Ryan Zapolski

Ryan Zapolski
Date of birth	November 11, 1986
place of birth	Erie , Pennsylvania , USA
size	183 cm
Weight	84 kg
position	goalkeeper
Catch hand	Left
Career stations
2005-2007	Mahoning Valley Phantoms
2007-2011	Mercyhurst College
2011–2012	Gwinnett Gladiators
2012-2013	South Carolina Stingrays
2013-2016	Rauman Lukko
2016-2019	Jokerit Helsinki
2019-2020	Vienna Capitals

Ryan Zapolski (born November 11, 1986 in Erie , Pennsylvania ) is an American ice hockey goalkeeper who was most recently under contract with the Vienna Capitals in the Austrian ice hockey league .

Career

Youth and college sector (2005-2011)

Zapolski began his career in the 2005/06 season with the Mahoning Valley Phantoms in the junior league North American Hockey League , where he had the best catch rate in the league with 92.9% in his second season . Between 2007 and 2011 he was on the ice for the university team of Mercyhurst College in the Atlantic Hockey , which is integrated into the game operations of the NCAA .

ECHL (2011-2013)

Ryan Zapolski (center) in the South Carolina Stingrays jersey

In April 2011, the American was signed by the Florida Everblades , for which he only played one game in the ECHL play-offs until the end of the 2010/11 season . The following year was marked by many club changes for the goalkeeper, so he was initially under contract with the Stockton Thunder from September 2011 , but was transferred to the Kalamazoo Wings within the league a month later without a deployment . After only one game, Zapolski was released and joined the Toledo Walleye in November 2011 , who also only played two games as a substitute goalkeeper. In February 2012 he moved to the Gwinnett Gladiators and guarded the goal there in a total of 12 games until the end of the season.

Shortly after the start of the 2012/13 season , the left catcher was given to the South Carolina Stingrays and was able to establish himself as a regular goalkeeper there with convincing performances. With a catch rate of 94.2% and an average of 1.64 goals conceded , Zapolski was the goalkeeper of the year in the ECHL and continued to be recognized as the most valuable player ( MVP ) and most successful rookie in the league. After the end of the season in the ECHL, he briefly had two loan engagements with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins and the Milwaukee Admirals from the American Hockey League , but remained unused at both clubs.

Liiga (2013-2016)

In the summer of 2013, Zapolski decided to move to Europe and signed a trial contract with Rauman Lukko in Liiga, Finland . One month after the start of the 2013/14 season , he received a firm contract and was with his performances instrumental in the catchment his team into the play-off semi-final, but where the Espoo Blues defeated and then in the 3rd place match against Saimaan Pallo won . In the following season, the American was able to build on his performance from the previous year, but failed again with Lukko in the semi-finals of the play-offs against JYP Jyväskylä .

KHL (2016-2019)

Between April 2016 and June 2019, Zapolski was under contract with Jokerit Helsinki from the Continental Hockey League and was the goalkeeper of the Joker .

EBEL (since 2019)

In July 2019, the Vienna Capitals from the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga announced their commitment.

International

Internationally, Zapolski represented his home country at the 2018 Winter Olympics and finished seventh there with the team that competed without an NHL player. He completed every minute of the game for the US selection.

Achievements and Awards

• 2013 ECHL Goaltender of the Year
• 2013 ECHL Rookie of the Year
• 2013 ECHL Most Valuable Player
• 2013 ECHL First All-Star Team

Career statistics

				Regular season				Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	ATM	SV%		Sp	ATM	SV%
2005/06	Mahoning Valley Phantoms	NEAR		39	2.85	91.7		8th	3.84	89.4
2006/07	Mahoning Valley Phantoms	NEAR		51	2.32	92.9		9	2.47	92.9
2007/08	Mercyhurst College	NCAA		13	3.82	89.6		-	-	-
2008/09	Mercyhurst College	NCAA		29	2.22	93.4		-	-	-
2009/10	Mercyhurst College	NCAA		36	2.79	91.8		-	-	-
2010/11	Mercyhurst College	NCAA		31	2.84	92.0		-	-	-
2010/11	Florida Everblades	ECHL		0	-	-		1	4.10	90.2
2011/12	Stockton Thunder	ECHL		0	-	-		-	-	-
2011/12	Kalamazoo Wings	ECHL		1	2.00	93.5		-	-	-
2011/12	Toledo Walleye	ECHL		2	2.02	93.2		-	-	-
2011/12	Gwinnett Gladiators	ECHL		12	2.54	91.3		0	-	-
2012/13	Gwinnett Gladiators	ECHL		2	2.00	91.8		-	-	-
2012/13	South Carolina Stingrays	ECHL		38	1.62	94.4		3	3.34	90.2
2012/13	Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins	AHL		0	-	-		-	-	-
2012/13	Milwaukee Admirals	AHL		-	-	-		0	-	-
2013/14	Rauman Lukko	Liiga		58	2.02	92.6		15th	2.30	92.0
2014/15	Rauman Lukko	Liiga		50	2.21	91.7		14th	2.14	91.5
2015/16	Rauman Lukko	Liiga		55	1.95	92.7		5	1.84	92.5
2016/17	Jokerite	KHL		40	2.45	90.9		4th	2.22	93.1
2017/18	Jokerite	KHL		39	1.76	93.1		5	2.44	91.9
2018/19	Jokerite	KHL		30th	2.64	89.4		2	3.97	80.0
2019/20	Vienna Capitals	EBEL		34	2.31	90.6		2	1.54	93.1

( Legend for the goalkeeper statistics: GP or Sp = total games; W or S = wins; L or N = defeats; T or U or OT = draws or overtime or shootout defeats; min. = Minutes; SOG or SaT = shots on goal; GA or GT = goals conceded; SO = shutouts ; GAA or GTS = goals conceded ; Sv% or SVS% = catch quota ; EN = empty net goal ; ¹  play-downs / relegation ; italics : statistics not complete)

Web links

• Ryan Zapolski at eliteprospects.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ naplesnews.com 2010-11 Kelly Cup Playoffs: Blades focused on themselves against K-Wings in first round
2. ↑ echl.com Thunder sign rookie Goaltender Zapolski
3. ↑ oursportscentral.com K-Wings Sign Zapolski
4. ↑ oursportscentral.com Walleye Sign Goaltender Zapolski
5. ↑ stingrayshockey.com Zapolski Receives ECHL Goaltender of the Year Honors ( Memento of the original from December 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ postandcourier.com Stingray's goalie Zapolski named ECHL MVP ( Memento of the original from December 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ goerie.com Erie's Zapolski to play hockey in Finland
8. ↑ US Olympic goalie Ryan Zapolski on the caps