The Reinhart Connection

(Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire)

Paul and Max and Griffin and Sam… oh my! It’s safe to say that the Reinhart family is creating a hockey legacy among many leagues, and it will only grow from here.

It all starts with Paul – the father. His hockey career began mostly as a defenseman in 1975 with the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League, where he scored 39 points in 53 games during his first season. He played three more seasons there, accruing 78 goals and 153 assists in 217 regular season games total before being drafted by the Atlanta Flames of the NHL. He also cted as captain during his final season with Kitchener.

After being drafted 12th overall, he joined Atlanta immediately, playing 79 games and earning 47 points during his rookie NHL season. Paul remained with the franchise through its move to Calgary, playing there for the next eight seasons.

A serious injury midway through the 1983-84 season would, however, put a bit of a damper on the remainder of his hockey career. Reinhart twisted his back as he fell onto the ice after his skate caught a rut, and he was carried off the ice on a stretcher after suffering a herniated disc.

Despite this, he eventually returned to the league and was named an All-Star in 1985. Chronic back issues forced him to miss portions of several of his remaining seasons with the Flames, and the defenseman-sometimes-turned-forward was traded to Vancouver on September 6, 1989.

There, he played most of the next two seasons – 131 games, 24 goals and 90 assists – and was once again named an All-Star before the end of his NHL career.

Upon retirement, Paul and his wife Theresa settled in Vancouver, where their oldest son Max was born two years later.

Max, born February 4, 1992, began his CHL career at the age of 16 with the WHL’s Kootenay Ice. In two years with Kootenay, the centre scored 32 goals and tallied 46 assists in 134 games before being drafted by the Calgary Flames 64th overall in 2010.

After being drafted, Max returned to Kootenay for two more seasons, earning 79 (34-45) and 78 (28-50) points. He also saw a successful postseason with the Ice in 2010-11, tallying 15 goals and 12 assists in 19 games, and had two assists in three games this most recent playoffs.

Max then saw his first AHL regular season and four playoff games in 2011-12 with the Abbotsford Heat. He recorded a pair of goals in his American Hockey League debut on April 15 versus the Toronto Marlies, and this season will be his first full year in the AHL.

The family legacy continues with Griffin, the middle son born in West Vancouver on April 24, 1994. After playing 32 games with the Vancouver North West Giants during the 2009-10 season in the BCMML, Griffin joined the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings for two games.

Griffin has been with the Oil Kings ever since. He earned 25 points in 45 games during his first full season with the team in 2010-11, also seeing time in four playoff games. The defenseman’s numbers increased in all aspects last season – he scored 12 goals and 24 assists in 58 games, and had eight points (2-6) in 20 playoff games. He also ended the regular season with a plus-23 rating.

This past June, Griffin was drafted by the NHL’s New York Islanders fourth overall at the entry draft; just under three months later, he was named captain of the Oil Kings, and under his leadership, the team is 7-3-1-2 so far this season. The Oil Kings are second in the Central Division, tied for second in the conference and tied for third in the league.

Griffin has one goal and four assists in 13 games so far this season with Edmonton.

Joining Max in Kootenay – and making his WHL debut in 2010 – was Sam, the youngest of the three brothers. Born November 6, 1995 in Vancouver, he joined Kootenay for four regular season games in the 2010-11 season and scored twice in that stretch; he also skated in seven playoff games but was kept off the scoresheet during that time.

Following this, he remained with Kootenay for his first full WHL season in 2011-2012, where he once again played with brother Max.

Sam scored 28 goals and added 34 assists for 62 points and a plus-16 rating in 67 regular season games last season with Kootenay. He added a goal and assist in four playoff games, and is now in his second full year with Kootenay.

A center, Sam has three goals, nine assists and two penalty minutes, as well as a plus-2, in eleven games with the Ice so far this season.