Luc Snuggerud

{{Infobox ice hockey player

| name = Luc Snuggerud

| halloffame =

| image =

| image_size = 230px

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1995|01|02}}

| birth_place = Edina, Minnesota, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 0

| weight_lb = 190

| position = Defenseman

| shoots = Left

| played_for = Rockford IceHogs
Stavanger Oilers
Syracuse Crunch
Binghamton Devils
HC TWK Innsbruck
Rytíři Kladno
Bratislava Capitals
HC Košice

| ntl_team =

| career_start = 2014

| career_end = 2022

| draft = 141st overall

| draft_year = 2014

| draft_team = Chicago Blackhawks

}}

Luc Snuggerud (born January 2, 1995) is an American former ice hockey defenseman. He was an All-American for Omaha.

Playing career

Snuggerud was a star defenseman for Eden Prairie High School, receiving the Reed Larson award as the top defenseman in the state and leading the Eagles to the state tournament.{{Cite web|work=Eden Prairie Boys Hockey |url=https://www.epboyshockey.com/news_article/show/356417 |title=Luc Snuggerud of Eden Prairie named winner of Reed Larson Award |date=March 4, 2014 |accessdate=January 5, 2022}} After graduating, Snuggerud was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 5th round of the NHL draft and then began preparing for his freshman season at Omaha. Snuggerud fit 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.{{cite news|title=Omaha men's Hockey 2018-19 Media Guides - History and Records |url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/nebomaha.sidearmsports.com/documents/2018/10/4/18HKHistoryandRecords.pdf |publisher=Omaha Mavericks |accessdate=July 17, 2019}} Snuggerud was named to the conference All-Rookie team and continued the sturdy play as a sophomore. He was named an alternate captain 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. 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.{{cite news|title=Blackhawks place prospect Luc Snuggerud on unconditional waivers due to injuries |url=https://www.secondcityhockey.com/2019/2/10/18219363/blackhawks-place-prospect-luc-snuggerud-unconditional-waivers-nhl-2019 |work=Second City Hockey |date=February 10, 2019 |accessdate=January 5, 2022}} 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 and helped the team reach their league semifinals.

The following fall, Snuggerud received a try-out from the Tampa Bay Lightning but he was released before the end of training camp.{{cite news|title=Luc Snuggerud |url=https://puckpedia.com/player/luc-snuggerud |work=Puckpedia |accessdate=January 5, 2022}} He then spend a little time in the AHL before returning to Europe and playing in the EBEL. After the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Snuggerud had to scrounge to find a home in 2020. He eventually wound up with Rytíři Kladno, playing alongside NHL legend Jaromír Jágr. 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 for 2021–22.

Personal life

Both Luc's father Bo and his uncle Dave played college hockey. Dave is also a former NHL player, appearing in 265 games over six seasons. His cousin, Jimmy Snuggerud, was drafted 23rd overall by the St. Louis Blues in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.{{cite web |url=https://www.usahockeyntdp.com/news_article/show/1180143 |title=Hockey Runs Deep in Family for Jimmy Snuggerud |website=usahockeyntdp.com |date=August 24, 2021 |access-date=July 7, 2022}}

Career statistics

=Regular season and playoffs=

border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:60em"
bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff"\| ! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"\| ! colspan="5"\|Regular season ! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"\| ! colspan="5"\|Playoffs
bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! Season ! Team ! League ! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM ! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM
2011–12 \| Eden Prairie High School \| MN-HS \| 25	5	15	20	14	1	0	0	0	0
bgcolor="f0f0f0" \| 2012–13 \| Eden Prairie High School \| MN-HS \| 25	5	33	38	24	2	0	4	4	2
2013–14 \| Eden Prairie High School \| MN-HS \| 25	8	30	38	24	6	1	9	10	2
bgcolor="f0f0f0" \| 2013–14 \| Muskegon Lumberjacks \| USHL \| 3	1	2	3	0	—	—	—	—	—
2013–14 \| Omaha Lancers \| USHL \| 4	0	2	2	6	4	0	1	1	4
bgcolor="f0f0f0" \| 2014–15 \| Omaha \| NCHC \| 39	2	14	16	18	—	—	—	—	—
2015–16 \| Omaha \| NCHC \| 35	4	14	18	22	—	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="f0f0f0" \| 2016–17 \| Omaha \| NCHC \| 39	11	20	31	36	—	—	—	—	—
2016–17 \| Rockford IceHogs \| AHL \| 13	1	4	5	2	—	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="f0f0f0" \| 2017–18 \| Rockford IceHogs \| AHL \| 40	5	12	17	24	—	—	—	—	—
2018–19 \| Rockford IceHogs \| AHL \| 4	0	1	1	0	—	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="f0f0f0" \| 2018–19 \| Stavanger Oilers \| GET-ligaen \| 5	2	2	4	14	12	3	4	7	8
2019–20 \| Syracuse Crunch \| AHL \| 2	0	0	0	2	—	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="f0f0f0" \| 2019–20 \| Binghamton Devils \| AHL \| 6	0	1	1	2	—	—	—	—	—
2019–20 \| HC TWK Innsbruck \| EBEL \| 10	0	6	6	8	—	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="f0f0f0" \| 2020–21 \| Rytíři Kladno \| Czech 1 \| 12	2	8	10	8	16	0	8	8	18
2021–22 \| Bratislava Capitals \| ICEHL \| 14	4	4	8	14	—	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="f0f0f0" \| 2021–22 \| HC Košice \| Slovak \| 27	5	17	22	16	13	0	3	3	35
bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" \| AHL totals ! 65 !! 6 !! 18 !! 24 !! 30 !! — !! — !! — !! — !! —

Awards and honors

class="wikitable"

! Award

! Year

NCHC All-Rookie Team

| 2014–15

| {{Cite web|url=http://www.nchchockey.com/news_article/show/493145?referrer_id=878553-news|title = Denver, UND Lead Way with Multiple NCHC Individual Award Winners|date = 19 March 2015}}

All-NCHC Second Team

| 2016–17

| {{cite web|url=http://www.nchchockey.com/news_article/show/767141?referrer_id=878553-news |title=Denver, UMD Pace 2016-17 NCHC All-Conference Teams |date=8 March 2017 |publisher=Nchchockey.com |access-date=2017-07-15}}

AHCA West Second Team All-American

| 2016–17

| {{cite news|title=Men's Ice Hockey Award Winners|url=http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_icehockey_rb/2013/MIH%20awards%20for%202013.pdf|publisher=NCAA.org|access-date=June 11, 2013}}