Jack Connolly (born August 15, 1989) is an

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 ...

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 ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

who is currently playing for

Luleå HF Luleå Hockeyförening is an ice hockey club from Luleå, Sweden. The club has been playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden, since the 1984–85 season. They are the northernmost team in the league and h ...

in the

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (officially SHL; sv, Svenska Hockeyligan) is a professional ice hockey league, and the highest division in the Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, an ...

(SHL). He formerly played eight games with

Leksands IF Leksands Idrottsförening is a Swedish ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna. The team plays in the top-tier league, SHL, after succeeding through the 2019 SHL qualifiers and thus earning promotion to the SHL. The c ...

, where his older brother

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...

was also a teammate.

Playing career

Connolly played his high school hockey at

The Marshall School Marshall School is an independent, coeducational, day school in Duluth, Minnesota for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Marshall School is sometimes referred to as ''Duluth Marshall'' at Minnesota State High School League athletic tourn ...

, in

Duluth, Minnesota , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

before playing junior hockey in the

United States Hockey League The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the midwestern United States, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. The USHL is strictly ...

with the

Sioux Falls Stampede The Sioux Falls Stampede are a Tier I junior ice hockey team based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Stampede are members of the Western Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). The team plays home games at the Denny Sanford Premier ...

during the 2007–08 season. He began playing for the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs in the 2008 season. He helped UMD to their first ever NCAA Men's Hockey Championship in 2011. As a senior in 2011–12, Jack finished the regular season ranked second in the nation in scoring and 8th on the Minnesota-Duluth career points with 197 points. Jack Connolly played in every Minnesota-Duluth hockey game during his four years, equalling a total of 166 games. Connolly was named All-American three times and on April 6, 2012, Connolly won the 2012

Hobey Baker Award The Hobey Baker Award is an annual award given to the top National Collegiate Athletic Association men's ice hockey player. It has been awarded 41 times. It is named for Hall of Famer Hobey Baker, who played college hockey at Princeton University ...

. Undrafted, Connolly like his brother, opted to pursue a professional career abroad and signed to play the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season, with Swedish team

Färjestad BK Färjestad Bollklubb (; abbreviated as FBK) is a Swedish professional ice hockey team based in Karlstad. Färjestad has had 21 Swedish Championship final appearances, winning ten times since the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien) ...

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

. After two seasons, Connolly left as a free agent to sign with fellow SHL club, Leksands IF on April 23, 2014. In the 2014–15 season, Connolly left Leksands after 8 scoreless games to join

HockeyAllsvenskan HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAllsvenskan) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league, and the second-highest league in the Sweden, Swedish ice hockey system (after the Swedish Hockey League, SHL). Since the 2009–10 ...

club, Rögle BK on October 9, 2014. Connolly adapted quickly to produce 30 points in 40 games to help Rögle BK gain promotion to return to the SHL.

Career statistics

Awards and honors

References

External links

* 1989 births Living people American men's ice hockey centers American expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden Färjestad BK players Hobey Baker Award winners Ice hockey people from Duluth, Minnesota Leksands IF players Luleå HF players Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs men's ice hockey players Sioux Falls Stampede players Rögle BK players AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans {{US-icehockey-centre-stub