Ed Jovanovski - TheSportsDB.com

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Name
Ed Jovanovski

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Born
1976 (47 years old)

Birth Place

Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Position
Defenceman

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Height
191 cm

Weight
100 kg

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Sport

Ice Hockey

Team
_Retired Ice Hockey

2nd Team

League
_No League Ice Hockey

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Edward Jovanovski (born June 26, 1976) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He was born in Windsor, Ontario, and is of Macedonian descent.

Jovanovski played major junior ice hockey for two seasons with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), earning First All-Star, Second All-Star and All-Rookie Team honours. He was then selected first overall in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by the Florida Panthers. During his rookie NHL season, he earned All-Rookie Team honours and helped the Panthers advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the Colorado Avalanche. After three-and-a-half seasons in Florida, Jovanovski was traded to the Vancouver Canucks in a seven-player deal involving Pavel Bure. During his tenure with Vancouver, he was awarded the Babe Pratt Trophy as the team's best defenceman three consecutive years. He also led the club's defencemen in scoring four consecutive years. In July 2006, Jovanovski became an unrestricted free agent and signed with the Phoenix Coyotes. He led the team's defencemen in scoring during his first three years with the club. Jovanovski returned to the Florida Panthers for three seasons, before retiring in 2015. Known as a two-way defenceman, he has recorded three 40-point and one 50-point season in the NHL.

Internationally, Jovanovski played for the Canadian national team. A one-time Winter Olympian, he won a gold medal at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. At the under-20 level, he won gold at the 1995 World Junior Championship. He went on to play in four Men's World Championships, winning silver in 2005 and 2008. He represented Canada at the 2004 World Cup, playing in one game due to injury in the championship-winning tournament.

Jovanovski competed for Canada's under-20 team at the 1995 World Junior Championships, held in Alberta. Scoring two goals in seven games, he helped Canada go undefeated to win gold. Following his NHL rookie season, he was named as a reserve to the Canadian men's team for the 1996 World Cup. The youngest player on the roster, he played in one exhibition game against Russia, a 4–4 tie, but did not appear in any main tournament games as Canada lost in the final to the United States.

Two years later, Jovanovski competed at the 1998 World Championships in Switzerland; he was the second-youngest named to the Canadian squad. He scored two goals and an assist over six games as Canada failed to qualify past the crossover round. He made his second World Championships appearance at the 2000 tournament in Russia. He scored a goal and an assist over nine games. Canada lost the semifinal, however, 2–1 to the Czech Republic, then lost the bronze medal game 2–1 to Finland.

In December 2001, Jovanovski was chosen to Canada's Olympic team for the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. Playing the United States in the gold medal game, Jovanovski earned an assist on the game-winning goal, backhanding a saucer pass from the opposition's blueline to Joe Sakic on a five-on-three power play advantage. Canada went on to win the gold medal, 5–2. Jovanovski had three points, all assists, in total.

Prior to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Jovanovski played for Canada at the 2004 World Cup. He suffered a cracked rib and a second degree sprain on his medial collateral ligament (MCL) during the first game against the United States, sidelining him for the rest of the tournament. He was replaced by San Jose Sharks defenceman Scott Hannan in the lineup. Canada went on to win the championship over Finland in the final.

The following year, he competed at the 2005 World Championships in Austria. In the semi-final, Jovanovski scored the game-winning goal against Russia in a 4–3 win. Advancing to the gold medal game, Canada lost 3–0 to the Czech Republic, thus earning silver. He finished the tournament with a goal and two assists over nine games. Later that year, he was named to his second Canadian Olympic team for the 2006 Games in Turin, but was not able to play due to a lower abdominal injury.

Making his fourth World Championships appearance in 2008, Jovanovski earned a second-straight silver medal. He recorded one assist over nine games as Canada lost in the gold medal game by a 5–4 score in overtime to Russia.

Jovanovski was born in Windsor, Ontario, to Kostadin and Lilja Jovanovski. His parents immigrated to Canada in 1973 from Macedonia. Coming from an athletic family, Kostadin was a semi-professional soccer player in Yugoslavia. Jovanovski speaks English, French and some Macedonian. Jovanovski followed after his father and played organized soccer growing up. He did not start playing hockey until age 11, when his older brother, Denny, joined a team.

During his junior career, Jovanovski and two other Windsor Spitfire teammates were charged with sexually assaulting a 24-year-old woman in February 1995. After a pre-trial hearing in June, the Crown attorney dropped the charges in August due to a lack of convincing evidence.

Beginning his NHL career with the Florida Panthers, he owned a condominium in Boca Raton, Florida. He met his wife, Kirstin, in Florida and retained a residence in Boca Raton, where he spent his summers. Jovanovski and Kirstin had their first child, daughter Kylie Everett, on August 25, 1998. Three years later, Kyra was born on April 24, 2001, while her twin sister died in utero. Kirstin was later pregnant with twins a second time and gave birth to son Cole and daughter Coco on May 25, 2006, in Florida.

In 2005, Jovanovski was featured in a documentary aired on multicultural network Omni Television. Entitled The Late Bloomer: Ed Jovanovski, it explored his career, family tragedy and attachments to his Macedonian heritage.