Dan Fritsche

Dan Fritsche (born July 13, 1985 in Parma, Ohio) is an American professional ice hockey player currently playing for Genève-Servette HC of the Swiss National League A.

Playing career
Fritsche began his junior hockey career with his hometown Cleveland Barons of the North American Hockey League. He then played for the Sarnia Sting and the London Knights, and won a gold medal at the 2004 World Junior Hockey Championship, playing for the United States. He won a Memorial Cup playing for the Knights in 2005. He also played youth hockey for the Parma Flyers and is one of three players to go into the NHL from there. The other two players are Brian Holzinger and Michael Rupp.

Fritsche was drafted in the second round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, 46th overall, by the Columbus Blue Jackets. After playing for parts of four seasons with the Blue Jackets, Fritsche was traded along with Nikolai Zherdev to the New York Rangers on July 2, 2008 for defensemen Fedor Tyutin and Christian Bäckman.

To start the 2008–09 season, Fritsche was a frequent healthy scratch in his first season with the Rangers due to the general healthiness of the team after Fritsche did not have a spot in the opening night lineup. On January 29, 2009, Fritsche was traded by the Rangers to the Minnesota Wild for defenseman Erik Reitz. After finishing the season with the Wild, Fritsche was not tendered a qualifying offer and became an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2009.

On September 3, 2009, Fritsche was inivited to the Atlanta Thrashers training camp for the 2009–10 season, but was not offered a contract. Later, on October 5, 2009, he returned to the Blue Jackets organization by signing a contract with the AHL's Syracuse Crunch.

Personal life
His younger brother, Tom Fritsche, is the property of the Colorado Avalanche. His uncle, John Fritsche, was a long time player in Switzerland for HC Ambri-Piotta, HC Lugano and EV Zug, played for the United States at the 1990 World Hockey Championship, and coached the Ohio Junior Blue Jackets.

His sister Christine is a sophomore on the volleyball team at the University at Buffalo.