Vinny Saponari
Vinny Saponari is an American professional ice hockey right winger currently playing for the Krefeld Pinguine of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.Playing career
Saponari was drafted 94th overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft from the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. After his draft selection, Saponari began playing for Boston University but was dismissed in 2010 along with his brother Victor. Following this, he spent a season in the United States Hockey League for the Dubuque Fighting Saints before returning to college hockey with two seasons at Northeastern University.
Saponari signed with the St. John's IceCaps of the American Hockey League at the tail-end of the 2012-13 season, playing in seven regular season games and scoring a goal and an assist. He signed with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL for the 2013-14 season in what would be his only consistent season in the league, playing fifty-eight games and scoring thirty-three points. Afterwards, he played predominantly in the ECHL over the next two seasons and only made brief appearances in the AHL for the Hartford Wolf Pack, Portland Pirates and the Lake Erie Monsters before returning to the Admirals for a brief spell there as well.
On September 10, 2016, Saponari left North America and signed for Frisk Asker of Norway's GET-ligaen. On May 15, 2017, he moved to the Czech Republic and signed for HC Sparta Praha of the Czech Extraliga, but only played fifteen games for the team before returning to Frisk Asker on December 3, 2017 for the remainder of the season. On July 22, 2018, Saponari signed with the Krefeld Pinguine of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.
