Defenseman Carl Sneep Leaves Steelheads, Likely to Retire From Professional Hockey

Carl Sneep (Credit: Steven Christy)

In a bit of surprising news, former Texas Star and current Idaho Steelhead Carl Sneep has left the team with the intention of retiring from professional hockey. The Steelheads announced yesterday that Sneep had left the team. In a following business transaction, Sneep was suspended by the Steelheads for the purpose of retaining his ECHL rights.

"It sounds like his plan right now is to retire," said Steelheads media relations director Will Hoenike.

Sneep was traded into the Stars' organization form the Penguins' org in exchange for a conditional draft pick. For a second round pick, he was spending far too much time in the ECHL and likely needed a change of scenery at the time. He played in 25 games last year for Texas before being assigned to Peoria after the trade deadline brought a glut of defensemen to Texas. He was not extended a qualifying offer after the season.

Over the summer, he signed an ECHL contract with Idaho. He was in training camp with the Iowa Wild but did not make it to the opening roster. He is minus-9 in 13 games with Idaho this season, certainly not a sparkling effort, especially after his time with the Wheeling Nailers saw him at 3-12-15 and plus-22 after 29 games.

With the loss of Sneep, Button and Robinson, the Steelheads will have a very interesting coming weekend as they face an all-road game 3-in-3 starting tonight in San Francisco.