William Conrad "Buzz" Schneider (born September 14, 1954) is an American former

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player best remembered for his role on the US Olympic hockey team that won the gold medal at the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

in Lake Placid. He was also a member of the US Olympic hockey team at the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (, ) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 (), were a winter multi-sport event celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from February 4 to 15, 1976. The games were awarded to Inn ...

College career

Schneider is from Croatian ancestry. His nickname "Buzz" comes from his grandmother calling him the Croatian word for "brother" when he was a baby, which sounds like "buzz." He grew up in Babbitt, Minnesota, where he played hockey, baseball and football at Babbitt High School. After attending the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, where he played on the Golden Gophers under

Herb Brooks Herbert Paul Brooks (August 5, 1937 – August 11, 2003) was an American ice hockey player and coach (ice hockey), coach. His most notable achievement came in Ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics, 1980 as head coach of the gold medal-winning Un ...

and won the 1974 NCAA Hockey Championship, Schneider was drafted 98th overall in the

1974 NHL amateur draft The 1974 NHL amateur draft was the 12th NHL entry draft. It was held via conference call at the NHL office in Montreal, Quebec. In an effort to prevent the WHA from poaching players, the draft was conducted early and in secret. This failed to ...

by the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. The Penguins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), E ...

and 73rd overall in the 1974 WHA amateur draft by the

Minnesota Fighting Saints The Minnesota Fighting Saints was the name of two professional ice hockey teams based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, that played in the World Hockey Association. The first team was one of the WHA's original twelve franchises, playing from 1972 to 1976 ...

International and later career

Schneider played for the United States national team from 1974–76 at the

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

and 1976 Ice Hockey World Championships, as well as the 1976 Olympic team) before turning professional. He played in a variety of minor leagues before playing four games for the Birmingham Bulls of the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association () was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972–73 WHA season, 1972 to 1978–79 WHA season, 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (N ...

(WHA) during the 1976-77 season. After the end of the WHA season, he returned to play for the US national team at the 1977 World Ice Hockey Championships tournament in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. Schneider returned to the minor leagues in 1977–78. He played two seasons in the International Hockey League (IHL) before getting back to the national team in 1979 to prepare for the 1980 Olympics. During the 1979–80 season, Schneider played 62 games for the national team scoring 27 goals. During the

Miracle on Ice The "Miracle on Ice" was an ice hockey game during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. It was played between the hosting United States and the Soviet Union on February 22, 1980, during the medal round of the men's ice hockey t ...

run in the Olympics, he scored five goals and notched three assists in seven games en route to the gold medal. Schneider played on the Olympic team's top-scoring "Iron Rangers" or " Conehead" line with John Harrington and

Mark Pavelich Mark Thomas Pavelich (February 28, 1958 – March 4, 2021) was an American professional ice hockey forward (ice hockey), forward who played 355 regular season games in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Rangers, Minnesota North St ...

. After the Olympics he played in Bern, Switzerland, until 1983. Schneider returned to the U.S. national hockey team for the 1982 Ice Hockey World Championships tournament in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Post-playing career

After retiring from the game in 1983, Schneider returned to Minneapolis and worked as a sales executive for a semi-trailer company. He quit his job in 2001 to gain a commercial real estate license. Schneider was inducted into the

United States Hockey Hall of Fame The United States Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1973 with the goal of preserving the history of ice hockey in the United States while recognizing the extraordinary contributions of select players, coaches, administrators, officials an ...

in 2003 as a member of the 1980 Olympic team. He has two sons, Billy and Neal. He is now the coordinator of the Turkey men's national ice hockey team.

In popular culture

In the

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

TV movie ''

'', Schneider is played by Jonathan Segal. Buzz's son Billy portrayed him in the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

movie ''

Miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

''. When director Gavin O'Connor was made aware of the family connection, he stated that he immediately wanted to offer Billy a role in the film.''Miracle'' Special Features - "From Hockey to Hollywood: The Actors' Journey" On the animated TV series '' American Dad'', Buzz is also alluded to as Roger's persona "Chex Lemineux" in the episode "Return of the Bling". This is unconfirmed, but he is one of the only players not referenced in the episode. Roger is also present in place of Buzz in several photos shown in the slide show at the 1980 Olympic team reunion in the episode.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

*
Schneider's bio at HockeyDraftCentral
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schneider, Buzz 1954 births 1980 US Olympic ice hockey team American men's ice hockey left wingers American people of Croatian descent Birmingham Bulls (WHA) players Hampton Gulls (SHL) players Ice hockey players at the 1976 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1980 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players from Minnesota Living people Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics Milwaukee Admirals (IHL) players Minnesota Fighting Saints draft picks Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey players Olympic gold medalists for the United States in ice hockey Oklahoma City Blazers (1965–1977) players Sportspeople from Grand Rapids, Minnesota Ice hockey people from St. Louis County, Minnesota Pittsburgh Penguins draft picks SC Bern players Springfield Indians players NCAA men's ice hockey national champions