Andrew Ference (Born March 17, 1979 in Edmonton,
Alberta) is a professional hockey defenceman with
the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. He
has also played for the Pittsburgh Penguins and
Calgary Flames. He will, perhaps, be best remembered
as the first, and as yet only, player to fight
Sidney Crosby.
Ference began his hockey career in the Western
Hockey League for the Portland Winter Hawks, after 3
seasons with the team, Ference was drafted 208th
overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins at the 1997 NHL
Entry Draft. Ference played 2 more seasons with
Portland and made a brief spell at the International
Hockey League for the Kansas City Blades before
joining Pittsburgh's main AHL affiliate the
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. On October 1, 1999
20-year-old Ference made his NHL debut for
Pittsburgh against the Dallas Stars, and the young
Canadian scored his first ever NHL goal against the
Nashville Predators on November 13, 1999. He
finished that season with 2 goals and 4 assists for
6 points in 30 games. The next season Ference shared
his commitments with both Penguins teams. Ference
played in his first ever NHL playoff run with
Pittsburgh, playing 18 games and scored 3 goals and
7 assists for 10 points before going out to the New
Jersey Devils. Ference played a career high 75 games
in the 2001-02 NHL season, and a career high in
penalty minutes with 73. Ference was traded to the
Calgary Flames for future considerations on February
9, 2003.
He posted 4 assists in 16 games during the remainder
of the 2002-03 NHL season. The next season, he
scored a career high 16 points with 4 goals and 12
assists in 72 games for Calgary and also played 26
playoff games posting 3 assists in a run that saw
Calgary reach the Stanley Cup finals losing to the
Tampa Bay Lightning.
With the 2004-05 NHL season wiped out by the 2004-05
NHL lockout, Ference played in the Czech Republic
for HC Ceske Budejovice. Ference returned to the
Flames when the NHL re-started the next season.
With the resumption of hockey the 2005-06 season
Ference remained part of the Calgary Flames defence
playing all 82 games of the year. On February 10,
2007, he was traded, along with teammate Chuck
Kobasew, to the Boston Bruins for defenceman Brad
Stuart and center Wayne Primeau.
On December 21, 2007, he fought Sidney Crosby,
making it Crosby's first Gordie Howe hat trick.
