Mathieu Schneider
Mathieu Schneider ( born June 12, 1969 in New York City, New York ) is a retired American professional ice hockey player who during his active career, among other things for the Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Detroit Red Wings, Anaheim Ducks, Atlanta Thrashers, Vancouver Canucks and Phoenix Coyotes played in the National Hockey League.
Career
Mathieu Schneider played until 1986 for the Mount Saint Charles Academy, a high school in Woonsocket (Rhode Iceland ), where he won three regional championships. He then moved to the Canadian junior league Ontario Hockey League, where he played three years for the Cornwall Royals.
After his first year in the OHL, he was selected in the NHL Entry Draft in 1987 by the Montreal Canadiens in the third round at position 44. In the season 1987/88 he was allowed to pass parallel to its operations in the OHL four games for Montreal in the National Hockey League. 1988/89 was his last year in the Junior League and as early as 1988 he was elected to the First All -Star Team of the OHL. Although he played at the position of the defender, he gained in his last year 73 points in 59 games.
1989/90 Schneider completed 44 games in the NHL and scored 21 points. In part, he spent the season with the farm team in the American Hockey League with the Canadiens de Sherbrooke. 1990/91 he made the final leap into the NHL and was an integral squad of Montréal.
In the 1992/93 season he was able to win the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens. Two years later, in April 1995 Schneider was transferred to the New York Islanders. In spring 1996, Mathieu Schneider took part for the first time at the NHL All-Star Game and a little later he moved to a transfer business to the Toronto Maple Leafs. There he remained for two and a half years before he was transferred again, this time in the fall of 1998 to the New York Rangers.
In the NHL Expansion Draft 2000, he was selected by the Columbus Blue Jackets, but he never played for the team and signed a few months later with the Los Angeles Kings a contract in which he played until 2003, and almost two years was an alternative captain. After his second participation in the NHL All-Star Game In 2003 he was transferred to the Detroit Red Wings.
For the Red Wings, he scored in the 2005/06 season with 59 points, the best result of his career.
In the 2006/07 season, Schneider was again an important pillar in the defense of the Red Wings. However, he injured himself in the second round of the playoffs and could not intervene, as the Red Wings defeated in the finals of the Western Conference of the Anaheim Ducks.
In the summer his contract ran out in Detroit, and he moved to the Anaheim Ducks, who offered him a two- year contract with a total amount of 11.25 million dollars. In Anaheim he could not quite match the performance of the previous two years, but could still play with twelve gates and 27 assists a good season.
But in the autumn of 2008 he had already left after only one year, when he was transferred to the Atlanta Thrashers the Ducks. In March 2010 he was transferred to the Phoenix Coyotes of the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Sean Zimmerman. At season's end, he ended his playing career.
Mathieu Schneider is among all Jewish ice hockey players in the NHL history the best scorer with 743 points.
Internationally
Mathieu Schneider won the 1996 U.S. Hockey Team the World Cup of Hockey. In 1998 he took part in the Winter Olympics in Nagano. 2002, however, he had to cancel his participation due to injury. At the Winter Games in Turin in 2006, he played again for the U.S., but failed to win a medal again.
Awards and achievements
- Stanley Cup 1993
- World Cup of Hockey 1996
- Participate in the NHL All-Star Game: 1996 and 2003
- OHL First All -Star Team in 1988 and 1989