Luc Snuggerud (born January 2, 1995) 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 ...

former

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 ...

. He was an All-American for

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

Playing career

Snuggerud was a star defenseman for

Eden Prairie High School Eden Prairie High School (EPHS) (formerly Eden Prairie Senior High School) is a four-year public high school in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, United States established in 1923. The present high school opened in 1981 and was significantly added to in ...

, receiving the

Reed Larson Reed David Larson (born July 30, 1956) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman and former captain of the Detroit Red Wings who played 904 regular season games in the National Hockey League between 1976 and 1990. He is a member of ...

award as the top defenseman in the state and leading the Eagles to the state tournament. After graduating, Snuggerud was selected by the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

in the 5th round of the

NHL draft The NHL Entry Draft (french: Repêchage d'entrée dans la LNH) is an annual meeting in which every franchise of the National Hockey League (NHL) systematically select the rights to available ice hockey players who meet draft eligibility requirem ...

and then began preparing for his freshman season at

. Snuggerud fir in well with the Mavericks, helping the team reach the NCAA Tournament, win its first two postseason games and appear in its first ever

Frozen Four The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...

. Snuggerud was named to the conference All-Rookie team and continued the sturdy play as a sophomore. He was named an

alternate captain In ice hockey, the captain is the player designated by a team as the only person authorized to speak with the game officials regarding rule interpretations when the captain is on the ice. At most levels of play each team must designate one captai ...

as a junior and took a big step forward, nearly tripling his goal production. While Omaha could only manage a .500 record, Snuggerud was named an All-American. After Omaha was eliminated from postseason contention, Snuggerud ended his college career by signing a three-year entry-level contract with the Blackhawks. He finished out the season with their minor league affiliate, the

Rockford IceHogs The Rockford IceHogs are a professional ice hockey team based in Rockford, Illinois. They are members of the American Hockey League (AHL), having begun play in the League starting in the 2007–08 season. The team plays their home games at the ...

. For his first full season as a pro, Snuggerud remained in the AHL and put up decent numbers, though he only played in about half of the team's games due to injury. His second season was an utter disaster as he was limited to just 4 games because of multiple

concussions A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness (LOC); memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentration, ...

. Before the season was even over, Snuggerud was placed on unconditional waivers by Chicago and the remainder of his contract was bought out. Despite the health concerns, Snuggerud did return to the ice. He finished out the season with the

Stavanger Oilers Stavanger Ishockeyklubb, commonly referred to as Stavanger Oilers, is a Norwegian ice hockey team based in Stavanger, Norway. They currently play in the Fjordkraftligaen, which is the top division in Norwegian ice hockey. As of 2018, it is the ...

and helped the team reach their league semifinals. The following fall, Snuggerud received a try-out from the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...

but he was released before the end of training camp. He then spend a little time in the AHL before returning to Europe and playing in the

EBEL Ebel is a Swiss luxury watch company that was founded in 1911 at La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. History Ebel was established in 1911 by Eugène Blum and his wife, Alice (née Lévy). The brand name originates from th ...

. After the season was cut short due to 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 ...

, Snuggerud had to scrounge to find a home in 2020. He eventually wound up with

Rytíři Kladno Rytíři Kladno ('' en, Kladno Knights'') is a Czech professional ice hockey team based in the city of Kladno. They are currently a member of the Czech Extraliga. The team president and owner is Jaromír Jágr, a former NHL player, who is current ...

, playing alongside

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 ...

legend

Jaromír Jágr Jaromír Jágr (; born 15 February 1972) is a Czech professional ice hockey right winger for and the owner of Rytíři Kladno of the Czech Extraliga (ELH). He previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins, ...

. He seemed to find his game during the season and proved solid on the blueline. Snuggerud helped the team win the 1st League championship and receive a promotion to the

Czech Extraliga The Czech Extraliga ( cs, Extraliga ledního hokeje, ELH) is the highest-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic. It was created by the 1993 split of the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League following the breakup of Czechoslovakia. The leag ...

for 2021–22.

Personal life

Both Luc's father Bo and his uncle

Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

played college hockey. Dave is also a former NHL player, appearing in 265 games over six seasons. His cousin,

Jimmy Snuggerud Jimmy Snuggerud (born June 1, 2004) is an American collegiate ice hockey right wing for the University of Minnesota of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). He was drafted 23rd overall by the St. Louis Blues in the 2022 NHL Entry Dr ...

, was drafted 23rd overall by 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 ...

in the

2022 NHL Entry Draft The 2022 NHL Entry Draft was the 60th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on July 7–8, 2022, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. Montreal were originally scheduled to host the 2020 draft but were unable to do so due to the COVID-19 pandem ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Snuggerud, Luc 1995 births Living people American men's ice hockey centers Ice hockey people from Minnesota People from Edina, Minnesota AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans Muskegon Lumberjacks players Omaha Lancers players Omaha Mavericks men's ice hockey players Rockford IceHogs (AHL) players Stavanger Oilers players Syracuse Crunch players Binghamton Devils players HC TWK Innsbruck players Rytíři Kladno players Bratislava Capitals players HC Košice players Chicago Blackhawks draft picks American expatriate ice hockey players in Norway American expatriate ice hockey players in Austria American expatriate ice hockey players in the Czech Republic American expatriate ice hockey players in Slovakia