Dan Spang (born August 16, 1983) is a former American-Italian professional ice hockey defenseman. He last played for Löwen Frankfurt in the German DEL2.[1] Spang was selected by the San Jose Sharks in the 2nd round (52nd overall) of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.

Dan Spang
Born (1983-08-16) August 16, 1983 (age 40)
Winchester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 205 lb (93 kg; 14 st 9 lb)
Position Defense
Shot Left
Played for Cleveland Barons
Worcester Sharks
Quad City Flames
Syracuse Crunch
Nürnberg Ice Tigers
Texas Stars
HPK
SaiPa
HV71
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod
Leksands IF
Oulun Kärpät
HC Kometa Brno
Hamburg Freezers
Nottingham Panthers
Löwen Frankfurt
NHL Draft 52nd overall, 2002
San Jose Sharks
Playing career 2005–2019

Playing career edit

Spang won a Massachusetts state championship in 2000 at Winchester High School. He was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the second round, 52nd overall, of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.

During his collegiate career, he was a co-winner of Boston University’s Most Improved Player Award following the 2003–04 season.[2] Spang led Boston University defensemen in goals (nine), assists (22) and points (31) in 40 games as a senior.[3] Won a Hockey East regular season and tournament championship at Boston University in 2005–06 he was an Alternate Captain for the Worcester Sharks as a rookie in 2006–07[4] and remained with the club for the following 2007-08 season.

The 2008-09 season saw him play for AHL franchises Quad City Flames, Syracuse Crunch as well as for ECHL’s Las Vegas Wranglers.

On July 21, 2009, he signed a contract for Nürnberg Ice Tigers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga,[5] where he spent the entire 2009-10 season. He then signed with the Dallas Stars organization to play for them in the 2010–11 season. However, he was assigned to the affiliates Texas Stars of the AHL.

Although Spang signed with the Växjö Lakers Hockey of the Swedish Elitserien (SEL) on May 4, 2011,[6] he extended his contract with the Dallas Stars organization on June 16, 2011.[7]

Between 2012 and 2015, Spang played for three different teams of the Finnish elite league Liiga, HPK, SaiPa and Kärpät. In between, during the 2012–13 season, he had a stint with Swedish SHL side HV71.

Spang opened the 2015–16 season in the KHL on the roster of Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. After eleven games played, he moved on to Czech club HC Kometa Brno. In December, he was signed by HC Lugano of Switzerland on loan to strengthen the club's roster at the Spengler-Cup.[8] In late January 2016, he signed with the Hamburg Freezers of the German top-tier league, DEL, for the remainder of the 2015–16 campaign.[9]

After two seasons with the Nottingham Panthers, Spang returned to Germany in 2018 with DEL2 side Löwen Frankfurt before retiring.

Career statistics edit

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2000–01 Winchester High School HSMA 24 8 37 45 14
2001–02 Winchester High School HSMA 6 9 8 17 14
2002–03 Boston University HE 27 3 6 9 14
2003–04 Boston University HE 38 5 9 14 12
2004–05 Boston University HE 41 3 13 16 22
2005–06 Boston University HE 40 9 22 31 14
2005–06 Cleveland Barons AHL 8 0 0 0 8
2006–07 Worcester Sharks AHL 48 4 21 25 18
2007–08 Worcester Sharks AHL 77 8 23 31 41
2008–09 Quad City Flames AHL 30 1 7 8 10
2008–09 Las Vegas Wranglers ECHL 17 2 10 12 10 16 5 10 15 2
2008–09 Syracuse Crunch AHL 24 3 10 13 6
2009–10 Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers DEL 48 4 10 14 45 5 1 2 3 0
2010–11 Texas Stars AHL 77 10 27 37 32 6 0 4 4 2
2011–12 Texas Stars AHL 70 4 22 26 28
2012–13 HPK SM-liiga 42 3 13 16 26
2012–13 HV71 SEL 11 1 2 3 0 5 0 1 1 0
2013–14 SaiPa Liiga 31 3 7 10 8 13 1 10 11 8
2014–15 Kärpät Liiga 55 2 10 12 26 14 0 1 1 0
2015–16 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod KHL 11 0 3 3 2
2015–16 HC Kometa Brno ELH 8 0 2 2 0
2015–16 Hamburg Freezers DEL 12 1 2 3 2
2016–17 Nottingham Panthers EIHL 51 9 19 28 24 2 0 0 0 2
2017–18 Nottingham Panthers EIHL 48 6 15 21 8 4 1 1 2 2
2018–19 Löwen Frankfurt DEL2 49 9 23 32 50 15 1 7 8 16
AHL totals 334 30 110 140 143 6 0 4 4 2
SM-liiga/Liiga totals 128 8 30 38 60 27 1 11 12 8

Awards and honors edit

Award Year
All-Hockey East First Team 2005–06
AHCA East First-Team All-American 2005–06
Hockey East All-Tournament Team 2006 [10]

References edit

  1. ^ "Löwen holen Routinier Dan Spang für die Verteidigung". Löwen Frankfurt. June 13, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
  2. ^ "Player Bio – Dan Spang". Forecaster.ca. October 2, 2010. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  3. ^ "Prospect Dan Spang Player Profile". Hockeysfuture.com. May 4, 2011. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  4. ^ "Dan Spang – Stats". American Hockey League. May 4, 2011. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  5. ^ "Ice Tigers sign Dan Spang" (in German). Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers. July 21, 2009. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
  6. ^ "Växjö värvar AHL-back" (in Swedish). Växjö Lakers Hockey. May 4, 2011. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
  7. ^ "Spang signed to two-way contract". Stars Blog. June 16, 2011. Archived from the original on June 20, 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-16.
  8. ^ "Dan Spang and Ryan Glenn: two defensemen for HCL at the Spengler Cup". www.hclugano.ch. Archived from the original on February 17, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  9. ^ MOPO.de. "Vertrag bis Saisonende: Freezers verpflichten Verteidiger Spang | MOPO.de". MOPO.de (in German). Archived from the original on February 16, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  10. ^ "2013-14 Hockey East Media Guide". Hockey East. Retrieved May 19, 2014.

External links edit