Cory Cross is a Canadian former professional ice hockeydefenceman, who played twelve seasons in the National Hockey League. He now resides in West Kelowna, with his wife Shannon, an ex city police officer and now artist, and their two children. Cross is part owner of an oil and gas service company, R'ohan Well and Rig Services and one of the co-founders of ProSmart Sports an online hockey learning platform.
After being drafted first overall in the 1992 Supplemental Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning, Cross went on to spend 12 NHL seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings. He was a physically imposing player with a powerful shot. After getting recruited from his hockey class at the University of Alberta, Cross spent three seasons for the University of Alberta, as they won three Canada West championships and one National championship in 1992. Cross made his professional debut with Atlanta Knights of the IHL in the 1993-1994 season. The Knights won the Turner Cup championship, only losing 2 games in the playoffs. He was called up to the parent club, Tampa Bay Lightning, for the last five games of the 93-94 season. Despite, making the Lightning after the 94-95 exhibition season, he returned to the Knights during the NHL lockout. At the end of the lockout, Cross was called up to the Lightning for the remainder of the season. After spending five full seasons in Tampa Bay, Cross, along with a seventh-round draft pick, was dealt in the off-season to the Toronto Maple Leafs, in exchange for Fredrik Modin. Cross scored one of the biggest goals of his career on April 16, 2001 when he potted the overtime game-winning goal for Toronto over the Ottawa Senators in Game 3 in the first round of the 2001 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on the way to an upset sweep of the number-two seeded Senators. After three relatively good seasons with the Leafs, Cross was signed as an unrestricted free agent by the New York Rangers. Cross played only 26 games in New York before being traded again, this time to the Edmonton Oilers, along with Radek Dvorak in exchange for Anson Carter and Ales Pisa. Cross played 113 games for Edmonton before being traded along with Jani Rita to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Dick Tarnstrom. On March 9, 2006, Cross was traded from the Penguins to the Detroit Red Wings for fourth round draft pick in 2007. Cross signed with the Hamburg Freezers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga in July 2006. Cross played one season with Hamburg and formally retired as an active player in September 2009. Cross was a member of Team Canada at three World Championships, winning gold in 1997 and 2003.
