Ben Youds (born April 20, 1988) is an American professional ice hockey defenseman. He is currently playing with IK Oskarshamn in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL).

Ben Youds
Born (1988-04-20) April 20, 1988 (age 36)
Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, U.S.
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 180 lb (82 kg; 12 st 12 lb)
Position Defense
Shoots Right
SHL team
Former teams
IK Oskarshamn
Providence Bruins
Lake Erie Monsters
Leksands IF
Växjö Lakers
Rögle BK
Rockford IceHogs
NHL draft Undrafted
Playing career 2011–present

Playing career

edit

Youds attended Minnesota State University, Mankato where he played NCAA college hockey with the Minnesota State Mavericks men's ice hockey team. Undrafted on September 1, 2011, Younds signed his first professional contract with the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League for the 2011–12 season.[1]

After a successful first season with the Providence Bruins in the 2013–14 season, in which Youds established career highs of 20 points in 57 games, he was invited to the Boston Bruins 2014 training camp on September 18, 2014.[2]

Youds was reassigned to Providence on September 26, a signed an AHL contract with the club for the 2014–15 season. Establishing a regular position on the Providence blueline, Youds had already eclipsed his career highs in goals and points before he was traded in consideration of an NHL transaction, to the Lake Erie Monsters on March 2, 2015. Youds closed out the season with the Monsters, immediately contributing with 3 goals and 11 points in 18 games.

As an un-signed free agent, on September 16, 2015, Youds was signed to a professional try-out contract to attend training camp in a return to the Boston Bruins organization.[3] He was later signed to a one-year AHL contract with Providence.

Upon completing his fifth North American season, Youds opted to pursue a European career in signing a one-year deal with Swedish club, Leksands IF of the SHL on May 23, 2016.[4] In his lone season with Leksands in 2016–17, Youds established himself in a top-four role and contributed with 4 goals and 17 points in 44 games, however was unable to prevent Leksands from relegation.

In early July 2017, he inked a one-year contract with fellow SHL side Växjö Lakers.[5] He appeared in 8 games with the Lakers to begin the 2017–18 season, however through limited playing time he opted to leave the club and join fellow SHL club, Rögle BK, on November 25, 2017.[6] In an expanded role with BK, Youds featured in 32 games and contributed with 16 points, earning a one-year extension.

In the following 2018–19 season, Youds was limited to just 12 games with Rögle BK through injury. He left the club at the conclusion of his contract with club at seasons end.[7]

As a free agent, Youds left Sweden after four seasons and returned to North America, agreeing to continue his career by signing a contract for the 2019–20 season with the Indy Fuel of the ECHL on October 15, 2019.[8] He later returned to the AHL after securing a loan with the Fuel affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs. After appearing in 17 contests with 7 assists for the IceHogs, Youds left the club to return to Sweden for the remainder of the season, signing with IK Oskarshamn of the SHL on February 9, 2020.[9]

Career statistics

edit
Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2005–06 Shattuck-Saint Mary's MNHS 59 4 20 24 126
2006–07 Shattuck-Saint Mary's MNHS 61 10 32 42 131
2007–08 Minnesota State University, Mankato WCHA 37 1 11 12 53
2008–09 Minnesota State University, Mankato WCHA 32 0 8 8 45
2009–10 Minnesota State University, Mankato WCHA 39 3 23 26 38
2010–11 Minnesota State University, Mankato WCHA 37 7 14 21 48
2011–12 Rockford IceHogs AHL 57 4 13 17 60
2011–12 Toledo Walleye ECHL 1 1 0 1 0
2012–13 Rockford IceHogs AHL 23 1 8 9 22
2012–13 Toledo Walleye ECHL 43 7 27 34 47 4 0 1 1 6
2013–14 Providence Bruins AHL 57 2 18 20 30 1 0 0 0 2
2014–15 Providence Bruins AHL 47 5 16 21 25
2014–15 Lake Erie Monsters AHL 18 3 8 11 10
2015–16 Providence Bruins AHL 50 5 17 22 39 3 0 0 0 2
2016–17 Leksands IF SHL 44 3 14 17 24
2017–18 Växjö Lakers SHL 8 0 3 3 6
2017–18 Rögle BK SHL 32 1 15 16 20
2018–19 Rögle BK SHL 12 0 0 0 22
2019–20 Indy Fuel ECHL 13 1 5 6 10
2019–20 Rockford IceHogs AHL 17 0 7 7 14
AHL totals 269 20 87 107 200 4 0 0 0 4

Awards and honors

edit
Award Year
College
WCHA All-Academic Team 2009, 2010, 2011 [10]
ECHL
All-Star Game 2013 [11]

References

edit
  1. ^ "icehogs.com: IceHogs News". icehogs.com. Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved April 5, 2014.
  2. ^ "B's announce training camp roster". Boston Bruins. September 18, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
  3. ^ "B's announce training camp roster". Boston Bruins. September 16, 2015. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  4. ^ "Ben Youds to Leksands" (in Swedish). Leksands IF. May 23, 2016. Retrieved May 23, 2016.
  5. ^ "Växjö Lakers signar Ben Youds - Växjö Lakers". www.vaxjolakers.se (in Swedish). Retrieved July 4, 2017.
  6. ^ "Ben Youds ready for Rögle" (in Swedish). Rögle BK. November 25, 2017. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  7. ^ "Changes to the playing squad" (in Swedish). Rögle BK. March 20, 2019. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  8. ^ "Fuel agree to terms with veteran defenseman Ben Youds". Indy Fuel. October 15, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  9. ^ "Transfer weekend continues!" (in Swedish). IK Oskarshamn. February 9, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  10. ^ "Ben Youds Mankato Mavericks biography". Minnesota State University. February 3, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2014.
  11. ^ "Walleye's defenseman Youds, forward Glendening headed to All-Star Game - Toledo Blade". toledoblade.com. Retrieved April 5, 2014.
edit