Jason Bacashihua

Jason Bacashihua (born September 20, 1982) is an American former ice hockey goaltender. He played 38 games in the National Hockey League with the St. Louis Blues during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons. The rest of his career, which lasted from 2002 to 2022, was spent in the minor leagues and then in various leagues through Europe and Asia. Internationally Bacashihua played for the American national team at the 2006 and 2007 World Championship.

Playing career Bacashihua was selected in the first round of the 2001 NHL entry draft by the Dallas Stars, 26th overall. He spent two seasons with the Stars' AHL affiliate Utah Grizzlies before he was traded on June 25, 2004, to the St. Louis Blues for Shawn Belle.

Jason played for the Blues AHL affiliates, the Worcester IceCats and the Peoria Rivermen, before being called up to the main Blues roster and making his NHL debut in the 2005–06 season. After failing to make the team out of training camp, Bacashihua was assigned to Peoria prior to the 2007–08 season.

On November 8, 2007, Bacashihua was traded by the Blues to the Colorado Avalanche for future considerations, and was assigned to the Avalanche's affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters. The Monsters are the same Grizzlies franchise, renamed and relocated, with whom Bacashihua started his AHL career. Bacashihua spent the next season and a half with the Monsters rotating the starting position with Tyler Weiman. During the 2008–09 season between February and March, Bacashihua won a franchise-best eight straight games. He was selected as the AHL Player of the Week (February 23 – March 1), to mark the first time in franchise history a Monsters player had received the award.

On July 31, 2009, Bacashihua signed a one-year contract with the Hershey Bears of the AHL for the 2009–10 season. He appeared in pre-season games for the Washington Capitals before being reassigned to Hershey. In 22 regular season games he won an impressive 17 however he was demoted to third choice goalie behind Capitals prospects and failed to make a playoff appearance for the Calder Cup winning Bears.

On July 2, 2010, Bacashihua returned to the Colorado Avalanche organization, signing a one-year contract as a free agent for the 2010–11 season. Assigned to reacquaint with the Lake Erie Monsters, Bacashihua split the season with former NHL goaltender John Grahame to form one of the best performing tandems in the AHL. He was recalled by the Avalanche on one occasion to serve as backup in place of the injured Craig Anderson, however failed to make his Avalanche debut. Returning to the Monsters to set a career professional best in goals against average, Bacashihua appeared in 42 games for 23 wins to help guide the Monsters to their first post-season berth.

On July 19, 2011, Bacashihua signed a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Flyers. Used primarily as a veteran backup within the Flyers organization, he spent the majority of the year with AHL affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms. He was recalled twice to Philadelphia to dress and serve as a backup, however again was unable to mark a return to the NHL since 2007.

On July 22, 2012, Bacashihua was signed to his first professional European contract on a one-year deal to become a number one starter with German club, Straubing Tigers of the DEL. In making his DEL debut during the 2012–13 season, Bacashihua responded with the strong start with the Tigers to earn a one-year extension on December 28, 2012. He appeared in every game with the Tigers as their starting goalie to help gain a playoff position through qualification before losing in the first round.

In the two following seasons with the Tigers, Bacashihua was unable to prevent the club from missing the playoffs. With a decline statistically in his third season, Bacashihua was not offered a new contract at season's end with Straubing on March 3, 2015.

After not receiving a new contract, he moved to the Slovak Extraliga, where he played two seasons with HC 05 Banská Bystrica, leading the league in his second season with a 2.05 goals against average and helping Bystrica claim the Championship. For the 2017–18 season, he moved to South Korea and played with High1 in Asia League Ice Hockey.

At the start of the 2018–19 season, he continued his journeyman career in moving to Poland to play for Cracovia on September 28, 2018.

After spells with WSV Sterzing Broncos and Dunaújvárosi Acélbikák, Bacashihua signed for UK EIHL side Manchester Storm in November 2021, following an injury to the Storm's starting goaltender Matt Ginn.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP W L T OTL MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV% 1999–00 Chicago Freeze NAHL 41 20 19 2 — 2432 118 2 2.91 — 2 0 2 103 12 0 6.97 — 2000–01 Chicago Freeze NAHL 39 24 14 0 — 2246 121 1 3.23 — 3 1 2 190 12 0 3.79 — 2001–02 Plymouth Whalers OHL 46 26 12 7 — 2688 105 5 2.34 .921 6 2 4 360 15 0 2.50 .901 2001–02 Utah Grizzlies AHL 1 0 1 0 — 61 3 0 2.95 .930 — — — — — — — — 2002–03 Utah Grizzlies AHL 39 18 18 2 — 2245 118 3 3.15 .907 1 0 1 59 2 0 2.03 .941 2003–04 Utah Grizzlies AHL 39 13 19 5 — 2234 99 3 2.66 .916 — — — — — — — — 2004–05 Worcester IceCats AHL 35 18 13 1 — 1909 80 2 2.51 .902 — — — — — — — — 2005–06 St. Louis Blues NHL 19 4 10 — 1 966 52 0 3.23 .899 — — — — — — — — 2005–06 Peoria Rivermen AHL 15 9 4 — 0 820 36 2 2.63 .903 — — — — — — — — 2006–07 St. Louis Blues NHL 19 3 7 — 3 894 47 0 3.15 .896 — — — — — — — — 2006–07 Peoria Rivermen AHL 20 5 10 — 4 1139 55 1 2.90 .885 — — — — — — — — 2007–08 Peoria Rivermen AHL 4 1 3 — 0 208 11 0 3.17 .869 — — — — — — — — 2007–08 Johnstown Chiefs ECHL 1 1 0 — 0 65 4 0 3.70 .886 — — — — — — — — 2007–08 Lake Erie Monsters AHL 19 5 11 — 2 1074 60 1 3.35 .905 — — — — — — — — 2008–09 Lake Erie Monsters AHL 39 13 21 — 3 2255 104 2 2.77 .905 — — — — — — — — 2009–10 Hershey Bears AHL 22 17 — 3 1 1258 52 1 2.48 .911 — — — — — — — — 2010–11 Lake Erie Monsters AHL 42 23 16 — 3 2466 94 4 2.29 .917 2 1 1 118 5 0 2.54 .909 2011–12 Adirondack Phantoms AHL 23 8 11 — 1 1244 62 0 2.99 .901 — — — — — — — — 2012–13 Straubing Tigers DEL 52 25 27 — 0 3123 137 3 2.63 .915 7 3 4 422 22 0 3.13 .910 2013–14 Straubing Tigers DEL 50 20 28 — 0 2959 130 3 2.64 .919 — — — — — — — — 2014–15 Straubing Tigers DEL 35 9 22 — 0 1916 100 0 3.13 .898 — — — — — — — — 2015–16 HC 05 Banská Bystrica SVK 40 22 11 — 3 2387 83 5 2.09 .926 17 10 7 1056 31 3 1.76 .939 2016–17 HC 05 Banská Bystrica SVK 36 23 9 — 4 2167 74 0 2.05 .929 13 10 3 — — 1 1.92 .934 2017–18 High1 AL 25 — — — — — — — 2.81 .913 — — — — — — — — 2018–19 KS Cracovia PHL 5 3 2 — 0 305 12 0 2.36 .906 — — — — — — — — 2018–19 Deggendorf SC DEL2 26 11 12 — 0 1466 93 1 3.81 .908 — — — — — — — — 2019–20 WSV Sterzing Broncos ALP 39 22 16 — 0 2190 118 0 3.23 .904 — — — — — — — — 2020–21 Dunaújvárosi Acélbikák HUN 14 5 9 — 0 — — — 4.66 .909 — — — — — — — — 2021–22 Manchester Storm EIHL 36 13 23 — 0 — — 0 3.37 .886 — — — — — — — — NHL totals 38 7 17 — 4 1860 99 0 3.19 .897 — — — — — — — —

International Year Team Event GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% 2002 United States WJC 7 4 1 2 420 20 0 2.86 .891 2006 United States WC 3 1 1 0 140 5 0 2.14 .927 2007 United States WC 1 0 0 0 20 1 0 3.00 .889 Junior totals 7 4 1 2 420 20 0 2.86 .891 Senior totals 4 1 1 0 160 6 0 2.25 —

Awards and honours Award Year OHL First All-Rookie Team 2002 F.W. "Dinty" Moore Trophy 2002 Dave Pinkney Trophy 2002 CHL All-Rookie Team 2002