Robert Schnabel (born November 10, 1978) is a Czech 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 ...

defenceman. He played 22 games 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 ...

with the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

between 2002 and 2004. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1996 to 2014, was mainly spent in various European leagues.

Playing career

Schnabel was drafted by the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

in round 3, #79 overall, of the

1997 NHL Entry Draft The 1997 NHL Entry Draft was the 35th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 21, 1997. As of 2022, the only remaining active player in the NHL from the 1997 draft class is Joe Thornton. Selections ...

and again by the

Phoenix Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are a professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Coyotes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and currently play at the Mull ...

in round 5, #129 overall, in the

1998 NHL Entry Draft The 1998 NHL Entry Draft was the 36th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 27 at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, New York. A total of 258 players were drafted. The last active players in the NHL from this draft class were Brian Gionta, Mi ...

. He was a product of

HC Slavia Praha HC Slavia Praha (eng: HC Slavia Prague) is a Czech ice hockey team located in Prague playing the Czech 1st National Hockey League, the second-highest league in the country. Slavia played in the Extraliga from 1994 until 2015, winning the natio ...

in the

Czech league Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

. After several seasons in North America, including 22

games for the

, Schnabel returned to Europe to represent first his hometown team in Prague and then

HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK ) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

in the Finnish

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

. In January 2007 Schnabel's contract with HIFK was terminated upon arrival of

Billy Tibbetts William Thomas Tibbetts (born October 14, 1974) is an American former professional ice hockey player who last played for the Cape Cod Bluefins of the Federal Hockey League. Playing career ECHL Tibbetts started his career in the ECHL with the ...

, as the SM-liiga only allowed a team to dress four foreign-born players per game, and Tibbets was HIFK's fifth foreign player. Schnabel was subsequently signed by

Jokerit Helsingin Jokerit (English: Jokers or Jesters) are a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland. The team won six league championships as a member of the Finnish SM-liiga (1973, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, and 2002). Jokerit plays its ...

of the same league. He played for

BK Mladá Boleslav BK Mladá Boleslav ( cs, Bruslařský klub Mladá Boleslav) is a Czech ice hockey team, which plays in the Czech Extraliga, the country's highest level. They were promoted into the league on 18 April 2014 after a two-year absence. They play their ...

on loan from HC Kladno. During his two seasons at the Manchester Phoenix, Schnabel won an EPIHL League Championship winners medal as well as both winners and runners-up medals in the Playoffs. In 2013–14 he was named to the EPIHL's First All Star Team by Ice Hockey Journalists. His retirement from hockey was announced via the Manchester Phoenix on 7 April 2014, the day after Phoenix lost 5–3 in the EPIHL Playoff Final to Basingstoke Bison at the Skydome Arena in Coventry.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

External links

* 1978 births Living people Arizona Coyotes draft picks BK Mladá Boleslav players Czech ice hockey defencemen HC Benátky nad Jizerou players HC Plzeň players HC Slavia Praha players HC Slovan Bratislava players HC Sparta Praha players HIFK (ice hockey) players HK 36 Skalica players Jokerit players Rytíři Kladno players Manchester Phoenix players Milwaukee Admirals players Nashville Predators players New York Islanders draft picks Piráti Chomutov players Red Deer Rebels players SHC Fassa players Ice hockey people from Prague Springfield Falcons players Timrå IK players Czech expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Czech expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Czech expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden Czech expatriate ice hockey players in Finland Czech expatriate ice hockey players in Slovakia Czech expatriate sportspeople in Italy Czech expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate ice hockey players in England Expatriate ice hockey players in Italy {{CzechRepublic-icehockey-defenceman-stub