Dion Knelsen (born January 4, 1989) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

player who is currently playing with

EHC Olten EHC Olten is a Swiss professional ice hockey team based in Olten, Switzerland. It plays in the Swiss League, the second tier ice hockey league in Switzerland. It has claimed two Swiss League Championships, gaining promotion to the National Leagu ...

of the

Swiss League The Swiss League is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League. The winners of the league each season plays a best-of-seven series against the bottom team of the NL, and if they win, t ...

(SL).

Career

Knelsen attended the

University of Alaska-Fairbanks The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public land-grant research university in College, Alaska, a suburb of Fairbanks. It is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. UAF was established in 1917 and opened for cla ...

from 2006 to 2010 and turned pro in March 2010, when signing with the Peoria Rivermen of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL), who sent him to their

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). Th ...

affiliate, the Alaska Aces. After logging his first minutes as a professional ice hockey player in the ECHL, Knelsen opted to head to Norway for the 2010-11 season, landing a job with the Sparta Warriors. He quickly proved his scoring touch in Norway, recording 31 goals (plus 39 assists) in 59 contests en route to winning the championship. Knelsen moved to Sweden for his second year in Europe, joining

HockeyAllsvenskan HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAllsvenskan) is a professional ice hockey league, and the second-highest league in the Swedish ice hockey system (after the SHL). Since the 2009–10 season, the league consists of fourteen teams ...

team Mora IK, where he spent the 2011-12 campaign, totaling 17 goals and 19 assists in 51 games. He transferred to fellow HockeyAllsvenskan side Asplöven HC prior to the 2012-13 season. In April 2013, he returned for a second stint with the Sparta Warriors. He spent three more years with the team, lighting up the league in scoring with his best output coming in the 2015-16 season when he produced a league-best 34 goals in 50 contests. His scoring prowess drew the attention of other teams around Europe and Knelsen eventually penned a deal with Swiss NLB team

SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers The SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers are a professional ice hockey club from Rapperswil, Switzerland and are members of the National League. History The Lakers were founded in 1945 and were known as SC Rapperswil-Jona until 2005, when the club chan ...

in April 2016.

Family

His older brother Brandon (born July 24, 1987) played one game in the

with the Idaho Steelheads during the 2009–10 ECHL season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knelsen, Dion 1989 births Living people Alaska Aces (ECHL) players Alaska Nanooks men's ice hockey players Asplöven HC players Canadian ice hockey centres Drumheller Dragons players Ice hockey people from Alberta Mora IK players People from Kneehill County Sparta Sarpsborg players SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Norway