Mathieu Shneider*

HONORED April 1, 2000

Sport: Ice Hockey

Biography

Schneider played for the United States at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the first time American professional players competed in the Games. The U.S. lost to the eventual gold medal winning Czech Republic team (led by Domink Hasek and Jaromir Jagr) in the quarterfinals. Schneider, the all-time leading Jewish scorer in NHL history, is a good all-around defenseman who is equally comfortable handling the puck or scoring on the power play -- he once had 11 power play goals in one season. Mathieu, who currently plays for the Los Angeles Kings, has had a marvelous career -- he won a Stanley Cup with Montreal, was an All-Star with the Islanders, and was a member of the 1998 U.S. Olympic hockey team. A criticism of Mathieu is that he has been injury prone, but in the 2000-01 season, he appeared in 73 games for the Kings and was one of the top scoring defensemen in the league.