Like all players finding their place in the professional hockey landscape, Rob Schremp continues to push himself to the highest level.  With 144 career National Hockey League games under his belt, in 2011, the Fulton, NY native journeyed to Europe to continue his career.  After four seasons, Schremp is now back playing in North America and making an impact with the Portland Pirates of the American Hockey League.

Schremp began his major junior career with the Mississauga IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League.  After a strong rookie season, he was traded to the London Knights where he spent the next three seasons.  Tremendously successful in all four of his junior seasons, Schremp credits his coaches for passing on their knowledge of the game.

“I got the chance to play for some great coaches.  I played for Steve Ludzik my rookie year in Mississauga and then unfortunately they sold the team going into my second year.  I got traded to London and got the chance to play for Dale Hunter.  We had some really good teams there. Just playing for former NHLers and playing for a guy like Dale in London was really great for me.  Just the way he passed on his knowledge of hockey to us was unbelievable.”

Schremp was drafted 25th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.  The following year, the crafty forward finished his final season in London with 145 points in only 57 games, but deflected his success to some of the great talent he wore the Knights’ green and gold with.  “Guys like Danny Syvret, Corey Perry, Dave Bolland; the list goes on and on.  When you play with a group of guys like that your confidence as a player goes up.  Seasons like the one I had when I got 145 points have a lot to do with whom you play with and what kind of team you’re on.”

The following year, Schremp made his professional debut in the American Hockey League with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins where he amassed an impressive 53 points (17 goals & 36 assists) in 69 games.  He also made his NHL debut that year with the Oilers. 

With the rules and style of play of the professional game in transition following the 2004-05 NHL Lockout, Schremp unveiled his thoughts on ‘the old game vs. the new game.’

“I really enjoyed the old game, it was fun.  When you played in those rivalry games they were physical games and there was clutching and grabbing.  I think a lot of guys would speak really highly of the old game; it was really just a different dynamic.  It was more personal in a sense.”

As an intelligent young hockey player, Schremp went up against some of the AHL’s top defensive pairs on a nightly basis.  “If you went up against the top D pairing on the other team you knew going in that they were going to be all over you.  They had the ability to really be a pain in your neck the whole night, where as now they have to work ten times harder to do that.  You can no longer use your stick or your hands to grab, so their positioning has to be way better.”

From 2006 – 2010, Schremp found himself up and down between the NHL and the AHL.  During that time he played within the Edmonton Oilers organization and spent two years with the New York Islanders.

During his second year on Long Island, Schremp was put on waivers and claimed by the Atlanta Thrashers.  “I went to Atlanta and they happened to be a team that was on their way out of the league.  As a player I didn’t know they were on their way out.  At that time they moved all of the pieces as far as management, hired new people, and I wasn’t a part of their plans. I think for me it was a lot of unfortunate timing.”

The junior standout was then forced to make a decision on his future.  “At that time I felt like I was playing some pretty good hockey so I explored going to Europe.  I thought maybe I could go there, have a good year, work on my skating, then return to North America.”

What he didn’t expect though, was to play in Europe for four years before making his return home.  “I thought going to Europe would help improve my pace of play.  It definitely did, but I didn’t think it was going to turn into four years over there.”

Although he missed the small details of living in the United States, Schremp loved the experience playing all over Europe.

“I went to Sweden first and played for Ulf Samuelsson [with MODO Hockey Ornskoldsvik].  Then I went to Latvia during the NHL Lockout in 2012-13.  That turned out to be a tough scenario there.  We just weren’t winning and the team couldn’t really afford my contract anymore so they let me go.  When they did, a lot of guys from the NHL were in Switzerland and a lot of the jobs in Europe were suddenly hard to come by.  I found one with Salzburg EC in Austria during a time where I went wherever I could.”

A common theme for Schremp throughout his professional career was that he found himself always wanting to play at a higher level.  “I would have liked to go to a higher league that year and play at a higher level, but like I said the jobs were hard to find.  I had good rest of the year in Austria and then went to Switzerland to play for Doug Shedden” (Head Coach of Zug).

After touring Sweden, Latvia, Austria, Switzerland, and cities in Russia while in the KHL, Schremp found the play in Sweden very competitive and subsequently returned there in 2014-15 to play for Skelleftea AIK.  Although he loved the hockey in Sweden, living there was definitely a different dynamic for Schremp.

“Where I was in Sweden it was a lot of small towns and it gets dark there early.  The sun goes down at 1:30 in the afternoon it seemed, its pitch black. So that was a tough dynamic in that sense.”

The 2015-16 season has been all positive for Schremp.  He made his long awaited return to North America and is currently leading the Portland Pirates with 13 points in 18 games.

Continuing with his recurring ambition, Schremp is enjoying being closer to where he wants to be on and off the ice.  “Being here in Portland, playing in the AHL, I’m closer to where I want to be.  It is really nice to be back home in the U.S.  I missed being at home and seeing family and friends at games.  A lot of the small details are what I really missed.”

On the ice, his return has been what he had hoped for thus far.  “Coming back, I played it all out in my head. You think you’re going to come back and play well, but you really don’t know how it’s all going to unfold.  The game over here has changed a lot in four years.”

Schremp has maintained a positive outlook on his situation regardless of where he is playing.  Being positive is an important part of finding success but he also weighed the realistic possibilities of his return not working out the way he intended it to.

“The league is a lot younger and a lot faster.  You can come over with the best intentions in the world and not succeed.  But thus far it has been a good fit for me here in Portland.  I am comfortable and my game has been pretty good.  I don’t feel like I’m a step behind, I’m scoring goals, and helping my team win games.  It has been a positive comeback.”

A conscious understanding of different situations and scenarios is important in life, and weighting the pros and cons is something Schremp has done since he began his professional career.  He will continue to hone his game in Portland, and perhaps even return to National Hockey League given his solid North American play.