Ryan Gunderson went to and played for Holy Ghost Prep of the Lower Bucks County Scholastic Hockey League, “LBCSHL.” The gifted Firebird forward played all four years of high school eligibility piling up milestones and achievements. In Ryan’s freshman year 1999-00, he posted almost 50 points with 14 goals, and 29 assists for 43 points. Additionally, his tier-one Valley Forge Minutemen won the coveted Silver Stick Tournament in Ontario, Canada. In 2000-01 Ryan suffered a shoulder injury which limited his playing time, but he still managed to compile 11 goals, and 24 assists for 35 points. In 2001-02 he went on a tear scoring 29 goals, and 47 assists for 76 points leading both the Firebirds and the LBCSHL as Leading scorer. At season’s end, Ryan was awarded the Breakaway Magazine Mike Condon Award (sportsmanship), Courier Times Ice Hockey Player of the Year, and Courier Times All-Area Ice Hockey first team member. In 2002-03 Gunderson scored an eye-popping number of points with 26 goals, and 68 assists for a total of 94 points. Ryan was the team’s Leading scorer, and again for the second year in a row won the league’s highest scorer award. The Firebirds completed the season in first place with the league’s best record and went on to win the LBCSHL Commissioners Cup Championship, and Class AA Flyers Cup Title. Ryan was awarded the Class AA Flyers Cup MVP / Class AA Flyers Cup Top Scorer / Courier Times Ice Hockey Player of the Year / Philadelphia Inquirer Player of the Year runner-up and is one of only two HGP Firebirds to hold a record in the Southeastern Pennsylvania High School Ice Hockey 200 points club. According to published records, Ryan recorded 248 points over his career as a student at Holy Ghost Prep, which is only two points behind the leader, former linemate, Paul Worthington.
Ryan went on to complete his education at the University of Vermont, where he set a record for most games played. After leaving Vermont at the conclusion of his senior year, Gunderson signed a deal to play with the Columbia Inferno of the ECHL in March 2007. He appeared in 12 games and tallied 3 assists for the Inferno.
In late 2007, Gunderson signed a deal to play for the Trenton Devils, the ECHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils. Gunderson immediately excelled for the Devils, tallying 22 points (2 goals, 20 assists) in the first 29 games of his rookie season. He was selected as the lone representative from the Devils to play in the ECHL All-Star Game as a defenseman. Gunderson finished his rookie season with 46 points (4 goals, 42 assists) to lead all rookie defensemen and to place 4th in scoring among all rookies. His 42 assists also ranked him second among all ECHL defensemen. For his accomplishments, Gunderson was selected to the ECHL All-Rookie Team for the 2008 season. In the 2008–09 season, Gunderson set a team record for most assists in a season with 53, and most points by a defenseman with 58. He was selected to the All-ECHL First team after being tied for the league lead for most points by a defenseman.
On April 9, 2008, it was announced that Gunderson had signed a professional tryout agreement with the AHL affiliate of the Trenton Devils, the Lowell Devils. He appeared in 3 games and tallied 0 points.
After three minor league North American seasons, Gunderson opted to travel abroad and signed with Swedish club Örebro HK of the Hockey Allsvenskan during the 2010–11 season.
Örebro initially extended Ryan’s contract on October 18, 2010, for the following season 2012 season, however, Gunderson gained the attention and came to terms with top-tier Swedish club Brynäs IF of the then Elitserien. In the 2011–12 season, the team finished the regular season in 4th but won the league championship in the Playoffs. At the conclusion of the 2013–14 season, Gunderson signed with Jokerit of the Kontinental Hockey League, leaving Brynäs after totaling 111 points (26 goals, 85 assists) over three seasons. In his lone season at Jokerit, Gunderson scored 6 goals and 29 assists and tallied 6 points in 10 playoff games. He then moved on to HC Dinamo Minsk in the KHL, where he posted 27 points (5 goals, 22 assists).
Gunderson returned to Brynäs IF for the 2016–17 season as an assistant captain, helping the team reach the SHL Playoff Finals.
On January 1, 2018, Gunderson was named to Team USA’s roster to represent the United States at the 2018 Winter Olympics. He appeared in all five games, as the United States skated to a 7th-place finish. Gunderson and other former southeastern Pennsylvania high school hockey alumni, Brian O’Neill and Chad Kolarik were representing the LBCSHL, and ICSHL accordingly for Team USA.
Having completed his sixth season with Brynäs IF following the conclusion of the 2018–19 season, Gunderson opted to pursue a new challenge by agreeing to a one-year contract with Swiss club, HC Fribourg-Gottéron of the NL, on March 27, 2019. Ryan is still playing professionally at the age of 38.
Regular Season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
2003-04 | U. of Vermont | ECAC | 33 | 1 | 16 | 17 | 8 | ||||||
2004-05 | U. of Vermont | ECAC | 38 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 12 | ||||||
2005-06 | U. of Vermont | H-East | 38 | 2 | 13 | 15 | 20 | ||||||
2006-07 | U. of Vermont | H-East | 39 | 1 | 14 | 15 | 8 | ||||||
2006-07 | Columbia Inferno | ECHL | 12 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | -3 | — | — | — | — | — |
2007-08 | Trenton Devils | ECHL | 72 | 4 | 42 | 46 | 33 | -15 | — | — | — | — | — |
2007-08 | Lowell Devils | AHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
2008-09 | Trenton Devils | ECHL | 72 | 5 | 53 | 58 | 20 | -14 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
2009-10 | Houston Aeros | AHL | 74 | 5 | 20 | 25 | 24 | -10 | — | — | — | — | — |
2010-11 | Orebro HK | Swe-1 | 52 | 11 | 28 | 39 | 12 | 1 | |||||
2011-12 | Brynas IF Gavle | SEL | 55 | 9 | 25 | 34 | 6 | -13 | |||||
2012-13 | Brynas IF Gavle | SEL | 55 | 9 | 27 | 36 | 16 | -7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
2013-14 | Brynas IF Gavle | SweHL | 54 | 8 | 33 | 41 | 14 | 13 | — | — | — | — | — |
2014-15 | Jokerit Helsinki | KHL | 58 | 7 | 29 | 36 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 2 |
2015-16 | Minsk Dynamo | KHL | 60 | 5 | 22 | 27 | 4 | -17 | — | — | — | — | — |
2016-17 | Brynas IF Gavle | SweHL | 52 | 4 | 23 | 27 | 8 | 1 | 20 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 4 |
2017-18 | Brynas IF Gavle | SweHL | 43 | 4 | 25 | 29 | 6 | -14 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
2018-19 | Brynas IF Gavle | SweHL | 52 | 8 | 30 | 38 | 18 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — |
2019-20 | Fribourg-Gotteron HC | Swiss-A | 50 | 8 | 27 | 35 | 16 | -7 | |||||
2020-21 | Fribourg-Gotteron HC | Swiss-A | 51 | 9 | 36 | 45 | 8 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
2021-22 | Fribourg-Gotteron HC | Swiss-A | 50 | 4 | 25 | 29 | 12 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 0 |
2022-23 | Fribourg-Gotteron HC | Swiss-A | 52 | 8 | 30 | 38 | 4 | -11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023-24 | Fribourg-Gotteron HC | Swiss-A | 51 | 5 | 34 | 39 | 12 | 19 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 2 |