Colin White is known as a physical stay-at-home defencemen who enjoyed a 15-season professional hockey career, including 12 seasons with the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils.

Born on December 12, 1977 in New Glasgow, N.S., White worked at his dream, and one day he was one of three Pictou County hockey players on a very good team that came so close to winning the 1993 Atlantic major bantam hockey championship in O’Leary, P.E.I.

White’s fortunes included playing for the Weeks Major Midgets before he joined the Hull Olympiques in 1994. In his last season with the Olympiques in 1996-97, White helped them to a Memorial Cup championship.

The Devils drafted him 49th overall in 1996 and he toiled with their American Hockey League farm team in Albany, N.Y., the River Rats. In his third season with the team, White recorded five goals and 21 assists for 26 points in 52 games before joining the big club that was on its way to winning the Stanley Cup in 2000.

White fit in almost instantly. He scored two goals in 21 games down the stretch for the Devils and added a goal and five assists in 23 playoff games.

White had a rare achievement in that he was a member of a Stanley Cup-winning team who had played so few games in 2000 that he was officially an NHL rookie in 2000-01. As a result, and due to his high quality of play, he was named to the NHL all-rookie team that season.

White earned his second Stanley Cup ring with the Devils in 2003. After age and injuries began to intrude on White’s career, he signed a one-year pact with the San Jose Sharks for the 2011-12 season and later retired.

On several levels, White was an impact player. In contrast to his relatively low offensive numbers in the NHL, White collected three goals and 12 assists for 15 points in 14 playoff games for the Olympiques on their way to the Memorial Cup in 1997.

As a full-time player during his last two seasons with the Olympiques, White averaged 300 minutes in penalties. He averaged 250 penalty minutes in two full seasons with the River Rats.

White established himself early with the Devils as someone to be reckoned with in physical battles. He averaged more than 100 minutes in penalties in his first two seasons and slightly below that in each of the next three seasons.

One of White’s later rewards was to have his jersey retired by the Olympiques – the fifth alumnus with the team so honoured.

White has held the Devils organization and the area where he and his family live in high regard and he has been rewarded once more by joining the Devils alumni association.

Bio courtesy of Steve Goodwin