the NHL for the rest of his career. While playing eight seasons with Chicago, J.R. collected 596 points.

During the summer of 1996, Roenick was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes and spent five seasons with them, amassing 351 points. In the summer of 2001, he signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Flyers and collected another 173 points over the course of three seasons. Following the lock-out season, Roenick spent the 2005-06 season with the Los Angeles Kings, returned to the Coyotes for 2006-07 and then concluded his NHL playing career with two seasons as a San Jose Shark after signing with them in 2007. During his NHL career, Roenick scored 1,216 points comprised of 513 goals and 703 assists, in 1,363 regular season games. He added an additional 53 goals and 69 assists for 122 points in 154 post-season games. Through his twenty-season NHL career, he played in nine All-Star Games.

Jeremy very proudly represented the United States when he was asked. He represented Team USA for the third time in two seasons at the U-20 Tournament in 1989 and was named to the U-20 All-Star Team that year. In 1991, he represented his country at the IIHF World Championship and in 1992, he played for Team USA in the 1991 Canada Cup Tournament and was named to the Canada Cup All-Star Team. J.R. was selected to play with Team USA at both the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Because of his larger-than-life personality, Roenick has frequently been invited to do television work as a hockey analyst. He has also had two books written about his life: ‘Jeremy Roenick: Shoot First, Pass Later’ and ‘J.R.: My Life as the Most Outspoken, Fearless and Hard-Hitting Man in Hockey.’

In 2024, the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Selection Committee elected Jeremy Roenick as an Honoured Member in the Player Category.