Eric Heffler is an American former ice hockey goaltender who was an All-American for St. Lawrence.[1]

Eric Heffler
Born (1976-02-29) February 29, 1976 (age 48)
Geneva, New York, USA
Height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Goaltender
Caught Right
Played for Hamilton Bulldogs
Greensboro Generals
New Haven Knights
B.C. Icemen
Playing career 1995–2002

Career

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After playing junior hockey in Canada, Heffler returned to New York to play college hockey at St. Lawrence. He started his career as the team's third goaltender and then progressively earned more playing time in net. He became the primary netminder as a junior and then backstopped the team to a massive improvement as a senior. St. Lawrence won more than twice as many games in Heffler's final season and he was one of the top goaltenders in the nation in both goals against average and save percentage.[2] St. Lawrence finished second in the ECAC Hockey standings and was ranked #10 in the country while Hellfer was named an All-American and the ECAC Hockey Player of the Year. He helped the team earn an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time in seven years but, unfortunately, couldn't help them win the match.[3]

Though undrafted, Heffler embarked on a professional career after graduating and quickly found himself in the NHL. The next year, when Edmonton's primary netminder, Bill Ranford, contracted an ear infection, Heffler was called up to serve as a backup behind Tommy Salo. He sat on the bench for two games in late-November before Ranford returned to action. Heffler would later joke about the situation:

“I was hoping to get home for Thanksgiving, but this is a good reason not too.”[4]

In the AHL, Heffler was the co-starter for the Hamilton Bulldogs and had a mediocre season. While his numbers weren't any worse than any other of the team's goaltenders, he was relegated to being the team's third goaltender during their playoff run. In his second full season of pro hockey, Heffler's performance declined, but he still earned a second call-up to the Oilers, this time for one game. Afterwards he slid down the depth chart and was eventually demoted to the ECHL. In the second half of the season he didn't appear to be improving, so Heffler ended up playing single-A hockey the year after. He split time between two teams and retired after the year.

Heffler was inducted into the St. Lawrence Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019.[5]

Statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1994–95 Oshawa Legionaires MetJHL 29
1995–96 St. Lawrence ECAC Hockey 4 0 0 0 55 3 0 3.27 .864
1996–97 St. Lawrence ECAC Hockey 12 2 3 1 458 31 0 4.06 .886
1997–98 St. Lawrence ECAC Hockey 26 8 14 0 1529 73 2 2.90 .917
1998–99 St. Lawrence ECAC Hockey 37 22 12 3 1185 88 0 2.39 .931
1998–99 Hamilton Bulldogs AHL 2 1 1 0 119 5 0 2.52 .939
1999–00 Hamilton Bulldogs AHL 47 11 25 7 2643 138 5 3.13 .910
2000–01 Hamilton Bulldogs AHL 19 5 11 0 1037 68 0 3.93 .891
2000–01 Greensboro Generals ECHL 15 4 10 0 821 55 0 4.02 .894
2001–02 New Haven Knights UHL 10 4 5 1 601 32 1 3.20 .896
2001–02 B.C. Icemen UHL 9 4 3 1 421 19 0 2.71 .929
NCAA totals 79 32 29 4 4,248 195 2 2.75 .920
UHL totals 19 8 8 2 1,022 51 1 2.99 .911
AHL totals 68 17 37 7 3,799 211 5 3.33 .906

Awards and honors

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Award Year
All-ECAC Hockey First Team 1998–99 [6]
AHCA East First-Team All-American 1998–99 [1]
ECAC Hockey All-Tournament Team 1999 [7]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Men's Ice Hockey Award Winners" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  2. ^ "Men's Division I Hockey Overall Statistics: 1998-1999". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2013-05-19.
  3. ^ "Saint Hockey Record Book 2015-16" (PDF). St. Lawrence Saints. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  4. ^ "Eric Heffler". NHL Backups. November 11, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
  5. ^ "Eric Heffler '99 - 2019 Hall of Fame Induction Video". YouTube. October 7, 2019. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
  6. ^ "ECAC All-Teams". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  7. ^ "Men's All-Tournament Teams" (PDF). ECAC Hockey. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-06-16. Retrieved 2014-04-26.
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Awards and achievements
Preceded by Ken Dryden Award
1998–99
Succeeded by
Preceded by ECAC Hockey Player of the Year
1998–99
Succeeded by