Kelly Fairchild

Playing career

Kelly Fairchild entered the NHL draft in 1991 when the Los Angeles Kings picked him in the seventh round, 152nd overall. He played at Grand Rapids High School, where he stood out as a playmaker, then joined the University of Wisconsin in 1991. During his junior season with the Badgers in 1993-94, he topped the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in scoring with 64 points, earned a spot on the WCHA First All-Star Team, and finished second in voting for the Hobey Baker Award. Before his first pro season, on October 3, 1994, the Kings traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs alongside Dixon Ward, Guy Leveque, and Shayne Toporowski in exchange for Eric Lacroix, Chris Snell, and a fourth-round pick. After two years with Toronto's AHL affiliate in St. John's, he made his NHL debut in 1995-96, playing one game and picking up an assist. Over the next few seasons, he appeared in 22 more games for the Maple Leafs but spent most of his time in the minors. On July 2, 1998, he signed a two-year deal with the Dallas Stars. Though he contributed heavily to the offense of the Michigan K-Wings, he only played one game for the Stars in 1998-99. Seen as a seasoned minor-league veteran, he signed with the Colorado Avalanche in 2000. He was mostly assigned to the AHL's Hershey Bears for two seasons but did play 10 games for the Avalanche, scoring his first two NHL goals—his only ones—in 2001-02. With just 34 NHL games total, he left North America in 2002 to join Eisbären Berlin of the German DEL. After a strong first season in Berlin, he was a surprise pick for the U.S. team at the 2003 World Championships in Finland. Playing on a depleted squad, he scored in a loss to Denmark and finished the tournament with five goals in six games as the U.S. placed 13th out of 16 teams. He won back-to-back DEL championships with Berlin in 2005 and 2006, then moved to the Vienna Capitals in the Austrian Hockey League in 2007. In his final pro season, he captured the Asia League Ice Hockey championship with the Nippon Paper Cranes in 2009.