Lance Eric Pitlick (born November 5, 1967) is an American 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 ...

player. He played in the

NHL 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 ...

with 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 ...

and

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

Playing career

Pitlick graduated from

Robbinsdale Cooper High School Robbinsdale Cooper High School is a 4-year public high school in New Hope, Minnesota, a northwest suburb of Minneapolis, United States. Cooper, as it is informally known, became an IB World School in July 1998, and now offers the IB Middle Years ...

New Hope, Minnesota New Hope is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States and a suburb of Minneapolis. The population was 20,339 at the 2010 census and 20,907 at the 2019 estimate. History New Hope was originally a farming community called Hope in Crysta ...

in 1986. He was drafted by his hometown

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

in the 9th round, 180th overall in the

1986 NHL Entry Draft The 1986 NHL Entry Draft was the 24th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 21, 1986, at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams selected 252 players eligible for entry into professional ranks, in the revers ...

. After being drafted, he played for the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

for four years, providing a strong defensive presence for the Golden Gophers. Pitlick was the University of Minnesota team Captain during the 1989–90 season. After college, Pitlick was signed by the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Wells ...

and played with their minor league affiliate

Hershey Bears The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town located 14 miles east of the state capital of Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the c ...

of the AHL for four years. Prior to the 1994–95 season Pitlick signed with the Ottawa Senators and played the majority of the season with the

Prince Edward Island Senators The Prince Edward Island Senators were a professional ice hockey team that played in the American Hockey League (AHL) from 1993 to 1996. Originally located in New Haven, Connecticut, for 21 seasons, including one as the affiliate of the National ...

along with also making his NHL debut with the Senators, playing in 15 games. After splitting the 1995–96 season between the Senators and the minors Pitlick was able to stay in the NHL permanently and played another 3 years with the Senators, scoring a career high 10 points and 91 penalty minutes during the 1996–97 season. Prior to the 1999–00 season Pitlick signed with the Florida Panthers. He played 3 years with the Panthers before retiring after the 2001–02 season.

Personal

Pitlick is not the only hockey player in his family; his nephew,

Tyler Pitlick Tyler Pitlick (born November 1, 1991) is an American professional ice hockey forward currently playing for the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2nd round (31st overall) of the 201 ...

, who was selected by the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

in the second round (31st overall) of the

2010 NHL Entry Draft The 2010 NHL Entry Draft was the 48th NHL Entry Draft, held on June 25–26, 2010 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, home arena of the Los Angeles Kings. This was the first time Los Angeles hosted the NHL Entry Draft. An unofficial re ...

, is currently playing in the NHL with the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

. His elder son Rem played collegiate hockey for the

and is currently playing for the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL. His younger son, Rhett, plays NCAA hockey at the University of Minnesota and was drafted 131st by the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

in the

2019 NHL Entry Draft The 2019 NHL Entry Draft was the 57th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 21–22, 2019 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia. The first three selections were Jack Hughes going to the New Jersey Devils, Kaapo Kakko being select ...

. His wife Lisa is also a former athlete. She attended the University of Minnesota and competed on Team USA's gymnastics team. After retiring from professional hockey in 2002, Pitlick became the founder of a hockey training products business called Sweet Hockey, which was later merged with another entity to create Sniper's Edge Hockey. Pitlick and his business partner sold Sniper's Edge in 2019, but Pitlick remains an advisor to its current owner. Today operates as a hockey training professional and co-founder of onlinehockeytraining.com, and recently launched "The Hockey Journey" podcast series where he interviews influencers throughout the game of hockey. Pitlick recently interviewed CEO David Shuler of Snipers Edge Hockey as part of the podcast series.

Career statistics

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitlick, Lance 1967 births Living people American men's ice hockey defensemen Florida Panthers players Hershey Bears players Ice hockey people from Minneapolis Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey players Minnesota North Stars draft picks Ottawa Senators players Prince Edward Island Senators players