Shepard Shines in AHL Debut

HERSHEY, Pa. - For all the kids and hockey fans out there - you do not need to have a family member playing hockey to make it to the pros.

Hunter Shepard took the road less traveled, and if his AHL debut May 2, 2021 against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms is any indicator, he’s the model of hard work and perseverance to overcome obstacles.

The 25-year-old netminder’s career started with the Bismarck Bobcats of the NAHL in 2014-2015, which turned out to be the first real experience with a goalie coach in his career.

"I think playing in the [NAHL] in Bismarck probably was one of the best decisions I made for my hockey career because the head coach there, he was a goalie," Shepard said, explaining, "I never had a goalie coach, never went to any camps, so getting to work with him for two years, I don’t think I would be here or played college and got a chance to play at Minnesota-Duluth if I wouldn’t have went there.”

Shepard spent two years in Bismarck under the tutelage of Layne Sedevie. In 81 games, Shepard went 48-25-3 amassing 1856 saves and nine shutouts. His save percentage in 2015-2016 was 0.926 with a GAA of just 1.90, and he recorded three assists, which earned him the opportunity to play at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where he would help lead the team to back-to-back NCAA titles in his sophomore and junior years.

At UMD, Shepard trained under another former goaltender, Brant Nicklin. In 119 games over four seasons, Shepard’s save percentage remained above 0.91 throughout his four seasons, until his senior year was cut short due to COVID-19. He amassed 76 victories and 17 shutouts, a feat that he replicated in his AHL debut in Hershey.

“Brant Nicklin, my goalie coach at UMD, got to work with him for four years and then Westy (Alex Westlund) here for the last three weeks, working with him almost every day, I mean good coaching goes a long way.”

The undrafted rookie, who signed with Hershey in June and appeared in 14 games for South Carolina, the organization’s ECHL affiliate, was dazzling in his AHL debut, making 28 saves and earning first star honors and opened some eyes along the way with a save on a Max Willman breakaway opportunity and standing tall as Hershey killed off a brief 5-on-3 opportunity for the Phantoms.

“I’m trying to remember back, because I don’t want to speak out of turn, but I don’t remember, at least at this level in the three years that I have been here, and I don’t mean just a goaltender, I’m talking a player in his first AHL game, to have that type of impact and play that well, I mean he was lights-out, thrown into the fire in the 2nd and 3rd periods,” Spencer Carbery, who earned his 100th victory as head coach of the Hershey Bears, said in the post-game Zoom interview Sunday. “In the first period he didn’t see a lot of action, but then in the 2nd and 3rd he was under attack. Their power play is something special - that’s as good of a first game in the American Hockey League that I’ve seen.”

In truth, Shepard, who admitted he did not sleep well the night before the start, showed little signs of a netminder in his first AHL start, which he attributed to the team in front of him and making that first save early in the first period.

"That first shot was just a clean one from the point that I caught in my chest. It definitely calmed me down just to feel a puck. I felt super good in warmups. I don’t remember the last time I felt that good in warmups," he said. "I felt good and I think making the first save right away, you know kind of an easy one and then getting, not a lot of action, but a couple of decent opportunities in the first period, I had to make a couple of saves and settle in...I think just going out and getting the first period under my belt without any major mishaps definitely gave me some confidence.”

As the final horn sounded without a blemish on the scoresheet, that team in front of him hurried to line up and congratulate the rookie with Eddie Wittchow leading the charge from the bench, making it there first.

“I’ve been here for a little while now and I’ve been chomping at the bit to get out there and play,” Shepard said. “I mean that’s what you want to do and when you get opportunities, you want to take advantage of it.”

And for a kid who had no real advantages other than a dad who was willing to shoot pucks on him in the driveway, this was one advantage that he did not allow to pass him by.

After all, what other goaltender out there can tell the story of that first AHL start being a shutout while also earning the head coach a milestone victory in the process?