Steve Shields (ice hockey)
Stephen Charles Shields ( born July 19, 1972 in Toronto, Ontario ) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. During his career he played between 1995 and 2006 for the Buffalo Sabres, San Jose Sharks, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers and Atlanta Thrashers in the National Hockey League.
Career
In 1990, Steve Shields at the University of Michigan and played four years for the ice hockey team of the University of Michigan. There, he received several awards, he was elected by the Central Collegiate Hockey Association ( CCHA ) twice in the all-star team. At the end of his time at the University he led the all-time best lists of the CCHA and NCAA in victories.
NHL Entry Draft 1991 Shields was selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the fifth round at a total of 101 positions. From 1994 he played in the farm teams of the Sabres, first at the South Carolina Stingrays in the East Coast Hockey League and then also with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League. In December 1995, he completed his first two appearances in the National Hockey League. But on the next assignments in the top division he had to wait over a year. In the same season he won with the Rochester Americans of the Calder Cup.
In the 1996/97 season he rose to number 2 on behind Dominik Hasek and in January 1997, Shields was allowed for the Sabres finally back on the ice. He came into the season to 13 games, but won only three of them. During the play-offs is injured Hasek and Shields stepped in for him and reached the second round. 1997/98 he was again the back-up goalie Dominik Hasek of.
In the summer of 1998, Shields was transferred from the Sabres to the San Jose Sharks. There he had with Mike Vernon again a very experienced goalkeeper on, but thanks to its good performance, he played 37 games. He came up with 15 wins and had thus just one win less than Vernon, who had completed twelve games more.
1999/2000 Steve Shields took a position as first-choice goalkeeper after Mike Vernon left the team in December 1999. Shields back-up goalie Evgeni Nabokov was. In the playoffs, the Sharks made it to the second round, but there was the last stop.
At the beginning of the season 2000/ 01 hurt himself Shields and Nabokov took over the post in the gate. Shields had to be satisfied again with the position as number 2. In March 2001 he was transferred from the Sharks to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. But after only two days in Anaheim he had contracted in the shoulder is an injury. Since he had to undergo surgery, he fell out for the rest of the season.
The 2001/02 season he played as a back -up goalie Jean -Sébastien Giguère. Shields came 33 times used, but could only nine victories by beating over 20 defeats. After just one year in Anaheim, he was discharged to the Boston Bruins. Shields made a goalkeeping team for part of the season 2002/ 03 with John Grahame and for the other part with Jeff Hackett. But the Boston Bruins, he had already left after a year and was transferred to the Florida Panthers, where he was the number 2 behind Roberto Luongo.
The NHL season 2004/ 05 dropped out because of the lockout and Steve Shields took the time to take a break. In October 2005, the game operation in the NHL should start again, but Shields ' contract in Florida was not renewed. In September, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim invited him to training camp, but where he could not convince. It was not until the middle of October he received a contract in the AHL with the Chicago Wolves, the farm team of the Atlanta Thrashers. After Kari Lehtonen and Mike Dunham, the goalkeeper had been injured from the NHL team the Thrashers, Shields received a contract with the Thrashers and was five times used. But he could not convince. There were injuries, which meant that he no longer was used in the NHL.
In the summer of 2006, his contract ran out and he had to find a new team again. Only much later, he received a contract in the AHL with the Houston Aeros. But in Houston, there was not as desired. He came only once for ten minutes to use and conceded three goals. On 29 November 2006 he was released by the Houston Aeros. Two months later, he received the end of January a sample contract with Linköpings HC in the Swedish Elitserien. After two weeks he had to leave Linköpings again.