Playing Career
Cullen was a standout with BU; he was named the East Coast Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year in 1983–84 after leading his team in scoring with 56 points. The National Hockey League passed him over, however, as he went unclaimed in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft. He was named to the Hockey East All-Star Teams in 1985, 1986 and 1987, and a National Collegiate Athletic Association East Second Team All-American in 1986. He graduated as BU's all-time scoring leader with 241 points, and was named to BU's Hockey East 25th anniversary team in 2009.
Passed over in the Entry Draft, Cullen was finally selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1986 NHL Supplemental Draft. When the Sabres failed to offer him a contract, Cullen signed with the Flint Spirits of the International Hockey League (IHL) for the 1987–88 season. He led the league with 157 points, scoring 48 goals, and won the James Gatschene Memorial Trophy as league most valuable player while sharing the Gary F. Longman Memorial Trophy with Ed Belfour as rookie of the year. Cullen's outstanding season in Flint caught the attention of the Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins. He signed a contract with the Penguins for the league minimum, passing up a superior contract offer from Buffalo as he remained upset at how they released him the year before.
Read more about this topic: John Cullen
Famous quotes containing the words playing and/or career:
“All those who dwell in the depths find their happiness in being like flying fish for once and playing on the uppermost crests of the waves. What they value most in things is that they have a surface, their “epidermality”Msit venia verbo.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“I began my editorial career with the presidency of Mr. Adams, and my principal object was to render his administration all the assistance in my power. I flattered myself with the hope of accompanying him through [his] voyage, and of partaking in a trifling degree, of the glory of the enterprise; but he suddenly tacked about, and I could follow him no longer. I therefore waited for the first opportunity to haul down my sails.”
—William Cobbett (1762–1835)