Jason Pominville

Jason Pominville
Pominville with the Sabres in 2013.
Born	(1982-11-30) November 30, 1982 (age 34) Repentigny, Quebec, Canada
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	186 lb (84 kg; 13 st 4 lb)
Position	Right Wing
Shoots	Right
NHL team Former teams	Minnesota Wild Buffalo Sabres
National team	United States
NHL Draft	55th overall, 2001 Buffalo Sabres
Playing career	2002–present

Jason John Pominville (born November 30, 1982) is a Canadian-American professional ice hockey right winger currently playing for the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has also played in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres, with whom he served as team captain and was drafted by in 2001.

Pominville played junior hockey for the Shawinigan Cataractes of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). In his fourth and final year with Shawinigan, 2001–02, he amassed 121 points in 66 games – seventh in league scoring – and was awarded the Frank J. Selke Memorial Trophy as the league's most gentlemanly player.

Pominville was drafted 55th overall in the second round by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. He played for the Sabres' minor league affiliate, the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League (AHL), until the 2005–06 season, when he earned a roster spot with Buffalo.

To begin the 2005–06 campaign, Pominville had initially been waived by the Sabres. Clearing waivers, he continued to play in the minors until he was called up a few months into the season. He scored his first NHL goal on November 27, 2005 – a powerplay goal against Olaf Kölzig in a 3–2 win against the Washington Capitals. Pominville quickly became an integral part of the Sabres line-up and finished the rest of the season with the Sabres with 18 goals in 57 games. In the 2006 playoffs, he recorded a hat-trick in Game 2 of the first round against the Philadelphia Flyers. Later in the Sabres' playoff run, he scored the series-clinching goal in the second round against the Ottawa Senators – a shorthanded effort in overtime of Game 5. It marked the first time in NHL history that a playoff series was decided by an overtime shorthanded goal. Buffalo announcer Rick Jeanneret marked this occasion with a call that is now famous in Buffalo hockey lore: "Oh, now do you believe? Now do you believe? These guys are good, scary good!" The Sabres had qualified as the fourth seed in the playoffs after failing to qualify the previous three seasons.