Eric Heffler

Eric Heffler (born February 29, 1976) is an American former ice hockey goaltender who was an All-American for St. Lawrence. 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.

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.”

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.

Statistics Regular season and playoffs 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 Award Year All-ECAC Hockey First Team 1998–99 AHCA East First-Team All-American 1998–99 ECAC Hockey All-Tournament Team 1999