When former Union College goalie Trevor Koenig was informed this week that Colgate netminder Mark Dekanich had replaced him as the ECAC Hockey record holder for the longest shutout streak by a goalie, he was stunned, not that he was surpassed, but that he had held the record for 11 years.
“I never even knew that streak still existed,” the 33-year-old
Koenig said in an e-mail from England, where he plays for the Coventry Blaze. “I guess I am surprised it still stood.”
Dekanich broke Koenig’s league record for consecutive scoreless minutes of 198 minutes, 44 seconds, set during the 1996-97 season, in last Saturday’s 8-0 victory over the Dutchmen. Dekanich, who posted his third straight shutout, hasn’t allowed a goal in 212:14.
“I guess it would be nice to see your name up there for a record,” Koenig said, “but as the great Wayne Gretzky said, ‘Records were meant to be broken.’ ”
Koenig’s streak started at 10:26 of the first period after giving up a goal to St. Lawrence’s Derek Ladouceur. He blanked the Saints the rest of the way and led Union to a 2-1 win at Appleton Arena on Feb. 7, 1997.
The Dutchmen returned home the next weekend to play Vermont and Dartmouth. Vermont, which had future NHL MVP Martin St. Louis, couldn’t get any of its 34 shots past Koenig. The Dutchmen won, 2-0.
The next night, Koenig stopped 42 Dartmouth shots in a 2-0 triumph.
Koenig broke the record of 189:48, set by Cornell’s Brian Cropper during the 1969-70 season, against, ironically, the Big Red. The streak ended at 5:10 of the second period when Doug Stienstra scored a power-play goal. The Dutchmen won, 7-1.
“I remember the tremendous roll we were on at the time,” Koenig said. “We had such a good defensive team that year, with Stan Moore coming in as a rookie coach and bringing us all together. He really brought something special and, along with [assistant coaches] ‘Sneds’ [Kevin Sneddon] and ‘Mich’ [John Mich*eletto] helping out on the defensive end, we felt we could have held almost any team scoreless.”
Before Dekanich eclipsed the record, the closest a goalie came to topping Koenig was Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Joel Laing.
Laing had a streak of 175:24 entering a Jan. 16, 1999 game against Union at Achilles [now Messa] Rink. After shutting out Union in the first period, Laing gave up a goal to Jason Ralph at 2:07 of the second period. Laing fell 1:14 short of breaking the record.
Dekanich, who has a team-record six shutouts this season, leads the nation with a .932 save percentage, and is fifth with a 1.88 goals-against average. He was named ECAC goalie of the week.
Dekanich will attempt to extend his streak, which is the seventh longest in NCAA history, this weekend. Colgate plays at Princeton tonight, and at Quinnipiac on Sunday.
