Michael Ryder was born on March 31st, 1980 and grew up in Bonavista, NL. Michael is the oldest of three children, and shared the hockey spotlight with younger brother Daniel for many years.
Even though Xtreme Hockey was not formed as a company until 2002, Michael attended Randy Pearcey’s summer hockey schools throughout his childhood. Whenever Randy would run weekend camps in Bonavista, Ryder was always in attendance. Ryder has also made appearances at Xtreme summer hockey schools as a special guest over the years.
Michael had an outstanding QMJHL career with the Hull Olympiques, where his knack for putting the puck in the net was evident. Ryder never scored less than 34 goals in a season during his tenure with Hull, but was a late round NHL selection to the Montreal Canadians. Michael bounced around the minor leagues for three seasons after junior, but got his big break when Claude Julien became the head coach of the “Habs”. Julien, having coached Ryder during his huge offensive seasons in Hull, gave him the opportunity to showcase his talents at the NHL level. Julien was rewarded, as Ryder scored 25 goals in 2003-04 and 30 in 2005-06. Michael went on to score 30 goals in a season 3 times in his career.
In 806 career NHL games, Michael notched 237 goals and 484 points, which is the most by any Newfoundland-born hockey player. Michael is also the only “Newfie” to hoist the Stanley Cup, as a member of the Boston Bruins in 2010-11.