Mark Bell (born on August 5, 1980 in St. Paul's, Ontario) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward currently contracted with Kloten Flyers.

[edit] Playing career

Bell started playing hockey at four years old, and grew up admiring Wayne Gretzky and Doug Gilmour.^[1] He played four seasons in the minor Ontario Hockey League with the Ottawa 67's, and was part of the Memorial Cup championship in 1998–99. He was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft as the eighth overall pick, and scored his first goal against Patrick Roy.^[1] Bell was a bronze medalist with Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships in 2000. In the summer of 2006, he was traded to the San Jose Sharks in a three-way deal involving Chicago and the Ottawa Senators^[2] He was acquired by the Toronto Maple Leafs via trade at the 2007 NHL Entry Draft on June 22, 2007.

Bell is currently in the final year of a 3-year, US$6.5 million contract signed in July 2006. Bell will be paid US$2 million for the first two years of the contract and US$2.5 million for the final year. On October 6, 2008, Bell was placed on waivers^[3], which cleared the way for him being assigned to Toronto's AHL farm team, the Toronto Marlies. On February 25, 2009, Bell was placed on re-entry waivers and claimed by the New York Rangers.^[4][5] He was then assigned to the Rangers' AHL team, the Hartford Wolf Pack. He was invited to Philadelphia Flyers training camp on September 2nd and signed on 06 October 2009 with Nationalliga A club Kloten Flyers.

[edit] Legal trouble

During the 2006 Labour Day weekend, in Milpitas, California, Bell's rented Toyota Camry was traveling an estimated 100 km per hour when it rear-ended a pickup truck at a stop sign driven by Jose Luis Villafana, the latter's vehicle being hit 15 metres up a steep hill and wrapped it around a telephone pole. The victim was uninsured and unlicensed and suffered multiple head, back and leg injuries in the crash. Bell was arrested shortly after walking away from the accident. He blew .201 in a breathalyzer test about a half-hour after the accident, and a blood test revealed a blood-alcohol level of 0.15, considerably higher than the legal limit of 0.08.

Bell was charged with hit and run and driving under the influence.^[6] Both are felony offences. His arraignment was set for January 3, 2007.^[7] Bell pleaded no contest to drunk driving causing injury and hit-and-run on August 14, 2007. Prior to sentencing, Bell had to pay restitution, including medical bills and the cost of the vehicle to Villafana, who has also filed a civil suit seeking "unlimited damages".^[8] He was to serve six months in jail after completing the 2007-08 hockey season but later told to work in a California jail which he did from June 2nd, 2008 to August 15th, 2008.^[9]

In addition to his conviction, Bell was placed in Stage 2 of the NHL/NHLPA Substance Abuse Program and was suspended for 15 games without pay by the NHL on September 12, 2007. The Leafs management had anticipated that Bell would face some sort of suspension, however based upon past precedent they did not expect it to be so lengthy. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman justified the suspension, saying "Playing in the National Hockey League is a privilege, and with that privilege comes a corresponding responsibility for exemplary conduct off the ice as well as on it". The NHLPA disagreed, saying "there is no legitimate purpose served by adding a substantial league disciplinary suspension to the severe sanctions that have already been imposed". This had been suggested as a sign that the NHL was imposing stricter discipline for off-ice antics of players, after Michael Vick was expelled from the NFL as a result of his conviction for running a dog-fighting ring.^[10][11]

Bell has stated that as a result of the accident, realizing that his career was slipping away because of his irresponsibility, he has changed his lifestyle and has been sober since then, saying "Now, every day I wake up I realize I'm living a dream. It's taken a while for me to understand that. Now that I have, I'm going to grab it. My fun now is at the rink".^[12]

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mark Bell's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Mark Bell's NHL player profile