Munich, Germany - Playing only his second game of the season, veteran Mike Bullard of the Schwenninger Wild Wings made DEL history Tuesday night. The 41-year-old became the first player in league history to reach the 500-point mark.

Bullard scored Schwenningen’s first goal in their 3-2 road loss at Ingolstadt, knocking a feed from former IHL sniper Dave Chyzowski past netminder Ilpo Kauhanen four minutes into the second period. In 446 DEL games (including playoffs), the league’s all-time leading scorer has tallied 208 goals and 292 assists, also league bests.

Fellow oldie and former teammate Wally Schreiber (40, Hannover Scorpions), who became the first player in league history to play 500 games on New Year’s Eve, is second on the all-time scorer list with 485 points (197G, 288A) in 510 DEL games. Len Soccio (also Hannover) currently ranks fourth with 417 points (133G, 284A, 388 games).

After eight straight DEL seasons, Bullard had started out the current campaign with Division-2 team Heilbronner Falken before returning to the Wild Wings in late January.

Over 700 NHL career points

Bullard was selected ninth overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft. He appeared in 727 regular season games, tallying 674 points (329G, 345A), and 40 playoff games (29 points, 11G, 18A) with Pittsburgh, the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs. Born March 10, 1961, Michael Brian Bullard’s 36 goals for the Pens in 1981-82 still rank him among the top-25 NHL rookie goal scorers all-time. He reached his highest goal total with 51 goals in 1983-84. “Bully” also broke the 100-point mark once in his NHL career, scoring 103 points (48G, 55A) in 79 regular season games as a 27-year-old for the Calgary Flames in 1987-88.

Bullard started his European career with a stint in Switzerland, where he scored 78 points (41G, 37A) for Ambri Piotta of the Nationalliga A in 1990-91 before returning across the pond for his final NHL season with the Leafs in 1991-92. His career in Germany started with EV Landshut in the German Bundesliga a year later. Bullard went on to play four more seasons there with the Landshut Cannibals after the DEL was formed in 1994, reaching the 70-point plateau two times. He also played two years for the Berlin Eisbären before joining the Schwenninger Wild Wings for the first time in 2000.

Here is a breakdown of the DEL Top 10 All-Time Scoring Leaders (including playoffs, as of February 11, 2003):
* active player

1. *Mike Bullard (Schwenninger Wild Wings, Eisbären Berlin, Landshut Cannibals)
(446 games, 209G, 291 A, 500TP)
2. *Wally Schreiber (Hannover Scorpions, Landshut Cannibals)
(510 games, 197G, 288 A, 485TP)
3. John Chabot (Preussen Devils, Berlin Capitals)
(366 games, 102G, 341A, 443TP)
4. *Len Soccio (Hannover Scorpions)
(388 games, 133G, 284A, 417TP)
5. Mark MacKay (Schwenninger Wild Wings)
(395 games, 157G, 242A, 399TP)
6. Andrej Kovalev (Revier Löwen Oberhausen, Krefeld Pinguine, Schwenninger Wild Wings)
(407 games, 194G; 190A, 384TP)
7. *Wayne Hynes (Adler Mannheim, München Barons, Schwenninger Wild Wings)
(460 games, 122G, 260A, 382TP)
8. *Thomas Brandl (Krefeld Pinguine, Kölner Haie, Düsseldorfer EG)
(389 games, 115G, 246A, 361TP)
9. *Martin Jiranek (Nürnberg Ice Tigers)
(365 games, 144G, 211A, 355TP)
10. Pavel Gross (Berlin Capitals, Mannheim Adler)
(347 games, 113G, 240A, 353TP)