Facing Jimmy Snuggerud's shot? 'It's like a 90 mile an hour curveball'

What is it like to face a Jimmy Snuggerud shot? At this stage in his career, the population that would own expertise in that area is limited.

NHL goalies only saw him seven times in the regular season in the spring.

Blues goalies saw him during practice but only for three weeks before the playoffs started and practices were limited.

But the current experts might just be the goaltenders at the University of Minnesota who faced Snuggerud on a daily basis during his three-year career as a Golden Gopher.

And it just so happened that the Blues invited one to their development camp a few weeks ago.

Owen Bartoszkiewicz was the backup goalie for Minnesota in 2022-23, which was Snuggeruds freshman season.

Snuggerud formed a third of the best line in college hockey with Logan Cooley and Matthew Knies and finished the season with a loss in the national championship game.

Throughout the season, Bartoszkiewicz was there on the practice ice facing off with the future NHLers.

It was a lot of fun, Bartoszkiewicz said.

Him, Cooley, Knies out there.

It was a great time.

We would stay after practice playing tips for like an hour.

We would always be on the ice and just battle with each other and give it to each other.

No days off with those guys.

Bartoszkiewiczs career has followed a winding path since that season.

In 2023-24, he played for both Youngstown in the USHL and Oklahoma in the NAHL.

Last season, he was the starter for Lindenwood, posting a .919 save percentage and 2.57 goals against average.

Next year, hell follow former Lindenwood coach Bill Muckalt to Michigan Tech.

Bartoszkiewicz finished his Minnesota career having played six games in 2022-23.

That Gophers team was loaded with top-end talent, notably boasting Brock Faber (Wild) and Jackson LaCombe (Ducks) on the back end, and Knies-Cooley-Snuggerud up front.

Snuggerud, the Blues first-round pick in 2022 and a presumptive top-six contributor in the NHL this fall, had 50 points (21 goals and 29 assists) in 40 games that season.

So ...

what is it like to face Snuggeruds shot? Its not flat, Bartoszkiewicz said.

Its like a 90 mile an hour curveball.

The way Ovi shoots, its kind of like a knuckle puck, but its still 100 miles an hour.

Snuggys pretty similar.

Theres clips of him on Minnesota doing a 360 spin-o-rama out of a one-timer because hes swinging so hard.

The pucks just flying at you.

You dont really know where its going.

Its hard to pick up.

With his shot, his speed, his hands, its hard to read, its hard to see.

If you ask goaltenders around the NHL about whose shot has the most movement on it, the answer is commonly all-time goals leader Alex Ovechkin.

While most pucks are flat and follow a linear trajectory, Ovechkins doesnt.

And it doesnt appear that Snuggeruds does either.

Its all over the place, Bartoszkiewicz said.

If youre looking at his strike zone, its not a fastball right at you.

Its a good thing Snuggerud used his shot more than any other collegiate player during his three-year career.

He totaled 492 shots on goal during that time, which was the most in the country, and scored 66 goals, good for a 13.4% shooting percentage.

It is really hard, Bartoszkiewicz said.

You see guys in MLB swing, and they miss curveballs all the time, or sliders.

Its just another element that makes it much harder to stop.

Snuggys pretty much there.

Its not a clean shot thats flat coming straight at you.

Those are pretty easy to pick up.

His is a really good shot.

His one-timer is amazing.

In the NHL, Snuggerud hasnt had many chances to crank up his one-timer.

He didnt have any slap shots in the regular season, according to NHL stats, and had just one in the playoffs.

The right-handed Snuggerud would typically line up in the left circle on the power play, but that spot was occupied by Robert Thomas on one unit and Jordan Kyrou on the other.

Snuggerud used his 14 NHL games (seven in the regular season and seven in the playoffs) to make an impression on the Blues coaches and management.

He played mostly with Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich on the top line, occupied the net-front on the No.

1 power-play unit and averaged 15:28 of ice time during the regular season.

His presence and production also contributed to the Blues trading Zack Bolduc to Montreal for defenseman Logan Mailloux.

With Snuggerud, Buchnevich, Kyrou and Dylan Holloway on the depth chart as wingers, the Blues viewed Bolduc as expendable..

This article has been shared from the original article on stltoday, here is the link to the original article.