Craig Cunningham (ice hockey player)

Craig Cunningham
Date of birth	September 13, 1990
place of birth	Trail , British Columbia , Canada
size	178 cm
Weight	82 kg
position	Right wing
Shot hand	Right
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	2010 , 4th round, 97th position Boston Bruins
Career stations
2006-2010	Vancouver Giants
2010-2011	Portland Winterhawks
2011-2015	Providence Bruins
2013-2015	Boston Bruins
2015-2016	Arizona Coyotes Springfield Falcons
2016	Tucson Roadrunners

Craig Cunningham (born September 13, 1990 in Trail , British Columbia ) is a former Canadian ice hockey player who was active during his active career between 2006 and 2016 for the Boston Bruins and the Arizona Coyotes in the National Hockey League . On November 19, 2016, just before the start of an AHL game with the Tucson Roadrunners , he suffered cardiac arrest on the ice and was taken to hospital on reanimation . During the intensive care that followed, Cunningham recovered, but part of his left leg had to be amputated .

Career

youth

Cunningham in the jersey of the Vancouver Giants (2009)

Craig Cunningham was born one of three brothers in Trail. At the age of five he lost his father in a car accident. As a result, it was Ray Ferraro , also from Trail , an NHL professional and close family friend who came up with Cunningham's first ice hockey equipment. In youth Cunningham played for the local Trail Smoke Eaters and for the Beaver Valley NiteHawks in only a few kilometers away in Fruitvale . In addition, between the ages of 11 and 14, he drove twelve hours by bus to Vancouver every weekend during the spring season (March-June) for further training and games. As a result, he was selected in the 2005 Bantam Draft of the Western Hockey League (WHL) by the Vancouver Giants , with whom he played from the 2006/07 season. At the beginning, Cunningham lived in Vancouver with Ray Ferraro, who now lived there with his family. Ferrari's son Landon also began playing in the WHL at this time, so that a close friendship developed between him and Cunnigham.

In his rookie season with the Giants, Cunningham completed 63 games and reached the final of the President's Cup with the team , which they lost 3: 4 to the Medicine Hat Tigers . However, the Giants hosted this year's Memorial Cup , took part as hosts and won there in the final, again against the Tigers. In the following years the winger increased his statistics from 25 over 50 to 97 scorer points from 72 games in the 2009/10 season. Through these achievements he was elected to the First All-Star Team of the Western Conference and was a finalist for the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy . He was also given increased attention by scouts, so that he was selected in the NHL Entry Draft 2010 in 97th position by the Boston Bruins - this was the last time he was even considered for the draft, as he was already 20 years old and was not taken into account in the previous two years.

For the time being, however, Cunningham stayed in Vancouver and led the Giants as captain in the 2010/11 season until he was given up to the Portland Winterhawks in December 2010, including a six-round suffrage . In return, the Giants received Spencer Bennett , Teal Burns and a first- and a second-round vote in the Bantam Draft . Overall, Cunningham is in second place with 295 games and third in the team's internal leaderboards with 222 scorer points. After six months in Portland, where the team again reached the final of the President's Cup, he signed an entry-level contract with the Boston Bruins in July 2011 .

Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins gave it straight to the Providence Bruins , their farm team in the American Hockey League (AHL). There he completed all 76 games in the first season as the only player and led the team with 20 goals. He also spent the following season 2012/13 exclusively in the AHL and scored 46 points scorer in 75 missions. In December 2013, Cunningham made his debut in the National Hockey League (NHL) and in April 2014 for another use. For the play-offs for the Stanley Cup he was also appointed to the squad, but did not get an ice age. Meanwhile, he led the Providence Bruins as assistant captain.

At the beginning of the 2014/15 season, Cunningham was again in the NHL squad, but was sent back to the AHL after just three games.

Arizona Coyotes

In February 2015, the Bruins put him on the waiver , from where the Arizona Coyotes signed him . There he ended the season with 19 missions, but could not earn a regular place as part of the preparation for the 2015/16 season and was initially given to the Springfield Falcons . He led the Falcons in the season as team captain and was the team's best scorer with 46 points in 61 games.

The 2016/17 season began Cunningham in the AHL, with the Coyotes' new farm team, the Tucson Roadrunners . There he scored 13 points in the first eleven games of the season. On November 19, shortly before the start of an AHL game, Cunningham passed out on the ice due to ventricular fibrillation ; a cardiac arrest was the result. Fire service first responders immediately began cardiopulmonary resuscitation , which continued until they arrived at the local hospital. A little later he was transferred to Banner University Medical Center Tucson at the University of Arizona , where he was given an ECMO because his heart was still not beating independently . The introduction of a ventricular assist device stabilized his condition, but part of his left leg that had not been adequately supplied with blood for a long time due to the ECMO had to be amputated . Cunningham's condition improved noticeably, so that he could start rehab a little later . The original cause of the ventricular fibrillation, however, remained unexplained.

After the 2016/17 season, Cunningham received the AHL's Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award , which honors players with particular commitment and dedication to the sport of ice hockey.

In May 2017 it was announced that Cunnigham had changed to the management of the Coyotes and will henceforth work in the areas of scouting and player development.

Achievements and Awards

• 2007: Memorial Cup win with the Vancouver Giants
• 2010: WHL First All-Star Team (Western Conference)
• 2010: Finalist for the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy
• 2017: Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award

Career statistics

				Regular season							Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM
2006/07	Vancouver Giants	WHL		48	0	5	5	-5	38		15th	0	1	1	+2	15th
2007	Vancouver Giants	Memorial Cup									2	0	0	0	± 0	0
2007/08	Vancouver Giants	WHL		67	11	14th	25th	+2	72		10	1	2	3	-1	6th
2008/09	Vancouver Giants	WHL		72	28	22nd	50	+28	62		17th	5	9	14th	+1	12
2009/10	Vancouver Giants	WHL		72	37	60	97	+6	44		16	12	12	24	+5	12
2010/11	Vancouver Giants	WHL		36	10	35	45	+5	31		-	-	-	-	-	-
2010/11	Portland Winterhawks	WHL		35	17th	25th	42	+14	25th		21st	7th	14th	21st	+9	12
2011/12	Providence Bruins	AHL		76	20th	16	36	-12	20th		-	-	-	-	-	-
2012/13	Providence Bruins	AHL		75	25th	21st	46	+4	26th		12	3	5	8th	+3	4th
2013/14	Providence Bruins	AHL		75	25th	22nd	47	-3	40		12	3	4th	7th	+3	6th
2013/14	Boston Bruins	NHL		2	0	0	0	± 0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
2014/15	Providence Bruins	AHL		21st	5	10	15th	-5	8th		-	-	-	-	-	-
2014/15	Boston Bruins	NHL		32	2	1	3	-4	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
2014/15	Arizona Coyotes	NHL		19th	1	3	4th	-3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
2015/16	Springfield Falcons	AHL		61	22nd	24	46	-4	20th		-	-	-	-	-	-
2015/16	Arizona Coyotes	NHL		10	0	1	1	-1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
2016/17	Tucson Roadrunners	AHL		11	4th	9	13	-1	6th		-	-	-	-	-	-
WHL overall				330	103	161	264	+50	272		79	25th	38	63	+16	57
AHL total				319	101	102	203	-21	120		24	6th	9	15th	+6	10
NHL overall				63	3	5	8th	-8th	6th		-	-	-	-	-	-

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

Commons : Craig Cunningham  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Craig Cunningham at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Craig Cunningham at eliteprospects.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} "Taking the long road to Boston" (English, October 8, 2014, accessed November 7, 2014)
2. ↑ canada.com: “Trail guys lend a hand”  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English, August 28, 2007, accessed November 7, 2014)  
3. ↑ whl.ca: "Winterhawks acquire Cunningham from Giants" (English, December 28, 2010, accessed on November 7, 2014)
4. ↑ vancouvergiants.com: "Cunningham Cracks the Bruins" (October 8, 2014, accessed November 7, 2014)
5. ↑ bruins.nhl.com: "Bruins Sign McQuaid to Extension" (English, July 14, 2011, accessed on November 7, 2014)
6. ↑ nhl.com: "Bruins recall Griffith, assign Cunningham" (English, October 12, 2014, accessed November 7, 2014)
7. ↑ Craig Custance: After defying death, Arizona Coyotes minor leaguer Craig Cunningham has new lease on life. www.espn.com, January 5, 2017, accessed January 7, 2017 . 
8. ^ Tucson's Cunningham wins the Fred T. Hunt Award. theahl.com, April 7, 2017, accessed April 7, 2017 . 
9. ^ Coyotes Add Cunningham as Pro Scout. nhl.com, May 24, 2017, accessed May 24, 2017 .