William Borgen (born December 19, 1996) is an American 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 ...

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 ...

currently playing for the

Seattle Kraken The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and began play during the league's 2021–22 season. ...

of 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 ...

(NHL).

Playing career

Early career

Borgen attended

Moorhead High School Moorhead High School is a public high school in Moorhead, Minnesota, United States. Established in 1883, the school serves approximately 2,000 students in grades 912. Extracurricular activities Student groups and activities at Moorhead High Sc ...

in Minnesota, leading the school in his final year as captain before joining the

Omaha Lancers The Omaha Lancers are a Tier I junior ice hockey team and are members of the Western Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). Founded in 1986, the Lancers play at the Liberty First Credit Union Arena in Ralston, Nebraska. Previous ...

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 ...

to complete the 2014–15 season. Borgen was drafted by the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, in the fourth round, 92nd overall. He began his collegiate career the following season with St. Cloud State University of the

National Collegiate Hockey Conference The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) is an NCAA men's Division I hockey conference formed on July 9, 2011. The league began playing for the 2013–14 season, the same season that the Big Ten Conference began competition, as a combina ...

while majoring in sports management.

Collegiate

In his freshman season at St. Cloud State, Borgen recorded his first collegiate point, an assist, in a game against Michigan University on October 30. He later recorded his first collegiate goal during the NCHC playoffs against Western Michigan. In the end, he recorded 11 assists in conference games to lead all NCHC freshman defenseman. As a result, he was selected for the NCHC All-Rookie team. In his junior year, Borgen recorded a career high, and team leading, 14 points to earn NCHC Defensive Defenseman of the Year. He was also named an All-NCHC Honorable Mention.

Professional

At the completion of his junior season with the Huskies in 2017–18, in which he was selected as the Conference's defensive defenseman of the year, Borgen was signed to an entry-level professional contract by the Sabres on March 25, 2018. He was assigned to join the Sabres' AHL affiliate, the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, a ...

on an amateur try-out agreement to play out the remainder of the campaign. He eventually made his NHL debut against the Ottawa Senators on March 26, 2019. On July 21, 2021, Borgen was selected from the Sabres by the

in the

2021 NHL Expansion Draft The 2021 NHL Expansion Draft was an expansion draft that was conducted by the National Hockey League on July 21, 2021, to fill the roster of the league's expansion team for the 2021–22 NHL season, 2021–22 season, the Seattle Kraken. Backgrou ...

International play

Borgen was first selected to represent the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

at the 2016 World Junior Championships. He contributed with 3 assists in 7 games, as Team USA captured the bronze medal. On January 1, 2018, Borgen was selected to compete at the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* 1996 births Living people American men's ice hockey defensemen Buffalo Sabres draft picks Buffalo Sabres players Ice hockey players from Minnesota People from Moorhead, Minnesota Omaha Lancers players Olympic ice hockey players for the United States Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Rochester Americans players Seattle Kraken players St. Cloud State Huskies men's ice hockey players {{US-icehockey-defenseman-stub