Kelly Summers is a Canadian

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 ...

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

who is currently signed to the

Nottingham Panthers The Nottingham Panthers are a British professional ice hockey club based in Nottingham, England. They are members of the Elite Ice Hockey League. Their main team sponsor is the Nottingham Building Society. The Nottingham Panthers have won four ...

of the

EIHL The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey ...

. He was an All-American for Clarkson.

Playing career

Summers had a tremendous season of junior hockey as an 18-year old, averaging more than a point per game and helping the

Carleton Place Canadians The Carleton Place Canadians are a junior ice hockey team based in Carleton Place, Ontario Canada. The Canadians are members of the Central Canada Hockey League and Canadian Junior Hockey League, and as such are eligible for the Eastern Canadian ...

win the Fred Page Cup. After the season Summers was drafted by the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

in the NHL draft. He began attending

Clarkson University Clarkson University is a private research university with its main campus in Potsdam, New York, and additional graduate program and research facilities in the New York Capital Region and Beacon, New York. It was founded in 1896 and has an enr ...

that fall and debuted for the ice hockey team. Summers provided steady production from the blueline and improved each season in terms of his offensive numbers. For his senior season, Summers became one of the top players in college hockey, nearly doubling his point production and helping the Golden Knights reach the ECAC championship game. That season, Clarkson made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in decade and while their appearance was short-lived, it was a huge step for the program. After graduating, Summers signed a contract with the

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). The E ...

Adirondack Thunder The Adirondack Thunder are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL that began play in the 2015–16 season. The team is based in Glens Falls, New York, and affiliated with the NHL's New Jersey Devils. The Thunder play their home games at the ...

and produced well as a rookie. Near the end of the year he signed a PTO (professional try-out) contract with the

Belleville Senators The Belleville Senators are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play in the 2017–18 season as the top minor league affiliate of the National Hockey League team, the Ottawa Senators. Based in Bellevill ...

but didn't play in any games for the squad. After resigning with Adirondack, Summers finally got a shot at the AHL when he was loaned to the Binghamton Devils for 9 games. Summers' time in the minor leagues was cut short when the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

ended the 2019–20 season prematurely and then caused the following year to be delayed. Instead of waiting around for his chance to play, Summers travelled to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

to play for ETC Crimmitschau, where he remained for two years - but sat out the 2021–22 season due to a shoulder injury. On 12 July 2022, Summers was revealed to be the latest signing for the

Personal life

Summers' cousin Mike Sullivan also played college hockey. Coincidentally, he too played 4 years at Clarkson.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Summers, Kelly 1996 births Living people Canadian ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey people from Madison, Wisconsin AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans Clarkson Golden Knights men's ice hockey players Adirondack Thunder players Binghamton Devils players ETC Crimmitschau players Nottingham Panthers players Ottawa Senators draft picks