- Mark Streit
-
Mark Streit 
Born December 11, 1977
Englisberg, SwitzerlandHeight 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) Weight 202 lb (92 kg; 14 st 6 lb) Position Defence Shoots Left NHL team
Former teamsNew York Islanders
Montreal Canadiens
Swiss-A
HC Fribourg-Gottéron
HC Davos
ZSC LionsNational team 
SwitzerlandNHL Draft 262nd overall, 2004
Montreal CanadiensPlaying career 1995–present Mark Streit (born December 11, 1977) is a Swiss professional ice hockey defenceman and occasional forward and captain of the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL), also captaining the Swiss national team. He is presently one of five players in the NHL from Switzerland (the others are goaltender Jonas Hiller, defensemen Raphael Diaz, Luca Sbisa, and Yannick Weber).[citation needed] Streit is one of the few swingmen in the NHL, able to play both as a defenceman and as a forward.[1] He has always been on the front cover of the Swiss covers of the NHL series of hockey games, since NHL 08.
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Playing career
Streit began his career in the Swiss Nationalliga A with HC Fribourg-Gottéron in 1995–96 as an 18-year old. The following year, he transferred to HC Davos and improved to a 25-point campaign in 44 games in 1998–99, his third season with the team.
Garnering attention from North America, but undrafted by an NHL team, he bounced around the minor leagues in 1999–00, playing the majority of the season with the Springfield Falcons of the AHL.
Streit returned to the Nationalliga and spent five seasons with ZSC Lions after his brief North American stint. He helped the Lions to a Swiss championship in 2001, as well as back-to-back IIHF Continental Cups in 2001 and 2002. After a 12-goal, 36-point season in 48 games in 2003–04, Streit was drafted in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, 262nd overall, by the Montreal Canadiens at 26 years old (players are typically drafted at the age of 18).
As the 2004-05 NHL season was lost to a lockout, Streit remained with the Lions for one last season and posted a Swiss career high 14 goals, 29 assists and 43 points in 44 games. In 2005–06, Streit made his NHL debut with the Canadiens, appearing in 48 games and recording 11 points. On March 16, 2006, in a game against the Carolina Hurricanes, Streit was joined by the only two other Swiss players playing in the NHL at the time, Montreal goalie David Aebischer and Carolina goalie Martin Gerber — a historic game for Swiss hockey.
Streit continued to make strides the following season, improving to 36 points in 76 games before emerging as an elite NHL defenceman in his third season with Montreal. In 2007–08, he finished third in league scoring among defencemen (behind Nicklas Lidström and Sergei Gonchar) with 62 points in 81 games. Streit was made the Canadiens' nomination for the Bill Masterton Trophy, awarded for perseverance and dedication to hockey; he did not, however, make the final cut.[2]
Streit playing for the New York Islanders
Coming off a breakout campaign, Streit became an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2008, and signed a 5-year, $20.5 million contract with the New York Islanders.[3] Upon signing with the Islanders, Streit became the second highest paid Swiss sportsman to Roger Federer, earning more than top national soccer players.[citation needed] During his first season with the Islanders, he was selected to appear in his first NHL All-Star Game in 2009 as a reserve.[4] In his first season with the team, Streit led the Islanders in scoring with 56 points, becoming only the second defenseman to lead his team in scoring since the lockout. The first was Ľubomír Višňovský, who led the Los Angeles Kings with 67 points in 2005–06.
On September 27, 2010 Streit tore his shoulder labrum and rotator cuff after being checked into the boards by teammate Matt Moulson during a scrimmage.[5] He was sidelined for the entire 2010-11 season.
Streit became the first Swiss-born team captain in NHL history, when the Islanders appointed him to the position in September, 2011.
International play
Streit made his international debut at the 1995 European Junior Championships, then appeared in his first of two World Junior Championships in 1996. He scored one goal in five games as Switzerland finished ninth. In 1997, he scored two goals and Switzerland improved to seventh.
In 1998, Streit appeared in his first of ten consecutive World Championships. Playing as the host nation, Switzerland finished a surprising fourth, falling to the Czech Republic in the bronze-medal game. He scored an international career-best seven points in seven games in 2005, as Switzerland advanced to the quarter-finals, losing to Sweden 2-1.
Streit competed in his first Winter Olympics in 2002 in Salt Lake City. He scored two points in four preliminary games as Switzerland finished 11th.
As Streit was named team captain at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin,[6] Switzerland improved to sixth, topping international giants Czech Republic and Canada in their preliminary games. Streit scored the game winning goal against the Czechs to defeat them 3-2 in the Swiss' second round-robin game,[7] then assisted on the second goal of a 2-0 upset against Canada two days later.[8] Following the stunning Swiss victory over Canada, an incredulous Streit admitted, "I never thought we could do that."[6] In the quarter-finals, Streit scored in the first period to tie the game 1-1, but the Swiss were overpowered by Sweden 6-2.[9]
Career statistics
Streit wears #2 on his jersey while playing for the IslandersRegular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1995–96 HC Fribourg-Gottéron Swiss-A 34 2 2 4 6 4 0 0 0 2 1996–97 HC Davos Swiss-A 46 2 9 11 18 6 0 0 0 0 1997–98 HC Davos Swiss-A 38 4 10 14 4 18 1 5 6 20 1998–99 HC Davos Swiss-A 44 7 18 25 42 6 3 3 6 8 1999–00 Tallahassee Tiger Sharks ECHL 14 0 5 5 16 — — — — — 1999–00 Utah Grizzlies IHL 1 0 1 1 2 — — — — — 1999–00 Springfield Falcons AHL 43 3 12 15 18 5 0 0 0 2 2000–01 ZSC Lions Zurich Swiss-A 44 5 11 16 48 16 2 5 7 37 2001–02 ZSC Lions Zurich Swiss-A 28 7 16 23 36 14 0 6 6 10 2002–03 ZSC Lions Zurich Swiss-A 37 4 20 24 62 12 1 7 8 2 2003–04 ZSC Lions Zurich Swiss-A 48 12 24 36 78 13 5 2 7 14 2004–05 ZSC Lions Zurich Swiss-A 44 14 29 43 46 15 4 11 15 20 2005–06 Montreal Canadiens NHL 48 2 9 11 28 1 0 0 0 0 2006–07 Montreal Canadiens NHL 76 10 26 36 14 — — — — — 2007–08 Montreal Canadiens NHL 81 13 49 62 28 11 1 3 4 8 2008–09 New York Islanders NHL 74 16 40 56 62 — — — — — 2009–10 New York Islanders NHL 82 11 38 49 48 — — — — — NHL totals 361 52 162 214 180 12 1 3 4 8 International
Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1995 Switzerland EJC 5 1 2 3 6 1996 Switzerland WJC 5 1 0 1 4 1997 Switzerland WJC 6 2 0 2 31 1998 Switzerland WC 9 0 0 0 2 1999 Switzerland WC 6 4 0 4 2 2000 Switzerland WC 7 0 1 1 4 2001 Switzerland WC 6 0 3 3 2 2002 Switzerland WC 6 0 3 3 4 2003 Switzerland WC 7 0 4 4 10 2004 Switzerland WC 7 1 1 2 2 2005 Switzerland WC 7 1 6 7 4 2006 Switzerland Oly 6 2 1 3 6 2006 Switzerland WC 6 0 3 3 6 2007 Switzerland WC 7 1 3 4 6 2009 Switzerland WC 6 1 4 5 8 2010 Switzerland Oly 5 0 3 3 0 Junior int'l totals 11 3 0 3 35 Senior int'l totals 85 10 32 42 56 - All statistics taken from NHL.com[10]
Preceded by
Doug WeightNew York Islanders captain
2011–presentIncumbent References
- ^ "Streit hopes to cash in on success". Montreal Gazette. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/sports/story.html?k=36119&id=9a0b954b-9776-4119-9d04-223e437504be.
- ^ "Koivu sits as Habs enter final week". The Sporting News. http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=193519. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
- ^ "Islanders power up with D Mark Streit". New York Islanders. 2008-07-01. http://islanders.nhl.com/team/app?articleid=367481&page=NewsPage&service=page. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
- ^ "For Islanders' Mark Streit, an All-Star return to Montreal". Sporting News. 2009-01-08. http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=504995. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=335312
- ^ a b Jenkins, Lee; Kiefer, Peter (2006-02-19). "Do you believe in Switzerland? Canada does.". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E01E3DF113EF93AA25751C0A9609C8B63. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
- ^ "Men's hockey: only three left unbeaten". Sporting News. http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=63105. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
- ^ "Men's Team Canada summary". San Diego Union-Tribune. http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060219/news_1o19oly3-a.html. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
- ^ "Wednesda's Olympic Capsules". ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=oly&id=2339278. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
- ^ NHL.com (2009). "Mark Streit's NHL Profile". NHL.com. http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8468309. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
External links
Categories:- 1977 births
- HC Davos players
- HC Fribourg-Gottéron players
- Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics
- Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics
- Living people
- Montreal Canadiens draft picks
- Montreal Canadiens players
- Nationalliga A players
- New York Islanders players
- Olympic ice hockey players of Switzerland
- Springfield Falcons players
- Swiss ice hockey players
- Tallahassee Tiger Sharks players
- Utah Grizzlies (IHL) players
- ZSC Lions players
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