View source for Branislav Mezei

{{Infobox ice hockey player
| image =
| image_size = 150px
| team = [[HK Nitra]]
| former_teams = [[New York Islanders]]<br>[[Florida Panthers]]<br>[[HC Oceláři Třinec]]<br>[[HK Dukla Trenčín]]<br>[[Barys Astana]]<br/>[[HC Plzen]]<br/>[[Espoo Blues]]<br>[[HC Pardubice]]<br>[[Lev Poprad]]<br>[[Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg]]<br>[[HC Vityaz Podolsk]]<br>[[KHL Medveščak Zagreb]] 
| league = [[Slovak Extraliga|Slovak]]
| position = [[Defenceman (ice hockey)|Defence]]
| shoots = Left
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 5
| weight_lb = 236
| ntl_team = Slovakia
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1980|10|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Nitra]], [[Czechoslovakia|CS]]
| draft = 10th overall
| draft_year = 1999
| draft_team = [[New York Islanders]]
| career_start = 2000
}}
'''Branislav Mezei''' (born October 8, 1980 in [[Nitra]], [[Czechoslovakia]]) is a Slovak professional [[ice hockey]] player. Mezei is a defenceman currently with [[HK Nitra]] of the [[Slovak Extraliga]]. Mezei has previous played in the [[National Hockey League]] (NHL) with the [[New York Islanders]] and [[Florida Panthers]]. Mezei also played for [[Barys Astana]] and [[HC Plzen]] of the KHL, and [[Espoo Blues]] of the [[SM-liiga]]. Mezei was a first-round pick of the Islanders in the [[1999 NHL Entry Draft]], tenth overall.

==Playing career==
Mezei moved to Canada to play junior hockey with the [[Belleville Bulls]] of the [[Ontario Hockey League]]. Mezei played three seasons with the Bulls from 1997 until 2000. After his second season, he was drafted tenth-overall by the New York Islanders. He joined the Islanders organization in 2000. Mezei played two seasons in the Islanders organization, including 66 games with the Islanders, before being traded to the Florida Panthers in July 2002. He was a member of the Panthers from 2002 until 2008, playing a further 178 games. 

During the 2004–05 lockout, Mezei played for [[Trinec Ocelari HC]] and [[HK Dukla Trenčín]]. In 2008, Mezei moved to Europe to play with Barys Astana of the KHL. He has since played for Espoo Blues, HC Plzen, [[HC Pardubice]] and Lev Poprad.

On August 31, 2014, Mezei remained in the KHL, signing with his fourth club, in Croatian based [[KHL Medveščak Zagreb]] on a one-year deal.<ref>{{citeweb| url = http://www.medvescak.com/khl/slovacki-branic-branislav-mezei-uskace-umjesto-bellea-no1151 | title = Slovakian defender Mezei signs instead of Belle | publisher = ''[[KHL Medvescak Zagreb]]'' | date = 2014-08-31 | accessdate = 2014-08-31 | language = Croatian}}</ref> After just 8 games with the Croatian club, Mezei was released mutually from his contract in order to return to his native Slovakia with HK Nitra on October 24, 2014.

==International play==
He has also played with the [[Slovak national ice hockey team]] in [[Ice Hockey World Championships]] in 2001, 2004 and 2008.

==Career statistics==
===Regular season and playoffs===
{| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:60em"
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0" 
! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff" | 
! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" | 
! colspan="5" | [[Regular season]] 
! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" | 
! colspan="5" | [[Playoffs]] 
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0" 
! [[Season (sports)|Season]] 
! Team 
! League 
! GP 
! [[Goal (ice hockey)|G]] 
! [[Assist (ice hockey)|A]] 
! [[Point (ice hockey)|Pts]] 
! [[Penalty (ice hockey)|PIM]] 
! GP
! G 
! A 
! Pts 
! PIM
|-
| 1995–96
| [[HK Nitra]]
| Slovak.20
| 45||5||10||15||86
| —||—||—||—||—
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1996–97
| HK Nitra
| Slovak.20
| 52||7||22||29||114
| —||—||—||—||—
|-
| [[1997–98 NHL season|1997–98]]
| [[Belleville Bulls]]
| [[Ontario Hockey League|OHL]]
| 53||3||5||8||58
| 8||0||2||2||8
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| [[1998–99 OHL season|1998–99]]
| Belleville Bulls
| OHL
| 60||5||18||23||90
| 18||0||4||4||29
|-
| [[1999–00 OHL season|1999–00]]
| Belleville Bulls
| OHL
| 58||7||21||28||99
| 6||0||3||3||10
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| [[2000-01 NHL season|2000–01]]
| [[New York Islanders]]
| [[National Hockey League|NHL]]
| 42||1||4||5||53
| —||—||—||—||—
|-
| [[2000–01 AHL season|2000–01]]
| [[Lowell Lock Monsters]]
| [[American Hockey League|AHL]]
| 20||0||3||3||28
| —||—||—||—||—
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| [[2001–02 AHL season|2001–02]]
| [[Bridgeport Sound Tigers]]
| AHL
| 59||1||9||10||137
| 20||0||1||1||48
|-
| [[2001–02 NHL season|2001–02]]
| New York Islanders
| NHL
| 24||0||2||2||12
| —||—||—||—||—
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| [[2002–03 NHL season|2002–03]]
| [[Florida Panthers]]
| NHL
| 11||2||0||2||10
| —||—||—||—||—
|-
| [[2002–03 AHL season|2002–03]]
| [[San Antonio Rampage]]
| AHL
| 1||0||0||0||0
| 3||0||0||0||0
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| [[2003–04 NHL season|2003–04]]
| Florida Panthers
| NHL
| 45||0||7||7||80
| —||—||—||—||—
|-
| [[2004–05 Czech Extraliga season|2004–05]]
| [[HC Oceláři Třinec]]
| [[Czech Extraliga|Czech]]
| 41||1||2||3||68
| —||—||—||—||—
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| [[2004–05 Slovak Extraliga season|2004–05]]
| [[HK Dukla Trenčín]]
| [[Slovak Extraliga|Slovak]]
| 10||1||1||2||16
| 12||1||2||3||38
|-
| [[2005–06 NHL season|2005–06]]
| Florida Panthers
| NHL
| 16||0||1||1||37
| —||—||—||—||—
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| [[2006–07 NHL season|2006–07]]
| Florida Panthers
| NHL
| 45||0||3||3||55
| —||—||—||—||—
|- 
| [[2007-08 NHL season|2007–08]]
| Florida Panthers
| NHL
| 57||2||2||4||64
| —||—||—||—||—
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| [[2008–09 KHL season|2008–09]]
| [[Barys Astana]]
| [[Kontinental Hockey League|KHL]]
| 56||5||5||10||151
| 3||0||1||1||6
|- 
| [[2009–10 Czech Extraliga season|2009–10]]
| [[HC Plzeň]]
| Czech
| 19||0||0||0||61
| —||—||—||—||—
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| [[2009–10 SM-liiga season|2009–10]]
| [[Espoo Blues]]
| [[SM-liiga|SM-l]]
| 38||0||4||4||120
| 3||1||2||3||4
|- 
| [[2010–11 Czech Extraliga season|2010–11]]
| [[HC Pardubice]]
| Czech
| 51||6||9||15||118
| 9||0||1||1||16
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| [[2011–12 KHL season|2011–12]]
| [[HC Lev Poprad]]
| KHL
| 53||3||11||14||117
| —||—||—||—||—
|-
| [[2012-13 KHL season|2012–13]]
| [[Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg]]
| KHL
| 51||8||13||21||89
| —||—||—||—||—
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| [[2013–14 KHL season|2013–14]]
| [[HC Vityaz]]
| KHL
| 47||4||4||8||108
| —||—||—||—||—
|-
| [[2014–15 KHL season|2014–15]]
| [[KHL Medveščak Zagreb]]
| KHL
| 8||0||0||0||14
| —||—||—||—||—
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 2014–15
| HK Nitra
| Slovak
| 40||4||10||14||65
| 12||0||2||2||27
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3" | NHL totals
! 240!!5!!19!!24!!311
! —!!—!!—!!—!!—
|}
{{MedalTableTop|name = }}
{{MedalCountry | {{ih|SVK}} }}
{{MedalSport | [[Ice hockey]]}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[World Junior Ice Hockey Championships|World Junior Championships]]}}
{{MedalBronze | [[1999 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships|1999 Manitoba]] | }}
{{MedalBottom}}
===International===
{| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" ID="Table3" style="text-align:center; width:40em"
|- ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! Year
! Team
! Event
! Result
! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" | 
! GP
! G
! A
! Pts
! PIM
|-
| [[1999 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships|1999]]
| [[Slovakia men's national junior ice hockey team|Slovakia]]
| [[World Junior Ice Hockey Championships|WJC]]
| {{brca}}
| 6
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 8
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| [[2000 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships|2000]]
| Slovakia
| [[World Junior Ice Hockey Championships|WJC]]
| 9th
| 7
| 1
| 0
| 1
| 6 
|-
| [[2001 IIHF World Championship|2001]]
| [[Slovakia men's national ice hockey team|Slovakia]]
| [[IIHF World Championships|WC]]
| 7th
| 6
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 2
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| [[2004 World Cup of Hockey|2004]]
| Slovakia
| [[World Cup of Hockey|WCH]]
| 7th
| 2
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
|-
| [[2004 IIHF World Championship|2004]]
| Slovakia
| WC
| 4th
| 9
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 6 
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| [[2008 IIHF World Championships|2008]]
| Slovakia
| WC
| 13th
| 5
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 8
|-
| [[2013 IIHF World Championships|2013]]
| Slovakia
| WC
| 8th
| 7
| 0
| 4
| 4
| 6  
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0" 
! colspan="4" | Junior totals 
! 13
! 1
! 0
! 1
! 14
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0" 
! colspan="4" | Senior totals 
! 29
! 0
! 4
! 4
! 22
|}
==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{hockeydb|31220}}
* {{nhlprofile|8467883}}
* {{Eliteprospects}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-ach}}
{{succession box | before = [[Taylor Pyatt]] | title = [[List of New York Islanders draft picks|New York Islanders first round draft pick]] | years = [[1999 NHL Entry Draft|1999]] | after = [[Kristian Kudroc]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mezei, Branislav}}
[[Category:1980 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg players]]
[[Category:Barys Astana players]]
[[Category:Belleville Bulls players]]
[[Category:Bridgeport Sound Tigers players]]
[[Category:Espoo Blues players]]
[[Category:Florida Panthers players]]
[[Category:HC Lev Poprad players]]
[[Category:Lowell Lock Monsters players]]
[[Category:KHL Medveščak Zagreb players]]
[[Category:National Hockey League first round draft picks]]
[[Category:New York Islanders draft picks]]
[[Category:New York Islanders players]]
[[Category:HK Nitra players]]
[[Category:HC Oceláři Třinec players]]
[[Category:HC Dynamo Pardubice players]]
[[Category:HC Plzeň players]]
[[Category:People from Nitra]]
[[Category:San Antonio Rampage players]]
[[Category:Slovak ice hockey players]]
[[Category:HC Vityaz players]]

{{Slovakia-icehockey-bio-stub}}