Daniel J. Fritsche (born July 13, 1985) is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

former professional

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He played for

Genève-Servette HC The Genève-Servette HC (also called Servette or GSHC) is a professional ice hockey club based in Geneva, Switzerland and competing in the National League (NL), the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system. The team plays their home games at the ...

HC Lugano Hockey Club Lugano, often abbreviated to HC Lugano or HCL, is a professional ice hockey club based in Lugano, Switzerland. The team competes in the National League (NL) and has won seven Swiss championships. History The founding of HC Lugano took ...

and the

ZSC Lions The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (ZSC Lions) are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and playe ...

in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

(NL) and in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) for the

Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, ...

, the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

and the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

Playing career

Fritsche began his junior hockey career with his hometown Cleveland Barons of the

North American Hockey League The North American Hockey League (NAHL) is one of the top junior hockey leagues in the United States and is in its 48th season of operation in 2022–23. It is the only Tier II junior league sanctioned by USA Hockey, and acts as an alternati ...

. He then played for the

Sarnia Sting Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a 2021 population of 72,047, and is the largest city on Lake Huron. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes where Lake Huron flo ...

and the

London Knights The London Knights are a junior ice hockey team from London, Ontario, Canada, playing in the Ontario Hockey League, one of the leagues of the Canadian Hockey League. The Knights started out in 1965 as the London Nationals but changed to their cu ...

, and won a gold medal at the 2004

World Junior Hockey Championship The IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC), or simply the "World Juniors" in ice hockey circles, is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for national under-20 ice hockey teams from around the world. It is t ...

, playing for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He won a

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League, a consortium of three major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tournament played between t ...

playing for the Knights in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. He also played youth hockey for the Parma Flyers and is one of three players to go into the NHL from there. The other two players are

Brian Holzinger Brian Alan Holzinger (born October 10, 1972) is an American former professional ice hockey center. He played in the National Hockey League with the Buffalo Sabres, Tampa Bay Lightning, Pittsburgh Penguins and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Playing c ...

and

Michael Rupp Michael Ryan Rupp (born January 13, 1980) is an American former professional ice hockey center. He has previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New Jersey Devils, Phoenix Coyotes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins,New ...

. Fritsche was ranked in the top ten in nearly every pre-draft report, but shoulder concerns scared teams away. He was drafted in the second round of the

2003 NHL Entry Draft The 2003 NHL Entry Draft was the 41st NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee on June 21 and 22, 2003. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was selected first overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins. This was ...

, 46th overall, by the

. After playing for parts of four seasons with the Blue Jackets, Fritsche was traded along with

Nikolai Zherdev Mykola Olehovych "Nikolay" Zherdev ( uk, Микола Олегович Жердев; born November 5, 1984) is a Ukrainian-Russian professional ice hockey right winger who is currently playing for the HC Merano of the Alps Hockey League. He p ...

to the

on July 2, 2008 for defensemen

Fedor Tyutin Fedor Anatolievich Tyutin (russian: Фёдор Анатольевич Тютин, ''Fjodor Tjutin''; born 19 July 1983) is a Russian former professional ice hockey defenceman. Tyutin was drafted in the second round, 40th overall by the New York R ...

and

Christian Bäckman Christian Rune Bäckman (born 28 April 1980) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played over 300 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the St. Louis Blues, New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets, and spent the ...

. On January 29, 2009, Fritsche was traded by the Rangers to the

for defenseman

Erik Reitz Erik Reitz (born July 29, 1982) is an American former professional ice hockey player, known as an enforcer, who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Minnesota Wild and the New York Rangers. Playing career Reitz was drafted 170th o ...

. After finishing the season with the Wild, Fritsche was not tendered a qualifying offer and became an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2009. On September 3, 2009, Fritsche was invited to the

Atlanta Thrashers The Atlanta Thrashers were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta. Atlanta was granted a franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL) on June 25, 1997, and became the League's 28th franchise when it began play in the 1999–2000 seaso ...

training camp for the 2009–10 season, but was not offered a contract. On October 5, 2009, he returned to the Blue Jackets organization by signing a contract with the AHL's Syracuse Crunch. In 2010, Fritsche began playing in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

National League A The National League (NL) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland and is the top tier of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league ha ...

for Geneve-Servette HC (GSHC). In January 2013, he signed a three-year contract with the

that extended him with the team through 2016. However, on November 29, 2013, Fritsche was traded to ZSC Lions, who were coached by

Marc Crawford Marc Joseph John Crawford (born February 13, 1961) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. He most recently was the assistant coach for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Crawford won the Stanley Cu ...

. Zurich won the 2013–14 NLA championship and Fritsche played a pivotal role in scoring four point in four games during the finals.

National team

Fritsche won gold with the US national team at the

2004 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 2004 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (''2004 WJHC'') was held between December 26, 2003, and January 5, 2004, in Helsinki and Hämeenlinna, Finland. The United States won its first ever gold medal, defeating Canada 4–3 in the final. V ...

and also represented the country at the 2005 WJC. He made his debut on the Swiss Men's National Team in December 2014. According to IIHF rules, he had to play four years in Switzerland before being eligible to represent Switzerland.

Personal life

His great-grandparents emigrated from

Appenzell Appenzell is a historic canton in the northeast of Switzerland, and entirely surrounded by the canton of St. Gallen. Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1403 and entered a league with the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1411, ...

, Switzerland, to the United States. His younger brother, Tom Fritsche, was a prospect in the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

system. He was drafted 47th overall, in the

2005 NHL Entry Draft The 2005 NHL Entry Draft was the 43rd NHL Entry Draft. Originally scheduled to be held on June 25, the 2004–05 NHL lockout led to the draft being postponed to July 30. Special procedures were required to determine the order of picks, because ...

. His career was cut short due to concussion. His cousin,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

, plays for Fribourg-Gottéron. His uncle, John Fritsche Sr., was a longtime player in

for HC Ambri-Piotta,

and

EV Zug EV Zug is a professional men's ice hockey team from Zug, Switzerland. It is a member of the National League and plays its home games at the Bossard Arena. History EV Zug won its first championship in the 1997–98 season, and the second one in t ...

, played for the

at the 1990

World Hockey Championship The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annua ...

, and coached the

Ohio Junior Blue Jackets The Ohio Junior Blue Jackets were a Tier 1 junior ice hockey team playing in the East Division of the United States Hockey League (USHL). The 2006-07 USHL media guide (p. 37) lists the Ohio Junior Blue Jackets as the successor to the Thunder ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fritsche, Dan 1985 births Living people American men's ice hockey left wingers American people of Swiss descent Columbus Blue Jackets draft picks Columbus Blue Jackets players

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoi ...

Genève-Servette HC players HC Lugano players Ice hockey players from Ohio London Knights players Memorial Cup winners Minnesota Wild players New York Rangers players People from Parma, Ohio Sarnia Sting players Sportspeople from Cuyahoga County, Ohio Syracuse Crunch players ZSC Lions players Swiss ice hockey players