International/professional Career
Verchota made his international debut at the 1979 Ice Hockey World Championship in Moscow after his college career had ended. He then joined the U.S. Olympic team on a full-time basis for the 1979-80 season.
After the Olympics, Verchota opted to play overseas with Jokerit in Finland rather than sign a contract with the Minnesota North Stars, who had drafted him 75th overall in the 1976 NHL Entry Draft (he also turned down an offer from the North Stars in 1977 to leave U. of Minnesota early). Verchota also played for the U.S. national team at the 1981 ice hockey world championship tournament in Stockholm before taking a one year sabbatical from hockey. He rejoined the U.S. national team as a full-time player in 1982/83 and helped the United States win the ice hockey world championship "Pool B" qualifying tournament in the spring of 1983. He continued with the US national program until the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, and retired from hockey afterwards.
Read more about this topic: Phil Verchota
Famous quotes containing the words professional and/or career:
“The belief that there are final and immutable answers, and that the professional expert has them, is one that mothers and professionals tend to reinforce in each other. They both have a need to believe it. They both seem to agree, too, that if the professional’s prescription doesn’t work it is probably because of the mother’s inadequacy.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“Whether lawyer, politician or executive, the American who knows what’s good for his career seeks an institutional rather than an individual identity. He becomes the man from NBC or IBM. The institutional imprint furnishes him with pension, meaning, proofs of existence. A man without a company name is a man without a country.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)