Playing career

Early years

Bochenski went to Blaine High School where he graduated in 2000. Bochenski was a part of the Blaine Bengals when they defeated the Duluth East Greyhounds 6-0 in the 2000 class AA championship. Also in the Minnesota State High School League tournament, Bochenski and the Bengals defeated Rochester Mayo, Hastings and finished the tournament leading the AA in scoring with 7 points. The St. Paul Pioneer Press named Bochenski along with teammates Matt Hendricks and Matt Moore to the second team of the All-State Boys hockey team.

Amateur

With the Lincoln Stars of the USHL in 2000-01, Bochenski led the league in goals with 47 and was the single highest goal total in the league over the past 15 years. Playing in 55 games that year, Bochenski had 80 points and was named the USHL's Rookie of the Year. His standout performances were noticed by the Ottawa Senators and he was subsequently drafted in the seventh round, 223rd overall, in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. Bochenski would then leave the USHL to pursue a collegiate career.

Bochenski was heavily recruited to play college hockey in the NCAA, finally choosing the University of North Dakota. Bochenski went on to spend three seasons with UND in the WCHA. As a freshman at UND, Bochenski led his team with five game-winning goals and was third in total points. While the Fighting Sioux failed to make the NCAA tournament in 2001-02, Bochenski would not fail again leading UND to two NCAA tournaments in his final two years at UND. In each of his final two years at UND, Bochenski led his team in goals, points and power play goals. After the 2003-04 season, Bochenski would sign with the Ottawa Senators where he would make his professional hockey debut with the Binghamton Senators of the AHL.

Professional

During his first season in the AHL with the Binghamton Senators, Bochenski racked up 34 goals and 36 assists for 70 points in just 75 games. The following year, he only saw action in 33 games, but scored 22 goals and had 24 assists. It would be the 2005-06 season when Bochenski would make his NHL debut with the Ottawa Senators.

After being called up from the Senators, Bochenski would debut on October 5, 2005, and go on to play in twenty games. His first NHL point was an assist versus the Buffalo Sabres on October 8, 2005. Just one week later on October 15, 2005, Bochenski would have his first career goal scoring against the Boston Bruins. In a game against the Florida Panthers on December 15, 2005, Bochenski scored his first career hat trick. Bochenski would then be traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, leaving the Ottawa Senators scoring six goals and assisting on seven others.

On March 9, 2006, he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks along with a second round pick in exchange for Tyler Arnason. Bochenski would record his first point for the Blackhawks on March 19, 2006, and his first goal on April 1, 2006. Bochenski would go on to play for the Blackhawks in twenty games before helping the Norfolk Admirals in which he tallied two points in three playoff games. In his twenty appearances in 2005-06, Bochenski would record four points.

In 2006-07, Bochenski spent the majority of the year with the Admirals. With Norfolk, Bochenski had a phenomenal year scoring at a torrid pace, 33 goals with 33 assists in just 35 games. After an early January 2007 injury to Martin Havlát, Bochenski was recalled and found more playing time. But on February 3, 2007, the Blackhawks traded him to the Boston Bruins for Kris Versteeg and a conditional pick. On February 6, 2007, soon after joining to the Bruins, Bochenski scored his first Bruin goal at the five-minute mark of the second period. The game ended in a 3-2 victory after a shootout against the Washington Capitals.

On June 18, 2007, Bochenski signed a one-year deal with the Boston Bruins for the 2007-08 season. However seldom used as a reserve forward after 20 games with the Bruins on January 2, 2008, the Bruins traded Bochenski to the Anaheim Ducks for Shane Hnidy and a 6th round pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. He played in 12 games with the Ducks with 4 points before he was traded to his third team within the season, the Nashville Predators, for future considerations on February 26, 2008.

On July 8, 2008, Bochenski joined his sixth NHL team when he signed as a free agent to a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Prior to the 2008-09 season on September 25, 2008, the Lightning placed Bochenski on waivers for the purpose of sending him to American Hockey League affiliate team, the Norfolk Admirals. Returning to Norfolk for a second stint, who were formerly affiliates with the Blackhawks, Bochenski was among scoring leaders of the Admirals and often the Lightnings first recall in cases of injury. After two seasons within the Lightning organization, Brandon became the Admirals record goal scoring leader, passing Casey Hankinson 76 goals to finish with 81 as well as hold the record for most game-winning goals (15) and power play goals (34).

On May 5, 2010, Bochenski left North America and signed a one-year contract with Kazakh KHL team, Barys Astana.

On March 24, 2016, the IIHF announced it had approved a request to allow Bochenski, Nigel Dawes and Dustin Boyd to play for Kazakhstan at the 2016 IIHF World Championship.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2000-01	Lincoln Stars	USHL		55	47	33	80	22		11	5	7	12	4
2001-02	University of North Dakota	WCHA		36	17	15	32	34		—	—	—	—	—
2002-03	University of North Dakota	WCHA		43	35	27	62	42		—	—	—	—	—
2003-04	University of North Dakota	WCHA		41	27	33	60	40		—	—	—	—	—
2004-05	Binghamton Senators	AHL		75	34	36	70	16		6	1	0	1	2
2005-06	Binghamton Senators	AHL		33	22	24	46	36		—	—	—	—	—
2005-06	Ottawa Senators	NHL		20	6	7	13	14		—	—	—	—	—
2005-06	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		20	2	2	4	8		—	—	—	—	—
2005-06	Norfolk Admirals	AHL		—	—	—	—	—		3	1	1	2	0
2006-07	Norfolk Admirals	AHL		35	33	33	66	31		—	—	—	—	—
2006-07	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		10	2	0	2	2		—	—	—	—	—
2006-07	Boston Bruins	NHL		31	11	11	22	14		—	—	—	—	—
2007-08	Boston Bruins	NHL		20	0	6	6	6		—	—	—	—	—
2007-08	Anaheim Ducks	NHL		12	2	2	4	6		—	—	—	—	—
2007-08	Nashville Predators	NHL		8	1	2	3	0		3	0	0	0	0
2008-09	Norfolk Admirals	AHL		69	27	26	53	48		—	—	—	—	—
2008-09	Tampa Bay Lightning	NHL		7	0	1	1	2		—	—	—	—	—
2009-10	Norfolk Admirals	AHL		42	21	19	40	16		—	—	—	—	—
2009-10	Tampa Bay Lightning	NHL		28	4	9	13	2		—	—	—	—	—
2010-11	Barys Astana	KHL		40	22	23	45	36		4	0	1	1	2
2011-12	Barys Astana	KHL		49	27	32	59	26		7	0	5	5	8
2012-13	Barys Astana	KHL		48	20	20	40	22		7	4	3	7	12
2013-14	Barys Astana	KHL		54	28	30	58	55		10	2	7	9	14
2014-15	Barys Astana	KHL		60	20	36	56	60		1	0	0	0	0
2015-16	Barys Astana	KHL		60	20	41	61	48		—	—	—	—	—
	NHL totals			156	28	40	68	54		3	0	0	0	0
	KHL totals			311	137	182	319	247		29	6	16	22	36

International

Year	Team	Event	Result		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2007	United States	WC	5th		7	2	3	5	6
Senior totals					7	2	3	5	6

Awards and honors

Award	Year
USHL Rookie of the year	2000-01
All-WCHA Rookie Team	2001-02
WCHA Rookie of the year	2001-02
All-WCHA Second Team	2002-03
All-WCHA First Team	2003-04
AHCA West First-Team All-American	2003-04
WCHA All-Tournament Team	2004

• Played in Two KHL All-Star Games (2012, 2014)
• 2014 First Team KHL All-Star
• 2011-12 KHL season Most Goals (27)
• Best forward of the Month, December, 2013

[ Source: Wikipedia ]