Spike Schultz

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Spike Schultz
Born Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Position Goaltender
Played for North Dakota
Playing career 1953–1955

Gerald "Spike" Schultz is a Canadian retired ice hockey goaltender who set the NCAA record for consecutive shutouts during his first season as the starter for North Dakota.[1]

Career

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Schultz was the Fighting Sioux's main goaltender for the 1953–54 season. While the team finished with a middling record (14–12–1) the highlight of the season was a 4-game stretch in January where Spike Schultz could not be beaten. A scheduling quirk had North Dakota play Michigan Tech in four consecutive games over a three-week period. Because Tech was the worst team in the WIHL that season the Sioux had a good chance to climb in the standings, but no one could have predicted that the Huskies wouldn't be able to score a single goal. Spike Schultz turned aside every puck that came his way for four games, setting a new NCAA record for consecutive shutouts (4). His shutout streak wasn't much longer than those four contests and ended at 249:41. While the NCAA had only officially recognized ice hockey as a sport for seven seasons at that point, Schultz' record stood for over 50 years until Blaine Lacher strung 5 straight goose-eggs together and shattered the shutout streak by over 125 minutes.

Schultz' astounding performance earned him a spot on the AHCA First Team All-American.[2] Outside that remarkable performance, however, Schultz had a rather pedestrian career in net for North Dakota; he allowed over 4 goals per game and had only one other shutout in two seasons.

Statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1953–54 North Dakota WIHL 27 4 3.54 .898
1954–55 North Dakota WIHL 23 1 3.50 .888
NCAA totals 50 23 23 2 2939 193 5 3.94 .879

Awards and honors

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Award Year
All-WIHL Second Team 1953–54 [3]
AHCA First Team All-American 1953–54 [2]

References

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  1. ^ "Johnson's Shutout Streak No. 2 In NCAA History". UND Hockey. January 2, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "1953-1954 All-American Team". The American Hockey Coaches Association. Retrieved 2017-06-21.
  3. ^ "All-WCHA Teams". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
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