Topic: Byron Ritchie

Byron Ritchie (born April 24, 1977) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player playing for Dinamo Minsk of the KHL.

Ritchie was drafted in the 7th round (165th overall) by the Hartford Whalers in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft. His rights transferred to the Carolina Hurricanes when the Whalers franchise relocated in 1997. On December 21, 1998, Ritchie made his NHL debut with the Hurricanes against the Buffalo Sabres. On January 16, 2002, he was traded to the Florida Panthers with Sandis Ozolinsh for Bret Hedican, Tomas Malec, Kevyn Adams and a conditional 2nd round selection in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. On July 4, 2004, he was signed as an unrestricted free agent by the Calgary Flames. On July 2, 2007, Ritchie signed with the Vancouver Canucks, where he played for one season. After the team chose not to re-sign him, he chose to play in Europe for Geneve-Servette HC.

On Tuesday May 13th, 1997 after a game in the Memorial Cup refereed by a Francophone from Quebec he was caught by an RDS (the French version of TSN) camera yelling: "Fuck you, you fucking Frogs! Fuck them all!"" He apologized the next day at practice stating "Whether the camera was on me or not doesn't make it right." For the remainder of the tournament, he was booed mercilessly by the fans in Hull, Quebec, where the tournament was taking place.