Ryan Gunderson always seems to keep realistic expectations. While he was a talented player growing up and playing in the Pennsylvania/New Jersey area, he was never certain he would be an effective Division 1 player. When coaches at the University of Vermont offered Gunderson a chance to come in as a recruited walk-on, he took them up on the offer.
As he was preparing to make the collegiate jump, he faced his first curve ball: head coach Mike Gilligan was replaced by Kevin Sneddon. Suddenly, the walkon was going to have to impress a new coach. Perhaps, he did not know how much. "I did not even have him on a roster list when I took over," Sneddon recalled. "He was very undersized, and we weren’t sure if he would make it through the preseason training regiment. However, his attention to detail, attitude and work ethic proved to everyone that there was something there."
Sneddon decided to hang on to this gritty little forward and see how he would develop on the fourth line.
Early into that freshman season, the defensive corps of Vermont was struggling. Injuries and some lack of depth were hampering the squad. Sneddon was looking for a fix: "We were running an angling drill, and I remember saying to my assistant coaches that (Gunderson) had better feet than any of our defensemen." The coach approached Gunderson about a switch, and, with the potential for more ice time and to earn higher standing in the coaches’ eyes, Gunderson accepted. The move was not able to save the Catamounts’ season, but with a strong campaign, it would reap long-term benefits.
"I don’t know if it was confidence as much as kind of just being naive to the whole situation," Gunderson said about his surprising rookie performance. "At first, I was so focused on playing defense that I don’t think I was really doing that much offensively." Regardless, he had shown plenty to convince Sneddon to keep him on the back line.
Almost literally a no-name walk-on, Gunderson ended up playing all four years at UVM. He provided key stability as the team jumped from the basement of the ECAC his freshman year into the middle of Hockey East during his junior year. Consistently putting up about 15 points a year, he became a rock for the Catamounts on the back end as they worked to integrate into Hockey East and re-establish themselves in the college hockey sphere.
Having assembled a strong collegiate career, Gunderson had professional prospects. However, he was realistic about what those prospects were. "I was a pretty average college player," he humbly assessed. "I knew I was headed for the East Coast League. For me, it was always try to get to Europe." With ample ECHL success, he would work his way up to the AHL pretty quickly, but he still maintained his trans-Atlantic mentality. That AHL season had proven Gunderson could play at a very high level, and it finally opened the door to Europe.
In 2010, he took his game to Sweden’s version of the AHL: Allsvenskan. With a last name fit for the country, Gunderson would lead Orebro’s defense in scoring. This, naturally, earned him a shot in Sweden’s top league. Never seeming to fail to make a strong first impression, he would lead the league’s ‘D’ in points, as he helped the team to the championship, secured by his insurance goal in Game 6. "It was a great year," he recalled. "Actually, I started really slow. I think my first 10 or 12 games was kind of a little bit different playing style between the Allsenskan and the Elite League. So it took a little bit of time, where it was. ‘I don’t know how this is gonna go.’" As noted, it went just fine, and Gunderson would spend the next two years in Brynas. As usual, he would provide a strong two-way game for the eastern Swedish squad.
In 2014, he was ready to take his game farther east. Jokerit, of Finland, could use all the help it could get as it made the jump to Russia’s KHL. True to form, Gunderson shined. He was named an All-Star and finish fifth in defensive scoring in the league. Some complicated Scandinavian tax circumstances compelled Gunderson to leave Jokerit, but he stayed in the K, joining Dynamo Minsk. Gunderson saw a slight drop in his numbers, but he was still a productive component of the team. He had wanted to come back for a second season, but the incoming coach, surprisingly, wanted to move in another direction.
Unsurprisingly, Brynas was more than happy to welcome Gunderson back. "It felt like, when I left here the first time, that I’d be back at some point," he admitted. He did not seem to miss a beat upon his return. He led the team’s blueliners in scoring and helped guide Brynas back to the SHL finals, where it lost a heartbreaker in overtime of Game 7.
This season, Brynas emphasized that it is a different team and that last season has to be put in the past. That is evidenced by the fact that Brynas was out of the playoff picture as of New Year’s. Tied for the defensive lead in points, Gunderson has been doing his part to try and change that standing. Brynas did make a good run in the Europe-wide Champions League tournament, losing in the quarterfinals. Yet, its elimination from that tourney might allow the team to focus more closely on tightening up at home and making a run at the more important Swedish title.
That being written, one could forgive Gunderson if he does become a little distracted in the beginning of the year. Named to the U.S. Olympic roster, the man who called himself an average collegian and who had almost no NHL aspirations will now have a chance to compete for a gold medal. A fractured finger in January caused some trepidation, but Gunderson, like most hockey players, shrugged it off. "Just a fractured pinky," he downplayed.
Meanwhile, Coach Sneddon did not hold back his enthusiasm on his former protégé set to skate in Pyeongchang: "He deserves it, and we will be cheering him on and celebrating his success as loud as we possibly can."
Even Gunderson allowed himself to appreciate the honor: "It’s pretty crazy," he said. "Just kind of makes you smile and laugh at what can happen. The opportunity of a lifetime, for sure."
