Duane Edward Derksen is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former goaltender who was an All-American for Wisconsin[1] and led the Peoria Rivermen to a Kelly Cup championship in 2000.

Duane Derksen
Born (1968-07-07) July 7, 1968 (age 55)
Saint Boniface, Manitoba, Canada
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 188 lb (85 kg; 13 st 6 lb)
Position Goaltender
Caught Left
Played for Wisconsin
Baltimore Skipjacks
Hampton Roads Admirals
Milwaukee Admirals
Rochester Americans
Adirondack Red Wings
Minnesota Moose
Richmond Renegades
Madison Monsters
Oulun Kärpät
Tappara
Peoria Rivermen
Iserlohn Roosters
EC Bad Tölz
Missouri River Otters
NHL Draft 57th, 1988
Washington Capitals
Playing career 1988–2004

Career edit

Derksen was a highly rated prospect in his junior career. In spite of poor statistics with the Winkler Flyers, Derksen was twice named as the best goaltender in the MJHL. He was selected in the 3rd round of the NHL Draft and began attending the University of Wisconsin–Madison that fall. In his freshman season, Derksen served as a backup to future NHL All-Star Curtis Joseph, playing in only a quarter of Wisconsin's games. After Joseph turned pro after 1989, the team turned to Derksen as the starter and he came through in a big way. He improved his stats significantly and won a program record 31 games that season (still a Wisconsin record as of 2021).[2] Derksen was instrumental in helping the Badgers finish first in the WCHA and was the top goaltender as Wisconsin won their conference tournament. Wisconsin received the second western seed and began the NCAA Tournament in the quarterfinals. Derksen was key in the Badgers winning two close games, particularly the national semifinal against Boston College, and made the championship game. Derksen wasn't as sharp in the final game but he didn't have to be. Wisconsin's offense overpowered the star-struck Colgate Raiders and the Badgers easily won the game 7–3.

Derksen continued to improve in his junior season, finishing in the top 10 in the nation in goals against average with 3 shutouts to his credit. The Badgers weren't as good with several departures from the roster but the team did manage to receive another NCAA tournament bid. Derksen was named an alternate captain for his senior year and was the leader for the team. He helped Wisconsin to a second place finish in the WCHA and was named the conference Player of the Year. While the Badgers were upset in the WCHA Tournament, they still managed to earn the final western seed for the NCAA Tournament. Derksen played a pivotal role in getting the Badgers to win three games as an underdog and reach the championship game. The last match turned out to be a controversial affair, with both Wisconsin and Lake Superior State receiving double-digit penalties in the game. The Badgers got out to a 2–0 lead after the first but a series of questionable calls allowed the Lakers to take a lead early in the third. Wisconsin was so incensed by the performance of the referee that assistant coach Bill Zito accosted the official after the game with two other players, an incident for which all three were suspended by the NCAA.[3] In the end, however, the result didn't matter for the Badgers as the team had committed several recruiting violations and their entire appearance in the 1992 tournament was later vacated.[4] Neither Derksen nor anyone from the 1990 team had been a part of the violations so his championship was safe.

After graduating with a bachelor's in history, Derksen began his professional career in the Washington Capitals' farm system. He spent three fairly unspectacular seasons bouncing between minor leagues, producing decent numbers but not playing well enough to get a shot at the NHL level. Once his rookie contract expired he was not resigned and then spent two years with the Madison Monsters before heading to Europe. Derksen had much more success with Oulun Kärpät and was able to sell his success to the Peoria Rivermen. He served as the team's starter for the 2000 season and led them to a league championship that season. Despite the success he had no takers at the next level of the minor leagues and returned to Europe. Derksen was back with the Rivermen two years later and, though his numbers were even better, he wasn't able to replicate the success he had had the first time around. After one more season of professional hockey he hung up his pads and called it a career.

With his playing days behind him, Derksen transitioned into Sales and marketing working in the field for two years before returning to college to earn a business degree.[5] He continues as an account manager, most recently with Ingersoll Rand (as of 2021), but did eventually return to ice hockey as an assistant coach in the summer of 2020.

Statistics edit

Regular season and playoffs edit

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1986–87 Winkler Flyers MJHL 48 4.80
1987–88 Winkler Flyers MJHL 38 5.20
1988–89 Wisconsin WCHA 11 4 5 0 561 37 1 3.96 .877
1989–90 Wisconsin WCHA 41 31 8 1 2345 133 2 3.40 .889
1990–91 Wisconsin WCHA 42 24 15 3 2474 133 3 3.23 .880
1991–92 Wisconsin WCHA 35 21 12 2 2064 110 0 3.20 .878
1992–93 Hampton Roads Admirals ECHL 13 7 5 0 747 48 0 3.86 .884
1992–93 Baltimore Skipjacks AHL 26 6 13 3 1247 86 0 4.14 .875 4
1993–94 Milwaukee Admirals IHL 9 4 2 2 490 28 0 3.42 .890
1993–94 Rochester Americans AHL 6 2 1 1 235 14 0 3.57 .891
1993–94 Adirondack Red Wings AHL 11 4 6 0 599 37 0 3.70 .873
1994–95 Minnesota Moose IHL 7 1 3 3 250 21 0 5.02 .837
1994–95 Richmond Renegades ECHL 27 15 8 2 1558 83 0 3.20 .885 4
1995–96 Madison Monsters CoHL 40 19 15 3 2209 128 1 3.48 .890 6
1995–96 Fort Wayne Komets IHL 1 0 0 0 22 3 0 8.01 .750
1996–97 Milwaukee Admirals IHL 1 0 0 0 34 1 0 1.79 .909
1996–97 Madison Monsters CoHL 59 36 17 5 3364 190 0 3.39 .899 5
1996–97 Milwaukee Admirals IHL 1 0 0 1 60 2 0 2.00 .951
1997–98 Oulun Kärpät I-Divisioona 35 2.25 .920 5
1998–99 Oulun Kärpät I-Divisioona 26 1.72 .925 3 2.36 .913
1998–99 Tappara SM-liiga 5 2 3 0 260 17 0 3.93 .861
1999–00 Peoria Rivermen ECHL 43 30 9 3 2487 122 1 2.94 .891 16
2000–01 Iserlohn Roosters DEL 40 2.94 .894
2001–02 EC Bad Tölz 2nd Bundesliga 41 24 17 0 2423 109 7 2.70 3
2002–03 Peoria Rivermen ECHL 29 14 9 3 1629 74 3 2.72 .909 2
2003–04 Missouri River Otters UHL 20 4 14 1 1183 88 0 4.46 .880
MJHL totals 86
NCAA totals 129 80 40 6 7444 413 6 3.33 .886
AHL totals 43 12 20 4 2081 137 0 3.95 .877 4
IHL totals 19 5 5 6 856 55 1 3.86 .877
ECHL totals 112 66 31 8 6421 327 4 3.06 .894 22
IHL totals 19 5 5 6 856 55 1 3.86 .877
CoHL/UHL totals 119 59 46 9 6756 406 1 3.61 .892 11
I-Divisioona totals 61 17

Awards and honors edit

Award Year
MJHL First-Team All-Star 1986–87
MJHL Top Goaltender 1986–87
MJHL First-Team All-Star 1987–88
MJHL Top Goaltender 1987–88
All-WCHA Second Team 1989–90 [6]
WCHA All-Tournament Team 1990 [7]
All-NCAA All-Tournament Team 1990 [8]
All-WCHA Second Team 1990–91 [6]
All-WCHA First Team 1991–92 [6]
AHCA West Second-Team All-American 1991–92 [1]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Men's Ice Hockey Award Winners" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  2. ^ "Wisconsin Badgers Men's Hockey 2018-19 Media Guide" (PDF). Wisconsin Badgers. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2019. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  3. ^ "HOCKEY; Amid Fury, Lake Superior St. Prevails". The New York Times. April 6, 1992. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  4. ^ "NCAA PENALTIES HIT WISCONSIN". The Chicago Tribune. April 23, 1992. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  5. ^ "Duane Derksen". Linked In. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c "WCHA All-Teams". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  7. ^ "WCHA Tourney History". WCHA. Archived from the original on 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2014-06-26.
  8. ^ "NCAA Frozen Four Records" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved 2013-06-19.

External links edit

Awards and achievements
Preceded by WCHA Most Valuable Player
1991–92
Succeeded by