Though it’s not uncommon for college hockey goalies to play a lot of games, what Eric Schierhorn is doing at the University of Minnesota is above and beyond.

“It’s easier in college,” Schierhorn said by phone. “Because you’re playing high 30s to low 40s games and that’s not that unheard of. In my second year of juniors, I played something like 42.”

That’s a far cry from where he is this season. As of Nov. 27, he has played in 91 straight games without missing a start. But he’s not just playing in games, he’s dominating them. In early November he picked up his 50th collegiate win and his 10th collegiate shutout. Keep in mind this is only his junior season, so he’s essentially done all of this in just over two seasons at the U of M. His key is a religious commitment to his routine. 

“I have kind of found out what works for me,” Schierhorn said. “You hear a lot of guys, NHL goalies, they play a lot of games, so practice is kind of their rest time. My coaches in juniors told me, ‘You don’t have to try that hard in practice, we need you for the weekend.’ But I found out that didn’t work for me. I couldn’t fine-tune my game like that, so I kind of realized that and I take practice very seriously,”

The coach he speaks of knows a thing or two about playing the position well – former NHL and U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame goalie John Vanbiesbrouck. Schierhorn played for him with the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks for two seasons and credits him with a lot of his success.

“He was in my corner right from the start,” Schierhorn said. “He saw something in me that I guess other people didn’t. He played back in the 1990s, and you look at goalies then and you look at goalies now, it’s a totally different world. What he was able to bring to the table was that mental side of the game. That was so big for me, whether it was talking about how I need to get into a routine or if I was in a slump, he would always know what to say to get me out of it or little tweaks to my game that just kind of gave me a boost.”

Schierhorn is a humble guy and also quite intelligent. He knows that a lot of his success comes from the people playing in front of him and the Gophers have been playing well. The Gophers’ opponents are averaging 27 shots per game this season, with a shot percentage of .087. And in a number of games this season, opposing teams’ shots have been very low through the first two periods.

“You look at shots on goal,” Schierhorn said. “I think if we can hold other teams to shots in the mid 20s to low 20s it makes my job a lot easier, and I think we’ll win a lot of games if we do that.”
It’s a perfect scenario for a guy who knows how to stack the deck in his favor. Schierhorn, like a lot of goalies, is quirky, funny and intelligent. He’s the first player to ever wear the No. 37 at the University of Minnesota, and he jokingly believes there is proof that goalies are the smartest guys around.

“You could make an argument for that,” he said, laughing at a question about whether goalies are the smartest guys on the team. “You look at coaches that are coming up the ranks, they are goaltenders and we have to see the whole ice, so you kind of have to know what’s going on. So, I’ll take that title I guess.”

You also have to be pretty quick on your feet and in your mind.

“You can tell everyone that I go to the Carlson School (of Management),” he said with a laugh. “I really don’t though.”

Scheirhorn’s humor will never fail down the stretch, but with his goaltending skills? He is confident that his history and routine will keep that from happening. In fact, he’d like to see how far he can keep this streak going. Being able to play a lot of games keeps him sharp, and one reason that he wanted to be a Gopher was the fact that head coach Don Lucia likes riding the hot goalie as long as he can.

“The more you’re playing, the more you can get into a routine and you can kind of find out what works. You can elevate your game and get comfortable in the net,” Schierhorn said. “My junior coach even told me, ‘Coach Lucia finds a goalie that he likes and he plays them every single game.’ That’s not how it is everywhere and that was definitely a big part for me coming to Minnesota.”

Certainly no one is going to complain that he did. And if they do, he probably won’t hear them anyway since he’ll be on the ice adding to that already impressive streak.

Let's Play Hockey photo by Mike Thill